For fucks sake.
Im pretty fucking over rugby at the moment to be honest. To put 54 on the Wallabies in sydney and get the win but be pissed off afterward is just a weird feeling.
The reffing of the game at the moment is absolutely killing the game. That Wallabies try was one of the most obvious non tries i have seen in ages. The pass was 1m forward and then a clear offside the angle they made the call on was totally wrong.
Then the non try for BB. The front angle clearly showed BBs hand on the ball first yet they look at some far off angle from behind and the consistency of clear and obvious being required to disallow the try is out the window.

Fuck Barnes.

ABs bench sucked arse.
We need to find a new 3rd hooker and a replacement for Ofa.
TJP was shit again. Has reverted to the old TJ. WTF was that quick lineout? Stupid.

DMac mixed really good with the shit. That is the problem with him.

Ioane, ASmith, Squire and Rettalick really good.
BB's goal kicking very good.

Oh and a big fuck you to the Clown. What sort of professional sits in the coaches box swearing his head off at every ref call, even when it goes his way.
When is he going to get called on his pathetic record as wallabies coach?

You will never convince me that the current obsession with handing out red cards is a good thing.
They have shifted their interpretation of dangerous play, and how it should be dealt with, a long way from where it used to be. But they haven’t changed the card system. It is no longer fit for purpose.
Add in the inconsistency they are applying it with and it is a complete fucking mess.

Straight red cards should be reserved for the worst of the worst. ie. biting, kicking, eye gouging, punching, stomping on a head and deliberate or extremely dangerous foul play eg. A stiff arm to the head.

Tackles that are part of the game but have just been poorly executed in the heat of the game should be dealt with differently. There is absolutely no reason another tier of card allowing for a replacement player after 10min and harsher suspensions wouldn’t work.
Or hey you could even start by not reducing every single ban by 50% because someone dressed nicely for the hearing.

I would be very interested in seeing the stats for how often a team has gone on to win after copping a red card before 60 mins. It is so often a death sentence for the contest.

By the way, im not commenting on the red card in this game. Im not watching it because i refused to pay money to watch a RWC which was so clearly going to be tainted by bullshit cards and inconsistent application of the laws.

@Machpants said in Blues 2020:

Quality No 10s are like buses....

You wait for years for one to come, then two turn up at the same time?

@MN5 said in All Blacks v BI Lions Test #2:

On the piss in town last night and I have to say that every single Lions fan is an absolute GGC. Great folk to talk shit with. Such a decent bunch. My Mum is a fan too after getting her car stuck on the ledge of a drive she was using to turn around in. A group of about 6 of them lifted her car ( Suzuki swift ) back onto the roadside. Legends.

Town is just pumping. 2005 all over again, only difference is my fucken head aches way more than it did at 28.

Concussion? Would explain some of your comments around Scottish players.

@Machpants said in Aussie Rugby:

@mariner4life said in Aussie Rugby:

@Bovidae said in Aussie Rugby:

There is enough blame to go around but even if some of what O'Connor says is true it did sound like a dysfunctional squad.

when was the last time the Wallabies weren't dysfunctional?

https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.stuff.co.nz%2Fsport%2Frugby%2Finternational%2F106241168%2Felvis-a-hit-warriors-top-dogs--what-was-it-like-when-australia-last-won-bledisloe-cup&psig=AOvVaw2JSXG1fWB3jRRYHUVq0hcO&ust=1592435126553000&source=images&cd=vfe&ved=0CAIQjRxqFwoTCNDWkaK5h-oCFQAAAAAdAAAAABAD

or even

https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.smh.com.au%2Fsport%2Frugby-union%2Fbring-back-bill-the-untold-stories-of-the-1999-rugby-world-cup-20190916-p52rn0.html&psig=AOvVaw070LMBt5E9rgL2scXYujq0&ust=1592435232534000&source=images&cd=vfe&ved=0CAIQjRxqFwoTCODm4NS5h-oCFQAAAAAdAAAAABAD

It’s amazing what they can do to colourise old historic black and white photos these days.

@mikethesnow said in All Blacks v France Test #2:

@taniwharugby said in All Blacks v France Test #2:

@booboo the French centre reckons it was partly BBs fault....

Doumayrou conceded it was "the straight application of the regulation" but felt the match officials should have taken into account that there had been "a fault of the All Blacks" with Fall "unbalanced" while challenging for the ball.

Was going to wait until tomorrow, but had a few so what the hell.

ALB certainly helped Fall to his final destination quicker than he expected.

Not a legal person but I think that's what the Americans call an 'Accesory After The Fact'

Nothing Fall could have done to avoid the collision with BB

Fall was focussed on the ball the whole time, as was BB

Many have commented that Fall would never have made the catch.

It could be argued that BB knew the only way he could make the catch was to leap above the oncoming player and put himself at the mercy of the collision.

So he couldn't have turned his eyes in the general direction he was running and realised he was going to be beaten to the ball and pulled out? How did all the other players in the match manage to properly judge aerial contests then?

Its a pretty simple situation. Time your run right and get in the air to properly contest or pull out and wait for the guy to safely land. Blindly running to where the ball is going to land and being surprised you take out a jumper is not an option.

@Bones said in 'Super Rugby' 2021:

Sounds naff

https://i.stuff.co.nz/sport/rugby/super-rugby/300225984/super-rugby-aotearoa-radical-law-changes-for-2021-include-captains-referral?cid=app-iPhone

FFS, I hate this shit. How about they work on getting the TMO to not fuck up clear decisions. Referring them more things to get wrong is not going to improve the game.

Not sure how allowing the defending team to kick the ball away after the attacking team has been held up over try line is going to promote attacking play.

But hey, lets go all out like the BBL and introduce power plays and power surges and mega awesome lightning periods where tries are worth 100 and fans can vote on removing the boots of an opposition player for 10mins.

Much better performance tonight. Especially with all the new guys in the team.
Scott Barrett my MOTM. Don't see why people are saying he is too slow to cover 6. Not like Kaino was fast. Would much rather a strong tackler/strong carrier and lineout option with good ball skills over a flaah open field runner like Fifita.

Dmac was also good. Still had some poor moments but for the most part he was playing like a 10.
Hopefully he and Richie can both develop so we have some good depth at 10.

SBW was looking really good. Unfortunate that he got hurt. Think our backline balance with a strong runner at 12 to bend the line.

Thought Goodhue was decent on debut. Especially second half. Hemopo good on debut and i thought Frizzell wasn't as bad as has been said on here but still not seeing what he has over Akira.

Hopefully this is the last time we see Todd miss a squad. Time to have him on the bench in the top team.

Rieko was bloody good again. So much gas. Looked good at centre too.

Think people are jumping the gun on calling Ben Smith past it. He is still a fucking good rugby player.
And while Naholo wasn't great on D tonight he is still a bloody good winger to have in the squad.

One and only thing i will say about the ref/tmo: The Frizzell no try was bullshit. Sure if the ref goes upstairs and says can you see a grounding? And the tmo can't see it you don't give the try. But when the ref said he saw it you don't interrupt then overturn the call because you aren't sure if he got it or not. There was no clear held up just like there was no grounding. So go with the refs call ffs.

Also the NZ anthem was awful. I hate the slow warbling opera types.

Well it appears my first reaction to that squad was the same as everyone elses. Fifita? WTF?

They have lost the plot over the last few years when trying to plan for Kaino’s departure.
Elliot Dixon in and out, Luatua in and out, Squire all the chances in the world despite being shit, fifita all the chances in the world despite being shit, Frizzell in from nowhere then out, Barrett maybe we will use him but not given many chances, Hemopo selected as a 6 but now listed as a lock also given bugger all chances despite showing promise, Papalii in then out, Akira never given a chance despite good form, Jacobson in then......

What is the bet they now try Cane, Read or Ardie there? That is the only reason i can see them picking Todd.

Will be interesting to see what they do at 14 too. Some of those guys need to be tested.

@Hooroo said in All Blacks vs Tonga:

@Nepia said in All Blacks vs Tonga:

@ACT-Crusader said in All Blacks vs Tonga:

@pukunui said in All Blacks vs Tonga:

@Canerbry said in All Blacks vs Tonga:

@pukunui said in All Blacks vs Tonga:

Im definitely not sold on the Bridge/Reece combo.

Why is that?

To clarify that probably should have been followed by “as our first choice combo”

I just don’t think it is the best one we can put on the park. Ioane/Smith still #1 for me if BB is at 15.

If Smith is at 15 i would have Bridge in the conversation for 14 but they don’t seem to want to play him there.

With Reece i just don’t rate him that highly yet. He hasn’t done anything in an AB wingers jersey that someone like Jordie hasn’t and he was about as good in Super rugby as Ben Lam was a season or two back. For now i put him firmly in the “flashy new toy” category.

The great thing about flashy new toys is that you only need them for Christmas/New Year period. We only need Reece to perform at the RWC and then let’s see where it goes.

I'd prefer we rely on Ioane (who's performed for a couple of years now and his drop in form has been blown way out of proportion) and Bridge who looks to be the next long term Ben Smith/Cory Jane style player.

I'd prefer we rely on the form winger rather than the grossly out of form winger.

The way Bridge hunted out the ball during the last Bled was enough for me to want to see a lot more of that

Where does this grossly out of form thing come from? He has only played two games for the ABs this season. He wasn’t great against the Boks when he kept dropping the ball but lets not forget Bridge came on and shat the bed letting the boks score at the end. Then he played against Aus in perth where he wasn’t bad despite to forwards getting embarrassed.

It’s not fair to translate his up and down super season into his test “form” because he was playing in a joke of a Blues team and still scored 9 tries.

Absolutely pathetic performance from the ABs. I honestly can’t remember a worse performance across 80min. So glad we already extended the contract of the coach who got them up for the big occasion.

Hopefully that is George Bridge’s last test. Ben Blair mk2.
He was meant to be the high ball guy. If he can’t do that, what does he do?

ABs Very lucky Boks showed no interest in playing rugby. Even doing that they should have won. Those who said they were going to be easy beats are looking pretty stupid right now.

@bones said in Foster signs 2 year extension:

@pukunui said in Foster signs 2 year extension:

I don’t think any proper judgement can be made until we play the Boks and some of the NH teams.

Yeah and then when we beat them, judgement can't be made until we play Japan and Canada and then after that, well Foster hasn't beaten the moon has he!

Don’t know why im bothering to reply to this rubbish but here goes.
Are Japan and Canada ranked above us?
Are they current world champs?
Have they beaten us at any point in our last few games?

Do you really need this concept explained to you?
Beating shit teams means nothing.

@booboo said in Foster signs 2 year extension:

@pukunui said in Foster signs 2 year extension:

@antipodean said in Foster signs 2 year extension:

@pukunui said in Foster signs 2 year extension:

Let’s not forget that we have only played against a club player filled Tonga, Fiji, a historically poor Wallabies and a defence only Argentina.
I don’t think any proper judgement can be made until we play the Boks and some of the NH teams. Hopefully the trend of not making stupid selections and not using stupid tactics continues.
Still got concerns over our discipline, scrum and lineout.

Well you say that, but Argentina scored points against the Boks. Oz beat them.

. An comfortable win against them is absolutely the minimum required standard for the ABs. One that wasn’t achieved last year.

I guess you missed the other game where they beat us for the first time ever? That failure doesn’t get erased by the next game. That standard applies to every game.

@antipodean said in Foster signs 2 year extension:

@pukunui said in Foster signs 2 year extension:

@antipodean said in Foster signs 2 year extension:

@pukunui said in Foster signs 2 year extension:

Let’s not forget that we have only played against a club player filled Tonga, Fiji, a historically poor Wallabies and a defence only Argentina.
I don’t think any proper judgement can be made until we play the Boks and some of the NH teams. Hopefully the trend of not making stupid selections and not using stupid tactics continues.
Still got concerns over our discipline, scrum and lineout.

Well you say that, but Argentina scored points against the Boks. Oz beat them.

So what if Arg scored a couple of points against the Boks. They are rubbish at the moment. An comfortable win against them is absolutely the minimum required standard for the ABs. One that wasn’t achieved last year.

As for Aus beating the Boks, that is pretty much standard for the last 20 years isn’t it? The Boks have always struggled in Aus.

Doesn’t change the fact that Bok style and players will be a bigger test of where the ABs are than the teams we have played over the last 2 years.

Again; I'm pointing out based on form the Boks won't be much of a test.

You are completely missing the definition of the word test.
ie. trying something and see what the result is so you can come to informed conclusions.
Maybe the result of the boks games tells us we are much better than them. Great. I want to see some actual evidence of that before claiming superiority via some pathetic ‘we beat them and they beat you so we are therefore better than you’ type crap.

Easy wins against lower ranked teams mean nothing when measuring yourself against higher ranked teams.

@antipodean said in Foster signs 2 year extension:

@pukunui said in Foster signs 2 year extension:

Let’s not forget that we have only played against a club player filled Tonga, Fiji, a historically poor Wallabies and a defence only Argentina.
I don’t think any proper judgement can be made until we play the Boks and some of the NH teams. Hopefully the trend of not making stupid selections and not using stupid tactics continues.
Still got concerns over our discipline, scrum and lineout.

Well you say that, but Argentina scored points against the Boks. Oz beat them.

So what if Arg scored a couple of points against the Boks. They are rubbish at the moment. An comfortable win against them is absolutely the minimum required standard for the ABs. One that wasn’t achieved last year.

As for Aus beating the Boks, that is pretty much standard for the last 20 years isn’t it? The Boks have always struggled in Aus.

Doesn’t change the fact that Bok style and players will be a bigger test of where the ABs are than the teams we have played over the last 2 years.

Let’s not forget that we have only played against a club player filled Tonga, Fiji, a historically poor Wallabies and a defence only Argentina.
I don’t think any proper judgement can be made until we play the Boks and some of the NH teams. Hopefully the trend of not making stupid selections and not using stupid tactics continues.
Still got concerns over our discipline, scrum and lineout.

@machpants said in 2021 Rugby Championship:

I wonder how busy Twickenham is

Might be a good opportunity to take the whole show to the US.

@nostrildamus said in Wallabies vs All Blacks 3 (Perth):

@booboo it is s a nefarious plot to shut the Fern down through apathy over nothing to rant about.

Let’s just wait and see. Remember what happened on here after the last game we played in Perth where there was the long awaited selection of a Barrett at 15 along with Ioane at 11, a fullback style 14 and another Barrett at lock.

The AB selection (and TSF) meltdown really accelerated after that game.

@duluth said in Pasifika SR team:

So no one has heard any rumours?

Surely they’ve signed a decent number of players by now? If not, this will be a disaster

If it’s like anything else NZR has touched in the last 2 years the answer is probably no and therefore it will be a complete disaster.

@stargazer said in Crusaders 2022:

And here it is. The most underwhelming Crusaders signing in many years.

There is a serious merry-go-round of second tier 9’s in NZ.
Can’t think of any other position where there is so much movement between franchises.