@chris-b said in Has Hansen gone stale?:

@mokey said in Has Hansen gone stale?:

@mariner4life Can you imagine trying to explain those years to kids nowadays.
Well, poppets, we had some rough times. The Wallabies were on top of the world. Locks kicked. Richie cried. Anton couldn't count. The French routed us. John was on a journey...

Has someone still got that Gorgeous Grogan post as he rode into the sunset...?

Ladies, Gentlemen and Adults of Indeterminate and/or Transitional Gender

May I present to you Peak Fern, the most awesome post ever.  Shared by long lost and departed @Gorgeous_Grogan (I added the @ just in case he’s still lingering …) the day after 23 October 2011 …

Enjoy.

(Sorry cloud image didn't work ... imagine it )

---

Ding dong the Witch is dead

Today, without a hint of overstatement, I can now die a happy man. Before I indulge you as to why first look at this picture of lovely little clouds...

(Cloud image)

They are as light and as fluffy as my soul today.

Now look outside your window gentlemen. Does the sun not shine a little brighter today? Does the grass not appear a little greener? Does the World not appear as though it has returned to a blissful harmonious state after seeming strangely off-kilter for the last 2 and a half decades or so? As you listen to birds warbling "The Hallelujah Chorus" in glorious symphonic unison, contemplate this simple truth...

Our team, yes OUR team.....are Champions of the World.

In the last World Cup of our lifetimes to be played on home soil, the annointed spiritual guardians of our great game have faced their demons, and stared them down. With an irresistible fusion of pure, concentrated mana, Aaron Crudens' lefty, and the terrifying power of an all-consuming Blackness, they have inscribed their indelible legacy into the pages of history forevermore. And if that act wasn't sufficiently "Brad Thorn" enough, we did it.....

...Without Dan Carter
...Without Dan Carters replacement
...We even did it without our cancer surviving, mono-bollocked, rough-headed Carter-replacement-replacement for fucks sake, it reads like a hollywood script. (Come on Peter Jackson, get off your arse and do something for New Zealand, prove you're still street. "Invictus II - The Redemption", it's as good as written)
...We did it with half a McCaw
...Against the Wallabies in a sudden death semi-final
...Twice against France
...In the style and spirit of the '87 pioneers (We even did it with cute little white collars on)
...With so many others gleefully, even desperately willing us to choke

Furthermore, for once our unparalleled player depth actually DID count for something at the pointy end. The Cartel redeemed themselves. The Duck redeemed himself. After falling twice Richie McCaw (The greatest living New Zealander bar none, now surely the undisputed greatest All Black, possibly player, of all time and general all round good fluffybunny) finally gets his reward (and probably an instant knighthood, a minted coin, maybe a postage stamp and at the very least an undie commercial).

Yes, for today my friends, we finally lay to rest the ghosts of failed campaigns, heartbreaking memories of drop goals in overtime, intercepts, forward passes, and explosive diaherrea. Tears of grief, humiliation and ridicule, missed opportunities, disastrous selection policy, fate, merciless sledging, raw disbelief and referees. Of fallen warriors such as Cullen, Jonah, Zinzan and Tana who deserved more for the blood they spilt in black and who fought and fell on foreign soil, with the Silver Fern on their chest.

Today is a rebirth.

Today I can watch rugby and actually enjoy it again (rather than through my fingers, with a burning, twisting knot of anxiety and nausea in my stomach)

Today I will no longer have to wonder if we will EVER win another world cup.

Today we no longer have to hear the "Choker" tag burning in our ears (usually from supporters who jump on the French because their own teams have been knocked out long before us, might I add)

Today I no longer have to hear the (annoyingly inaccurate and lazy) cliche about the All Blacks peaking between World Cups or about "losing their aura"

Today that evil little goblins' "Four more years" sledge suddenly hurts no more.

Today I will no longer have to watch our team flog themselves to exhaustion season after season trying to live up to impossible expectations under intense public scrutiny, conquering all before them, winning test after test yet always having one eye on an looming World Cup which will apparently invalidate it all (but we've still got our 85% winning record right guys?.....Guys?)

Today I no longer have to endure losing a World Cup and then listening to pasty, bandwagon-jumping, fair-weather twats with shit ginger Tarquin haircuts who know less than nothing about rugby, regurgitating the latest bullshit trendy newsfeed narrative that's been fed to them as though they have aaaaaaany fucking idea what they're talking about.

Today I became genuinely impervious to any bitter trolling that Welsh "journalists" may scrawl about the All Blacks. Negative articles will now simply slide right off like so much dust off a gumboot (as opposed to previously, when it was more like say, irritating dog turd nuggets mashed right into the sole, requiring a stick or some other implement to extricate from the tread, and even though you're sure you got it all there always still seems to be a vague lingering turdy smell following you around all day, even after you've given them a couple of good goings over with the hose, (maybe you got a bit on your sleeve).......Anyway, what I was getting at is that the petty squealing of "the Irrelevant" matters not when you're the World Champions. Yep you heard that right, WORLD CHAMPIONS...(And yes, even now when they'll probably just put out articles claiming we can only win the thing at home)

Today brothers and sisters, "The Curse" has lifted.

As pathetic as it may sound, after the continual gut-wrenching failure and heartache I have endured for my entire adult life, over a quarter of a century, today IS that important. Indeed we may never lift another world cup in my lifetime. But to me at least, it simply no longer matters. Say it with me now.....It No. Longer. Matters. We knocked the bastard off. The searing agony of 4.5 million Kiwis has been extinguished, and now we all get to ride off merrily into the sunset to our pre-planned victory parade in our big-arsed jumbo with our front row repainted all over the front. See kids? Dreams do come true.

All Blacks.................Fuck yeah!

So...

.. married in mid 30s to a lady a little older than me with a previous family (two kids she loves dearly but is out of touch with... for reasons I won't go into here...). Given her circumstances she was no longer able to have children.

We were never having kids. Just accepted fact. I'm not sure I reflected on this or even if I "regretted" it. It just was. We weren't having kids. It was her and me and we were happy.

Happens my Dad passed away in 2001.

As part of the grieving process Mrs Boo lines me up and asks me if I want kids. Honestly. DO YOU WANT KIDS? Searching within, well yeah I do. Mrs Boo then has to have surgery to make having kids possible again.

Not long after we end up with Ms Boo Jr. Best decision of our lives.

When @mariner4life or @taniwharugby or @NTA describe how they out of the blue come and share some random moment in their lives that's so awesome. And the joy at her successes at school and in sport transcend any I ever achieved for myself.

She's about to set sail into the world in a year or so, and Mrs Boo and I will have to find that spot we had 17 years ago when it was just her and I.

My point being is I think having child is beyond awesome.

But if we could go back 17 years (ok ... 18) I really don't think I would have have gone through life regretting it.

So @chimoaus don't . Regret not having kids that is. I wouldn't have.

But if you do have kids they are the best toys ever.

13 from 14 after missing 800+ caps.

Chuck Bledisloe retained.

Perfect Rugby Championship.

A few noobs introduced.

Continue to fuck with the minds of the northern tinfoil brigade.

The only black spot(s) being the result in Chi town, and perhaps the performances at Eden Park and Dublin (and to a lesser extent Paris) where we won on defence (which is a good thing).

Generally a solid B+ for me.

On review we didn't mess too much with the First XV throughout with the exception of Italy. However injury allowed us some pseudo rotation.

I think we need to confirm a 3rd hooker.

Our top 4 props are good. Next in line needs some looking at. Ofa cops a bit of slack but he held up OK. Laulala and Moli bear looking at next year.

Locks. Top 2 are top 2. Romero has some work to do to stay in front of Barrett. Pat T was a bit of a disappointment on tour. Wanted him to meast it up. Think he suffered from lack of game time. Think he's one of those guys who gets better the more they play. So won't write him off. Bird in the background is worth remembering too.

Loosies: apologies from me to Matt Todd. I didn't think he was Test class. He is. He's not Sam Cane but he's not bad. Ardie at this stage has his niche in the pine.

We missed JK at 6 in Chicago. And I don't think either Squire or Dixon are his replacement. As I have said elsewhere I think Luatua is a more like-for-like replacement. Ioane may be a bench option.

Read was quiet, but hardly a passenger. A long term replacement 8 is needed too. Ioane is not that yet IMO.

Halfbacks. We're well served. We all know about Smith's form dip. Disappointing. But a month or two off to get his head right will do him a world of good.

TJ's form has been a huge plus.

Back up from TKB, Weber and Pulu and there's plenty of depth.

When you consider Lima Sopoaga is rated the 3rd 10 we're doing good there.

BB killed it this year. AC still looks really good even if he is not BB.

As always we need to consider who else is around. Need at least 4 10s one of whom can whitebait. DMac must be in the mix I suppose.

Midfield. Well after starting the year with this area as a point of major panic, whilst it's not a weapon currently it's not the weakness it could gave been.

ALB looks the part. Crotty makes whoever he is there with look good. Fekitoa has his moments. Moala runs hard and straight. Reiko (just for @GT12) looked comfortable in his outings. Tamanivalu may be a bit of a work on.

Given SBW will be around, Barrett Jr will have a full SR campaign, and Charlie Ngatai may be over his head knocks (hopefully - for his sake as much as anything else) we're not thin at 12/13.

Wings. We had our moments. Savea was up and down. He suffered a lot from reputation lag though. If he didn't score from 35m out and only beat one tackler he was "useless". Some of the criticism was justified some of it wasn't. Naholo had flashes but I'm sure we hoped for a bit more. Given we were forced to play Dagg at 14 says something about the depth and form of our wings.

Ioane could be additional cover here and if course NMS will hopefully be back. Nanai may be an option too.

BFA was excellent through the year. Dagg excellent deputy.

Considering though that Dagg was the best option at wing we need to look for depth in the back 3. As above NMS covers this and Nanai has been in the mix. Proctor may be on the fringes.

With regard to tactics I think teams have worked out that they can't kick it back to us. So they hold on to the ball more. Hence we've had to defend. And by crikey the defence has been awesome. Teams may have worked out that they need to hold on to the ball, they just need to learn how to hold on to it and do something with it to break that defence.

In a lot of ways we've slowly been dragged back to the pack from where we were at the start of the season .. or at least the chasing pack has caught us a little.

I think Aussie at Eden Park looked dangerous and have backed that up (even allowing for Ireland result).

Not sure of some of our tactics. Plenty of times I'd have liked to work the corners rather than a half pie kick which turned over possession 60m out. We did that too much against Aus at EP, Ireland and France. And they were all good enough to take advantage and mount attacks. Deeper kicks would have put more pressure on.

Anyway. My 2c.

Match report from ground zero.

So seats were awesome. First allocation we got was on the try line. Emailed and enquired about anything better and got reissued on the 10. Much pleased.

Stadium brilliant. All seats looked to have a good view. Pretty easy to get around prior to kick off. No queue for food (only bought two cartons of chops - reckon they might have only charged for one as it only cost $6), and three people for beer. (Two XXXX Golds and two Bundy & cokes go Mrs Boo- one of which I ended up drinking - $38. Was sufficient to see us through the game remaining compos mentis with no need to get out for comfort stops.)

Surprised at the access to around and from the Stadium. Lots of road closures and diversion and rat runs. I don't recall even Eden Park being that level of disorganised outside the ground.

Crowd atmosphere was pretty much the best I've experienced. Seemed at least 50/50. Not a bad size either but enough gaps to make moving easy enough. Good natured, despite the niggly game , and both sides had reason to cheer.

But the incessant bloody music! First time I've been to a game for five years and I don't recall it being that bad last time.

I also don't recall buying tickets to a disco.

Several times there was good lead up work, crowd getting into it, maybe a kick to a corner with attacking lineout (one team or the other) and then DOOF DOOF DOOF. Way to kill an atmosphere. Or they're still blasting out some tune 10secs (a long time in sport) after kick-off.

Some of it was good. The rest of it just drowned out the atmosphere.

But enough of that rant.

On to the game. I'm not very good at remembering the intricacies of a game at the best of times, so the following are just general observations.

I did start browsing the match thread last night, got about as far as half-time so will be an interesting exercise to see if my opinions match with the general feel of TSF.

I'm over us giving away penalties. The Wobs first try came from a penalty that gave up possession and territory, after that all they needed was a lucky bounce and presto! Five points.

Bigger discussion point here but I am beginning to think the desperate need to retain possession is not balanced by the consequence of a penalty.

Will need to watch the recording but thought Ofa's red was deserved. First viewing from the stand looked ok but the shots from the reverse looked bad. Quick peruse of the forum suggests there may have been mitigations that weren't fully factored. Will have to check.

Shame they had to drag Akira. Looked like he'd been going well.

Missed the Swinton red live but lucky it was only a red.

Game didn't have a lot of shape from my viewing, especially after the cards.

Not sure about the obsession with the rolling maul just prior to half-time. Wondered if we shouldn't have had a crack wider.

Thought we missed a couple of chances on the outside, particularly in the second half. I think ALB went himself once, and Jordie could have passed to Rioane once. Maybe not full on overlaps but felt there was some space out there.

Beaudie put in a couple of awful kicks.

As Jordie was calling for the quick throw in from Reece I could see Wellington all over again. Came close.

Reece wasn't up to much.

Not a fan of SB, don't see him adding much.

Maybe we made a few too many changes?

We need to clone Aaron Smith ASAP, or find a different way to play.

More thoughts on the thread as they come.

Am now one and one for tests attended at Suncorp.

All up a great day apart from the result. Will be back again. Maybe not this package - will take a chance of purchasing tickets, and do a cheaper hotel.

@baron-silas-greenback said in Convicts v Marxist Land Thieves - Crucket:

@baron-silas-greenback And for the record I have spoken to someone who has played with and against Warner about the very topic of sledging and abuse. And he is indeed pretty feral. Off the field he is apparently a bloody nice guy and less arrogant than most of his teamates. But nothing more than a number of other players. He just gets pumped on the field and crosses the line more often than others.
The reaction to him over this is disgusting and more feral than Warner.

Oh good. He's a nice bloke away from cricket. That makes his on field behaviour ok then...

I'm sure we all have aspects of our lives where we act differently in different situations.

I'm sure some people can be really really nice when they're not posting on internet forums.

I'm backing Razor.

Fuck Schmidt.

@mimic said in Aussie Rugby in general:

@Machpants said in Aussie Rugby in general:

@Bones yeah faith is not greater than hate speech

What was it that he said that was hate speech?

**Note: I haven't seen what was posted by Izzy, only that people are hating on him.

Can I please wade in on this?

I'll declare my agnosticism first up, which includes some time toying with Christianity.

So ...

I don't think it is hate speech.

At no point has Folau said homosexuals should go to hell.

He has said they will.

Important distinction.

Especially given it appears his belief is that homosexuality is a sin. And that it is something you have control over.

Again, let me qualify that this is not my belief. But I understand how it could be the belief of a committed Christian.

Let's face it, plenty of people have opinions and beliefs that fly in the face of widely accepted and often scientifically proven fact. Climate science, vaccination, flat earth, gender to name but a few.

Secondly, as a Christian, if he's doing it right, he's praying peeps don't head off to the hot place. If you're a true Christian you don't wish that on anyone. (I find it awfully hypocritical when supposedly Christian people wish someone would rot in hell. Aren't we all meant to be able to be redeemed? John 3:16 (look it up) and all that? I recall the sign in the Sydney church getting some publicity that "God loves Osama bin Laden".)

But I digress...

It is conceivable that he is reaching out to these people he believes are sinning and that, as "Only Jesus saves", he's doing his best to save their mortal souls.

Frankly I don't think he's very bright. I don't agree with him. But I don't think he deserves the level of derision he's getting.

@no-quarter said in England vs All Blacks:

Bloody French refs

Awesome Saffer TMOs.

Always liked them

My 2c regarding school as the qualifier.

I really REALLY hate this recent concentration on school rugby. And it's really recent.

They're kids. Should be allowed to stay kids. And not be fluffed to become Instagram superstars.

Teenagers do not need any more smoke blown up their arse.

Any initiative that adds to the artificial PR machine that is schools rugby should be bombed from orbit.

Schools rugby should be bombed from orbit.

How does this get to be a Republicans v Democrats debate?

Seriously.

It's a "is it ok to be a maggot because he's got money and influence?" v. "Should people be decent human beings?" debate?

@bones said in Super Rugby Trans Tasman:

@booboo I'll take back my like now, the previous edition was a thing of beauty.

I'm sober... promise

@taniwharugby said in Super Rugby Trans Tasman:

I'm hopeless at betting but if I wasn't I'd be looking at the Farce and Brumbles

Edit: typing issues were typing on the phone, ... @Bones

@donsteppa said in Your favourite conspiracy theories:

From: https://www.facebook.com/Scrooge-Mcshillbucks-278435345683756/?ref=page_internal

Astronots is quite good

AFL is shit

@crucial said in Rugby Commentators:

I was having a chuckle last night at the Aussie comms guys all sounding like they had been sent on a course to pronounce PI names properly. All these years of not giving a shit and it looks like their employers have forced their hand.

First time I have ever heard of Matt Tow-oh-moo-ah.

About time they tried though

Gin.

Gin and curry night with University flatmates.

Bitters.

Lots of gin.

Said flat mates could not rouse me when I snuck off to bed.

Remember it as the first time I heard Pink Floyd's "Several Species of Small Furry Animals Gathered Together in a Cave and Grooving With a Pict" (It was only alcohol but seriously weird...) while trying to get the bed to stop spinning.

Next day ... late season Sunday bus trip to Waihi (not even sure why for ... ). There may have been digestive issues.

Did score a try off the bench.

Have never drunk gin again.

I hate gin.

Part of what in my opinion is the best ever All Black looseforward trio: Kaino, McCaw, Read- especially the 2010 version.

And that's considering trios like Mourie, Shaw, Mex; Jones, Whetton, Shelford;

@donsteppa said in NZ cricket 2021:

@bayimports said in NZ cricket 2021:

@canefan said in NZ cricket 2021:

@shark said in NZ cricket 2021:

Didn't really rescue us in Australia in 19/20 though did he

Who did? IIRC Blundell was the only guy who emerged with his reputation enhanced.

really? ......wags might have something to say about that

I thought he meant of the batsman, but the grand total of two impressive players from that series reminds me of why I try to forget that series...!

What series?

@siam said in Super Rugby Trans Tasman:

@crucial a bit of leeway as Marionus (spelling? - head of ARU) said the draw had to be done weeks ago, and I guess there's a health crisis that makes things a tad less flexible, logistically.

Marinos

Given TSF is the font of all knowledge can anyone give a one paragraph explanation of the origins of current trouble?

I appreciate the complications around the formation of the Jewish state post WWII, and religious conflict dating back 2,000 years complicate matters somewhat, but any comments I've seen tend to sit heavily on one side or the other, each accusing the other.

I have a suspicion, like most things, fault may lie on both sides.

Depending on which commentator I've read the removal of protestors from the mosque was either a heinous attack by an oppressive state, or the justified and inevitable result of deliberate provocation.

What were they protesting?
Did they have a right to?
Is their cause justified?
Was it a deliberate attempt to provoke conflict?

Appreciate the thoughts of those more informed than me.