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.

@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.

@bones said in All Blacks 2021:

@bovidae Ennor and Bridge - I mean, at least Faingaanuku showed something on the park. Sure Bridge and Ennor have been selected before, but not like they've absolutely blown everyone away - they've been ordinary mostly.

Nuts isn’t it. The less they play the better they were apparently.

What an underwhelming squad. Pretty lucky to only be playing Fiji and Tonga first up. RC might get ugly if there are any further injuries.

@kev said in SR T-T FINAL: Blues v Highlanders:

@duluth said in SR T-T FINAL: Blues v Highlanders:

I said earlier in the week that I wanted the Blues to have a 6/2 split. It was obvious that the Highlanders would attempt to tire out the big Blues pack with an extra forward sub.
When Robinson was ruled out a 6/2 split wasn't really an option.

It's impressive the Blues pack finished stronger. They had one less sub, plus Goodhue getting injured not long after coming on meant the second row basically played the full match.
The Gibson try was earned through multiple players still working hard and over powering the Highlanders.

Surprised something more hasn’t been said about Goodhue’s injury. It was a head to the rib cage looked like from the side.

I can’t keep up with the laws around this but how was Pat T allowed back on the field? I thought once you were subbed off you couldn’t return unless you are a front rower coming on for an injury.

@stargazer said in Aussie Rugby:

@crucial

Wait, he got a red card for THAT?
Rugby is fucked.

@bones said in AB left wing:

@pukunui especially when they've played 2

Exactly, practically a veteran.

@bones said in AB left wing:

@pukunui said in AB left wing:

Jordie, Jordan and Bridge are the only recent wingers i can think of who have been selected after long periods in Super rugby.

It's weird how myths grow eh? Jordan had played 2 seasons of SR before he was selected. In his first season he probably only had a handful of games didn't he? What a loooooong period.

Compared to some of those other guys who came out of nowhere and made the ABs, Jordan’s 2 super seasons was a relatively long time. Especially when you consider he missed 2018 super season because of injury.

Bridge was 2 seasons as well.

The Jordie reference was more about him being selected as a specialist wing in 2020. He should have been at 15 so it’s probably irrelevant. But as pointed out he came in as a utility from npc so is also a good example.

Anyway, my point was that it is silly to write guys off from AB selection because they have only played a single super season. Especially wingers.

@shark said in AB left wing:

Nareki is probably having one of those flash-in-a-pan seasons like Ben Lam did a couple of years ago. And do we miss him now?

The ABs have a pretty extensive record of selecting wingers off the back of a “flash in the pan” season.
NMS
Naholo
Reece
Clarke

Even Ioane was selected without multiple years of super rugby.

Jordie, Jordan and Bridge are the only recent wingers i can think of who have been selected after long periods in Super rugby. Arguably Jordie and Bridge shouldn’t have been selected as anything other than back ups on the wing and Jordan should have been selected earlier when he had a couple of good super seasons.

@act-crusader said in All Blacks 2021:

@toddy said in All Blacks 2021:

@canes4life said in All Blacks 2021:

@pukunui yeah Savea has to start in the 7 jersey, we need all the experience we can get. The 6 and 8 jersey are still up in the air at this point for me but I’ve liked what I’ve seen from Jacobsen so I hope they can fit him in.

6. Jacobsen 7. Savea and 8. Sotutu, with Papali’i on the bench is looking pretty good to me.

Starting loose forwards as a trio aren't abrasive enough for test footy imo. One of Ardie or Hoskins would need to drop out.

Agree. Some have said Akira and Hoskins are too similar so can’t be in a test starting side together, but to me it’s Hoskins and Ardie that play a similar game. It’s one or the other and I suspect it will be Ardie that gets the nod.

I would put them all in the same “group”.
ie. Rodney So’oialo type athletic guys rather than tackling machines like Cane/Mccaw or hitters like Kaino/Collins.

@booboo said in All Blacks 2021:

@pukunui said in All Blacks 2021:

6. Blackadder 7.Savea 8.Ioane might be combo that is worth looking at. Savea provides the experience with Cane out.

Not sure Ioane and Sotutu should be in the same trio together. Especially if they are with Savea. All a bit too similar.

One thing i have found interesting is that Ioane has dropped out of the conversation for 8 a bit. 18 months ago he was mainly seen as an 8 and not really an option at 6.
Similar to his brother not being considered at 11 anymore.

Jeez.

678 is so open. Love it we're so passionate about it though.

Savea, Papalii, Ioane, Frizell, Sotutu, Blackadder Grace, Robinson, Jacobsen ...

Not really finding massive fault in any of those guys ...

Pick 3 ...

Yeah a huge amount of quality options for once. The important part will be picking 3 that get the balance right.

6. Blackadder 7.Savea 8.Ioane might be combo that is worth looking at. Savea provides the experience with Cane out.

Not sure Ioane and Sotutu should be in the same trio together. Especially if they are with Savea. All a bit too similar.

One thing i have found interesting is that Ioane has dropped out of the conversation for 8 a bit. 18 months ago he was mainly seen as an 8 and not really an option at 6.
Similar to his brother not being considered at 11 anymore.