Kaufusi and Haas forced changes to both sides, but the success of the cowboys has seen players filled from their team in either side. Probably lucky the bye comes for them this week from an NRL perspective.

@mariner4life said in NBA Season - now 21/22:

Warriors clean out?

Seems Porter Jr and Payton II both gone?

Time for GP2 to get paid. He was on the minimum this season and has spent most of his career on two-way contracts.

Would’ve been a massive step to match what was coming in for him, plus pay the luxury tax required to match, when they have the sort of books they currently have.

If I was ranking/grouping them as of right now - more the eye test than anything else:

Panthers

Storm - Cowboys

Eels - Sharks

Broncos

Rabbits - Roosters - Dragons - Manly

Whoever emerges as Rugby Africa Cup 2022 champions next weekend will take their place in Pool A at RWC 2023 as Africa 1, alongside France, New Zealand, Italy and Uruguay. The runners-up will head into the Final Qualification Tournament.

Prayers up for apprentice jockey Leah Kilner, she’s in a coma. She went down hard in the home straight during an early/midcard race at Grafton about 9 hours ago. I was watching the race live, her horse was back at rear and not affected by any other horse, but tripped itself and went down, throwing her hard face-first into the turf. It looked rough enough, not unusual, but this was worse than it looks. She went straight into a coma, the rest of the racecard was cancelled, she was airlifted to emergency and is right now on life support. Stomach-churning.

🙏

https://www.racenet.com.au/news/leah-kilner-flown-to-hospital-after-shocking-fall-at-grafton-sees-races-called-off-20220703

Ross Wright also a prop despite it looking like they have lined up as a Hooker this year.

Also like the signing of Marty Veale as defence coach if he's going to bring the mongrel he used to when he played for us

I'm pretty sure Moorby got injured playing club rugby for Dunedin last year. He was in the WTG and just got struck down with injuries at the wrong time. He probably would have had an opportunity or two on the wing if it wasn't for that poorly timed injury. Timoci Tavatavanawai, I think at the time he hadn't even played a game for Tasman and was just seen as too much of a risk. The side then picked 'safe' players due to poor results up front and managed to string some results together I'm the Trans Tasman comp. I guess that's the difference between the likes of the Crusaders and the Blues. Those squads are packed full of talent, so a risky selection has plenty of protection. They can play their own game without the fear of failure. At the Highlanders, they have Aaron Smith and stuff all else in terms of proper top quality leadership. Because of this there is a reliance of selecting what coaches may consider safe players, like Gregory amongst others. Sadly failing to take the risk has seen quality players taken right out from underneath the noses of the franchise.

I got to see some of his double ton against us at Eden Park in 1987. At the time my eight year old brain couldn't process someone being that indestructible against Richard Hadlee.

Capture2.JPG

@Stargazer

It was a bit of a flying visit for me but it seemed a lovely spot and very nice hanging out at Utrecht Rugby Club.

Our hotel had a beautiful lake and water everywhere so it felt a real oasis.

Yep, Raeburn shield back on the line for the rest of the series so whatever happens there is a prize for the taking in game 3 😁

Tsitsipas let Kyrgios get inside his head.

To knock out Tsitsipas out in 4 sets is a good effort.

@Tim said in Auckland Rugby 2022:

'I still get goosebumps': Eden Rugby Club's improbable 100-year run 'I still get goosebumps': Eden Rugby Club's improbable 100-year run

Gallaher Shield holders Eden Rugby Club are holding their centennial celebrations this weekend. It is a rare feat for...

Great article.

Knew the Centenary was this year, thought fleetingly about heading over, but never seriously.

Awesome that Tom O'Hanlon is still going!

@Machpants said in Sports Memes:

@MN5 said in Sports Memes:

@Old-Samurai-Jack said in Sports Memes:

@MN5 Don't forget the fine wine and fairer sex!

Yea but Britain also has whisky and decent chicks too.

Best whisky in the world comes from Japan, and they're honorary SH!

Have tried some. Can confirm.

@Stargazer said in Magpies 2022:

Geoff Cridge was announced as a signing for this season, but Bayonne has announced that he's signed a 2-year contract with them. I assume he'll leave after the NPC, but haven't seen any confirmation of that.

Stoked for the lad considering he almost gave away rugby to become a full time builder after being dropped from the Canes a few years ago. Hopefully this will set him up well for later life.

Top League One player movements

Changes in "leaving" list are in bold or strikethrough. "Signed" and "Re-signed" lists are new.

LEAVING
Bryce Robins (skills coach) leaving Shining Arcs Tokyo (to NTT DoCoMo Red Hurricanes Osaka)
Joe Maddock (assistant coach) leaving Toshiba Brave Lupus Tokyo
Greg Cooper (head coach) leaving Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Sagamihara Dynabours
Nick Collins (performance director) leaving Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Sagamihara Dynabours
Simon Cron (head coach) leaving Toyota Verblitz
Dave Dillon (manager) leaving Kobelco Kobe Steelers
Ben Herring (assistant coach) leaving Hino Red Dolphins

Johnny Fa'auli leaving Toshiba Brave Lupus Tokyo
Colin Slade leaving Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Sagamihara Dynabours
Michael Little leaving Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Sagamihara Dynabours
Joe Latta leaving Tokyo Sungoliath
Damian McKenzie leaving Tokyo Sungoliath
Matt Duffie leaving Mie Honda Heat (retiring)
Morgan Mitchell leaving Kamaishi Seawaves RFC
Sam Henwood leaving Kamaishi Seawaves RFC
Brett Cameron leaving Kamaishi Seawaves RFC
Colin Bourke leaving Ricoh Black Rams Tokyo
Daymon Leasuasu leaving Ricoh Black Rams Tokyo
Fletcher Smith leaving NEC Green Rockets Tokatsu
Patrick Tuipulotu leaving Toyota Verblitz
Nasi Manu leaving Hino Red Dolphins
Jack Debreczeni leaving Hino Red Dolphins
Hayden Cripps leaving Hino Red Dolphins
Gillies Kaka leaving Hino Red Dolphins
Hayden Parker leaving Kobelco Kobe Steelers
Aaron Cruden leaving Kobelco Kobe Steelers
Ben Smith leaving Kobelco Kobe Steelers
Fraser Anderson leaving Kobelco Kobe Steelers
Jordan Smiler leaving Toyota Industries Shuttles Aichi
Robbie Robinson leaving Toyota Industries Shuttles Aichi
Luteru Laulala leaving Toyota Industries Shuttles Aichi
Tim Bateman leaving Toshiba Brave Lupus
Brodi McCurran leaving Kobelco Kobe Steelers
Hadley Parks leaving Saitama Panasonic Wild Knights

SIGNED
Bryce Robins appointed assistant coach at NTT DoCoMo Red Hurricanes Osaka (from Shining Arcs Tokyo)

Liam Mitchell joining Panasonic Wild Knights (from Zebre)

RE-SIGNED
Sam Henwood staying at Kamaishi Seawaves RFC

List last updated on Sunday, 3 July 2022
(note that these announcements may sometimes be published after players have already left/joined)

Anyone heard of an 18-year old rugby player called Darius Thomas? He may be from Auckland, but is also listed as from Sendai Ikuei High School.

He has signed a contract with Kamaishi Seawaves in Japan.

Result from yesterday:

Japan 23 - 42 France

Dilworth over Sacred Heart in another upset in the 1A.

291486215_10160766242756318_8792923422171681555_n.jpeg

@Stargazer said in All Blacks XV:

the coach of this team should be able to pick the players himself

No. The AB selectors should get to pick this team. But assume this thread has moved past this argument now.

And in the NOBM v Clive game, preseson Magpie Paoraian Manuel-Harman scored a hattrick, too.

@Duluth said in UFC:

@MiketheSnow who are you picking? Max & Cannonier? You can probably guess my picks

Riddell & Turner to be fight of the night if it goes beyond one round

Go CKB, Robbie, Pedro & Ian Garry

Hall in Early Prelims

Tavares, Miller, Garry, Turner in Prelims

O’Malley, Barberena, Strickland, Holloway, Cannonier in the Mains

@Machpants said in NPC 2022:

Obviously I'm just being it on names, but Pro refs is very white compared to Pro players!

But if you take the adult population over the age of 40 in NZ, then rather more in line.

My school's rugby teams don't even reflect the number of non-White pro players. Appalling off in the case of the Under 55s.

@FakatavaAllBlack It would be really sad if that means the end of his (Super Rugby) career. With long-covid it can take a very long time to get back to full health.

If he can't play NPC, I can't see him get picked up by any franchise or a team overseas. All he can then hope for is to get back to full fitness and hope for an injury cover spot somewhere next season.

@ACT-Crusader said in [Poll] Who wins this weekend?:

@MN5 said in [Poll] Who wins this weekend?:

Do Scotland and Argentina mean nothing to you ?

This is a Tier 1 poll.

Very well played

Good win that. Love it when Carlton lose, the online salt is delicious

Lions smack the Dogs but it felt very hollow after last week.

@ARHS said in Chiefs 2023:

@ploughboy I would be ok with Wrampling and Bridge. Still think Narawa has upside.

agree about narawa not sure about wrampling on wing but a fan

Jul 1  /  Sport Tour de France: Lampaert in yellow as Thomas rallies after clothing error Tour de France: Lampaert in yellow as Thomas rallies after clothing error

Yves Lampaert won a rain-drenched opening time trial in 15 minutes 17 seconds, while Geraint Thomas was slowed down by his gilet

Pogacar already putting a bit of time into his rivals.

Just a handful of seconds for Vingegaard and Roglic, but someone like Caruso is almost 50 seconds down already.

Drug raids on Bahrain Victorious later in that article. I'm not surprised - seems to me there's a lot more "not normal" performances than a few years ago.

It does sound promising. The fact that we could see the game plan get picked off years ago has frustrated the shite out of us fans for such a long time I think the average fan would be happy to see any form of innovation. Seeing the tactical nous and innovation of the respected top NZ SR sides and other top international sides rubs salt into that wound.
Even if the ABs win today, if it is done using the same old tired game plan, we know it is just a matter of time before the wheels fall again and it will be a long season. From this perspective, this game is incredibly important for the mental health of NZ fans.

@Machpants said in Aussie Rugby:

I do love his articles, I wish that he would poke his ozzie nose more into the ABs!

Nicholas Bishop  /  Jun 28 It's time for the Wallabies to front up against ancient foes, and this is how they should do it It's time for the Wallabies to front up against ancient foes, and this is how they should do it

It’s all relative of course, but Australian rugby is on the up.

Good read that. I wish I had more time these days to read stuff like this regularly, and to have watched enough rugby to form my own opinion on whether it's arse or not.

But this seems fairly solid from my apartment here in the Greek Islands.

Did I mention I'm on holidays???

I hope our scrum will be good enough against the Argies. They dominated the Aussies in that area all game.

@gt12 said in Super Rugby 2023:

Bridge at FB for the Chiefs (or left wing) would be a big upgrade. If we can keep Stevenson and sign another good one (Rayasi? JRK?), we’d have enough weapons to possibly challenge for 2nd best team in the country.

He'd perform that Wainui role really well imo.

Without trying to start rumours I was talking to someone today that's in close circles with the likes of O'Reilly, J Garden-Bachop and Goosen (who are all leaving the Canes), and his assumption was that a Blues player was on the Hurricanes radar to replace Goosen. Joing the dots it makes me think that could be Ratumaitavuki-Kneepkens but I could be wrong.

Du Plessis Kirifi commented with a shake hands emoji on JRK's leaving post on Insta so maybe that's a slight hint.

@Stargazer said in Pasifika SR team:

Another preview of "All Access: Moana Pasifika". Can't wait to watch it!

This was well worth watching.

Gun. Needs more chances in black.

Good to see that Laghlan McWhannell 
is listed to be playing for Hautapu tomorrow. He's been out for a while.

Be someone to share the eight load with Christian Lio-Willie. So someone in the I'll walk through brick walls mould. I suspect they will be playing Withy and Lentjes at 6&7. With Sam Fischli around a swell.

@Derm-McCrum Given the disruptions to our side and some odd selections I think Fozzie is trying to make it tight. Good luck.

@Cpt-Kumera good to see leroy carter make wc 7s bit of a bugger probs wont play npc though

@Catogrande said in Black Caps tour of England 2022:

@Donsteppa said in Black Caps tour of England 2022:

@Catogrande said in Black Caps tour of England 2022:

@1kiwi said in Black Caps tour of England 2022:

Black Caps' selection process not a concern for NZ Cricket boss after whitewash by England

That read like any press release from the E&WCB over the last few years. Problems? What problems?

NZC arguably has a recent history of doing even the right thing the wrong way. E.g. Hesson and McCullum were the right calls and probably set up the last eight years or so, yet the captaincy situation with Ross Taylor still managed to be handled abysmally by the powers-that be at the time...

I think part of the idea of appointing McCullum was to imitate that “reset” that NZ cricket seemed to have. It was certainly mentioned a fair bit anyway. Has that worked? Well the early indications would say yes, but it is very early days. Too soon to start dusting off the trophy cabinet that’s for sure.

Absolutely.

England haven’t turned a massive corner, they still have a VERY creaky top order and two absolutely ancient spearheads…..BUT they’ve had some pretty good performances, their world class batsman has fired when ours didn’t and Bairstow has played out of his skin aka Johns son…..difference being he had enough support to get his team to victory.