Awesome afternoon of rugby (day rugby is so much more enjoyable!!), and so good to finally get along to a test again.

With a 7 year old, 2 year old and a wife 30 weeks pregnant we were not keen on the idea of public transport so we drove to the ground at around 1PM so we could park close(ish). By 1.30 all parks within cooee were gone so we were glad we got there nice and early. Had a picnic, let the boys play for a bit, then made a leisurely stroll down the road to the game.

Wife was decked out in her Wallabies gear, standing out in a sea of black, bless her. A tough afternoon for her lads thankfully, and the 7 year old let her know ALL about it haha.

Atmosphere was great, especially when the ABs clicked into gear after 15 or so minutes. That was an improved performance as you would expect, albeit in far better conditions which helped some of our players thrive.

Best moments of the afternoon was when they brought up Eroni Clarke on the big screen a couple of times. The second time was right after Clarke's epic run that set up Ardie's try and he got such a massive cheer he had to acknowledge the crowd. He looked proud as punch.

Some random thoughts on the game, bearing in mind I haven't seen it on TV:

• I thought 20 points flattered us; but for some more clinical finishing from Aus it could have been a damn sight closer.
• Aus picked up where they left off last week and dominated the first 15. It was only individual brilliance from Beauden and then Clarke that kicked us into gear. It does feel like we are still too reliant on that to get into a game, better defensive sides won't allow that to happen so easily.
• On Clarke, fark me what a performance from the 21 year old. He looks made for test footy. It's highly likely Bridge would have got the nod again if not injured, and without Clarke the ABs would have once again lacked the firepower needed to break open the test. The selections are going to be an ongoing concern with Foster at the helm.
• RM is electric in broken play, which is why I like him on the bench coming on against tired legs. In a tight test he doesn't lead the team around the park, and as we found out last week if the conditions are difficult he can be found wanting big time. That said, Beauden is not exactly well suited to the role either, but he has a damn sight more experience trying. Fact of the matter is we don't have a 10 that can really take control of a game when the opposition defense has come to play like we did with DC.
• Beauden was simply superb in the first half, which helped take some pressure off RM who grew into the game and had some fantastic touches to set us away.
• Frizzel is a very solid player but he doesn't seem to possess the power Akira does. I really hope they give Akira a good crack as he has the potential (only that right now) to be our next Kaino.
• Coles made a real difference and is back to his best (which is better than Taylor's ceiling). Great to see after his serious injury concerns a year or so back.
• ALB is a fantastic all round player and solidifies our midfield big time. He needs to be 12 with JG 13. I can only assume they have JG closer in to help defend the channel as RM is a bit of a liability there.

Overall a really enjoyable game in the sun with both teams willing to play attacking footy. Still a lot of question marks over this AB side, and I can see some very squeaky bum times ahead in Sydney and Brissie, but nice to keep the Eden Park fortress in tact with a comfortable win in the end.

My wife had an abnormal result on a smear test. Got the dreaded call from the doctor instead of a text.

A closer look shows she has a lesion on her cervix that has 'high grade cell changes', which are pre-cancerous. She will need part of her cervix removed to get rid of it, and then regular tests to confirm they are all gone.

While the whole thing has been stressful, we are both incredibly grateful that it was picked up before it developed further. Cancer really is a fucking bitch.

If any ladies read this (including the hot Polish chicks), get your smears, they are genuine life savers.

The fact that they’ve picked a team that so many on the Fern wanted makes me nervous. As a collective we have a strong proven record of not having a fucking clue what we are talking about.

I missed the game as my wife decided to go into labor - as a Wallabies supporter I guess from her perspective childbirth is less painful than watching them play the ABs so fair enough.

Have caught the highlights - geez we scored some great tries eh? Squire's was a thing of beauty, the angle he ran and the perfectly timed ball from BBBR. Orgasmic. Also loved how Moody lined up a couple of backs on their goalline and just smashed the fuck through them.

Great to see us put Beauden into some space as well, he's a very different player to Carter but fuck we can tear teams apart if we use him like we did last night.

Well, it must have been an incredibly tough week for the players. All things considered that's a really good effort, never looked like losing. Proud of that effort.

All of the concerns about selections and game plan really came to a head in this match. Argentina just watched the RWC semi and replicated what England did in the hope we hadn't learnt anything from that, which was evident in the way we've played this year.

We had no answers and once again just relied on individual brilliance to try and get us out of a hole. That doesn't work against an organised defense these days, you have to actually do some hard work to create a bit of space for the likes of Clarke and Beauden.

I still can't get my head around Foster getting the top job when we have blokes like Rennie and Robertson in the mix. You just cannot tell me Robertson wouldn't get more out of this group of players than Foster. Honestly the mind boggles.

Anyway some further random thoughts:

• the loose trio mix is just so obviously wrong it hurts. Akira, Cane, Sotutu. End of story. Idiot selections.
• as above we actually need to pick players that can match up physically in the early exchanges. And then implement a game plan around that; we are simply not going to win the game in the first 40, we should be setting the foundation with good aggressive forward play to generate space for our backs later in the game. This is just rugby 101 surely.
• Cane is a bloke you would follow into the trenches, but his decision making has left a lot to be desired so far. The quick tap Weber took was a stupid play, but he was getting no direction from the captain. I still think he's the right man for the job but he has a bit to learn.
• Mo'unga again struggled and made errors when under pressure. It's a recurring theme with him unfortunately. A rock star on the front foot or in broken play, but against a well organised and aggressive defense he becomes a possum in the headlights.

There's not actually much more to be said about this game that hasn't been said in the previous weeks. The All Blacks had gone stale under Hansen and we decided to go for continuity with Foster. It's going to be a rough couple of years to say the least.

@Stargazer said in Coronavirus - New Zealand:

Have you guys considered the possibility that the fact that you don't understand why the MoH has advised an extension of 4 days, may have more to do with poor reporting by the media and not so much with there not being good reasons? Or with the fact that only the main point of the MoH advice is communicated but not the details underlying it?

If they need a few more days of contact tracing to get a reasonable level of certainty that they've found all the contacts related to this cluster that they need to find and that no infections related to this cluster will pop up at unexpected places, then there's likely an operational need for that. What's so hard to understand about that?

LOL this made me laugh, talk about defending Jacinda to the hilt. What does the media have to do with this? She had a press conference all to herself, which could go for as long as she wanted, to lay out the reasons for extending the lockdown. Instead she made some vague comments about getting better prepared. All while businesses die. And I'm not talking about big business here; Amazon, Facebook, Foodstuffs etc etc are all absolutely killing it during Covid. Bezos is worth a gazillion dollars now. I'm talking about small and medium businesses, the ones everyday NZers have absolutely slogged their guts out to build from the ground up, watching them go up in flames as politicians with no skin in the game extend lockdowns and tell them they can't open for business due to a virus that has a 99% survival rate.

It's nonsense and people have had enough. The cure is worse than the virus, by some stretch now, and a lot of people are in for a world of hurt over the next two years if we keep locking down every time we get a sniff of the thing.

A few random thoughts:

• it's pretty clear we don't have the depth to rest any of our top players, particularly A Smith and Coles. Fair enough that we did but shit some of the next tier down got exposed.
• TJP's form has gone the same way Cowan's did, right off a fucking cliff and he's become a liability. He's always been inconsistent, showing glimpses of being world class, but has never able to put back to back performances together. It just seems to be consistently bad now. Weber is a fucking liability as well though so we definitely have a gap to fill there.
• we also really need Clarke to fill a gap on the wing, and Sotutu to fill a gap at 8. Both rookies but both specialists and have oodles of class.
• Ardie was really good, but it's so blindingly obvious he isn't an 8 and he's best used from the bench wrecking havoc at the end of the match.
• midfield didn't work and I didn't really think it would. JG, ALB and Rieko are our first choice covering 12 and 13 IMO. Rieko probably still off the bench until he really finds his feet at centre at test level.
• Akira was fucking awesome, we actually lost a lot of shape when he went off. His work rate was high and he was super effective in contact. Wobs must have been extremely pleased to see the back of him after the red.
• both reds were pretty silly. Sure you can tell players to just go low, but then you basically take the dominant tackle out of the game. At the end of the day rugby is a contact sport and you're going to get some accidental contact to the head every now and then. Red carding players for that is completely over the top and ruins the spectacle.
• fucking SB and that dumb as fuck YC. I was calling for a red as it was that fucking idiotic. That's the kind of play that makes you think he can't be trusted in a big test.
• BB was not good, but I'm really not sure how RM would have gone given the pile of shit that was served up. Jury still out but RM/BB 10/15 combo has had the most success so far.

@crucial said in Trans weight lifter:

@antipodean said in Trans weight lifter:

@crucial said in Trans weight lifter:

@broughie said in Trans weight lifter:

So anyone on the fern rooting for this kiwi trans weightlifter. I hope this person ruptures a testical, I mean, whatever is left. This is plain wrong.

Science says otherwise. Olympics applies very strict scientific criteria around what does and doesn't create an unfair advantage in this, and other, situations around gender eligibility. They say she qualifies and holds no more or less advantage.

That's utter horseshit. Hubbard has had the benefit of decades of testosterone providing a larger frame, bigger muscles, greater aerobic capacity etc. None of this disappears because Hubbard wears heels and some lippy. The science is unequivocal and to pretend the corrupt organisation known as the Olympics has applied genuine rigor to this is laughable.

I wonder how all of those other large strong women got that way to compete. Their bodies developed differently to other women as well. Perhaps they also shouldn't be allowed to compete if they have high testosterone within the acceptable range.

I strongly dislike this argument. I don't think you have bad intentions, in fact quite the opposite, but this is really misleading.

Of course there is variation within the sexes, that's why I'm not an All Black, could never play pro basketball or be a top weight lifter. There's even overlap between the sexes - Serena Williams would smoke plenty of male tennis players for example.

But we're not talking about matching up the weakest men against the strongest women here. We're talking about professional sports - the strongest men vs the strongest women. Here there is no overlap at all. None. Nada. Nil. The strongest women is not even in the same stratosphere as the strongest man. Serena got smoked by an alcoholic male that was outside the top 200 and in poor physical condition. She could barely get a point off him. It was laughable and her bold "I want to play against the men" statements evaporated.

And so we have Hubbard. A male that would never get even close to the top of his field transitioning to female later in life, past the peak of an athlete, and immediately shooting straight to the top of the female division. That's seriously not fair on women that have slogged their guts out and are at the peak of their career age wise with a small window for winning a medal. It makes a farce of women's sports which have come such a long way in recent times to be taken seriously.

I just can't believe this is even up for debate let alone actually happening, and I'm utterly ashamed that NZ is sending a biological male to compete against women that have trained their whole lives for this moment.

@rotated said in NZ cricket 2021:

@no-quarter said in NZ cricket 2021:

@siam said in NZ cricket 2021:

@mn5 said in NZ cricket 2021:

no.....and BMacs aura always exceeded how good he actually was.

Not with keeping. You'd have to explain why he wasn't better than Watling.

Pre the back injuries BMac was the finest keeper I have seen. Incredible reflexes and athleticism.

I thought he was pretty clearly a drop off from Robbie Hart (with the gloves) when he debuted and he was definitely dropping off in the two years prior to giving the gloves up. There was a period in the middle where he was very good - but it's difficult to compare the attacks he kept to (basically Vettori + a bunch of guys bowling 135km/h max) vs those keeping to genuine quicks, hooping swing bowlers or ripping leggies.

I'm inclined to say Smith was the best if only because Hadlee seems to be on speaking terms with him.

Yeah Smithy was a bit before my time so I didn't really see him keep live but he's held in extremely high regard so fair enough.

It's great to see Watling getting the accolades he deserves from cricketing world. He's truly world class, NZs best ever, and one of the finest keeper-batsmen to play the game. Despite the talent we have coming through he's going to leave a massive hole in the team.

@siam said in NZ cricket 2021:

@mn5 said in NZ cricket 2021:

no.....and BMacs aura always exceeded how good he actually was.

Not with keeping. You'd have to explain why he wasn't better than Watling.

Pre the back injuries BMac was the finest keeper I have seen. Incredible reflexes and athleticism.

@rancid-schnitzel said in Happiness Scale:

@no-quarter said in Happiness Scale:

My wife had an abnormal result on a smear test. Got the dreaded call from the doctor instead of a text.

A closer look shows she has a lesion on her cervix that has 'high grade cell changes', which are pre-cancerous. She will need part of her cervix removed to get rid of it, and then regular tests to confirm they are all gone.

While the whole thing has been stressful, we are both incredibly grateful that it was picked up before it developed further. Cancer really is a fucking bitch.

If any ladies read this (including the hot Polish chicks), get your smears, they are genuine life savers.

Obviously horribly stressful news and so sorry you have to experience that, but great they caught it in time. Hope she has a speedy recovery and you guys can get on with your lives.

Thanks mate, we are definitely of the outlook that this is good news rather than bad as we appear to have caught it before it could develop. Feeling really grateful overall that she got the test, and that we live in a country where we can easily get the required treatment.

@MajorRage thanks for sharing, the doctor was saying the same thing - the procedure is low risk and then it's just a matter of more regular tests to confirm we are clear.

Things like this do affect your outlook on life a bit though. You just never know what is around the corner.

My wife had an abnormal result on a smear test. Got the dreaded call from the doctor instead of a text.

A closer look shows she has a lesion on her cervix that has 'high grade cell changes', which are pre-cancerous. She will need part of her cervix removed to get rid of it, and then regular tests to confirm they are all gone.

While the whole thing has been stressful, we are both incredibly grateful that it was picked up before it developed further. Cancer really is a fucking bitch.

If any ladies read this (including the hot Polish chicks), get your smears, they are genuine life savers.

@voodoo said in Gender Pay Equality:

Is that fair though? Are there really as many males studying teaching and trying to be teachers? Is 50% a realistic target?

It's the same in finance, we tried our nuts off to get females into our front office, and constantly battled. There just aren't as many candidates, and tjebknes that are there, have the typical spread of talent that you'd expect.

Having 50% representation in any particular single industry seems to me to be a misguided target

Yep, there's absolutely no way of achieving 50/50 targets across different sectors. It just isn't possible, because (shock horror) although there is some overlap, males and females have different interests overall. Which is just bloody self-evident if you actually live in the real world, but for some God forsaken reason a bunch of idiots have decided we must achieve 50/50 in roles of their choice (which surprisingly excludes all of the dangerous/disgusting jobs men undertake).

Which was the point of me posting that tweet/article. It isn't discrimination stopping women getting into certain areas, it's just that in a free and affluent society they actually get to pick and choose which jobs they apply for just the same as men.

@siam said in Gender Pay Equality:

@crucial said in Gender Pay Equality:

@siam said in Gender Pay Equality:

I often wonder why the push for 50/50 representation never seems to apply to primary schools?

I thought it did? I don’t know about right now but for some time there has been a push to get more male primary school teachers.
Or have I misunderstood?

Dunno. Go into any primary school in Aus or NZ and glance at the staff photo board. That'll tell you all you need to know about gender equality as a priority.

As the study I posted above indicates, males face discrimination when trying to apply for jobs like that. It's the exact opposite of attempting to achieve quotas the way they are in other areas for females. They don't even get an interview a lot of the time.

Study of interest in Sweeden