This is pretty cool from the Canes sending Thrushy off.

They all struggle. Lindenmuth hasn't kicked on from his age-group days and gets dominated at NPC level.

@Crucial

Given that Stevenson is probably part of our best back three (leaving, I assume, which is why he is unsighted), I'd say our best back three should be (11) ENS, (14) Lowe, (15) Stevenson.

However, McMillan will have to select his BOP baby, so the best we can hope for is ENS, Lowe, and Trask.

@Machpants thanks for explaining a bit more than "he's not a normal 1st 5"

that makes sense, my feeling was he was running a lot but trying to feed and distribute, not just going to ground like a crash ball, so to a dumb front rower it just looks like another form of play making, just the opposite end of the scale to a first 5 whole kicks everything away

Some of that Crusaders defence in the second half was very impressive.

Series of dominant tackles driving the Force ballcarriers backwards.

A great deal more enthusiasm and intent than the previous week.

@Chris-B said in Force v Blues:

@African-Monkey He's only 20 so far from the finished article.

According to his stats a centimetre shorter than Read, which looks about right.

He doesn't look fast enough to be a 7 to me, so pack a bit of weight on him and play him as a 6/8.

I think he'll end up an Ethan Blackadder/Luke Jacobson type loosie ie, can cover all 3 backrow positions. Agree with you even at 108KG he doesn't seem quick enough to be a 7. Also looks like he'll put on 5KG without sacrificing mobility.

Can not believe that the Force elected to kick the penalty, and then keep kicking the ball away when they're behind on the scoreboard.

@crucial it was a very odd one, it didnt look like he was trying to do anything, almost like he froze with indecision about what he was going to do at all, in the end he simply stood in the way and 2 heads clashed.

I have no doubt it was simply a complete mis-read of the situation, zero intent for anything at all, but 2 heads clashed, hard. So red card was always the answer, but this is where the 20-min red works.

@crucial my bins are outside your house, you could just place it in there.

@old-samurai-jack said in Force v Reds:

Yeah, how good was O'Connor! Impressive performance.

O'Connor and Paisami were impressive. I was surprised how well Paisami stepped into first receiver. He has always been able to distribute but organising off 2nd/3rd phase ball was impressive. The shot he put on Mataele outside of the legality was Sam Tuitupou like.

@nta said in Rebels v Force:

@kiwimurph said in Rebels v Force:

Why the hell is Carter Gordon benched?

The problem is they have a rubbish 9 (Powell).

Yo-yo-ing isn't going to help young Carter Gordon

And To'omua isn't a 10. Kills whatever attacking opportunity is left after Powell fucks around at the base

I not convinced Toomua is all that good at 10 either NTA, I really like him, (probably because I knew him as young player at my club) but have always thought he was better at 12.

@nostrildamus hopefully downstairs wasn't a Queen of the Desert style bar.

@nevorian Good recruiting by the Force thanks to Forrester's 💰 ; several of them older players, which shows the importance of experience. Unfortunately to them, they're also going to lose some of their players after this season. For example, IIRC both Cubelli and Miotti have signed in France. But maybe they'll manage to sign some of this year's returnees to take their place.

That loop de loop try is one of the more embarrassing things I have seen on a football field

@stargazer I knew he had spent time in Northland, was looking up something a few weeks ago and his wiki page said he was born in Perth, if you cant trust Wiki, what can you trust!!

The way Tiatia was playing it was more likely to be a try for the Force at the other end of the field.

@bovidae said in Force v Reds:

I think they have changed the rules to avoid club games counting for a suspension.

This was one of the changes made ahead of the 2017 SR season:

In the determination of an incident and the handing down of any sanctions, the committee will now have the ability to exclude any regular season Super Rugby byes as part of a meaningful sanction. This is a significant change and will ensure all sanctions issued during Super Rugby are treated consistently across all teams.

New Super Rugby Judiciary Process Unveiled - Super Rugby New Super Rugby Judiciary Process Unveiled - Super Rugby

It seems the Judiciary in the recent cases in SR AU considers missing club rugby games as part of a "meaningful sanction", or the Juriciary Process introduced in 2017 is no longer applied.

Identical situation to Chiefs last night with a defensive penalty with under a minute to play. But unbelievably bad throw to ultimately cost match. Ironic.

@duluth said in Rebels v Force:

@gunner

They won against the Tahs in Sydney.

🤭 😏

Oh that's right, I remember now.

@arhs Jordan Smiler is another Waikato player who ended up at the Brumbies. Speight for the backs.

@nta I think it was a fair criticism of his last year but he seems to be putting in more of a shift this year. My main concern picking him for the Wallabies is a lack of lineout presence.

@african-monkey Brumbies and Reds maybe close. Probably not.

@booboo said in SR Australia Round 3: Waratahs v Western Force:

@nta said in SR Australia Round 3: Waratahs v Western Force:

Having slept on it, I'm happy with the improvement. Again it was a step up from last week, tho against a weaker opponent. It is still going to be a long season, and a lot of these guys aren't going to feature in Wallaby gold this year.

Just hope NSWRU HQ get over their complete lack of self-awareness and leave Penney in place.

Read an article on Fox I think. It's all NZ's fault: Hore, Gibson, Penny ...

Checks out. 😉

I wouldn't blame Penney tho.

I turned this off with 20mins to go. Felt like the game had gone for three hours already.

If Gardner asked the other question it would’ve been a lot more simple

Old man Kahui is the best Force back

At least extra time worked a bit better this time

In the previous over time it was a kickfest with both sides waiting for a mistake. This time the Rebels held the ball and got a try after multiple phases

@Duluth said in Force v Brumbies:

@Yeetyaah

Oops.. fixed

More fuel to the fire. NZ contempt for AR.

Definitely no facial expressions.

@stargazer yeah agree on the hype that was bullshit
Also thought Dunshea was strong Poihipi was impressive solid on the tackle and made good decisions for a 19 year old
Ex NZ Schoolboy hooker Brodie McAlister also looked promising of the bench another 19 year old
Crusaders developing some good depth for the future

Very good, moving article written by Western Force's Pek Cowan. It illustrates how bad this whole process (and its outcome) is, and has been, for all involved and the utter failure that is called the ARU.

Stress, tears & a club ruined

@No-Quarter said in Western Force v Hurricanes:

Riccitelli fell into the tackle, and it wasn't a shoulder charge. I don't think it was as malicious as you guys are making out - more unfortunate then anything. Under the new interpretation it should have been a yellow but contact with the head was accidental IMO.

Don't think anyone is suggesting it was a shoulder charge and i don't think RR falling into it has any relevance. He got hit in the head with force. I agree yellow would have been the "right" call but red isn't out of the question given what we have seen red cards for this year. Yet he got NOTHING, not even a penalty.
He should get a couple of weeks off with a discount for wearing a tie but i suspect they will totally ignore it.

@Crash said in Force v Highlanders:

The sidestep and shimmy from Halnukanuka was impressive

Thought it was hilarious he went off injured after that, he'd only just come on! Brilliant smile on his face through the whole thing.

Hunt has made some strides the last few games, real classic openside play from him, Kronfeld-esque.

Can't help but feel the highlanders backs made it look a lot harder than it was at times - Faddes, Osborne, Li with some very ordinary phases of play.

Great to see Sopoaga back, didn't miss a beat.

Thought Hemopo put in a surprisingly good shift too.

Barracuda probably lucky not to see yellow.