@mariner4life said in Aura watch:

to me it feels more like a commercial stage show than the challenge it used to be. It's the microphones, and the "ooh which one will they do" followed by "oh it's the old one, they don't respect you bro" and the legislated allowable responses. It's a sideshow, play the bloody game.

And it's lead by a bloody half back.

Note: the advantage shit is absolute horseshit though.

How the F would you know, you haven;t watched it in ages.

I bugger off for the anthems and come back for the haka. I missed the haka in 1994 vs the French at Eden Park because my mate and I got lost driving to the ground, and the girls we asked for directions were pretty so we dropped them off where they were going first and then went to the game, made our seats just as the haka ended. We lost to the try from the end of the world. I'm not risking missing the haka again.

@chris-b said in Highlanders 2021:

@kirwan said in Highlanders 2021:

@chris said in Highlanders 2021:

@nepia said in Highlanders 2021:

@snowy said in Highlanders 2021:

@nostrildamus said in Highlanders 2021:

@snowy said in Highlanders 2021:

@billy-tell said in Highlanders 2021:

I remain scarred by Michael jones vs Argentina. Each time there is a knee injury I think « career in jeopardy ». Jones came back but he was never as good.

Didn't he play 6 mostly after that? Had a bit of a different role and wasn't quite as visible? Or has my memory failed me - again...

It is shit news about Fakatava. It looks like most of us thought he was going to be in Black this year. Just have to hope it isn't as bad as we fear.

Yes but Jones speed factor set him apart in that era until the injury. Not a bad tackler though. He also played 8 for Auckland if I recall correctly.

Yeah think I saw him at 8. The move to six was due to the loss of speed you mentioned, and in a very rare Fern occurrence we could both / all be right.
He was better as a seven until his knee was fucked, slowed down a bit, played six. Was still very good. How does that sound?

Best 7 we’ve ever had and then 2nd best 6 of the past 30 years.

In this bloke’s opinion anyway.

Nah McCaw IMO Best 7

It's a good problem to have, arguing between two of the greats. McCaw in the professional era, Jones in the amateur. Sorted.

I think you're pretty much right.

Different eras.

MJ would need to pack on nearly 10kgs to play 7 these days - and 10 cm to play 6.

Stats | allblacks.com

Tall enough for lock at the Canes though, but probably too dynamic.

@Hooroo said in All Blacks v BI Lions Test #3:

So the general feeling about the town is that while it is a pity we didn't win, it was a hell of a series and a really good result for Rugby.

I don't disagree either.

The Lions fans have to be the best travelling fans of any sport?

I'm not too miffed about all that happened. If it was against England or Aussie or South Africa then I would be more gutted.

I'm going to go a little against the grain here of the Fern wisdom - just a personal opinion so pitchforks can stay holstered. As someone who isn't over there soaking up the atmosphere, after the heady early days of the tour I've actually found this tour has broken my spirit for rugby a bit. I'm sure if I was there intermingling with the travelling fans and not just following online on forums and through the media my thoughts might be different.

Firstly the officiating, I know some people think we should rise above the officiating but that's a bullshit cop out, it should be held to account like everything else that happens out on the field - if we can moan about TJs flapping, Cruden existing, SBW being SBW, Fatty being unfairly/fairly picked on, etc etc then we can discuss the ref as well. As I've mentioned earlier in the thread I think the 'spirit' of the reffing switched between the 2nd and 3rd test (and even times within the 3rd test) and it negatively affected the ABs both times. The final test draw was worse than the 2nd test loss for me to take personally because of the bullshit at the end.

The tour also served up a bunch of negative rugby that was at times penalised and other times wasn't. The offside line was at various times policed and not policed. The ABs tries in the first test and the Lions counter attacks in the second should have been the takeaways from the tour but it was the negative play that overshadowed everything else. Both teams dished out a wee bit of dirty and or reckless play (IMHO and with my biases one team got penalised a bit more for it) that probably didn't need to happen. Oh and fuck Connor Murray and his ball rolling and fuck the refs for letting him do it (Smith also did it on occasion as well in the 3rd test).

The Lions management chipping in the media was annoying. As noted above the Lions played right on and over the borderline of the laws throughout the test series yet they spent a bunch of time moaning about the ABs tactics to the media and refs. It's like they don't own a mirror. The moaning about blockers was particularly annoying as they were consistently guilty of the same tactics. Speaking of blocking, in the 2nd test BBBR was penalised, a penalty that gained the Lions 3 points, for an act that happened throughout the 3 test series on both sides.

The media just did my head in on this tour - and that's really only through posters linking to it on here. How come all rugby media is just trolling? From both sides.

Should we have won the series? Yes. Would it have made my thoughts any different? Probably, I guess we'll never know, a few less dropped balls, a couple less injuries, a couple of not dropped on their head French babies and I might be singing a different tune.

@number9 said in 2019 Rugby Championship:

So how does that drop kick Aumua make the ABs when he has played like shit all season.

I guess because Harris is liable to hit me in Australia when throwing into the lineout in Auckland.

@Joans-Town-Jones said in Bledisloe 1:

I'm sorry but why are they celebrating??? They had ample opportunity to put that game away with all the YCs, fucked endless opportunities to score, showed complete lack of aptitude in defense and got a unicorn at the end to win. I feel dirty and the ABs again, are complete shit.

FFS bro, they just won a close game, they're fucking human, allow them to celebrate.

@Chris-B said in Hansen:

Of course, they have been - but, that doesn't mean they're right.

Doesn't mean they're wrong either. Being able to say I told you so is the only thing keeping me from slitting my wrists at the moment.

You play that game again with the different players and get to change five plays/decisions - e.g. Cane smashes England players and the ball doesn't reach Daly, Savea has the freedom to run rather than contest rucks on his own, J Barrett doesn't come on and turnover ball when we finally have momentum, and Ioane makes ground in contact and pops a ball to TJ in space - and you could easily get a different result.

FYI - I'm 100% not in the Hansen is shit camp, I'm in the Hansen has been bloody good for a long time but made some errors and got out-coached, and I'm definitely not in the new camp of "England were always going to win", we had the team to win and we didn't.

@MajorRage said in Happiness Scale:

With all due respect, what is it you hope to get out of posting all these personal things on TSF, a website full of mostly bullshitting middle aged men?

I am not having a go, or criticizing, but I think you need to know the answer to this question (that’s you, not us). I suspect your situation is relatable to many (I’m not going to offer any insight on my own) so are you looking for advice? Solidarity? A few laughs?

I would be shocked if you went to a counselor if they said posting this stuff here was a good idea. Hence the questions.

I know your a tech nerd, so I’m sure you’ve got all bases covered but do your best to ensure your wife never finds out. As that could blow the situation up further.

Hasn't this thread always been a little bit about therapy? When I was having a shit time at work I typed up a rant about it for this thread. Didn't post it because after reading back what I typed I realised I should just resign, so did that the next day.

At any rate, as someone who quit a job at a school that trains therapists I think the standard of the Ferns advice at times would be on a par or better than the therapists.

@frank said in Has Hansen gone stale?:

@billy-tell said in Has Hansen gone stale?:

Rennie is one of the most overrrated coaches. Initial success with the Chiefs then very average.

Overrated mostly by Nepia. Not sure who else is stroking his schlong.

Wheres the yawn emoji? Wins Super rugby twice with long term failures the Chiefs, wins three U20s in a row and lulls us into thinking they're easy until we start loosing a few, takes over a basket case province when their coach quits and makes them way more competitive than they should be. Oh, also won a rare NPC for Wellington when he was a baby coach back in the day.

But yeah, overrated and average.

@MN5 said in All Blacks 2022:

@Nepia said in All Blacks 2022:

@nzzp said in All Blacks 2022:

I tend to think of leaguies as being big units

Isn't that a perceived holdover from the pre-professional days?

He looks way more jacked than Reiko Ioane who should probably spend more time in the weights room than on his phone.

Why? He’s faster than anyone else we have and he doesn’t really lose physical exchanges. Plus RTS is flexing while doing exercises while Reiko is sitting on his arse reading the Fern and thinking “I’d like to see you fat fucks play centre”.

@chris-b And there you are - thought you'd been abducted by aliens. Following the same reasoning I am impressed with how Foster built the Chiefs so that Rennie could win with them.

It was also impressive how Vance Stewart set up the Crusaders in 1996 so that Wayne Smith could benefit and eventually win in 1998.

The work that Jed Rowlands and Frank Oliver did in setting up the Blues for Sloane/Henry to win in 2003 was impressive too.

Also, it was great how Hammett got rid of Nonu so that he could rebuild the team for four years of mediocrity and this allowed Boyd to bring Nonu back to get the Canes to the finals and set them up for the win the following year.

@Chris said in Foster, Robertson etc:

@Nepia said in Foster, Robertson etc:

@Chris said in Foster, Robertson etc:

@taniwharugby said in Foster, Robertson etc:

@Dan54 I think if he said we have started the process, would be more than sufficient, instead, he danced around like a politician.

It aint like Fozzie doesnt know he has to reapply, win or not, so putting the feelers out signalling those who think they are a shot, thier time is coming, it certainly aint gonna hurt anyones feelings...who knows, Fozzie may have already indicated he wont even reapply...

Instead, like last time, most of the applicants felt it was a closed shop and done deal (whether it was or not is irrelevant if several potential candidates think it is)

Like he said himself, other unions are already making moves, instead he's focussed on other stuff, when in reality, this next 12 months is quite important for NZR given the relative cluster fuck the last 18 months has been on the coaching front, he needs to get this right.

Yep totally agree just more incompetence,Puss footing around and backing themselves into another corner post WC.
They are one very incompetent board that lot.The majority of the board have no rugby nous or background.

This post prompted me to look at the Board makeup and I don't think this is true at all. There's three former province Chairs including from the two most recently successful provinces (hmmm, I see the problem, too many Crusaders region reps ) and the others all have decent CVs with pretty long term involvement in rugby.

Would you like to name the board with their rugby nous next to their names
Sorry I should have added High Performance experience.

Would you like to name them and tell me why you don't think have rugby nous?

@Chris said in Foster, Robertson etc:

@taniwharugby said in Foster, Robertson etc:

@Dan54 I think if he said we have started the process, would be more than sufficient, instead, he danced around like a politician.

It aint like Fozzie doesnt know he has to reapply, win or not, so putting the feelers out signalling those who think they are a shot, thier time is coming, it certainly aint gonna hurt anyones feelings...who knows, Fozzie may have already indicated he wont even reapply...

Instead, like last time, most of the applicants felt it was a closed shop and done deal (whether it was or not is irrelevant if several potential candidates think it is)

Like he said himself, other unions are already making moves, instead he's focussed on other stuff, when in reality, this next 12 months is quite important for NZR given the relative cluster fuck the last 18 months has been on the coaching front, he needs to get this right.

Yep totally agree just more incompetence,Puss footing around and backing themselves into another corner post WC.
They are one very incompetent board that lot.The majority of the board have no rugby nous or background.

This post prompted me to look at the Board makeup and I don't think this is true at all. There's three former province Chairs including from the two most recently successful provinces (hmmm, I see the problem, too many Crusaders region reps ) and the others all have decent CVs with pretty long term involvement in rugby.

@Yeetyaah said in Exodus:

Rumour is PGS got on the piss after his second game then missed the bus the next morning.

On a Frizell judiciary chart that should only be a 5 minute standown from a warm up.

@Crucial said in Exodus:

@Higgins said in Exodus:

@Stargazer said in Exodus:

That's still in the rumour stage. Nothing confirmed by Clermont, yet.

Kind of shows his commitment to the All Blacks and vice versa.

Definitely in the vice-versa camp.
It annoys me when the ABs don’t do their homework before selecting. players like PGS and Kirifi to name a couple have been stiffed.
Would like to see him play for Fiji but he’ll have to wait now

Was PGS really stiffed anymore than any other AB who has been selected for a few games, hasn't met the standards and then been discarded?

If he was Peter Gus Smith we probably wouldn't even be having this discussion. We'd just be talking about how he was tried and failed. TTT was tried and discarded after 3 matches but we don't consider him stiffed do we?

@Chris said in Crusaders 2023:

Taylor Cahill
Jamie Hannah
Liam Allen
Alex Hartford
Jone Rove

All Training with the Crusaders

I know none of those names, can you tell me which one's are forwards so I know who they are before Ryan selects them in the ABs next year?

@dogmeat said in Sports Memes:

@MajorRage That was my pov too

If you start with 20 teams making the Top 8 is not reaching the later stages

Even the Football WC which starts with 32 and where probably30 were in contention to get out of their groups they only talk about reaching the knockout phase when they have eliminated half the contenders.

Shit gets serious for them at Quarters. For RWC it has got to be the semi's.

To me later stages are the knockouts. Pools are the early stages then knockouts. I'm genuinely surprised you guys see it as different.

@Rancid-Schnitzel said in Grumpy Old Man:

but then you have to worry about grooming and all that shit.

I much prefer grooming a beard once a week than shaving every couple of days.

@Kiwiwomble She didn't ask about $4B ...

Also, all those shit beers were our starter beers when we were young, they were an easy way to get shitfaced cheaply.

Now we're all fucking hipsters/beer snobs and can afford our fancy expensive craft beers, meanwhile we hang out on the Fern trying to make out we aren't.

Moe mai ra Doddie

I'm genuinely surprised it came out last year - it feels like it was much longer ago.