The Silver Fern

@voodoo said in All Blacks MOTM v Boks II:

I just can't fathom how that performance got him into the MOTM conversation.

A reflection of the other performances in the team ...?

@canefan said in Springboks vs All Blacks 2:

@MiketheSnow said in Springboks vs All Blacks 2:

@Victor-Meldrew said in Springboks vs All Blacks 2:

@mariner4life said in Springboks vs All Blacks 2:

Fuck the backs

A complete lack of penetration out wide - poor passing, positioning and shit running angles. One of the least effective attacking AB backline performances I've seen.

At least Ratima has tested the "all we need is quick ball to our 10 to slice them apart" hypothesis to destruction.

Said it more than once

Not lying deep enough

Sitting a metre or two further back now that you have the scrum half to pass the ball will give both DMac and JB the time to kick longer (neither of them have quick leg speed when they punt)

It will also create more doubt in the defenders because it will give DMac the time to read what's in front of him and fix the defences

Gives JB the chance to come up to battering ram speed

Putting ALB in at first five allows you to line up flatter. He's quicker off the mark forwards as well as laterally

Gives your back row the time to get to the breakdown and secure quick ruck ball. None of them are lightning

How about putting in a 10 who excels in creating space for his outsides?

Who the fuck is that in NZ rugby at the moment?

Also, one of DMac's key strengths for the Chiefs is his creating space for his outsides, what's different about the AB tactics that negates this from his game?

@canefan said in All Blacks vs Wallabies I:

@Frank said in All Blacks vs Wallabies I:

Plummer fast becoming the new (gets better the less he plays) favorite.

(though I agree he needs a shot)

He's the emerging new Ngatai

Surely that's Proctor, already a great test centre, played the same number of tests as his brother - one.

@MN5 said in All Blacks vs Wallabies I:

@Bones said in All Blacks vs Wallabies I:

@sparky said in All Blacks vs Wallabies I:

@Bones I'm blaming last night's Scotch.

The thing that really hurt was it's easier to type Sititi than Wallace.

Not true. It auto corrects to Sotutu if you’re not careful and the wrong guy might get selected

Ah so that explains his selection in the first place, Razor typed Sotutu on Tubby Ryan's laptop and it auto corrected to anyone but Sotutu.

@Bovidae said in 2024 School Rugby:

@Nepia We couldn't let Ta$man win everything this weekend.

Ouch.

Bloody hell, even in their not so good years Hamilton can win the Top 4. Congrats to them.

@W32 said in Springboks vs All Blacks 2:

I was telling my wife that we could lose with 2 minutes to go

This is just highlighting how one eyed you are, you clearly weren't watching the ABs otherwise you'd never have reached this conclusion.

@Gunner said in All Blacks vs Wallabies I:

This talk of sacking Razor is madness.

Yep we’ve lost too many games for anyones liking, however i can see clear improvement in tactics and the way we’re playing.

He’s slowly but surely bringing in fresh talent, though I’d like him to be a bit more ruthless with some of the underperforming senior players.

Boks are a good side, with the majority having been together for years, know how to win (much like our 2011-2015 ABs teams.

It’s not all doom and gloom, if we’re still making the same mistakes and losing close games in another 12 months then it’ll need a re-think.

Well it's clearly in the context of the last few years where there were constant calls to sack Fozzie even after he managed to not lose a RC at all.

The posters who were ready to string him up can't complain now when the same standards are being applied to the Messiah.

I'm not sure I'm seeing this "clear" improvement you can see.

(This is not me saying he should be sacked, just pointing out that in the context of the Fern over the last few years it's not as "madness" as you may think).

@Machpants said in All Blacks vs Wallabies I:

@NTA said in All Blacks vs Wallabies I:

@Canes4life said in All Blacks vs Wallabies I:

Where the hell do we go from here?

Sydney for a roughly 30 point win I'd say.

Then Wellington for 40+

You're pretty confident for someone that just shipped 60 vs Argy...

I first saw this and thought 'haha good banter'

Now it stings

Is it really that good banter? The bloody Boks win two RC's a decade and this is what we have to put up with.

Also, if we clean sweep the Wobs and the Boks clean sweep the Argies then we'll finish second.

Taylor, Vai'i and Cane. Bubbling under Lomax, Williams.

I see Sititi getting a lot of love, I didn't see him as outstanding in my watch, really good with the ball in hand but I didn't notice him too much outside of that - but not saying he wasn't good "on both sides of the ball" just I didn't focus enough on it.

First time I've voted for a while as I could actually pick three pretty easily.

Well I expected that loss so wasn't as disappointed as otherwise (I'm still more gutted the Pies lost to the dollar bills baabaas).

Taylor was on fire, it's weird my liking of him as a player decreased through no fault of him, he kept getting selected by the coaches when playing cabbage, but that was vintage form from him.

The Boks appear to be Jordan's kryptonite based on this match and the RWC final. He just can't seem to impose himself as we expect. None of our back three were any good, I assume when I read back through the thread that the ire will mostly be directed at Telea, but even the best of them, Reece, was bloody average.

Reffing was a bit of a lottery, as expected, probably more down to style than anything else. Thought he changed the interpretation of ruck stoppages for the one where Marx scored, but we didn't lose due to the ref. I thought for sure that last penalty from DMac went over, but it was 3am so maybe my old man eyes weren't focusing very well.

All of our high kicks were uncontestable, all of theirs were contestable. Why do we bother doing them if we can't compete?

I thought Barrett was going to bring some leadership? I don't really see it.

Cane was slightly inaccurate at times but he was just hitting people and rucks all day. You can't watch that match and not see why even Razor is picking him.

Vai'i had another good match, and is very enthusiastic. Most of the pack went well - Williams, Lomax (card aside, and even then there wasn't much in that, it looked to me like he braced for impact rather than change his line) and the already mentioned players.

TJP just needs to keep his mouth shut now, but I'm not convinced he's worse than other players, but he's clearly being targeted by the refs now so he needs to zip it.

I watched the match with the sound off, it was quite a nice way to watch it, I could focus on plays and players without commentator hyping. Although there were some areas I was a bit confused, but still might be my new style of watching, especially when Nisbett is the commentator.

Well what a shit weekend of sport. At least the Warriors got 2 points.

So, for most of that first half I was worried the Bled was in danger.

Congrats @Chris-B your foreign backs outplayed our foreign backs on the night.

@W32 said in Springboks vs All Blacks 2:

I have no idea about the score for this game. Heart says bokke by 3. Head says ABs by 7

I'm a reversal if that, I think we blew our shot last week.

@taniwharugby said in NPC Crowds:

@Nepia they probably arent fully pro in the way our super players are when you look at
the shape some come back in (even some that played the finals) it's more like a paid rugby camp...but that is probably reflective of the quality of the comp

Ours tend to come back in decent shape ...

@brodean said in Springboks vs All Blacks 2:

@Nepia

Ryan's criteria seems a bit random.

Seemingly Ioane, Sotutu, Finau and Papali'i aren't worth developing further but Frizell was.

The worst thing about Ryan and his love in for the thug is he's mentioned wanting him back even after watching the RWC final.

@mariner4life said in NPC Crowds:

Don't we only have 5 teams of pro players now? Or are there guys fully pro playing NPC only??

There's guys who are playing NPC and then heading off to the US or Japan - I expect many of them are fully pro.

@kiwiinmelb said in Springboks vs All Blacks 2:

@Nepia said in Springboks vs All Blacks 2:

FFS, Sititi had a few good games for the Chiefs this year but his rise is mirroring the Tongan thug's. Hopefully he turns into a better player than that flake.

He seems like a good kid with leadership qualities, my concern is it too much too early ?

Yeah, my post wasn't intended to be a direct criticism of him as such, more in his elevation to the team and remembering how the Tongan flake thug was also elevated off only a small CV.

FFS, Sititi had a few good games for the Chiefs this year but his rise is mirroring the Tongan thug's. Hopefully he turns into a better player than that flake.

@nzzp said in NPC Crowds:

@Nepia said in NPC Crowds:

Also the Auckland team only appears to have a couple of Brooke's and a Sotutu from outside the area,.

...and King Carlos of course

One year too soon, Foxy was there in 1993.

@Bovidae Cheers, forgot he was a Wellingtonian.