@sparky said in Sam Cane - All Blacks Captain:

Which test was Andrew Hore ABs captain for?

It was a club game.

@snowy said in RIP Phil the Greek:

One more year and he would have got a message from his wife.
Wonder what that would have been?

Actually feel quite sorry for the old girl. She really did love him.

A couple of years ago the son and his partner were doing the Windsor Castle walkthrough while we were in the pub. ('Two Brewers' if you are looking for a good one there) and while others in their group went rushing from item to item they stopped to just look out a window onto a courtyard. A door opened and out came Lizzie with a couple of dogs, a car pulls up and out hops Phil. She has a big smile and goes and gives him a hug. They luckily witnessed a totally real and candid moment between the two.

My own little experience was more formal but we got an invite to one of the garden parties at the big London house and then got selected to meet the old girl as she wandered through the garden. Anyway it is all quite formal and you get introduced etc. The wife and I use different surnames and because of a quirk in the way it was set up ended up standing on either side of a couple of friends. Anyway she has her little chat along the line to the others. Work talk. Then gets to me. 'and what brings you here Crucial?'. I pointed to the wife and said 'I'm just here as support and logistics for her'. She actually laughed and said 'Oh, I have one of those as well'.
After she moved on to the next group and we were released we had so many people come up and asked how we made her smile and laugh. The 'joke' was weak so I can only assume it was thinking about the silly old bugger.

@cantab79 said in AB Test Team v France.:

Can't believe people are seriously suggesting that Steve Hansen has not called up Akira Ioane because he is saving him for the Maori team. Is there any precedent to back up this theory? Luke Whitelock has outplayed Ioane at both Super Rugby and Mitre 10 Cup levels this year, and that's why he's been selected.

How does that pie taste?

Took a drive yesterday (only 5 km over the regional border) to a farm in the Wairarapa and picked up a new pup. 3 month old black lab. Very cool little fella. This will keep me busy.

Look. Tana and BOD have buried the hatchet and are sharing a laugh.

Next on Tana's list are @Kirwan and @Duluth

@jegga said in RWC: Japan v Ireland (Pool A):

@booboo said in RWC: Japan v Ireland (Pool A):

@jegga said in RWC: Japan v Ireland (Pool A):

@Victor-Meldrew said in RWC: Japan v Ireland (Pool A):

@jegga said in RWC: Japan v Ireland (Pool A):

Apparently BOD was a pundit on the Irish coverage and didn't take the result well. If anyone has the footage and can post it I will be eternally grateful

Was on the ITV coverage.

He had the look of a man who's swallowed a wasp during during a live TV interview and that distracted him from the fact he's also having a severe bowel spasm.

Excellent.

A quarter final exit is an Irish tradition isn’t it?

Planet Rugby’s Ireland fans are still delivering gold

“We knew all of this in advance.
That’s why Joe player what he felt was his best team.

In cooler weather, better ref, neutral location both teams given the same amount of rest and our B team puts 40 points on them.

Do we really think that Japan making the quarters wasn’t just what WR wanted?

At this rate Japan might make the semis or better.

Reminds me of Korea/Japan WC in the football.”

Also a whole thread about how bent Gardner is

http://forum.planetrugby.com/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=91481&sid=5594db999ca625c55956a0becc14a9dc

I don’t remember bok fans being this graceless at all and their team came back and gave ours a hell of a game in the semis.
I hope Heneke Meyer had a smile on his face last night .
The only downside for Japan is no one in their pool is going to take them lightly so they’ll be playing their top side if possible.

As a neutralish observer (I was obviously backing Japan) I didn't notice any obvious issues with the officiating. Did anyone? (Haven't read the thread.)

What are their specific whinge? Or is it just victim mentality?

Some of them have been saying Japan had an advantage because they play in the super rugby comp and are more used to the way Gardner refs .

Victim mentality, delusions of grandeur or just ungracious arseclowns? Take your pick

According to comments on the42 Ireland were beaten by some fella called Hugh Middity.
He wasn’t on the team sheets but must have been there because everyone is saying “Hi, Hugh Middity”

@allblacksfan72 said in Are there any All Blacks wildcards left ?:

How about George bridge? Has all the qualities needed for test rugby

A red and black jersey?

What about stupid people that think they can coach and select the ABs but have no clue about it. They can piss right of!

Can someone please correct this thread title. It is doing my head in.

@bones said in Super Rugby Trans Tasman:

@crucial said in Super Rugby Trans Tasman:

I could find easily a dozen examples during the game of players on the wrong side that weren’t penalised

Go on then. Is it as easily as Tiatia scores tries?

Do you want circles or arrows?

@machpants said in Silver Lake buying a stake in the ABs?:

@canefan Yeah but I trust the finacial people that ran through the scenarios that lead to this. Doesn't mean they are right and it is the only option, but they'll have don e their best to give the correct info to NZR. However someone is wrong with their numbers, either NZRs financial advisors or NZRPA's!

@higgins said in Chiefs 2021:

@dan54 said in Chiefs 2021:

@gt12 said in Chiefs 2021:

@bovidae

If he can become a reliable thrower, he’ll likely become an All Black.

If we had a trustworthy line out, we’d also likely shoot straight back to being the second or third best team in NZ (I know we finaled in SRA, but we got there through a bunch of lucky wins and Dmac’s boot).

With BBBR back we will automatically go from having lock be a position of weakness, to one of strength, but I’d like it if we had another younger player to bring through who is more clearly a lock, rather than a lock/6 or 6/lock.

However, with BBBR, Vaii, and Lord, I guess I shouldn’t complain.

Mate I don't see locks as being weak, I think Va'ai is as good a lock as any running around, and Ah Khuoi is not bad. Actually think when BBBR comes back him and Va'ai will be best locking set up in country.

He is not even a starter for the Wellington Lions. Whether that is because he is not rated by the Wgtn management or their love affair with their captain, J. Blackwell, is yet to be determined.

I think it's a given. Ah Kuoi has played really well at Super level. Lions are missing a trick if they don't use him.
Chiefs number 3 lock when BBBR is back.

@dogmeat said in Gin:

@crucial WILL HE TAKE ORDERS?

It took me a while to convince him to do me a batch. Although he is retired and has time, it is a time consuming messy process, hence the reason I don't buy a home still and have a go myself.

Gin is relatively easy to make if the stuff my father concocts is anything to go by. Helps that he has been making base spirit for quite a while as a hobbyist even though the results as far as 'whisky' or 'brandy' leave a lot to be desired and are just flavoured spirit.
Thing is with gin is that all it really is is flavoured spirit and you can either infuse the botanicals in the mash,during distillation or after (bathtub gin). Or a combo of them all.
He tends to triple distil. First pass is making some alcohol. Second pass has some botanicals steeped in and third with some in the vapour.
Once you have done a few batches to get the balance and amount right it is a fairly easy process and the cost is quite attractive.
I am getting him to do me a batch of 6 bottles for $100 and it stands up alongside many $75 craft gins very easily.

@dan54 said in Chiefs 2021:

@gt12 said in Chiefs 2021:

@bovidae

If he can become a reliable thrower, he’ll likely become an All Black.

If we had a trustworthy line out, we’d also likely shoot straight back to being the second or third best team in NZ (I know we finaled in SRA, but we got there through a bunch of lucky wins and Dmac’s boot).

With BBBR back we will automatically go from having lock be a position of weakness, to one of strength, but I’d like it if we had another younger player to bring through who is more clearly a lock, rather than a lock/6 or 6/lock.

However, with BBBR, Vaii, and Lord, I guess I shouldn’t complain.

Mate I don't see locks as being weak, I think Va'ai is as good a lock as any running around, and Ah Khuoi is not bad. Actually think when BBBR comes back him and Va'ai will be best locking set up in country.

Agree but I think the comment was more that locking depth wasn't there while BBBR was away.
I think Lord has the ability to improve and take the number 4 lock spot as a good injury/rest option as well.
As long as we don't have to resort to Brown and/or Sowakula filling in I think we are OK.
And yes, BBBR and Vaai is something to look forward to.

@hooroo said in Rugby Commentators:

Otherwise I like the Aussies in the comms box. They add an extra level of faux excitement and I enjoy it.

That style of 'faux excitement' is a reason I could never get into watching league.

It just comes across as false. They don't need to be deadpan (a certain level of excitement sometimes wakes you up) but when they start spouting rubbish like praising Julian Savea as if he is the second coming of Lomu when he jogs in an overlap try it's just taking the piss.

@shark said in Gin:

Scapegrace Black with tonic and nothing else. Preferably Fever Tree.

But which Fever Tree?

@bones said in Super Rugby Trans Tasman:

@kev said in Super Rugby Trans Tasman:

But lots of times guys can’t move despite best efforts because the arriving players lock them in.

And most of those lots of times, guys have put themselves on the wrong side and get locked in by arriving players. How can they avoid getting locked in? Don't get on the wrong side!

It happens very occasionally that players are genuinely in the way through no fault of their own and it's probably the one thing refs get right most often.

I was moaning about one last week though

What you want though is consistency.
I could find easily a dozen examples during the game of players on the wrong side that weren’t penalised because they didn’t affect play, yet this one does.
I think I mentioned it in the match thread that the danger with refs like this one is that when playing advantage (or after a warning) they change the standard by which they judge.
The guy’s method was play advantage for a technical penalty then focus on the offending side looking for any minor transgression and keep racking up the penalties until producing a YC.
Another example of a minor infringement that caused a chain was DMac defending the line with his fingers in the field of play. Correct technical penalty that started a mindset of looking for a reason to YC.

@bovidae said in Rugby Commentators:

@barbarian The main Aust Stan commentators are fine, but some of the colour commentators (read: ex-players) are as bad as ours. Harrison seemed to think we were back in the 1990s by saying Waikato Chiefs all the time. I can just imagine the reactions from the CM and BOP TSFers when he continually said that.

I was laughing because along with the Waikato part he correctly identified the likelihood of hillbillies with chainsaws and cowbells. Only thing he missed out was fountains. And syphilis.