@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?

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!

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.

@Canes4life said in Bledisloe 1:

Our best player not being there next week is a huge loss. Big chance for Hoskins though.

Is something wrong with Sami?

nzrugby.co.nz/assets/2022-Competitions-Regulations-Handbook.pdf

Seems to be released pre-NPC (no Super or Aupiki)

“Elite XV Women’s “ MOU

nzrpa.co.nz/asset/460/RPC-NZR%20-%20Women's%20Elite%20XV%20MOU%20-%20fully%20signed.pdf

@MN5 said in Star Wars VII ****contains spoilers****:

@Kiwiwomble said in Star Wars VII ****contains spoilers****:

@MN5

but they do give good, imo, explanations (unlike rey), cara is litterally built like a brick shit house, Bo has been born and raised to be the leader of a military culture, fennic is an assassin, shes not generally swinging a club around, she snips with a gun most often and dones some acrobatic shit...there is still far more male character that kick arse over all in Star wars to each their own so is it just that we see them all in the same series?...too any women?

Fair enough. I did re edit my original post.

To further add to your post Ashoka is an extremely powerful Jedi Knight.

Maybe the girls are just bearing the brunt of my criticism of the new series. Han, Luke, Leia etc struggled to put away troopers much more than these guys do.

Han got decked by a Scout Trooper and Luke and Leia really struggled to catch the others. They only escaped the Death Star cos Moff Tarkin ordered it.

In the latest movies, series etc though they’re a joke. Any less than 20 of them is basically target practice.

Their combat instructors need to be fired for this inept training

To be fair though, I’m not sure Stormtrooper training deals with Jake the Muss.

@Stargazer said in Super Rugby Aupiki 2023:

@Crucial I can't find the 2022 one either.

Sorry. Think we are just in a tangle.
Yes 2022 Playing regs are available but don’t contain Aupiki.
NZRPA details regarding payments, sponsor endorsements etc etc are available for Aupiki but also only 2022.

@Stargazer said in Super Rugby Aupiki 2023:

@Crucial I suspect you're thinking of a different type of document than I'm referring to. This is not about player payments, leave, etc. It's the handbook that contains the rules for the SR Aupiki competition, similar to the Competitions Regulations Handbook, which contains the rules for the NPC, FPC and Heartland competitions. Rules about the format of the competition, competitions points allocation, ranking, tiebreaker rules etc.

Yeah. ThTs what I said a couple of posts ago. Both 2022 ones are available but the 2023 stuff isn’t.

@Stargazer said in Super Rugby Aupiki 2023:

@Crucial Can you please post the link of the one you have found, because I can't find it. I can only find the Competitions Regulations Handbook for 2022, but that doesn't contain the Aupiki regulations.

I’m just on my phone but a dig around on the NZRPA site should help you.

@Windows97 said in Chiefs 2023:

I'm not used to the Chiefs being this good tbh...quite a culture shock really.

Thanks for that Mr Gatland

@Stargazer said in Super Rugby Aupiki 2023:

Just for my own nerdy interest, is there someone who has access to the "NZRU Elite XV Competition Regulations Handbook"? This handbook contains the competition rules for Super Rugby Aupiki and are, unfortunately, not published on NZR's website.

I see the 2022 one is published but not the 2023.

The agreement for Aupiki around training/ pre-season/ player payments etc for 2023 haven't been published on the RPA site either but I can confirm that payment wise it is pro-rata pretty much the same as 2022 (obviously increased due to more weeks/games)

@Kiwiwomble said in All Blacks 2023:

im with @ACT-Crusader here...." to get some alignment for RWC year on playing to current ref trends and being more effective" definitely sounds like what they should be doing....like all the time...every day

Definitely not 'all the time...every day'. That leads to group think and way too much similarity.
Of course the coaches do get together an discuss trends but this is being painted as a little bit more than that. Getting forwards to use the same techniques to counter lineout drive mauls means that they get more practice and are ready when they hit the ABs.
I get what @ACT-Crusader is saying. I just think he is being way too cynical. There may be an assumption that this stuff is done anyway but I don't have an issue with it being released to the press. All Press Releases are effectively spin but some also contain some information that is interesting and highlight something good that is going on.

@Kiwiwomble said in Star Wars VII ****contains spoilers****:

@MN5 said in Star Wars VII ****contains spoilers****:

Also it irked me to no end that Han became a small time smuggler who lost his fucken ship !

He was one of the major heroes of the rebellion and should have lived a cushy life after that.

the idea that their marriage broke up because of what happened to Ben.....is kind of interesting....and going back to what you knew if this new life has burnt you kind of makes sense....but lets see it! rather than just happening off screen

In the 'legends' novels Han and Leia became estranged when Chewie died doing a heroic deed to save the kids. Han couldn't handle the grief.
That's way better.
You'd think that introducing the Solo and Skywalker kids as teens that would have provided great material for Disney's target audience as well.

@ACT-Crusader said in All Blacks 2023:

@Crucial said in All Blacks 2023:

@ACT-Crusader said in All Blacks 2023:

“Summit” is usually code for a talkfest. Let’s hope it actually comes to something

No code. They are quite clear that this was just a discussion between forward coaches to get some alignment for RWC year on playing to current ref trends and being more effective.
Sounds a good idea to me.

So coaches doing their job. Hardly newsworthy, but hey let’s put the summit tag on it and make it more than it really is.

Not sure where you are coming from here.
It is a 'summit meeting' because it is competing coaches getting some alignment for the good of the peak selections. Normally they would "do their job" as individuals because that is the way the franchises are set up and managed.
I think it is worth letting fans know. The comment that NZ rugby should be working together for a common goal and playing alignment is often made on here. Now we can see that it does actually happen.