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.

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?

@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 Blues 2020:

Quality No 10s are like buses....

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

@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.

@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.

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.

@KiwiMurph said in Hurricanes v Crusaders:

Enjoyable game.

Jordan was terrific.

Can't say I was impressed by Bridge. Was not threatening at all.

Jordan would good with the AB 14 jersey on his back.
Could be a very good Ben Smith style winger.

George Bridge is Caleb Ralph mkII. There are so many better options than him.

@Dice said in Mitre 10 Cup - news, injuries etc:

@Toddy We can only hope.

He looks good in black and white.

That’s actually a very good pic to compare his height to Ardie’s.

On the game itself. Good entertaining game. Highlanders will be kicking themselves for not taking all their opportunities and the bottling it a bit at the end once the Crusaders got in front. Stupid from Sio T to get himself carded like that. I was hoping they would cause an upset and keep the comp alive for next week.

Friz and Ioane were good and both should go close to AB selection if there is an AB team this year.

Congrats to the Crusaders for 4 titles in a row.
Pretty impressive given this years team hardly looked unbeatable on paper. Especially in the forwards.
Backs were quality even with Goodhue being below his best all year and Havili getting injured.
Mounga must be their mvp. Has surely earned first crack at the AB 10 spot.

Hopefully if they run Super Rugby Aotearoa again next year they will add a finals series with 2v3 playing to meet 1 in the Final so there can be a bigger finish.

@Bones said in Crusaders v Highlanders:

@pukunui agree on the first two but I don't think Jordan has quite reached the same heights.

Yeah that was just a quick list of good performers off the top of my head. Jordan would probably be under those guys along with guys like Clarke, Frizzel, MMT and Laumape etc.

@taniwharugby said in Crusaders v Highlanders:

Aaron Smith and then Mounga up there as the best players in SRA, Sotutu would be there too if not for his injury (well he was still awesome, but an injury curtailed him)

Yeah i agree, probably only Pat T, Jordie and maybe Jordan who would also be up there with those guys. But Smith and Mounga on another level.

@Chris-B said in Hurricanes v Chiefs:

@pukunui said in Hurricanes v Chiefs:

Heard the commentators mention that Dmac hasn’t scored a try in RUgby Aotearoa. So out of form it’s not funny. Will still get selected for the AB’s though.

I guess it depends a bit on the squad size - and whether they're going to persist with Beauden as a second play-maker at fullback (I think they will) - but I'm not sure how they fit him in unless they pick a very big squad.

If you've got Beauden, Jordie and Will Jordan as fullback options, I'm not sure you need a fourth fullback - and if you do, David Havili was playing good rugby before his injury. Would be a travesty if they picked DMac ahead of Jordan.

Maybe the large amount of utility value among our backs will leave a place for him?

Totally agree and I wouldn’t select him if it was me choosing the team. But the selectors leaving him out would surprise me more than if they picked him.

@Stargazer said in Hurricanes v Chiefs:

Just came home from the game. Won't make too many comments until I've seen a replay, but it was one of the worst and boring SR games I've been to, especially the first half.

Before the game, at the stadium, they briefly talked about players leaving. I heard the names of James Marshall, Ben May and Kobus van Wyk, but we were surrounded by screaming children (not ours), so I couldn't hear everything. Did they say anything about other players leaving as well? Or only these three?

Couldn't see what happened and who was lying on the ground and left the field in the first half. Stadium announcer didn't say much. Was it Sam Cane?

Now, I'm first going to hug a heater because I need to defrost. It was bloody cold, even without wind.

Yeah Cane with a nasty head knock.

Unless they are turning up with a cheque for millions of pounds made out to the NZRU they can fuck right off.

It’s bad enough that the coach is fucking off for the year but to use the Chiefs as a glorified training camp is an insult.

Pretty entertaining game in the end. I really thought the Chiefs were going to pull it together and steal it when they closed the gap right up. But they turned to shit again. There is definitely something not working in that organisation. Previous years they have had equally bad i jury problems but always pulled it together to perform better than expectations. It’s just not there this year.
Heard the commentators mention that Dmac hasn’t scored a try in RUgby Aotearoa. So out of form it’s not funny. Will still get selected for the AB’s though.

As others have said Jordie was really good tonight. Coming out from under BB’s shadow has really helped him mature and reduce some of the silly things he used to do.

TJP was a lot calmer tonight. Plays so much better when he isn’t arguing with the ref constantly.

Kirifi and Ardie went well too.

Blackwell is David Pocock without the turnover ability. I don’t think i’ve ever seen him make ground in contact. He just falls like a sack of spuds at first touch. It’s almost as if he is doing a drill at training where you drop after hitting a tackle pad and two guys simulate a clean out.
The way he got the ball stripped off him after that kick off was embarrassing.

I hope they don’t select Webber for the AB’s.

@Bones said in Hurricanes 2020:

@Stargazer may predate you....it's related to the rise and rise of Scott Hamilton (FABSH).

Haha so i guess Fabish is a future fringe AB.

@South-Africa-Man said in NRL 2020:

Lucky win there for the NZ side due to the ref clearly favouring them. This does a team no favours when they need that much help to win a game, Manly had a reserve grade side out there. Prime Frans Botha never used to use any excuses, he went out there and got the job done no matter the situation, these Warriors could learn a lot from this true champion.

Totally agree. If Prime Frans Botha was playing for Manly they would have smashed the warriors. Remember the distance he was getting on those drop goals back in 2007-2009. Pretty handy combination he had with Morne Matfield in the second row too.