Back from my corporate jolly to game...some thoughts having not seen any replays or TV. Long-ish post. (Skip to he last 2 paras for the incisive bit)

Twickenham a pain to get to...and into. Ticket entry barriers weren't working, RFU needs to get its act together - pretty crap really. The crowd was far more respectful to the opposition and the kickers. First time I'd been to Twickenham for a test in about 10 years, so credit to the RFU. Atmosphere was great.

Pom tactics and decision making were excellent in the first 30 minutes - crap after that. Thought Farrell had a poor game - zero variation in his game. Underhill was astonishingly good for England and was my MoM.

AB backline was poor until Crotty came on and he seemed to give a lot of solidity. Thought SBW was poor and you wonder how long he'll be in the team. England targeted DMac with the high ball but he did OK and as well as anyone else - he certainly doesn't lack guts, thats for sure. On attack he was probably the most dangerous AB back. Thought our kicking game (inc. DMac) was shite. We looked way more dangerous when keeping the ball in hand.

Retallick & Savea were immense. BBBR utterly owned the Pom lineout, ruck, maul and, well, the whole pitch. Ardie seemed to be everywhere.

Ben Kay and Ugo Monye hosted a post match analysis for the corporate clients which was excellent. No argument that Lawes was offside from them. We then had a Q&A with Itoje and Danny Care.

Itoje & Care seemed good blokes but I was surprised by the complacency in their attitude. They thought that as they had only lost by 1 point they had scored a famous victory. Astonishing attitude in many ways. Hope I never hear an AB talk like that.

All in all, a mistake-strewn game. But we dogged a win - which I sense Hansen will be happy with

Final thought from me before I rescue the TV from the swimming pool:

It's not that we lost, it's the way we lost. Zero progress, no coherent strategy or game plan and poor on-field management.

It's like watching a slow motion Tour de France crash over and over again.

@Nepia said in Foster:

This whole coaching debate feels like I'm watching Zac Snyders Justice League - I just want it to end and it appears like it will go on for ever.

My worthless two cents is there's only two options:

1. Razor is head coach immediately.
2. Fozzie stays on until the end of the RWC.

I don't want to see any interim coach bullshit. Just make a decision either way and stick with it until the RWC.

Either option is now fraught with risk thanks to NZR's lacks of leadership and those risks are key to any decision NZR makes. Unless they show some leadership and cojones, I suspect they'll fuck up yet again.

Their inability to express support for Foster or replace him when they could is/was bad enough, but the way he's been treated by NZR and their failure to call-out the abuse Foster and his team have been receiving has been appalling and to me is pretty indicative of rotten management who pay lip-service to their people at the sharp end.

Regardless of ability or results, Foster, his captain and team have behaved with dignity, supported each other thru hard times and shown real grit. They don't deserve to be treated as they have been by NZR and, frankly, the NZR "leadership" doesn't deserve them.

@sparky said in R.I.P. 2020:

Sgt Matt Ratana sounds like a great guy:

Bit shocked when I saw the name. Actually knew Matt when he lived near Bourne End/Marlow in the early 2000's and gave me and my kids tennis lessons at the local tennis club. Had more than a few beers with him after the lessons.

The club was a bit snooty and didn't quite know how to handle the "gee whiz" maori bloke who turned out to be a degree-educated policeman... think he used to enjoy that.

He really was a bloody great bloke. Kia Kaha

It's a childish, unfair thing to say but it's a pity Sexton wasn't playing.

Would have loved to seen his face at the final whistle

As a long term devotee of the GOM thread, thought it a good idea to have place to post when things are going well. In true Fern and Grumpy Old Men tradition, it will probably die in a day or two....

I'll kick off.

I normally have a shit-load of tree debris to cut down to logs and shred the stuff after the annual visit from my friendly, local tree-surgeon. It's generally a bit of a pain - particularly the thinner branches - until I bought one of these.

It;s a cross between a chainsaw and a lopping tool, is the absolute dogs bollocks and possibly the best garden tool I've bought. It's bloody awesome at cutting away the smaller branches from the trunk and saves me hours of effort.

I'm now feeling smug and happy at spending my money wisely.

Exclusive Interview with Foster

Interviewer: Thanks for talking to us again, Ian.

Fozzie: No worries. My shout this time. How many Big Macs do you want?

Interviewer: What's changed in the camp since the defeat to Argentina?

Fozzie: We had a sit down and a good think about what went wrong and how we could improve. We even brought in a sports psychologist to help us.

Interviewer: How so?

Fozzie: She told us to be open and honest with our shortcomings as there's a natural tendency to hide things we're not good at - especially in a team environment. For example I admitted I had problems with numbers like 12, 13 & 14 at school, TJ owned up to having a fixation with chickens and Scooter has this weird thing called Xanthophilia.

Interviewer: What’s Xanthophilia?

Fozzie: A love of all things yellow, apparently.

Interviewer: There's been some criticism of your comments that things are going well on the training pitch but why are they not being transferred onto the playing field?

Fozzie: Fair question. Look, I can only say it how I see it. I understand the frustration from the supporters’ point of view. And Scotty & Plummy feel it too. For me as head coach it's worse. Way up there with getting to KFC at closing time and finding out you've missed out on the last Big Bucket.

Interviewer: There's been some criticism of the game plan against Argentina.

Fozzie: A lot of that criticism is unfair. We've taken loads of time to analyse and work on our game plan. Obviously, It’s a work in progress but we hope to share it with the players soon.

Interviewer: Are you looking at how to counter the rush defence?

Fozzie: We're working really hard on that and trying different variations on attack. We workshop things in the training sheds before trying it out on the practice paddock. We used my empty KFC Big Buckets to represent the opposition forward and the Big Mac boxes for the backs.

Interviewer: How did that go?

Fozzie: OK, but we had to stop using the Big Buckets though as they were triggering withdrawal symptoms in Asafo Aumua.

Interviewer: You've picked JB at 14 again. What is your thinking behind that?

Fozzie: He's played pretty well in SRA at 14 so he was the logical choice. He was particularly impressive in the game with the Hurricanes. I pretty much made up my mind about him then.

Interviewer: Didn't he play fullback for the Canes in that game?

Fozzie: I clearly recall discussing the 14 slot at the airport & Scotty McLeod saying "Well Jordan played bloody well in the Hurricanes - Crusader game" and I decided there and then he was in the squad at 14.

Interviewer: That was "Will Jordan went well "surely, and not "Well Jordie went well"?

Fozzie: Why wasn't I told about these things? Can you see the sort of ineptitude I have to put up with? People aren’t even able to get players names right.

Interviewer: What about the balance in the loose forwards? There’s been some comment that Ardie Savea is a bit too light at 8 and should be brought on as an impact player.

Fozzie: That’s a good point. But Ardie has the experience which is vital and we’ve been working on his physicality. He’s working really hard on bulking up.

Interviewer: He doesn’t seem to have bulked up much though. Is he working on it enough?

Fozzie: You should see the McDonalds loyalty cards I lent Ardie.

Interviewer: What do you say to some of the social media attacks by supporters on you and the team after the Argentina loss?

Fozzie: Just knock that crap off will you? Just because you're right, doesn't mean you can be abusive.

Interviewer: But can’t you see how supporters might feel with the way the All Blacks are playing?

Fozzie: I can certainly empathise with how they feel. It’s a bit of a shock when you lose twice in a row unexpectedly when you have a history of winning. The only thing I would say is that the shock does wear off after a few losses. Trust me on that.

Interviewer: Will you consider your future if you lose on Saturday?

Fozzie: I'm contracted until 2021. So we'll see after that. But you know, you never know, you know.

Interviewer: Thanks for talking with us

Fozzie: My pleasure. Do you want those fries?

Just following on from @MajorRage post in the NZ Politics thread and trying to make sense of this stuff.....

• It's the civil rights fight of this generational group - just like gay rights, apartheid etc. Previous battles won - freedom of speech, equality under the law. women's rights - are likely seen as old-hat and less important to respect.

• There's a belief that as the battle on women's right has largely been won, sex doesn't actually matter - people should be able to choose

• Science and facts are less important than feelings as he former are a bit dry, boring - and unemotional. We can get a bigger emotional hit by interacting emotionally online with like-minded people. And an even bigger hit when we meet up to protest in real-life.

• And just as people can't get directly physically hurt online, this poss. translates into thinking intimidation and paint-throwing/damage to property is OK

• In the past, people's values and moral were rooted in day-day experiences which earlier generation took online when social media appeared. Are later generations increasingly taking their online morals and values into real-life? Does this explain the violence and groupthink?

• Media, business & politicians are targeting this group or generation (which cuts across traditional political groupings) for click-revenue, marketing opportunities and votes. (Follow the money)

• Most of these beliefs - like many who espouse them - are nonsensical and collapse when facing reality - as we've seen in other countries, sports and institutions when the harms they cause become really apparent.

Getting a lot of publicity in the UK - politicians speaking out across parties.

@MajorRage

I wonder how much of this is minority parties going to the extreme to get publicity or justify their existence?

Putting gender issues aside, it's simply insane to state a biological man can give birth and those people who say this is incorrect or point out the reality of self-ID (male rapists in women's prisons) are "spreading hate" - yet they do.

I just can't get into these peoples heads.

@booboo said in Transgender debate, in sport, in general:

@paremata that last video was actually in London.

Same vibe though.

There's a conference in London this WE on Lesbian rights. It's being picketed and attendees intimidated by "trans activists" incensed that some of the speakers have said lesbian's can't have penises....

@paremata said in Transgender debate, in sport, in general:

They will do nothing . They’ll just keep quiet till it disappears out of the news cycle. Ffs these clowns are so desperate to appear in favour of “ the current thing” we actually have a former midwife as an mp who thinks men can give birth .

Insanity.

By all means help people with gender dysphoria and ensuring they are protected from discrimination - that's the right ad moral thing to do. But you don't do that by peddling myths and pretending scientific facts aren't relevant and/or don't exist.

@MiketheSnow said in British Politics:

I'm always intrigued how this sort of exposé only ever seems to focus on one side of the political divide. Seems the likes of Starmer, Lammy and Jess Philips get a free pass - which in the interests of accountability isn't good.

@MajorRage said in Transgender debate, in sport, in general:

Nobody wins here. Losers all around.

I disagree. That small but vocal % of the population who believe they are on the right side of history and things like free speech, reasoned debate and civility, can't be allowed to get in the way of progress will be ecstatic - and emboldened by a belief that violence or threats brings results.

I wonder how the NZ government will react? Will Hipkins legislate for free speech like the UK did after Professor Kathleen Stock was hounded out of Oxford University by masked TG activists for saying trans people can't change biological sex?