@Pot-Hale said in Blues v BI Lions:
And booing as well.
How can your fans complain about booing when your forwards yell at us every time we try to put the ball into a lineout? Shouldn't you be more worried about the sportsmanship of your players, than the fans?
As voted by you:
Cane 277
R. Ioane 206
Retallick 169
Whitelock 142
Read 141
A. Smith 126
SBW 98
D Mac 92
Hames 76
B. Barrett 75
Baron your response to any proven lie by Trump is just to say that Obama has said something which is a lie or is made up in the past. This is just silliness. You seem to be saying that as soon as someone lies once, they are automatically as bad as someone who lies many more times. There is a very good reason why inventing an attack which is used to bar a group of people from entering a country is treated very differently to whether or not cars have become twice as efficient.
In this thread, several users routinely like to trash the "mainstream media". I also think the mainstream media in regards to CNN did a poor job in their election coverage. However, many of the users who have spent their time trashing the mainstream media have also made several obviously false claims (like about how few counties Clinton won or that Trump's immigration executive order was exactly the same as one passed by Obama). Furthermore, a quick google of these claims makes it clear that they originated on Breitbart. Criticising the MSM for being biased and then posting obviously false and misleading facts from Breitbart makes no sense to me. You are simply holding media organisations you don't use to higher standards than the organisations that you do use. If you want to criticise the standards in media then you should probably subscribe to the Economist, or the Atlantic, or even National Review.
The thing that is most striking about reading pro-Trump websites is the incredibly small world these people live in. If you read Breitbart there is nothing there about any important issues. Foreign issues are rarely touched upon unless it is to score political points or directly related to Trump. There is almost never an article about reforming the economy, or reducing corruption or overhauling the health system. Needless to say, dissenting opinions are never published on Breitbart (as they are in the Atlantic or New Yorker). If Breitbart is a look in to the world of a Trump supporter, then it is a scary place. It's scary because these are people who believe that the greatest threat to western civilisation comes from the left and that the primary motive of government should be to defeat those people. It's an exercise in futility because any attack on the left will just embolden them.
The mainstream media is not perfect and they should be doing a lot more to focus on the real issues that matter. I just can't take any criticism of the mainstream media seriously if it is coming from someone who believes that Breitbart is the solution.
Man Cruden kicking the ball away with 90 seconds was pretty hard to stomach. That's a 2% play. It was well covered by two Lions defenders. Lions had given away penalties all day. The plan should have been to work upfield, kick a drop goal and at least draw the series.
Also the quick lineout was so unnecessary.
@stargazer said in Crusaders v Hurricanes - SF:
Can't remember whether I already posted this.
Should really be a sell out though. TBF, it isn't just the Crusaders who struggle, it is everyone but all playoff games should sell out a 20k seat stadium.
I thought that was a great game of rugby. If you thought it was boring, give the World Cup a miss.
One of the questions about Barrett (apart from his goal kicking) was how he would do in a game where our forwards were getting dominated. I do not know that our forward pack did get dominated but we were well behind in territory and possession then of course there was the penalties. Barrett answered those questions by how well he played.
@Frank said in US Politics:
@Donsteppa
Trump is an aggressive negotiator. This is power politics is an era of mad-partisanship. The left will not give up their ground easily - especially when aided and abetted by the vast majority of MSM. Trump will use this way to achieve his true objectives. Expect Trump to use the same tactics in relation to China, Iran etc. The longer the left view him as dangerous, unpredictable and unprepared idiot, the better it is for him. It keeps them off balance.
He has both houses of Congress. He doesn't need the left. Propose legislation, make sure it is constitutional and get people to vote for it.
@Donsteppa said in Indian Cricket Tour of NZ 2020:
Can't believe that was potentially the last game with Smithy, Coney, and Waddle on the airwaves.
If cricket isn't on radio next summer, it is a massive loss for the game in this country. Cricket is well suited to that format and it keeps people interested who wouldn't sit down and watch a whole day's play.
@rotated said in All Blacks v BI Lions Test #3:
@gt12 said in All Blacks v BI Lions Test #3:
We've got a problem with our goal kicking, and the play of our 10 in running the game. It's a serious fucking problem, because Barrett is the best 10 we have in Super rugby, but he really struggled in this series. Like, fuck me gently, some people were looking for a Carter 2005 from him. How fucking far away from that level of play has he been? IMO, we would have easily won that game tonight with Carter - in current form - playing and taking the kicks. That's fucking worrying.
Agree 100%. Let's see where Beauden goes from here, but this HAS to end Hansen's indifference to our goal kicking. He has openly chastised media who've asked him about Beauden's kicking (or lack of it for the Canes). If you want to crap on about structure and culture and dedication Beauden has to learn how to goal kick - simple.
I find this whole thing strange. I find people saying we lost the last two weeks because of Beauden Barrett's goal kicking? When the Lions/England lose how come people rarely say it was because Farrell didn't score enough brilliant tries? Barrett missed two kicks today - one from out in front and one from out wide. We know there are better goal kickers in the world. However, even if Barrett got both those kicks it would only be an extra five points. We blew plenty of five pointers out there. Kieran Read gave away a needless penalty and that cost us three points as well.
I think it's just a psychological thing. Someone lines up a shot at goal so you expect it to go over (because it generally does). When they miss those are stored away as points lost.
I find it interesting that Sky have agreed to give up Thursday nights. As I understand, it was quite profitable for them. I wonder if the extra weekend game is the NZRU realising that teams will need the extra revenue at the gate?
@Bovidae said in A Global Season?:
TV3 news saying that the likely new format will be as I describe above.
Super Rugby
Rugby Championship
All Blacks home series (October)
Northern Tour (November)That's going to be one hell of a test workload for the ABs and other SH nations, more than even a RWC, with 3-4 months of test matches and travel as part of that. Rob Nicol is rightly concerned about player welfare.
How is this any better for us than what happens right now? Surely any Nations League could be achieved whatever the calendar looks like. People have harped on about a global season for years but I have not seen one proposal that is better than the status quo in terms of season structure. Maybe some other structures will make us more money?
@rotated said in Stead - Williamson:
The NZ coach position should be 99% man management no? The KPI isn't really that hard - keep the best players engaged with the NZ program for as long as possible and motivated as much as possible. With the odd exception most international players will have their preferred guru(s) and manage their own development. They may need to play match maker at times and bring in the right assistants but the story in there of Stead to be telling Kane how to hold a bat is laughable.
Looking forward strictly at the test side managing the workloads and egos of our surplus of quicks and keeping Taylor and Williamson world class and available seems like the top two priorities.
He should have been fired after Australia. Not necessarily because he deserved it (although that article sheds light on a few management blunders), but because a much better candidate in Mickey Arthur was avialable and probably would have taken the job.
Does that mean if the team isn't performing, the coach shouldn't be sacked? Why would you sack a coach for poor results if 99% of their job is man management?
@Stargazer said in Super Rugby 2020:
@Tim IMO there's an upside to those players (except Retallick, who was away on a sabattical, like Whitelock) not playing SR Aotearoa. They are at the end of their career, but they would possibly push new, young players out of the matchday 23. While it would be fun to watch them play again and at least some of them would raise the game of their franchise, their presence might stall the development of the players that we have to rely on in the next few years. These players have had their time, have said their goodbyes; now it's the turn of a new generation.
(can't read the article, because it's "premium")
There is an upside but if you are good enough you will get your chance. I would rather have five strong Super Rugby teams and strong Mitre 10 Cup teams. One of the reasons teams are picking players out of school is teams are losing senior players so want to get their hands on young talent.
@taniwharugby said in Mitre 10 Cup - news, injuries etc:
@Stargazer guess this year there wont be any need for them to squeeze in the weeks...could probably have tried out a full RR of everyone plays everyone
The other thing about it, is you assume ABs are likely to be involved a bit too, given right now, internationals up in the air.
As stated earlier, a full Mitre 10 Cup with semis and a final would have the season finish on 19 December which is far too late.
@Bovidae said in Super Rugby 2020:
@Stargazer said in Super Rugby 2020:
Quite interesting that the stadiums in Auckland and Christchurch haven't been named. Does that mean they're considering other stadiums than Eden Park and Orangetheory Stadium?
Costs still being worked out according to the news.
Albany might be cheaper to open than Eden Park.
Albany makes sense. It's always a nice surface. I don't know where else you would play in Christchurch though.
I think by a "full" competition that just mean it will basically be the same draw as planned, just pushed back a bit. 13 weeks plus 2 rounds of playoffs would see a grand final on December 19 (assuming one game per week). I can't see them going that late when Super Rugby teams have to report in January. I think the most likely and best scenario would be the usual draw which would end in late November. Maybe the Bledisloe could happen in October.
Hurricanes have a dream draw. Bye in the middle and tougher games up first. Still 8 tough games though.
@voodoo said in Super Rugby 2020:
@hydro11 said in Super Rugby 2020:
@voodoo said in Super Rugby 2020:
@nzzp said in Super Rugby 2020:
@voodoo said in Super Rugby 2020:
5,000 people at a stadium that used to hold 12k is no more chance of being a cluster than 100ppl inside a restaurant
The issue is contact tracing and capacity I think. If there is an outbreak, it's bloody hard, and hard to keep people segregated.
I can't see decent crowds until we get to L1 or maybe lower.
I just don't see the risk-based analysis that supports this. You're not going to get an outbreak of 5,000, some people wouldn't come within 500m of others. Any "outbreak" would only spread amongst those in proximity, why would this be harder to contact trace than 100 people at a cafe or restaurant or shopping mall?
Because you don't know who went to the toilets one after another, or who was hanging out in the concourse. Then you have crowd management. People would have to leave the stadium one by one.
You don't know that anywhere, at a restaurant or a shopping mall or a playground!
And yes, people would need to exit and enter 2m apart . So what? Hardly an issue at a stadium designed to cater for 2-3x the capacity.
Have you ever been to a playground with 5000 people? Better to be safer than sorry. Any mistakes and we are back to level 3 or 4.
@voodoo said in Super Rugby 2020:
@nzzp said in Super Rugby 2020:
@voodoo said in Super Rugby 2020:
5,000 people at a stadium that used to hold 12k is no more chance of being a cluster than 100ppl inside a restaurant
The issue is contact tracing and capacity I think. If there is an outbreak, it's bloody hard, and hard to keep people segregated.
I can't see decent crowds until we get to L1 or maybe lower.
I just don't see the risk-based analysis that supports this. You're not going to get an outbreak of 5,000, some people wouldn't come within 500m of others. Any "outbreak" would only spread amongst those in proximity, why would this be harder to contact trace than 100 people at a cafe or restaurant or shopping mall?
Because you don't know who went to the toilets one after another, or who was hanging out in the concourse. Then you have crowd management. People would have to leave the stadium one by one.