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

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

@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

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?

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.

@chimoaus said in All Blacks v France, 2021 NH Tour:

When did we last lose 2 in a row on the spring tour?

About 40 minutes from now, I reckon.

Women who question transgender ideology have been branded “farts” as part of equalities training offered to civil servants in Nicola Sturgeon’s Government, it has emerged.

Workers who attended a workplace “trans 101” course were told the term was an acronym for “feminism appropriating ridiculous transphobe” and that women who oppose inclusivity measures were part of a “trans hate group”.

Staff who attended the training session, run by the Scottish Government’s taxpayer-funded LGBTI+ internal staff network, were also urged to study claims that biological sex is a “falsehood” invented by the medical profession to “reinforce white supremacy and gender oppression”.

Link

@gibbon-rib said in US Politics:

The rest of it seems on point though. Hard to say whether it's probable or just possible, but the fact that the mechanism for states to ignore the results exists (or could exist very soon) is scary enough.

May be wrong, but I think there are a few states who have never actually removed their Jim Crow laws.

According to august journals and serious, celebrated liberal politicians, the SCOTUS is soon going to ban contraception, made gay sex illegal and allow deliberate discrimination against anyone who isn't straight and male.

I'm sure we won't have to wait long for someone to claim the court has definite plans to repeal the 1964 rulings and bring back Jim Crow & segregation

@voodoo

Heard of Hartman and the bloke seems a bit of a fruitcake who argues the 2000 & 2004 elections were rigged by Dubya and Spanish-language radio stations are involved in a conspiracy to push Republican propaganda.

But it's an interesting read you posted and wonder if we are starting to see the demonization of the SCOTUS by the US Left in the same way Trump, QAnon & MAGA demonised Election officials in 2020.

@Crazy-Horse said in All Blacks v Ireland - 1st Test:

@Victor-Meldrew said in All Blacks v Ireland - 1st Test:

@Crazy-Horse said in All Blacks v Ireland - 1st Test:

A lot of talk on here early in the match about not seeing anything different from the ABs. That talk died off a bit once we started winning. But did anyone see anything different in the end? I didn't but I couldn't watch closely enough

I think the difference was the focus and precision. As @BerniesCorner points out they kept possession and didn't give it away with handling errors or penalties when they were rocking it up the field.

Early days, but it was a big improvement.

Definitely a start but we have seen performances like that before.

I was thinking along the line of changes to attacking or defensive structures etc. Might be too early to tell I suppose, but nothing obvious jumped out at me.

Perhaps they are focussed on doing the basics well for extended periods of time? It was certainly needed.

Loads of rugby tweets popping up...

@Crazy-Horse said in All Blacks v Ireland - 1st Test:

A lot of talk on here early in the match about not seeing anything different from the ABs. That talk died off a bit once we started winning. But did anyone see anything different in the end? I didn't but I couldn't watch closely enough

I think the difference was the focus and precision. As @BerniesCorner points out they kept possession and didn't give it away with handling errors or penalties when they were rocking it up the field.

Early days, but it was a big improvement.

Don't see many un-forced changes from the starting XV. Perhaps Akira or DP for SB and Jordan for LF.

Think we'll see some changes in 16-23. Tupae Va'ii to give him some game-time and Fakatava for Christie. Be some changes in the Fatties too, probably

@Old-Samurai-Jack said in All Blacks v Ireland - 1st Test:

@junior This! BB needs a "get out of jail" No.12 alongside him. Big Havili fan but a BB, Havili combo doesn't seem to work.

The thing I liked about QT's performance last night was his support play and how he tidied stuff up. There was one occasion when the ball was bobbling around about 5m in-field and he was just so calm and deliberate in looking around and gathering it - looked as though he had all the time in the world.

Hope he can build on it and this isn't a one-off as we need that sort of re-assurance at 12.

@Mick-Gold-Coast-QLD said in US Politics:

Time 20201107: "In a forceful and eloquent victory speech Saturday night, President-elect Joe Biden vowed to usher in "a time to heal" in America."

I have a friend in Pennsylvania who tells me that's what she is certain the US public wants - someone who may do their own thing but who shows respect to the opposing viewpoint.

Biden has had opportunity after opportunity to do just that, but seems determined to copy Trump in ramping up the devise rhetoric.

@taniwharugby said in All Blacks v Ireland - 1st Test:

assume it was covered earlier in the thread, but why did our coaching box have masks, but the Irish not?

How good was it seeing our props working as they did, and we contested lineouts, sure a couple on our line the game was already ours, but so good seeing them put someone in the air and disrupt!

Ofa was out to prove a point and really put down a marker - poss. his best game in Black. Some of his hits were really hurting the Irish pack. Another Test or two like that and he'll have the jersey nailed on.

I know bugger-all about front-row play, but noticed a drop-off in forward momentum when Karl T came on.