@chester-draws said in All Blacks v Springboks:

@booboo said in All Blacks v Springboks:

@chester-draws said in All Blacks v Springboks:

@mariner4life said in All Blacks v Springboks:

@akan004 cherry pick to make the sky fall?

how about looking at it like this. in 21 tests we are 17-1-3. In 13 of those tests we have hosed them.

We lost a game where we had 14 blokes for 3/4s of the game
We lost a dead rubber Bledisloe away.
We lost one of the best tests in years.

You know, now i think about it, we are 0-3 where we have scored less points than the opposition. That's not what you expect from a team with this much talent.

Try looking at it this way. We never, ever lose big. if it's a loss, it's by a bee's dick. We are balls deep in every game we play. That's a pretty sweet position to be in.

What you say is true, except the implication that somehow winning big a lot is good.

Say what? It's bad? Since when?

Winning isn't bad. Just that winning big isn't necessarily better than winning small.

Our recent massive victories over the Boks was not good preparation for the last game.

We have a game plan that I think tends to magnify our strengths and our weaknesses. When we play well we win by lots. But we equally come unstuck when it doesn't work.

I'd prefer a game plan that moved away from this emphasis on counter-attack, and assuming we wear our opposition down. I'd like to see us able to work on penetrating solid defences.

Because when we hit the 2019 RWC you can bet no-one, crazy Australians aside, will attempt to beat us playing open rugby.

But history has shown us that teams step up at the World Cup and a well organised, determined defence can be really hard to break down without taking a few risks. The All Blacks showed they could score 6 tries against such a defence without the defence every really crumbling.

Hansen's message to J Barrett and A Smith (for it was they who took the bad decisions that led to tries) is not don't take quick throw-ins or don't take tap penalties . It will be don't take quick throw-ins from a kick that left the whole Bok defensive line in your face and don't take tap penalties when there is no huge gap to exploit. The whole mantra of the ABs since Henry took over is to make decisions based on what you see - the mantra is not "put away the razzle-dazzle until you're desperate". There will be mistakes playing like that but by forcing the opposition defence to make tough decisions under pressure eventually the gap will appear and the tries will come.

Do we need an auto-replace for Ashes to World Test Championship 3rd/4th Place Playoff ?

One of the reasons the ABs never got much continuity (and zero tries) was the ridiculous number of infringements by the Lions. It felt like every time the ABs had possession in the Lions half, then there would be a penalty. And a man down and in those conditions, you have to take your penalties. And they were all kickable yet BB missed a couple of sitters. 10 kickable penalties in all - when you see a number like that, you wonder how the Lions were never on a team warning for repeated offences - especially as the offside line seemed to disappear completely at times.

This made me chuckle - kid captured at a Sheffield United relegation recreates it after the next relegation.

Just got home from the game after not being online. Interesting to read the thread start to finish and just so many premature calls made ....

Looks like NZ are half an excellent side and half a poor one. It's basically Tauranga keeping things together. What a maestro Kane is as usual walking to the wicket after just one ball.

Great atmosphere at the game. English fans supporting the Windies and NZ fans mostly in their early 20s and mostly pissed.

I've enjoyed this thread as a small place of sanity where rational rugby fans gather to discuss the game. Please stop any references to wars and cowardice etc as we really don't need it here.

So far I haven't seen any complaints by Joe Schmidt about the game - that is good for Ireland. He's a canny chap, he'll be learning the lessons and planning for the next time.

If Kane's stats were to exactly match those of the last 4 years (looking back from today) - in 8 years time he would be 34 and have

137 tests
45 hundreds
61 fifties
12742 runs
57.92 average

It's all over and Dice managed to hang on to win by a single point from Higgins and Winger, by 2 from Hydro11 and by 5 from Broughie. I can't remember a closer leaderboard at the end of a season. https://www.thesilverfern.com/tipping/

All the scores over 60 came in the final week of the season as many went big on Sunday nailing 30/30 and many also getting Manawatu as low scorers. Despite being in prime position to challenge at the end of Saturday, Sportboy somehow finished 9th!

Justin77 managed a full 7/7 but others were better on margins - both Higgins and Hydro11 getting 6 out of 6 for the games they picked correctly.

Northland win the title beating South Island by 5 points - a lot of it due to Northland's win over Waikato which they backed more than South Island did. But mainly it was due to Justin77's stellar score.

I'll do more of a wrap a bit later on.

What T20 has done is produce a current generation of batsmen who have very poor defensive technique. Even some of players who appear to have good/respectable records in test cricket. They plant their feet, have a good eye and hit through the line. If the ball comes on and is not deviating, they marmalise it. They can, and have, scored big in test cricket but also get a lot of low scores when conditions are tricky.

Which is why England's dangerous middle to lower order appear to be a strength in test cricket when it is Bairstow, Stokes, Moeen etc but all of them don't really have the technique to survive the moving ball - hence why there collapses. Same with Australia, Mitchell Marsh is a flat track bully.

It really stands out when you watch the likes of Root, Smith, Kane and Kohli. While Smith is unorthodox, he does know how to stay in for long periods.

Rant over.

OK I'm making the call to have a bye week for tipping this week - with all 3 of the original NZ games postponed and a different game included, it is just getting too hard. Let's reconvene next week.

@bayimports said in EPL 2021 / 2022:

no not Mane, we are not bayern

but Bournemouth have their first transfer signature - Ryan Fredericks

It seems more about how much you can pay players now rather than transfer fees given Fredericks (and Rothwell from Blackburn) have come in on frees. Forest have bought Awoniyi, a striker from Germany who I saw a bit on the Bundesliga highlights, built like a fridge.

Meanwhile Gareth Bale looks like he is going to MLS and not Cardiff.

@barbarian said in Golf:

Was a cracking open. Leaderboard chocked full of big game players. Great course that killed you if you were wayward.

Give me Zalatoris' record over a guy like Cantlay every day. A major top 5 is worth more than winning the Boise State Open Presented by Taco Bell. But you get the feeling he needs to win one soon.

Can't wait for the British at St Andrews.

Yes the time of year when people will point out to you that it is The Open and not the British Open.

@MajorRage Yes that bunker shot was his moment to seize triumph or disaster - and we have seen disaster often at the 18th of a major. The PGA was the first time he was in the mix for a major on the final day and he flubbed it - but he hit 17 out of 18 greens on the day, with a hot putter he would have strolled to the win.

Zalatoris is already setting himself up in the Colin Montgomerie role - he hasn't even won a PGA event yet but has top 10 finishes in 6 of the last 7 majors he has played in - with 3 runners-up finishes.

@Stargazer said in Final: Blues vs Crusaders:

@KiwiPie I hope we don't have to wait that long!

Forgot to mention he was celebrating his three-peat!

@Machpants said in Final: Blues vs Crusaders:

@Frank said in Final: Blues vs Crusaders:

He's actually pretty shit, and noticeably worse than when he started doing it. Def old man dancing now. Not that he cares, obviously!

Can't wait to see his dancing after he coaches the All Blacks to World Cup victory in 2035.

Awful refereeing team - get top level officials for a game of such importance. Early goal was the sucker punch as CR never really threatened again. As usual NZ with not quite enough quality when required. Rojas, Sarpreet Singh the 2 who are most missed for quality.

@booboo said in SF Crusaders v Chiefs:

What the FUCK was PGS doing when he did everything he could not to score? Fucking seriously.

Massive guy, try line in front of him, defender not in front of him, ponders his options and decides to look for a pass inside. Very strange.

@MajorRage It's voted on in March I think and it is voted on by players so they tend to pick without much thought. Ronaldo is the biggest outlier in that team of the year, how is he ahead of Son & Kane?

Just seen the prize money for the 1st event - over $100K dollars for the person who finishes last. You had to finish top 30 in the Masters to earn that much. Can see why some of the old timers are jumping into it to feather their nests until they can milk the Champions tour

@Donsteppa said in TSF Tipping 2022:

Shall we rename ourselves the Warriors...

Let's do that. By the way, I'm contracted to the BOP Chiefs for 2023 but can you pay out my contract so I can play for the South Island?