Thursday?

No one will ever convince me that he didn't handle it poorly.

Pinched this from reddit:
Sam Cane - Defensive Highlights (Wales vs. All Blacks)

Sam Cane - Defensive Highlights (Wales vs. All Blacks)

I don't really get all the negativity about bandwagon/fair weather fans. It's just proof that lots of people want them to do well, but have got sick of their shit.

The interesting thing about Warriors bandwagoners is how self aware they are. They are often pretty happy to say they support the Warriors when they were winning.

Besides, it's so frustrating watching a team you care about playing like they don't care while hearing rumours about shortcuts at training, entitlement, etc. Fans will let a lot of poor results slide if they think the players are working hard. That was my experience anyway, as a Chiefs fan for the first 15 years or so.

@JayCee In Hames' defense, Bird does have one of those faces. Besides, they should have been knocked a few weeks off as a reward for Hames being able to jump that high.

@Nepia

Thought you'd like this at about 6:28:

Leila Masaga ..."not renowned for his passing"

Duffie had a few high profile defensive misses that year. Nadolo was the famous one, and even though it was understandable, it was pretty embarrassing. In general, I don't think he was impressing many people with his game. However, the thing that really impressed me about Duffie was how he didn't drop his lip or try and run back to league. I didn't anticipate the trajectory of his improvement but even if he didn't get as good as he has gotten, I would have been impressed with how he conducted himself after that first season.

This is what I like about NZ politics:

Asked if he felt robbed given National had secured the highest vote, English said it was MMP and the result was "a legitimate and fair result of the election campaign. We certainly accept it and I'm sure New Zealanders will".
However, he said it was likely many of National's supporters would have believed National should form the government.
"It's an unusual result for MMP - there's probably not been a party anywhere in the world that got 44 per cent of the vote and didn't win the election. But we all know the rules, we campaign according to those results."

With all the talk about voter fraud and stealing elections over here in the States, it is a refreshing change. Politicians need to set a better example of showing that accepting losses are also part of a democracy.

I mentioned to my wife during the game that I'm finally getting a glimpse into what other fans feel when their team plays the All Blacks... double standards from the ref, smug captain given a free pass to talk to the ref as much as he likes, loose passes and inopportune penalties. I now understand their frustration... except for that we won

I had the Irish commentary. The main commentator must surely have kissed the Blarney Stone, such was his eloquence as the game got off to a flyer. However, their ability to watch replay after replay of Barrett's try and not mention the fact he was tackled very high, was amazing.

Fekitoa's tackle was bad. Definitely a yellow, but we can see from the Cane penalty that injury comes into play, so if the guy had been injured it could have been a red. If the Irish 12 wasn't injured I don't think Cane would have even been penalised.

Barrett played well, but I would have given Retallick man of the match. You don't get much better than that from a lock.

@gt12 said in What is the best AB Midfield?:

he's probably the only senior AB who's reputation is growing. Whitelock and (mostly) Cane are staying steady

I think Cane's reputation has increased massively this year. At the beginning of the year there were plenty of people saying he shouldn't be starting (Ardie should have been). I don't hear many people disputing his place in the team anymore.

When making the decision, the ref was convinced to make the red because Tele'a 'played at' Leyds. From what I could see he was just instinctively moving his hands up to stop from getting kneed in the face.

I may be way off base here, but from what little I know of age grade reps, it seems that selection is even more riddled with nepotism than senior reps. Any truth to that?

Marshall had the ability to take a game by the scruff of the neck in a way other halfbacks couldn't, aside from maybe Weepu. From memory the 2003 RWC game against Wales. There's a lot to admire about that, but it's an easy vote for Smith for me. He makes the rest of the team play better, which is what I consider to be the halfback's key role.

@jc said in England vs All Blacks:

@booboo said in England vs All Blacks:

@rembrandt said in England vs All Blacks:

we'll take that! Quite a few options for mom
Retallick, Big Karl, Crotty, Goodhue, DMac, S Barrett, thought Beaudy was very solid too

Ardie by a mile

We’re not talking about height

6'4" according to the England pre match graphics.

Without knowing too much about him, I always just thought Tyson Fury was a bit of a buffoon, but really enjoyed this:

I always thought is wasn't considered safe to eat raw eggs? Has that been busted?

@rancid-schnitzel said in Diets keto/carnivore etc:

Breakfast: Cup of oats, raspberries, 2.5 eggs mixed with protein powder. Absolutely delicious.

So are you making a protein shake and adding raw eggs to it?

@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.

Just seemed like a financial decision to me, and probably a fairly easy one if he doesn't have a great affinity for the All Blacks.

He's gone far better than I thought he would. I thought he'd be a bust.

@jc said in 2018 Rugby Championship:

In case anyone is interested, here is the text of Walrus’s column:

Actually, I've read worse previews from local scribes.

Their try scoring always seems to drop off dramatically. Maybe other teams start working them out and the space appears elsewhere.