@Winger said in Bledisloe 1:

@antipodean said in Bledisloe 1:

@Daffy-Jaffy said in Bledisloe 1:

That level of whinging is undignified. All involved should be ashamed to have participated in that.

If it was in reverse unsure how I would feel. I think more inclined to blame the player for just ignoring the ref's warning

i know exactly how this would have gone had Mo'unga been the guilty party

The Cantabs would have been piling in to Raynal hard out

The Auckland guys would have been piling in to Mo'unga

Half of everyone else would have blamed Foster. The other half would have blamed a Ioane brother.

haven't read the thread but i bet it's spittle-flecked and angry. Seriously if you didn't find that fun you need some joy in your lives

When there is a bit of chaos, rugby is the best sport on the planet. Give me the carnage of last night over a robotic chess game any day. Cracking tries. Card drama. ref drama. some incredible pieces of individual skill on both sides of the ball. An after-the-hooter try to win. fuck what more do you want??

Firstly i would like to at the same time apologise, congratulate, and commiserate with the Wallabies. I didn't think that team was capable of that result. They were fucking excellent. Down 10-zip in the same number of minutes, they rallied straight away. They scored some incredible tries. Their loose forwards were beasts and just smashed ours. That was as one-sided a battle as you will see. Foley played a bit of a blinder really. Outside backs were a handful. A great performance cruelly not rewarded by a strange (but probably correct i guess?) call. You throw a couple of their missing pieces in to that team and they are going along not too bad are they?

For us Sami T was a fucking beast. In to everything, running like a train. Huge game. So glad he didn't get towed early. Our veteran locks were bloody good too, probably the next cabs off the rank for AB MoTM voting. Jordan seemed to find that spark again as well. Lots of stuff to fizz about in Black.

Enormous fun game. I am going to have to put up with a shit ton of whinging about the ref over here for a few days. And you know what? I reckon i'll let 'em. We won, and it was really harsh. So it's pretty easy to be magnanimous about it

A great Thursday night's TV

@Machpants said in World Rugby chairman election:

Ugh nothing like a bit of corruption and nepotism to really help stink the place up

https://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/rugby/all-blacks/121047624/convicted-fijian-killer-nominated-for-key-world-rugby-role--with-french-backing

is there any role Cliff Curtis can't play?

What has become apparent (well, what has been rammed home really) in the past 10 days is that rugby has allowed itself to become a sport where the refereeing panel are no longer just there to facilitate the game and allow it to happen, but have become nearly the most important people on the pitch (or box). Rugby is no longer about 30 players, it is about 30 players, and 4 officials whose remit has become sanctioning every single act on the field to its fullest extent.

The term rugby accident no longer has any meaning. Angus Ta'avao got his face caved in and got a red card. LF was in the air and got a yellow. In the England v Australia game two attempted intercepts got two players binned. Papali'i got penalised for a perfect cleanout because the touchie thought something else happened and had to get on the pitch.

Rugby is obsessed with getting people off the pitch. In a game defined by the fact it is a constant contest, players are sent from the field for contesting. Cards are flying thick and fast. AWJ got carded for absolutely nothing but suspicion on the weekend. How is that in any way acceptable?

And i absolutely do not blame the referees even one bit. This comes down to the lawmakers, their guidelines, and the instructions given to their referees. This is the game World Rugby want. Every controversial incident is met with a new, far stricter than required guideline in case it happens again. And that guidelines normally involves another player off the pitch. Professional Rugby is, above all else, a form of entertainment, and yet here we have a governing body obsessed with actively degrading their product, to appease who?

And yet, for some, they do not go far enough. Look at the chat in rugby media after every test. "this is a disgrace, there should have been more cards!! that card wasn't harsh enough, it should have been red!" every single fucking week. Pre-game the focus is on the ref, and what they should look at. Post-game the focus is on the ref, and what they misses, and who else should have been sent from the field.

I have heard more about Jaco in the press than the fucking players over the past couple of days. In what world is that the best outcome?

Long time fans are becoming more and more disillusioned. Casual fans are turning it off. And the response will probably e another crack down and more cards. Awesome.

Congratulations @Frank on the nuffiest thread in Fern history

Wrong opposition. Wrong players.

It's absolute peak nuffie. Top ferning

Welcome back Bart

Try this little known website called grindr. I reckon lions fans will be all over it

@gt12 said in Argentina Two: Newcastle, 28 November:

Scott Barrett (39)

fuck off

@gt12 said in Argentina Two: Newcastle, 28 November:

Ardie Savea (48)

fuck off

@gt12 said in Argentina Two: Newcastle, 28 November:

Jordie Barrett (22)

fuck off

@gt12 said in Argentina Two: Newcastle, 28 November:

TJ Perenara (68)

fuck off

As New Zealand and Australia get set to do battle on the sporting field once again, this time in the Bledisloe Cup, the one-time pinnacle of International Rugby, i think it is only fair that we, as kiwi fans, take a moment to spare a thought for our Australasian cousins. The realists among them are starting to come to terms with the reality that their star has faded, and they are no longer the sporting superpower they once were.

Around the turn of the century, Australia could lay claim to being the best all-round sporting nation on the planet. Not a huge population, they still managed to excel in a number of discipines:

• Tennis: Their two best players in Hewitt and Rafter spent time at #1, and won multiple Grand Slams. The Woodies, particularly Woodbridge, could lay claim to being the best doubles players ever. It was a golden time

• Cricket: Undisputed kings of all forms, unbeatable at home, nigh unbeatable away, with a host of all-time greats; and in the discussion as the greatest cricket side of all time

• The Olympics: Sydney was a triumph of an event, with the home nation taking home 58 medals, including 16 gold. THis flowed in to 2004, where they took their tallies even higher, across a huge number of sports

• Motor Cycling: Mick Doohan was coming off 5 straight MotoGP championships, while Troys Corser and Bayliss were winning Superbike titles repeatedly

• The Socceroos were assembling their greatest ever side that would eventually get out of the Group Stage of the World Cup, including such luminaries as Cahill, Kewell, Schwarzer, Viduka, Aloisi, Bresciano

• And of course rugby. 3 super sides were always at the pointy end. The Reds topped the table in '99, The Brumbies were tussling with the Crusaders for the claim to be the best team in the comp. And this flowed to the Wallabies. '99 World Cup. 01 Lions. Multiple wins over the All Blacks, legit claim to be the best team in the world.

And this isn't an exhaustive list, their league team was more dominant, it seemed no matter what they played, they won. A true golden age.

Compare and contrast with today

• In tennis, their two best players are a couple of douchebags universally reviled by their own fans, who can't even be fucked playing at Wimbledon

• The cricket side has slipped to 4th in the world records, and closer to little old NZ than the top of the table. Series losses home and away are now the norm, rather than a cause for shock. Players were on strike a week ago because they couldn't afford to buy a 2nd Italian sports car

• In the Olympics, Australia's plummet down the medal table has been stark. Medal totals have halved, and again, they are closer to little old NZ than the top of the table.

• Do they still ride Motor Bikes? Daniel Riccardo seems like a bit of a dude in F1, but hardly in a position to actually win anything.

• The Socceroos are in a fight to qualify for the next World Cup, despite playing a bunch of impoverished nations.

• And of course the rugby. Super teams winless against NZ opposition. One team fighting their death in Court. The Wallabies are unable to bank a win at home against Scotland any more. Grass roots on it's knees. A bad Bledisloe series, and the public could switch off, for good this time.

So, dear All Black fans, while you are having your pints this weekend, celebrating the return of test match rugby, and the opening of the once-revered South Hemisphere competition, take a second and commiserate with our trans-Tasman cousins. They are going through a tough time of it, it's never easy getting used to a new reality.

Well done Ireland that was awesome. I loved watching you play. Hard, physical, inventive. Absolutely dominant everywhere except the scoreboard which flattered us all day. The constant ball in motion was confusing the AB defence all day, and your breakdown work was friggen excellent. A deserved dominant win built on good work both sides of the ball.

As for the ABS, fucking LOL. Talk about hammered boy. Picking an entire side of guys who can't make a dominant tackle, or get over the gain line, or be physical at the breakdown is certainly one way to play. Was the plan to confuse them by letting them have too much ball? We could not stop them doing what they wanted. Conversely when we had the ball we could do shit because we couldn't get past the gain line

So we kicked it, poorly. Over and over again. Because that's all that Ireland gave us.

Scored a couple of really pretty tries though. Jordan's a fucking star. The first was a hilarious piece of defence we ruthlessly exploited. The 2nd came out of absolute nothing.

The loose forwards were shit. They should be embarrassed the only guy who put a hit on was fucking TJP. Savea is just a non-entity in a game like this. Just a waste of space. The other two tried but just didn't have the ability.

This is humbling and shows exactly where we are. Which is nowhere.

Loooool

Here's a new one

Henry was a shit coach but Laumape was the answer at 12 and an asset we needed to keep.

Keep delivering Fern

@ACT-Crusader said in Foster, Robertson etc:

@mariner4life said in Foster, Robertson etc:

@gt12 said in Foster, Robertson etc:

@mariner4life said in Foster, Robertson etc:

@Frank said in Foster, Robertson etc:

@mariner4life said in Foster, Robertson etc:

@Frank said in Foster, Robertson etc:

@mariner4life said in Foster, Robertson etc:

Ireland run the same attack religiously, it has like 2 variations.

What are those variations?

Seriously?

I was asking you because, unlike me, you seem to know something about rugby.
I'm meaning their attack patterns.
Was interested in what they actually are.

Ok it's obviously way more complicated than this but

Check out videos from their tour to NZ. They compress their attack in to like half the field. And they either hit forwards running unders angles if the defence stays strung out across the field, or they use their backs running loops to outflank you if you compress.

This way they exploit where you are weakest. It works because they have great forward runners and their timing is excellent. If they had real pace at 13 they would carve teams. R Ioane at 13 for Ireland would be fucking lethal with the space they create.

The Maori actually stopped it a few times by spot tackling the looping player. But the ABs struggled with that.

The Maori played with much more of a rush, as they appeared to have a defense coach and system appropriate to the 21st century, and unsurprisingly caused that pattern a few more problems.

Helped by the Irish tram that was put out not being as powerful up front or crisp in their passing.

But yes, our defensive pattern actually plays in to the Irish hands as we like to isolate our wingers and rely on the centre holding in then using pace to cover. Ireland exploit that very seam.

I think our defence worked better when Ioane was on the wing because out there he knew how to defend using the side line. Not sure he’s got the defending the space in that sort of attacking pattern when he’s in the centre position, down pat.

i used to think it was Ioane until i saw ALB, a very experienced centre, defending in exactly the same way. I think our 13s are being asked to do something that looks whack to us.

oh, and Shiv Chanderpaul's boy will make his debut.

Apparently one of their young fast bowlers has a heap of promise as well

Aus about to get their test summer under way v the Windies in Perth (Aus to bat)

First time they have played the Windies since the start of 2016. In that time they've played England 15 times, India 12 times, and somewhat surprisingly Pakistan 10 times.

Aus team pretty much at expectation. Warner reportedly playing for his spot. But it's at home against a smaller opponent, so he is liable to average 50+.

and so the Draft has happened. And the AFL media do their usual over-rating of what it actually means for clubs. Words like "elite" get thrown around about 65kg 18 year old kids, and the narrative is that teams have "found solutions" via the draft.

For every Matt Rowell (who broke down despite being built like an adult) there are a thousand kids who take years to develop in to AFL-level assets. This isn't the US where they come out of a couple of years of college, this is kids out of high school.

The Lions got the two players they wanted. Apparently one is ready to go straight away but i am not holding my breath.

North will still suck despite all their high draft picks.

lol rugby just fucking hates itself aye

@mikedogz said in Auckland v Canterbury NPC Sept 1998:

Dylan Mika played a few tests in 1999

thought he had a huge future, what happened there?

@ACT-Crusader said in NBL 2022-23:

McCall was heaps better than the Breakers game, but he’s still a strange player in the Ford gameplan.

agreed, BUT

he gets to the hole. And he isn't afraid to stick his hand in and try for steals.

fun night at the COnvention Centre last night as the Taipans leave it late to force overtime, then defend like champs to win it over the Kings

We live and die by the 3. Our scoring is Pinder inside or a 3-pointer. Last night Pinder was cooking, bet everyone they put on him, but the 3 was ice cold (at one point we got to 5 from 33 i think it was). So they doubled the fuck out of Pinder and our scoring stopped. We need to find more ways to get to the basket.

Xavier Cooks is really fucking good. Him fouling out in the 4th was probably the difference.

7-4 is a good spot to be in considering we have played Sydney and NZ so often. When do we get to play the shit teams? (Taipans history says we will lose to the shit teams)

Thr key to movember IS that's its simple. It's really accessible, and everyone knows 3 or 4 people doing it, thus donate 3 or 4 times. It gets enormous spread simply because it's not hard to do.

Very fucking effective little fundraiser

Covid was absolutely perfect for some people

They could loudly and publicly show just how much they care for others, and what they are willing to sacrifice to help them

by literally staying at home and doing nothing. It was absolutely peak slacktivism

And that's very hard to let go of.