• 0 Votes
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    @SBW1 said in Opinions on possible back-up All Blacks 10s:

    newbies will come through and fill the void. Aidan Morgan being a good example.

    alt text

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    After four rounds of Super Rugby the below players have really stood out to me as being contenders for the Black Jersey later in the year. (not including current ABs)

    Highlanders:

    Billy Harmon (Highlanders) if anyone deserves a crack at the next level it's this guy. Harmon is in the form of his life, if he doesn't get an opportunity this year I think it's time to look overseas and take the money. He's scored my favourite try of the year already, what a screamer against the Brumbies on Saturday.

    Other notable mentions: Jacob Raitumaitavuki-Kneepkens, Hugh Renton

    Crusaders:

    Sevu Reece (Crusaders) I know he's been an AB but he's a player that will be keen to put himself back into contention when the first AB side is announced. Had a scorching game on defence against the Canes on Friday, saving about 20 points on his own. If all players had the work-rate of this guy the All Blacks would be nearly impossible to beat. Get him back in the Black jersey I say.

    Other notable mentions: Macca Springer, Jamie Hannah

    Hurricanes:

    Billy Proctor (Hurricanes) he's been Mr Reliable for the Canes for the past few seasons now and continues to be the glue in their backline. Similar defensive attributes to Canes legend Conrad Smith, Proctor has been on of the Cane's best to start the season. After scoring four tries in one game for the All Blacks XV last year to compliment his defensive prowess, he has to be in the conversation.

    Other notable mentions: Asafo Aumua, Ruben Love, Caleb Delany

    Chiefs:

    Shaun Stevenson (Chiefs) he made his All Black's debut last year but is surely eager to make a stamp in this campaign for the Chiefs. He's had a flyer to kick off the year and I hope he gets another chance after he was rudely snubbed by the All Black's in 2023.

    Other notable mentions: Eteni Nanai-Seturo, Rameka Poihipi,

    Blues:

    Hoskins Sotutu (Blues) had a fantastic first two rounds for the Blues before being dropped to the bench (absolutely baffling). If he can continue that form he'll be back into the ABs in no time. Vern Cotter looks to be getting the best out of him.

    Other notable mentions: Anton Segner, Josh Beehre

  • Barnes autobiography

    Sports Talk
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    @MajorRage said in Barnes autobiography:

    I'm certainly one for thinking rules shouldn't be set for the lowest common denominator (Which they are), but you also can't keep your head in the sand when your changes are blatantly not working. We saw 3 yellow cards and a red in the world cup final for fucks sakes. How can it possibly be explained that the changes are having an effect, when 4 people got sent from the field in the biggest game of their lives for indiscretions? The only thing you can do is actually change the rules and/or the way it's refereed to try and reduce controversy.

    💯

    WR do themselves no favours by not acknowledging their preferred course of action is clearly not having the desired effect and worse, is ruining the game.

    That being said, it would help if the TMO wasn't a 🤡

  • All Blacks 2024

    Locked Sports Talk
    3 Votes
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    @Frank said in All Blacks 2024:

    @Victor-Meldrew said in All Blacks 2024:

    @Windows97 said in All Blacks 2024:

    Exactly!! Why weren't we playing that brand of rugby in the years prior??

    Time? Turning around team culture/composure isn't as simple as flicking a switch.

    Nah. They just changed the assistants who were far better coaches than the previous ones. Foster was always a non entity.

    What on earth have Foster's assistants to do with generally accepted timescales to change culture in a team or organisation?

    [mod edit]
    Thread continues here, without the Foster repetitiveness:
    https://www.forum.thesilverfern.com/topic/6440/all-blacks-2024-no-interminable-foster-arguments/
    [/mod edit]

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    @nostrildamus I'm hopeful JB can given how physically gifted he is. It just feels like a curse they carry around due to being so damn competitive 😁

    To me, it's like they feel they HAVE to be the one to make the big play out of nothing (hence BB's "golden balls" moniker courtesy of Shag) but the team would be better served if they let the ball go earlier or played in the moment vs trying to get too many steps ahead.

    The movements at 00:55s (JB hesitation) and 01.59s (BB hesitation) of this clip are perfect examples...

    Sardiq on Twitter
  • 1 Votes
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    @KiwiMurph said in How to rank this RWC?:

    Quite a few of the hyped pool games failed to live up to expectations from a neutral point of view.

    Scotland-Boks, Scotland-Ireland, England-Argentina, Wales-Australia come to mind. Italy weren't even semi competitive vs ABs or France

    Of course this isn't unique to this World Cup and other teams performed above expectations going in (Portgual & Japan) but on paper I thought pool play would be even more competitive than it was.

    Failing to live up to expectations in a WC has been a Scots tradition for pretty much as long as I remember. A couple of blow outs but completely shat the bed when it counted.

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    @MajorRage said in RWC Final: All Blacks v Springboks:

    And they say kiwis are one eyed about their rugby ….

    What sort of a bubble do you live in to think this what EVERYBODY wanted???

    'The World Cup final everyone wanted, but never got' 'The World Cup final everyone wanted, but never got'

    In his first column for BBC Sport NI, Ireland hooker Rob Herring discusses missing the Six Nations opener with France, Antoine Dupont and doing the school run.

    To be fair the worst supporters of any country are guilty of this kind of wank speak.

    It is a bit surprising it is a player saying it though.

  • 0 Votes
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    @taniwharugby said in All Blacks MOTM v Argentina (SF):

    @mariner4life the touchdown he looked undecided on...

    Yeah seems a switch was flicked in him and he has become a very good player this year.

    Way he is playing has restored a better balance to our loose trio allowing both Cane and Ardie to play thier games as well.

    Although he looked spent in the final quarter.

    Which is perfect right, given our current bench make-up. He can spend himself for 60mins knowing that Whitelock is chomping at the bit to come off the bench and SB can go 80 (cards aside 😬)

  • 0 Votes
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    @Joans-Town-Jones @nzzp

    Oh come on, you've both been watching this RWC where I'm yet to see a penalty in a situation where the ball carrier has deliberately led with his head, to the point where we've even heard the ref state exactly that on the fly.

    Stop getting your knickers in a twist about make believe.

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    Weird but accurate poll

    Everyone was fucking good today but the three standouts really did shine

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    Could just mean they were the less disciplined side etc - doesn't have to mean they were unfairly treated.

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    DMac
    Jordan
    Roigard

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    Haha cheers fellas my bad, missed that completely.

  • 0 Votes
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    @mariner4life said in All Blacks MOTM v Italy:

    Perfect game for Ardie to show why the world loves him (also his angle for the breakout try was as good as I've seen an AB forward run in years)

    But he doesn’t watch other games…

    Mo’unga, Retallick, Savea

    HM: Frizell, Taylor

  • 0 Votes
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    @pakman said in RWC Week 4: All Blacks v Italy:

    @Steven-Harris said in RWC Week 4: All Blacks v Italy:

    Some of this post match stuff on Sky is utter trash

    Bumped into SJK, Goldie and Grant N on bar crawl back to base. Pretty satisfied with ABs but JK was very disappointed ‘with how shit Italy were’. Pretty fair call.

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    @ACT-Crusader well they did have a period where they used our 12 as a battering ram, but not using Laumape to do his thing...

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    @taniwharugby think it's got a lot to do with the way the whole team is doing it, the same with their obstruction - flooding it with numbers makes it look normal and the ref just misses it.

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    @canefan said in All Blacks MOTM v France:

    @hydro11 said in All Blacks MOTM v France:

    I understand the votes for Smith and I think he did play well overall. However, his box kicking is just so far behind Dupont's. I know it is not necessarily his fault, it was the tactic to box kick. But those balls needed to be kicked long and going back to Beauden, Jordan or Mo'unga to do so.

    We didn't chase any of his box kicks

    Well Jordan might have chased a couple...

  • 1 Votes
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    I decided to re-watch this game to have a closer look at the lineouts. As per previous comments about not using Vaa'i as a lineout target, he was used as a lifter with one of the locks to lift the other lock. Examples being the first lineout of the game, and the lineout after Mo'unga made the try-saving tackle on Penaud. That pod worked well because of the extra height of the lifters. What was of more concern was how little the ABs challenged the French lineout. On one of the few occasions we did, the French lost the ball.

    Christie wasn't the only ginga who had a shocker. Newell made de Groot look co-ordinated trying to roll away from a tackle. Zero impact.

    Beauden actually played well for 60 mins until he and Mo'unga thought that the best option when chasing the game was to kick the ball away.

  • Best of RWC 2015

    Sports Talk
    2 Votes
    11 Posts
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    Yeah I was never worried, same as semi 2011. Scores might have got close but Ozzie were never going to win