The Chiefs will be rolling out in an updated adidas version of their 1996 jersey against the Canes this weekend. Only 300 of which will be for sale plus some signed ones to be auctioned on trademe. I like this. Hopefully all the fanchises do it and if the Crusaders do I’ll do all I can to get my hands on one of our wooden spoon classics,

https://www.chiefs.co.nz/edit/image_cache/181221chiefs0780edit_810x810c0pcenter.jpg

So this proposed Pasifika franchise being supported by Beegee Williams, despite being promoted to the contrary, can only take away from the already thinning depth of the five NZ SR squads.

They're saying they'll focus on bringing back European-based Pasifika players for 2022. Now given they're Auckland-based, commercially this makes zero sense as who is going to spring up out of nowhere to give them the money to achieve something NZ Rugby with much greater revenue streams hasn't been able to achieve over years and years? The only guys I would imagine they could afford to pay when competing with the Pound or Franc, would be guys at the end of their careers.

The other source of players - and the only one mentioned for 2021 - is fringe SR players of Pacifika heritage in the NPC. This only serves to undermine the five wafer-thin and increasingly youthful NZ squads.

They speak of developing Pasifika players in NZ. Sorry, but if they're worth developing they've already been identified and are in the system. Again, there's no undiscovered player well yet to be plumbed.

Lastly, this especially undermines the Blues, dividing their support base, further pressuring their development system and possibly costing them commercial partners.

Yuck.

Still struggling big time with the injustice of it all. This has been infinity times harder to process than getting reamed by Australia in 2015. We could have - possibly should have - won this final and title.

In 2015 I was consoled by being able to look forward and confidently expect we’d still have a pretty good side in 2019. We were always likely to still have Guppy, Kane, Rosco, Anderson, Henry, Southee, Boult and Milne from that side, and knew we were heading to a tournament played in conditions nearer to our own than anywhere else it could be held. I was confident we’d give it another tilt and distinctly remember predicting that on TSF in the aftermath of the 2015 final.

But fast forward and we’ve come as close as a team can possibly, possibly get without quite pulling it off, and I have little confidence in our team being as strong in the next tournament, to be played in far less suitable conditions. This year our team had three of our top five all time ODI batsmen in it, either at or near the peak of their powers, possibly our best ever ODI pace bowler, and a quality supporting cast with some fast improvers and only a couple of duds. You could say much the same of the 2015 side but throw in our greatest ODI spinner as well, plus a much better performed Southee.

In 2023 we’ll still have Kane and I have no reason to believe he’ll be any less of a player than he is now. So we’ll always be a chance. But I’m not sure how many of the current guys will still be around. Guptill, out of form this tournament but still only 32 currently, will probably be past it at 36. It’s possible we’re seeing him waning now, but I tend to think he’ll come right again and we’ll get another year or three out of him. Rosco will be around 38 and a very unlikely starter based on the longevity of NZ batsmen historically but stranger things have happened and he seems very fit. On balance though, probably not. Boult will be 33 and fairly long in the tooth for a pace bowler. Still a possible starter but highly unlikely to be operating at the same level.

Nicholls, Latham, Neesham, Santner, Sodhi, Ferguson and Henry will all be 32 or younger which helps the core. Add to that Corey Anderson, Tom Blundell, Will Young, Tim Seifert and Adam Milne. Ok I’m cheering up a little, but still need to see at least a couple of these guys develop into truly world class players in order to have any confidence. The Colins will be gone. One should never play ODI cricket again and the other will drift out of the side due to age prior to the next WC. Southee will also be a goner.

So the team for 2023? Well I’m assuming Guppy and Rosco will be gone, sadly. Boult may well be reduced to a Kyle Mills 2015 role as the experienced fourth seamer unlikely to play but in the squad. Kane will be there at first drop and I reckon Nicholls should have well and truly cemented a spot at 4 by then (same as in the test side) but may be needed at the top. Young shapes as a likely contender at 5 unless we stack the middle order with power allrounders in which case I can see Neesham batting there. There’s a chance Nicholls stays at the top of the order and Young slots in at 4, I guess. Latham will also contend for 4. At this stage the opening spots look problematic and particularly by then if Guppy is in fact history. Maybe Blundell takes one of these spots, or Seifert who appeals as a guy who can get us away to a flyer, McCullum-esque . I truly hope Anderson comes back as a true all rounder and reclaims a position. Santner will probably be there as a defensive spinner but hopefully not batting as high as 8 as he appears most unworthy of this spot in the ODI team at the moment. Team structure however may dictate that he stays there. Sodhi should play a lot more for NZ and should be in this squad. Latham looks likely to enjoy an extended run in the middle order. There will be new guys come in but it’s not hard to imagine a lot of our current quality performers still holding their spots. A possible 1st XI in India:

Seifert
Nicholls
Williamson
Young/Latham
Latham/Young
Neesham
Anderson
Santner
Sodhi
Henry
Ferguson

I’d love to see another hitter at 8. If Santners test batting develops and he starts not ducking under bouncers when we need runs then he may be more suited to 7, sandwiched between a couple of thugs.

@Bones said in All Blacks XV - New second tier team:

@shark is there quite a difference between Nth Korean ICBM's and others?

I'm relying on it not working.

@Kruse said in AB squad for the Bledisloe Cup?:

@shark said in AB squad for the Bledisloe Cup?:

@Machpants said in AB squad for the Bledisloe Cup?:

@shark you realise, of course, that the govt follow the advice of the health service, not the other way around. Unlike some countries,

It's the governments decision, ultimately. Doesn't matter a shit how much advice they take or from where. Actually, it does. When the only advice you seriously consider represents only one facet in a decision making process, it matters many shits.

Yeah, and that one “facet” being the relevant Subject-Matter-Expert. And, probably, consultation with indirectly-involved SMEs. Shit.
How dare they not consider consulting InfoWars and random reddit threads?

Sigh. Thanks for that, Jacinda.

Don't worry about enabling a solid economic boost at very minimal risk to health. Let's just create asinine rules around bubble limits which prohibit the event from happening. If you're going to limit team trainings to 25 or whatever then you need to limit workplaces in general to 25 as well. It's absolute OTT garbage from the Govt.

@bovidae said in Bledisloe II:

@taniwharugby Injury was not a factor according to the Stuff article.

"We wanted a specialist second five," explained Hansen. "Alby (Lienert-Brown) has been playing a lot of his rugby at 13. Whilst we're very happy with his performance [in Sydney], we love what he does for us off the bench.

"He brings a security, a sense of understanding of what's needed in that area and Ngani is more of a starting-type player. It just made sense."

Yep nice one Shag. You may as well put the NH contact under ALB's fucken nose yourself. You could have equally said: "We didn't pick Ngani in the initial squad and wanted him instead to go away and work on his communication, which he's done for an entire game. Alby was outstanding for us at 12 in Bledisloe 1 in what was virtually a starting role but despite that we've brought Ngani straight back in ahead of him".

We've got three of our top five all-time ODI batsmen in one team and one of our best ever ODI bowlers at the peak of his powers, plus a decent supporting cast. Now is the time to shine.

@rotated said in CWC Final - Black Caps v England:

@mariner4life said in CWC Final - Black Caps v England:

well, shit aye.

I'm actually not sure how to feel. We can't even fall back on being beaten by a better side on the day. Because we weren't beaten.

Get my rant in. What fuckwit came up with most boundaries as the 2nd tie-breaker? Effectively England have been handed the cup for having less scoring shots than us? In what way is that a good measurement? Get absolutely fucked. I am not having that. Celebrate you pommy (UN) fucks, we all know it feels hollow.

Two bad pieces of luck in the last couple of overs. But that overthrow 6 is about as unlucky as you can possibly get. Right there you know it is not your day. Fucking hell.

I thought we were 30 runs short, turns out we were one. Imagine if we didn't duck under the last ball of the innings?

This is about where I'm at with it too. Although in a way I feel bad for both sides as England will always have a bit of asterix on the title and the lack of closure will likely torment NZ more than a loss. I'm not entirely sure I would be that much happier if NZ had "won" on an equally ridiculous countback.

The NZ team can be very proud, they played great cricket and did not wilt under the pressure and in the last two games added more to the lore of NZ cricket history than other teams did in an entire four year cycle. I juts hope for the Black Caps that in time the absurdity and incredible nature of the result or lack thereof a little easier to swallow.

On the bright side I look forward to Kane on commentary at the 2039 CWC semi final talking about this game at length...

You're having a little tug on your own whizzer there if you seriously believe the Poms will give a second thought to the way they were awarded this WC. They won't give a flying fuck. It's in the record books, that's all that matters. And we'd feel exactly the same. At most they'll feel mildly sympathetic towards us but they'll feel completely justified in having taken this title, one way or another.

I'd be disgusted if the fifth and sixth placed teams in a ten team comp made the finals.

Well, there's definitely a growing movement / school of thought around Labour having gone too hard, too soon. The 'Jacinda is a bleeding heart' at the expense of the economy insinuations are mounting, that kind of thing. Our response is being compared to Australias' which after a rough start has flattened the curve whilst not paralyising their economy to the same extent as we have. What Qantas has done as compared to Air NZ is an interesting sub-set which in some ways compares to each nations' governmental response.

I'm really on the fence.

There was always going to be an example or handful of examples of nations who found - either through good luck or good management - a better balance between economic ruin and death rate than others. Perhaps Australia may end up being one of these. And all others were going to be compared to these countries. Easy in hindsight of course; there's no playbook for this kind of event. So it's hard to criticise the Govt for going hard, early as a low death rate is commendable. But at what cost?

As it stands we have five deaths and - thus far - all among the elderly. So perhaps 20 families are mourning the (somewhat arguably) premature loss of a loved one. None of us wants that, and don't get me wrong it saddens me greatly. It's horrific that these loved family members are to a large degree dying alone also. But meanwhile, thousands of NZ families are facing financial hardship and in order to keep the death rate this low. What is the cost of this circumstance? Financial ruin for many, no doubt. A lower standard of living for many more. More people who can't afford to go to their GP and therefore a greater strain on the health sysytem in years to come? Likely. An increase in suicides? You'd hate to think so, but how can this not be a legitimate repercussion of some of the aforementioned factors.

When the Sky Tower was built, the contractor factored into their costs a number of accidents and deaths. Realistically, no matter how much you mitigate against accidents and death, on a project of that scale, it's highly unlikely you'll emerge unscathed. Ultimately there was one death, which is horrible of course. Could the Govt have looked at this pandemic along these lines? Could they (did they?) model based on a lesser lockdown (say level 3) and higher death rate (say 100 or 200 people, presumably predominantly elderly)? Was there even time for this?

I think what we're going to end up with - with the benefit of hindsight - is a drastic backlash against the Govt if the death rate remains low when all is said and done, but we're in recession and a large proportion of the general population is facing signficantly worse financial cirsumstance than pre-lockdown. Australia - and others - may well be in a far better economic position with a similar per capita death rate and some very difficult questions will need to be answered.

Yes, Serena. Who turned 39 just a couple of days ago. Four grand slam finals appearances in 2018 and 2019 after winning her most recent title in 2017 at 35, recently a beaten semi-finalist at the US Open, and she won a WTA tourney as recently as Auckland in January. Prize money for 2020 is USD1m. She's still highly competitive, but not dominant. LeBron is still dominant, but he's 35.

If he can translate his NPC play into SR, and the Highlanders do sign him up, they'll be sitting pretty for locks for the next few years with Parsons, Will Tucker and Paripari Parkinson all in their ranks

@Chris said in Highlanders 2021:

@Siam said in Highlanders 2021:

@Bones said in Highlanders 2021:

@shark did you not say it was Rameka Poihipi and Isaiah Punivai? Embarrassing.

wow, those guys in their 3rd grade club sides wear the same jerseys as the crusaders! Smart marketing

Wrong Punivai thats is a pic of Ngane not Isia.

Isia played against The Naki not Ngane.

Yep. You'd have thought the lack of corn rows would have tipped Bones off, but he was so busy beating himself off over finding pics of Poihipi and a Punivai in Crusaders strips that he couldn't let the facts get in the way of his great story.

@Yeetyaah said in Tasman v Waikato:

@Machpants so any player can disrupt the ball in a pass as long as it's flicked back?

Of course. You're not offside and you're not in any way deliberately knocking it forward.

@cgrant said in Hawke's Bay v Canterbury:

Parsons has been outstanding. It's incredible he did not get a contract for the SR while teams like the Canes or the Chiefs had to field undersized and inexperienced locks.

I'm paying a lot more attention to him this season. He was drafted into the Blues this year and I'd never even heard of him!

He's bloody ageless. How often have we seen a sportsman - or sportswoman - as competitive at such an advanced stage of their career? Just happens to be two of them running around at the moment, both African-Americans and one of each sex. Phenomenal.

@Nepia

I don't even know why I'm debating this with you Bones. We ALL know Poihipi and Isaiah Punivai are barely established in the Canterbury squad FFS, let alone the Crusaders.

And likewise I Punivai. A Crusaders Development squad member, and he played a pre season game.

@Bones Wow, this is getting ugly. Poihipi has played for the Crusaders Development side, or Crusader Knights. As the following excerpt from a story in The Star from a couple of weeks ago on a recently named Canterbury side says:

There are only two players missing Super Rugby exposure - Newell and midfielder Rameka Poihipi.

Should I take it that any player who makes a development team is "Super Rugby level" as you said earlier??