@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.

@dogmeat said in FIFA World Cup 2022 (men):

You should all jump into KP's WC Tipping comp.

Doesn't take a lot of effort and it does give meaningless games a bit more of a point

I have Nederlands going out to Argies in the QF

Injuries are already taking their toll on squads

Message me if you want to take part - @dogmeat @Hooroo of TSF are already in.

I'll follow the football just because it is a month with no football otherwise. Really hard to pick a winner given there are plenty of good teams that all have weaknesses and no idea how conditions will affect the games. Suspect a lot of the games will be very dull (I mean tactical)

@canefan said in EPL 2021 / 2022:

@KiwiPie said in EPL 2021 / 2022:
So the top team gets promoted and the second has to go into a playoff?

Yep - cruel isn't it? Places 4-7 play off to join places 2-3 in playoff semis.

Meanwhile the National League is developing into a head to head battle between Notts and Wrexham with Chesterfield hanging around. Our scorer has stopped scoring (mirroring Haaland) but others are stepping in. Both clubs currently on course for 100+ seasons for both points and goals.

Gerrard has seemed pretty clueless after his original new manager bounce - seems to be plenty of talent in that squad but no structure or tactical plan. Good win for Fulham though and a few more wins and they will be safe early in 2023.

Marsch also looks to be struggling - 3 games in a week means the players cannot play in hyperactive mode and that set of players aren't all that good in normal mode. Leicester not fantastic but despite his David Luis hair, Faes actually looks a decent defender. Leicester will keep Rodgers if only to stop him taking over at a relegation rival.

@bayimports said in EPL 2021 / 2022:

@KiwiPie said in EPL 2021 / 2022:

@KiwiPie said in EPL 2021 / 2022:

As of today ....

Since Bournemouth lost 9-0 to Liverpool the only unbeaten side in the EPL is .... Bournemouth.

The current leader of the Championship has lost more games than the team at the bottom.

And 5 hours later both of these statistical nuggets are no longer true.

you did that on purpose ..evil I say!

I was surprised you hadn't talked them up during this run.

Yesterday I watched most of Brighton v Forest. Forest were seriously clueless about how to progress the ball up the field. Not a single attempt in the first half, not much of note in the 2nd but still got away with a point. I watch the Bundesliga highlights every week and difference seems to be that lower teams there go for it so you seem to often have 4 attackers against 5 defenders. Too many EPL games are tedious because both teams keep so many players back that there is no space for the attackers.

@KiwiPie said in EPL 2021 / 2022:

As of today ....

Since Bournemouth lost 9-0 to Liverpool the only unbeaten side in the EPL is .... Bournemouth.

The current leader of the Championship has lost more games than the team at the bottom.

And 5 hours later both of these statistical nuggets are no longer true.

As of today ....

Since Bournemouth lost 9-0 to Liverpool the only unbeaten side in the EPL is .... Bournemouth.

The current leader of the Championship has lost more games than the team at the bottom.

@Higgins We did have our best 2 players on the bench but that is an embarrassing result! Comes to something when even non league teams don't take the cup seriously.

Big win for Liverpool this morning which benefits both the North London clubs.

Canterbury too good. We weren't good enough. Plenty of players were good enough but we don't have the depth to lose first choice players

@Bovidae Pretty good - Swiss education system is very good hence his English is superb as well.