The Silver Fern

@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.

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

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

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

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

He also had an interesting insight into referee selection at the top level. Amazingly it seems that if Wayne Barnes had have pulled a hamstring the night before the final, we’d have had Dickson reffing the game 😳

Unfortunately, the upshot of having a bunch of shit pedants as English refs, is that the only way to guarantee that there won't be one appointed to any particular match, is to watch England play. Which is as sure a way to guarantee watching a shit match, as watching an English ref ruin one.

The irony is Luke Pierce is an excellent English ref who seems out of favour.

This also came up in the discussion at the club lunch. Most officials were gobsmacked at how underused Pierce was.

Georgian too

Indeed. Instead they are moral high ground claiming, hard done by kants!

@nostrildamus said in RWC QF: France v South Africa:

@canefan said in RWC QF: France v South Africa:

@nostrildamus said in RWC QF: France v South Africa:

@pakman said in RWC QF: France v South Africa:

Mark Donlon  /  Oct 22  /  Rugby World Rugby identify FIVE refereeing mistakes from controversial France-South Africa clash World Rugby identify FIVE refereeing mistakes from controversial France-South Africa clash

World Rugby have admitted to five mistakes in the Rugby World Cup quarter-final match between France and South Africa following referee Ben O'Keeffe's

3-2 errors, a card each, nearly balances out?

Do they want go back and run the rule over Wayne Barnes' performance in the 2007 France/ABs match?

I doubt it but would be a popular move by some Kiwis 🙂
Was this WR refereeing report a leak or a public release?

Alleged leak, no proof. Might well be fake

@W32 said in RWC Week 4: Springboks v Tonga:

This reminds me of my first meeting with an Australian. I was in Israel and met a young Australian about my age. This was 30 years ago. When he heard that I was from South Africa, he said “ you’re a racist”
I was shocked and affronted. I guess he didn’t know about what happened to the aborigines in his own country.

Better than being called a sheep fůcker during all of high school. And a Nazi because I'm half German. You got off easy!

I noticed the world's "greatest 12" let his rival waltz past him in the 72nd minute-Mr Aki seems a bit slow on the turn...

@taniwharugby said in RWC Week 2: Springboks v Romania:

Interesting seeing the differing mind set of fans (via Social Media at least)

Bok fans praising the win over Romania, congratulating the team: NZ beat Namibia, fans saying it was only Namibia, we were shit, we didnt win by enough.

Bok passing grade was to end Romania game with a better points difference than Ireland v Romania.

Scratch team did that apparently without serious injuries. So we’re satisfied.

@MN5 Ellendig forgot to pass. All these years.

@SidBarret said in RWC warmup - Wales v Springboks -:

@MiketheSnow would have a knock on in goal so a goal line kick off (based the SA v NZ game with the knock on call on Kolbe)

(The ref was playing advantage to SA in this instance so the question is academic)

Cheers

As I've said Joubert's decisions favoured France, although as has been said I recall only the one shot at goal on the aecond half (that missed).

But that was pretty much had down to how the ABs backed off the offside line.

They were determined not to concede a penalty. And rightly didn't.

Boks left a lot of points out there

Libbok will be kicking himself, but I fear he’d miss

actually, following up my post, maybe that's a way of dealign with the risk elements. If you go in hard, you have some responsibilty - so standing and 'soaking' is a mitigation compared to flying in shoulder first.

Some good analysis by Giteau ten minutes or so in.

I saw the headline yesterday but the article didn't open so I just assumed it was Stransky! Geez

I caught the beginning of that. Thought Quinn was really showing his age.

@OomPB said in Springboks 2023:

Fixtures for 2024
6/7/2024 Ireland at Loftus
13/7/2024 Ireland at Durban
20/7/2024 Georgia at ?
31/8/2024 All Blacks at Ellispark
7/9/2024 All Blacks at CT Stadium
28/9/2024 Pumas at Mbombela

17/11/2024 England at Twickenham

Easy pesy!

We all wonder from time to time how the performance of referee's is reviewed.

This is from the article below:

“Within certain sections of the fan community, there’s a lack of understanding of the depth of performance review we go through.

“We are Test match performers and just like a world-class team the reviews and learning are deep and detailed. Post-match most of the referees will get the live notes straight away – either directly from Joel or from the match assessor.

“You will get some feedback from your coach who is actually watching it very carefully from the screen and an overall comment on what was the topline feeling and maybe some notes on the big decisions and their outcomes.”

He's right that there isn't a sufficient understanding of the performance review of test referees, but I think that World Rugby, SANZAAR and all other organisations responsible for organising international tours, tournaments and competitions could themselves improve that understanding by more openess about both that review process and the results of that process. That doesn't have to, and shouldn't, happen by throwing a referee under the bus like they've done in the past with a referee like Angus Gardner, but more openess could - hopefully - prevent the likes of Rassie Erasmus from venting his own inflammatory "reviews" on social media. It won't stop all the morons who threatened Wayne Barnes and his family from doing the same to the next ref that officiates a game of their team (especially when that team loses), but it may help a bit.

Another Test referee speaks out on 'certain sections of the fan community' Another Test referee speaks out on 'certain sections of the fan community'

Referee Nika Amashukeli has become the latest Test official to speak out following what he describes as disgraceful abuse directed at Wayne Barnes and his family during the Autumn Nations.

LibBok performance

@Bones said in France vs Springboks:

I guess this goes here?

Ben James  /  Dec 14, 2022  /  Rugby News Wayne Barnes considered quitting after threats to family over Erasmus criticism Wayne Barnes considered quitting after threats to family over Erasmus criticism

The abuse came after Barnes took charge of South Africa's defeat to France last month

Barnes siding with the French over a controversial match? well I never...

this looks like it could also go in the conspiracy theory thread, recently known as the Laporte thread.. its evidence he is corrupt lol!