He's probably thinking to himself "If Bridge can make the ABs...."

At least he won't get benched now.

Sitting through the Black Ferns v Wallaroos XVs game was an absolute treat compared to sitting through the 2018 Blues season.

Clearly the punishment should be that the Crusaders are forced to start Brett Cameron at 10 this week vs the Blues.....

@cgrant No they'll just look short compared to the towering height of Ardie on the opposite side.....

@Tim said in Blues 2020:

Anyone know when Parsons will be available?

There's no rush...

@wreck-diver said in Bledisloe II:

@mimic said in Bledisloe II:

@rancid-schnitzel said in Bledisloe II:

@nzzp said in Bledisloe II:

@antipodean said in Bledisloe II:

I just don't see the Wallabies being that bad the week after. The lineout is solvable and even if you lose a couple, try something else... The scrum will be bolstered with Sio back and Tupou on the bench. A couple of sessions on running lines and catch-pass for the backs. Hey presto, they're competitive.

They were damn good for the first half. Aggressive hard defence, straight running. On a different night with a different ref, you're looking at a healthy half time lead.

I keep saying it; ther'es not much between these sides at the top level. I don't think the Wobbles will be as bad at set piece, and I reckon supporters should be heartened by the non-set piece effort last week.

All true but they don't have the heart and lungs to do it for 80. They were absolutely gone after 35 minutes. The ABs blew several opportunities in the first half as well and also lost line outs. I agree that it's a decent Aus team, but Cheika is just a shit coach.

This can be easily fixed if they amend their game plan to slow the game down in certain areas. They were trying to play at pace when they didn't have the fitness to last the full 80. Losing Tongan Thor was a huge loss.

Please he's not a Norse God he is a fat Sth Auckland kid that didnt have the balls to have a go in NZ after leaving school. In his own words he said he was used to running over skinny little white boys so move to Aussie to play rugby. I dont see him adding anything to their team let alone his youtube page.

This seems harsh. He's a 22 year old tighthead prop who really improved this year in Super Rugby. He looks a serious talent.

RTS will back himself to crack a squad like this in 12 months time.

Nothing says "I want to show i'm my own man" by selecting zero new starters.

The back 3 is just plain weird - shoehorning the best 15 to wing in order to select someone at 15 who looked far better at 10 (not 15) during Super Rugby and then on the other wing deciding against a strike winger.

Worth it for the reaction of Crusaders fans

I'd rather Blues sign Choat to replace Gibson

@bones said in Super Rugby Trans Tasman:

@kiwimurph said in Super Rugby Trans Tasman:

@bones said in Super Rugby Trans Tasman:

@kiwimurph said in Super Rugby Trans Tasman:

@stargazer That would make one hell of a Fantasy rugby team!

Shows how much of a team effort it was for the blues...

Just a bunch of humble scrappers.....

The sum of all the parts is greater than the sum of the bigger numbers of parts at the other lower sum places.

That's the saying right?

just trying to follow the lead set by the 'we are humble' Crusaders

@bones said in Super Rugby Trans Tasman:

@kiwimurph said in Super Rugby Trans Tasman:

@stargazer That would make one hell of a Fantasy rugby team!

Shows how much of a team effort it was for the blues...

Just a bunch of humble scrappers.....

@stargazer That would make one hell of a Fantasy rugby team!

Melbourne/VIC are 'easing' restrictions and those new restrictions will basically be the same level as the new 'harsher' restrictions in NSW.

VIC haven't had a new exposure site for a week and have had either 0 or 1 new local case per day for a week......

Speaking of NZ journalism....

Tupaea, standing at 1.86 metres and weighing 96 kilograms, will bring a rigorous force to the 12 jumper that has not been seen in an All Blacks side since the days of Ma'a Nonu.

Without wanting to turn this into an Ardie - height joke fest. a quick google tells me Havili, Goodhue and ALB are all basically the same size as Tupaea.

I remember getting annoyed in 2013 when they compared Francis Sai'ili to Ma'a Nonu. Some things don't change. Just like "the next Jonah" or "the next Kaino/Collins" etc ....

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/sport/rugby-all-blacks-and-chiefs-players-angus-taavao-and-damian-mckenzie-applaud-special-talent-quinn-tupaea-following-maiden-selection/5SF6HE7HDCLPUDSFCYQUZXSTGE/

@stargazer said in Chiefs 2021:

@nepia Yep, he got a lot of media attention during his 1st XV days, because he scored a lot of tries and had an AB brother, but the fact is that he only finished try scoring opportunities created by some brilliant players inside him: Fakatava, Toala and especially McClutchie. I haven't seen him shine that much for Taranaki. I'm still on the fence.

Similar story when Naholo played for NZ Schools in 2017 - the NZ backline was stacked - Etene Nanai, Quinn Tupaea and Leicester Faingaanuku to name a few.

From memory all of the above stood out more than Naholo when they played the Aussie Schools.

@canes4life said in All Blacks 2021:

@arhs Bidwell is one of the worst Journos in NZ. I try and stay well clear of anything he has to say.

I second this. Bidwell is horrendous.

@bayimports don't forget in that scenario India would also be under pressure.

To me there's only two results on the table - draw and NZ win.