@duluth And that three-match ban will become a two-match ban ...

The No.8 will miss the Brumbies’ Super Rugby Pacific trial matches against the NSW Waratahs on January 29 and the Brumbies’ development team the following week plus their competition opener against Moana Pasifika on February 18.

But Valetini can opt to complete a Head Contact Process Coaching Intervention course to have his ban reduced to two matches.

That avenue is available to offending players in the hope of modifying specific techniques and technical issues that contributed to the foul play.

I hadn't realised that that option to complete a Head Contact Process Coaching Intervention replace one of the matches a player is suspended for, had been adopted for the November internationals. Is it part of the law trials, or is it an official rule now? I only remember it being trialled by the the U20s a few years ago.

By the way, that a game of the Brumbies development team counts towards his suspension is ridiculous.

@nta said in England v Australia:

@higgins no ruck - play on, unfortunately.

Further to that: the option for Ikitau was to hit the deck and wait, but it wouldn't have made a lot of difference - only Leota and McDermott were in frame and there were about 8 Poms on their feet.

@mn5 said in Scotland v Australia 2021:

@gibbon-rib said in Scotland v Australia 2021:

I just checked the 6N odds out of interest. Clearly the bookies / betting public don't think this is a new dawn for the Scots

France 48/29
England 5/2
Ireland 9/2
Wales 6/1
Scotland 12/1
Italy 1000/1

12 is better than 1000 though

True. And probably better value too.

@stargazer said in Japan v Wallabies:

Wallabies media release:

Nathan Williamson  /  Oct 20 Hunter Paisami returns for Wallabies to face Japan | Latest Rugby News | Wallabies Rugby Hunter Paisami returns for Wallabies to face Japan | Latest Rugby News | Wallabies Rugby

Wallabies coach Dave Rennie has confirmed Hunter Paisami will replace the injured Samu Kerevi for Saturday's match against Japan.

When I hear the name Paisami I always think of some sort of Italian charcuterie I really must sample.

@nta said in Wallabies v Pumas II:

Good press conference from Rennie.

"In my day it was a sprained ankle. Now it's syndesmosis which is apparently worse..."

Not sure that you need us to send you Moses, you've been playing quite well the last few games.

It's a feeling I haven't had in a while as a Wallaby fan: to be happy with a comfortable win, but feeling we played a bit below our best. We left at least three tries on the park. JOC bombed one, Nic White didn't realise the law around grounding on the post pad had changed (unforgiveable), and a few times we lost our cool with numbers out wide.

But our general play around the park was as good as it's been in a long time. Defended well, secured our own ruck ball, created space and then exploited it with simple catch-and-pass. Our 10-12-13 is the best it's looked since the Foley-Giteau-AAC axis at the 2015 World Cup.

Sets up our NH tour really nicely. Not sure how undermanned we will be but that England game looks very enticing.

@machpants said in Wallabies v Springboks II:

@nta said in Wallabies v Springboks II:

@smuts said in Wallabies v Springboks II:

Congrats Aussies. First time in forever that I’ve not even watched the highlights. Hope it feels great.

Cheers. Not a great couple of games by your okes but hopefully they'll take it out on the ABs 😉

I don't know much about your coach, but a quick wiki search shows he's Rassie's man, and TBH it smacks a little of nepotism. Hopefully there is a bit of a shakeup and the Boks find their groove. And some fitness training!

One thing on which I agree with Keo: trying to play like someone else is just going to hurt the Boks. Use their strengths by all means, but they've not yet made sure they can execute that to the level required against faster teams.

That would never happen in the ABs……

Not a little smack, no...

@machpants said in Wallabies vs Springboks I:

@frye said in Wallabies vs Springboks I:

alt text

Malherbe hardly in fine fettle either.

Can you imagine what he's gonna look like after retiring? 😲

Foster? 😜

must have been a cold day..

@nostrildamus said in Wallabies vs All Blacks 3 (Perth):

ooh baby

Tom Decent  /  Sep 9  /  Rugby Union He’s back: Cooper to partner McDermott against Springboks, Bell starts He’s back: Cooper to partner McDermott against Springboks, Bell starts

After 1541 days in the international rugby wilderness, Quade Cooper will be back in a Wallabies jersey this weekend.

Too traumatised to face ABs, so now Noah is a mental wreck from the same!

I have another apology for the AB coaches, I thought in an earlier Bledisloe the coaches had the bench replacement timing all wrong. Maybe, but it is clear that a bigger issue is, the AB bench just isn't of the same calibre.

@pakman said in All Blacks vs Wallabies Bledisloe 1 Eden Park 7th Aug:

@nta said in All Blacks vs Wallabies Bledisloe 1 Eden Park 7th Aug:

@pakman said in All Blacks vs Wallabies Bledisloe 1 Eden Park 7th Aug:

@chris said in All Blacks vs Wallabies Bledisloe 1 Eden Park 7th Aug:

Smashed in the scrum not good by the subs

Bell monstered Ta’avao.

Having Matt Philip behind him helps. I've only just reached that point.

Having just rewatched it may be Ta'avao has been a bit hard done by. First scrum after Patty T on and Whitelock swaps sides. PT packed very high on Karl, and looks like Sam slipped off Ta'avao, who then has whole Wallaby pack driving through him.
Poor cohesion by Black pack, whereas Wallaby changes seem to have been upgrade.

Ta'avao did Ok at previous scrum with Codie and BBBR still on, although scrum did collapse on his side.

@stargazer said in Wallabies v France 3:

@gibbonrib said in Wallabies v France 3:

@steven-harris where did you find that?

Sadly that statement doesn't clarify the decision at all. I'd like to watch that video to see if that helps (fully expecting that it won't though).

@stargazer said in Wallabies v France 3:

@gibbonrib It's only the media release. Not the decision.

Oh, shit, I forgot that if a red card is dismissed, there won't be a written decision. Just the media release.
So the media release is all we get. It has been published on the WR website now, btw.

Forget getting a further clarification of the decision.

For those nerdy enough to care, WR have released a written decision:

https://resources.world.rugby/worldrugby/document/2021/07/21/231213a5-9cec-4fe5-9fbd-82ec2b9f40f9/HRM000.1.996-Decision-M-Koroibete.pdf

It's a bit wordy, but I've read it so that you don't have to. Key points it makes are:

There was no contact to the head Initial contact was to the shoulder There was contact to the neck This means it is technically foul play The degree of danger was not high, so it should not have been a red

Things it doesn't clarify are:

Whether the degree of danger was low (starting sanction: penalty) or medium (yellow card) Whether there was significant mitigation (it mentions both players dipping into the tackle, but doesn't rule on whether that was relevant to the decision) Whether the correct decision would have been a yellow, or just a penalty

Things it doesn't say, but strongly implies:

Jelonch is a cheating git

@booboo said in Wallabies v France 2:

@mariner4life said in Wallabies v France 2:

Until last night the only rugby i had watched all year was the first 50-odd minutes of the Super Rugby TT final (and taht was on a small screen with no volume, through a boozed up haze, while simultaneously punting on harness racing and asian gallops), but that test reminded me why i love this game.

I know it's not great for the purists, or if you actually are supporting one of the teams, but errors make good rugby. Errors offer up opportunity, and when both teams are willing to have a crack at that opportunity, it makes for a spectacle.

What i saw was a young Aussie team with deficiencies in key areas having a real fucking go. You can't fault their endeavor, just their execution let them down at precisely the wrong time. Veletini was bloody good i thought, made repeated dents in the defense and never stopped throwing himself at the French. With the ball the Aussie forwards had a heap of vigour, problem was they couldn't muscle up on defense. And their ruck work was very ordinary. That little 2nd pop pass really is more miss than hit. They played most of the rugby, but could never make it count on the scoreboard. They were still full of running at the end too.

The French were pretty good too. Not much on attack outside of some eye catching counter. it was route 1 football and it was often brutally effective. The hooker had approximately 58 pick-and-goes, the 7 was in to everything, and i was impressed with the work of the skipper at #8. The fullback looked fucking classy as well.

Short turn around to the final test will be interesting. World Cup pool-of-death sort of stuff.

Front paged

Great. Cements the evidence that a certain poster doesn't even watch rugby but has lots to say about it 😉

@cgrant said in Wallabies vs France 1:

@act-crusader
Couilloud is ranked Nr.3 in France, behind Dupont and Serin.
Irribaren, who replaced him during the later stages, is not even the fourth best halfback in the country. Machenaud and Lucu (and Kockott and Parra, but these two are not in contention for Les Bleus) are rated higher than him.

I watched all the French 6Ns matches and what impressed me was the speed of the ball from the ruck from DuPont and Serin.

Speaking of the 6Ns, like last night the French had some last minute heroics and last minute heartbreak - the Wales match and the 80th minute try to win, Scotland scoring in the last minute to win, England snatching a win from them in the final couple of minutes.

Tom Decent  /  Nov 3  /  sport 'A bit of a surprise': Wallabies veteran Kurtley Beale never gave up hope on unlikely Dave Rennie call 'A bit of a surprise': Wallabies veteran Kurtley Beale never gave up hope on unlikely Dave Rennie call

After his latest call-up, Wallabies back isn't giving up on playing at next World Cup as a 34-year-old.

@chimoaus of they could give the AR a laser pointer and he shines it in the eyes of the offending player to let him know 🙂

I think generally once players know they wont get away with it, they will adjust thier own behaviour.

@NTA no! This is the last time I try to explain reading a refs mind on a discussion forum! 😭

@NTA said in Bledisloe Four: Brisbane, 7 November:

@Nepia said in Bledisloe Four: Brisbane, 7 November:

I don't think those fans exist (Australians maybe?)

Only as good as your last 2 Tests, boys. 😎

We've got the Foster * that we can lay on the table through this dark, dark time.

@Machpants said in Argentina v Australia A:

J4L is in rapture, an actual friendly

I hate it when people steal my jokes

Dunno if this has been posted, but 1st time I seen it

@Stargazer said in Bledisloe Two: Auckland, October 18:

@Bones ESPN also calls Bledisloe Cup games friendlies. 🤦🏽♂

b11fd27d-a9c6-4aa7-9e21-ed081177b51d-image.png

They mostly are these days ( after the full time whistle)

Luatua and Vito-doing well overseas, I understand. Charlie would have been useful too (33 now though). I'd say decline. Stale tactics, so-so selections.
Would have liked to have seen a bit of Jordan in a Bledisloe, hoping it will still happen.

@ACT-Crusader said in Wallabies v All Blacks - Bledisloe 1 Sydney 2000:

@SidBarret said in Wallabies v All Blacks - Bledisloe 1 Sydney 2000:

Funnily enough I watched this game on Saturday on youtube.

Wow Larkham and Gregan were good.

There are periods in that test where the Aussie attack led by these two was so dominant. They were getting clean ball and had runners just lining up. Scary to watch at the time...

The ACT way?!

Intercept passes are classified as turnovers.

@Machpants said in RWC: Australia v Georgia (Pool D):

@junior said in RWC: Australia v Georgia (Pool D):

@mariner4life said in RWC: Australia v Georgia (Pool D):

Excellent, apparently we should expect Hooper and Pocock again next week. That'll work.

It just might against England, though. The Poms play two open sides in Curry and Underhill, so less reason to abandon Pooper against them than against a conventional back row formation.

Cunderhill or Underry?

Neither beats Pooper or Hocock

Re the TMO.

Can the TMO inject himself without being invited?

Yes, Uruguay 8 was offside, but it wasn't picked up on field.

I'm torn as to whether we got the correct result.

alt text

Extended highlights:

@Snowy said in Bledisloe #2:

@antipodean said in Bledisloe #2:

Finally managed to get sufficient internet to watch extended highlights and it looked fantastic. Reminded me of the France game where the All Blacks finally clicked with the new game plan.

We gave them just a taste. Plenty more where that came from

@Hooroo said in MOTM Bledisloe I:

Who was the wing that got the brace?

Hodge.

@pakman said in Bledisloe #1:

Irish analysis: https://www.irishtimes.com/sport/rugby/international/matt-williams-how-australia-went-back-to-the-future-to-show-new-zealand-fallibility-1.3987331

The guy has a hopeless record as coach himself.

@nzzp yeah I'm stumped, admittedly I was only casual watching, didn't look that flash to me

Edit actually wasn't the voted ratings they normally do, just one guys ratings

@tewaio said in NZ vs. Aust - Japanese yawn edition:

@crucial said in NZ vs. Aust - Japanese yawn edition:

@unite said in NZ vs. Aust - Japanese yawn edition:

@mariner4life said in NZ vs. Aust - Japanese yawn edition:

@akan004 said in NZ vs. Aust - Japanese yawn edition:

Must the Aussies do this after every single loss to us. Their whinging has reached ridiculous levels.

Oct 29, 2018 Analysis: How kings of the ‘dark arts’ got a ‘free ride’ against the Wallabies in Bledisloe III Analysis: How kings of the ‘dark arts’ got a ‘free ride’ against the Wallabies in Bledisloe III

How All Blacks got a ‘free ride’ against Wallabies

that is delicious!!

We're not shit, we just don't cheat like they do!!

I always enjoy a "let's look at one team" breakdown of all the "illegalities" they get away with. It just means your team won. Again.

Time to scrap the 3 tests against Australia, they just don't deserve it.

What is more concerning is Phil Kearns saying that he AND World Rugby are sick of the Referees giving the All Blacks a free ride! Who at World Rugby has been making these comments, have they been made public?? Maybe Gosper said it to Phil when in Australia a few weeks back??

I can imagine Kearns chewing Gosper's ear and saying 'those fucking All Blacks get the rub of the green every time don't they?'
'Yeah, yeah Phil. Now where are those mini hot pies, they were nice'
Kearns turns to Kafer, 'See, even WR thinks it's a major problem'

Gosper really does look like a cartoonist's caricature of a 1980s Wall St CEO

0_1540983216437_bb92416a-64a5-4af9-aac3-174fbc8881bc-image.png

Younger Jamie Dimon?

@act-crusader said in Bledisloe II:

@gunner said in Bledisloe II:

@akan004 said in Bledisloe II:

@pakman This might be a controversial call but I believe Laulala has overtaken Franks as our no 1 tighthead. I think he is at least as good as Franks as a scrummager and is a lot better around the park. If they select Laulala ahead of Franks when he returns, it will be interesting to see if they choose to go with Franks off the bench or discard him from the 23 all together as there are other players who offer more impact when they come on.

Hasn’t the guy been injured for 12 months, so how does he suddenly leap frog Franks?

The same way Ngatai became our best 2nd 5 after Nonu left....

Playing for the chiefs?

@machpants said in Bledisloe I:

Analysis: The Wallabies busted 'catfish' play that changed Bledisloe Game I Analysis: The Wallabies busted 'catfish' play that changed Bledisloe Game I

Moments later, Beauden Barrett would score to stretch the All Blacks lead to 19-6 and the try would be a catalyst for a Wallabies collapse. This pivotal moment changed the game, so what went so wrong for the Wallabies?

I wish I could so easily pick up this stuff!

I think its great how our FB takes the time to write these articles in his spare time. Not much happens in accounts I suppose.

@antipodean said in BLEDISLOE 3:

@kiwimurph said in BLEDISLOE 3:

@antipodean said in BLEDISLOE 3:

@kiwimurph said in BLEDISLOE 3:

Fancy backline moves were used (which led directly to Hodge's opening try) when the conditions called for keep it simple stupid.

The problem wasn't a fancy backline move; it was Sopoaga throwing a panicked ball because he was pressured.

The reason Sopoaga was under pressure was because the ABs tried a move where Aaron Smith got the ball on the right hand side of the scrum and threw it back left across the scrum to Sopoaga. A fancy move that wasn't required - trying to be too cute.

And a better player would have taken the tackle rather than hurl the ball away in a blind panic.

Sopoaga probably would have on other occasions too - even Carter threw a few silly intercepts and we can all agree (some Canes fans aside maybe) that he is the best of the better players.

@pakman said in Bledisloe 2:

Article by Stuart Barnes in today's Times notes that Aaron Smith didn't kick once in Aussie tests. I had missed that.

Reminds me of pool games against minnows in last RWC. The wise men are upping the pressure to make Rugby Championship better preparation for Japan.

I guess if the Aussies won't give us a hard test we have to help them out 😉

I thought it was clear he'd been concussed. The running sideways while toppling over didn't look all that tactical.

@pakman said in All Blacks v Wallabies at Eden Park.:

Didn't BBBR duck into it?

No. Mumm jumped, spun and delivered a roundhouse elbow strike.

Get it right man!

@taniwharugby

This got a mention during the week

http://www.thesilverfern.com/topic/993/cripple-fight-bryan-gould-has-a-go-at-the-walrus