@nepia said in Exodus:

That contract length suggests he's going to declare for Oz. I remember when he signed with Crusaders his management saying he was always going to come back to NZ though (from high school in Oz) but I guess things can change in 3 years.

I imagine a lot of that is frustration due to how long it has taken him to make some headway in the NZ system. He only really got starts last year at NPC, and I think he's 22 now.

You would hope that the competition will eventually be home and away games for each team.

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@nta said in Aussie Cricket:

@siam said in Aussie Cricket:

We're in the top two without him

Which is a good point.

The rules are shit, but are you displacing a guy who helped get you into the top 2 for Steve Smith? I reckon opinion would be divided.

Jeez mate, it's not under 12s with a participation trophy. 🙂 Every squad has used many players

Although in oz now who knows.

I'm pretty sure if it was Kane in the Super Smash the team ethos would take precedent.

Although in NZ now who knows 🙂

where's that GOM thread (stomp stomp stomp) 😉

Just saw on the socials the saders have brought in freedom vahaakolo for some pre season games, hope he does well

@mn5 said in Blues 2022:

@tim said in Blues 2022:

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Moobs are looking good

He's lived in Christchurch too long, developed some hills for a bit of variety.

@gt12 said in Super Rugby 2022:

@nostrildamus said in Super Rugby 2022:

@gt12 said in Super Rugby 2022:

@kiwi_expat said in Super Rugby 2022:

@gt12 could've swore they had more players rested for that match, but my point still remains as there're many instances where Crusaders achieved similar results under Razor with significantly weakened match-day squads.

If a coach has effective structures in place wider squad members can be rotated into the starting line-up and slot into those systems fairly seamlessly (and how they are specifically utilized in context to a gameplan that maximizes the characteristics of the players at your disposal) therefore you shouldn't notice a significant drop in the team's performance. A pretty distinguishing feature of well coached sides. Eddie, Razor, Schmidt, Brown's sides come to mind. Foster does not come to mind, his Chiefs/All Blacks sides have been headless, disjointed & uncoordinated rabble, clearly less than the sum of their parts, with players hesitant & unsure of their roles...

At what stage are posters on here going to stop pinning the blame at various players, instead of acknowledging the main issue, Foster's inability to make the best use of the cattle at his disposal? Plenty of other coaches have succeeded when dealt much rougher hands. Foster isn't a proven maximizer of talent - he's a minimizer.

There is little evidence to support this statement.

In Transtasman 2021 it was the close win against the Force, when he rested both Mo'unga and Whitelock that the Saders lost their chance to win the competition.

In Super rugby Aotearoa, their close loss to the Chiefs came when he rested both Taylor and Whitelock.

In every other big win (and a few losses) over the last two seasons, one thing stands out: An over reliance on a spine of Taylor, Whitelock, Mo'unga (with a range of others such as Barrett, Havili etc). The only evidence to support your statement from the last two years would be the early wins over the Tahs, Blues, and Landers when Whitelock was out. However, even then he played Moody, Taylor, Mo'unga, Goodhue, and Havili, plus others.

He has the best squad and has had the best squad for years, and he still relies on a few main players to get them through, who then perform poorly for the ABs because they are fucked by that time.

I'm confused, were they exhausted this year through overplaying or not match-hardened because of the COVID affected season?

??

You're confused.

Perhaps. Then again I didn't think this season should have tired them out. They had plenty of time to recover prior to and in the international season.

Francis with KO / TKO after the second or third flurry

Bit of cat & mouse then ‘blink and you’ll miss it’

Turman
Nurmagomedov
Pereira
Moreno

lo, $10k fine for the coach, $25k fine for the Nets

Sport, Rugby 'It's not easy': Young Kiwi's unusual path to Moana Pasifika 'It's not easy': Young Kiwi's unusual path to Moana Pasifika

Many believed Lincoln McClutchie should have been a Super Rugby player long before now.

Paywalled..

I'm not sure if this has been mentioned before? A couple of other franchises were chasing his signature

McClutchie held conversations with several teams for the 2022 campaign, including the Crusaders and Hurricanes. However, Moana Pasifika came to him early in the piece, and he jumped at the opportunity for a role the size of which he likely wouldn't have had with other franchises.

So, assuming City maintain their points per game average for the rest of the season (and there is no reason to assume they won't)
Then Liverpool have now reached the point where they have to win every single one of their last 17 games to win the title.

Everyone else is already cooked.

@crucial a61f8e9f-4a84-4a91-983e-59a127b0df11-image.png

@nostrildamus said in All Blacks 2021:

@antipodean said in All Blacks 2021:

@taniwharugby I think results in Perthfontein was largely a mental issue.

Perthfontein?

Yes.

Nearly double the number of NZ born kiwis in Perth (61K) compared to South Africans (35K) and both overwhelmed by the Pomeranians (167K)

2016 Census QuickStats: Greater Perth

No one cares about statistics or facts thanks.

@rotated Santner himself on Newshub last night.

Story and interview below.

Jan 19  /  Sport Blackcaps v Australia: One-day specialists focus on domestic 'Super Smash' rivalries, after tour postponement | Newshub Blackcaps v Australia: One-day specialists focus on domestic 'Super Smash' rivalries, after tour postponement | Newshub

The limited-overs tour of Australia has been delayed by ongoing COVID-19 border restrictions.

@barbarian revolutionary thinking.

@donsteppa said in Domestic Cricket 2021/22:

@mariner4life Yep - in the Other Cricket thread 🙂

Halfway through Maxwell's inning, Willie Watson's quote about bowling to Viv Richards being like "bowling in the highlights" came to mind...!

I’m fairly sure I remember Willie Watson walking “caught behind” off Warnie when the replay showed he hadn’t even hit it.

If anyone summed up New Zealand cricket in the early 90s post Paddles it was him.

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@crucial We used to reply on @stargazer to keep us abreast of things like this but I see he has not logged in since December 5. Hopefully he is just taking a sabbatical and will be coming back all nicely refreshed prior to the start of the Super season.

@crucial said in All Blacks depth 2022 & 2023:

Those Oz stats show up Tupou's lack of tackle workrate. Maybe he is told to hang back to punch the ball up from a turnover or maybe he's a lazy fecker when he hasn't got the ball?

I've made the point previously that he loses the ball in contact a heap and then appears to do no work in defence.

Lowe left out as Ireland name two uncapped players in squad of 37 Lowe left out as Ireland name two uncapped players in squad of 37

Winger James Lowe is the surprise omission as Ireland name a 37-strong Six Nations squad that includes two uncapped players.

Townsend names five uncapped players in his 39-man Scotland squad Townsend names five uncapped players in his 39-man Scotland squad

Gregor Townsend has named five uncapped players in his 39-man Scotland squad for the Six Nations which opens against England on February 5.

I am rather disappointed that Peng Shuai has been unable to make it to Flinders Park, even if just as a spectator if she is too injured to play.

@tim said in Would-be hardmen thread:

Players who try to look hard, or talk a big game, but fall short. Bonus points for cheap shots and picking on halfbacks.

Some nominations:

Ali Williams
Dominic Bird
Michael Brial
Nathan Grey
Bakkies Botha
Ellis Genge
Kyle Sinckler
James Haskell
Shannon Frizzell

Must have missed his name first time round……isn’t he more a case of a guy who wasn’t as aggressive as he could have/should have been ? A slightly too gentle giant ?

Interesting write-up on new Canes lock Justin Sangster.

https://www.hurricanes.co.nz/news/article/rookie-justin-sangster-ready-for-his-debut-season/

@bones dusruspukt

This tour is about seeing what many of the next tier of players can do (or can't). Crampton is the only player from the starting team who won the WC in 2019 that is left.

@act-crusader Dieng can't defend anyone either

@tim said in NH club rugby:

Now that's some bad technique:

Got that completely wrong which lessens my care factor that RCs are ruining the game.

I don't really know him, but is there no way he can put on 4 1/2 kgs and then be taller and heavier than Sevu Reece?

@higgins

I think each franchise has to pay the salaries for the WTG but NZR may contribute to the wage bill in the preseason as the absence of the ABs is not of the SR team's doing. The Chiefs have 10 ABs missing. I'm not sure on the injuries of other squad members.

Some of the players are U20 so probably only there for experience, and will likely continue to train with the main squad.

Should have been converted to cricket.

15k is all we need for cricket games.

Eden Park is is literally putting an oval peg into a rectangle hole.

I see Moulds is off to the US for MLR, with San Diego Legion.

I'm a little annoyed about Gregory, can't help but think a small part must be due to the way he has been fucked around up here, wing, fullback, centres, bench...but I believe there were other reasons too.

Certainly promising signs for Northland, be keen to see who they get in as assistant coach (well backs) but I still feel some of the issues start with Konia, so unless he has learnt and able to change from the last few seasons, having a squad of good players won't make.alot of difference.

@dogmeat The moment the Manchester Police gave out details of the accused person's occupation and age, then this sort of thing would inevitably follow.

@bovidae said in Sports Docos:

I watched this on ESPN last week. A great watch about the development and history of the show. Reali's comments about LBJ and his draft class are hilarious.

That was a great doco. The love and mutual respect they have for each other is the star of the show. It was funny that one of them slurped the Darko kool aid. I guess the longer you spend as a pundit the more you will get stuff wrong

Interesting viewing this - a number of familiar faces are trying to convert American athletes from their traditional sports over to the great game we call rugby.

https://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/rugby/provincial/300494310/tasman-mako-name-gray-cornelius-and-dan-perrin-as-cocoaches

@antipodean said in Japanese Rugby:

@machpants said in Japanese Rugby:

@antipodean said in Japanese Rugby:

@machpants said in Japanese Rugby:

@antipodean said in Japanese Rugby:

@duluth said in Japanese Rugby:

Do the referees not know you can't pass forward?

Played advantage until DMac got the penalty????

what?

Was joke, the forward pass led to a DMac turn over (he was opposition) a few seconds later. Penalty back 20m better than a scrum. Genius seeing into the future by the ref 😜

Gotcha. One I could almost understand but there were numerous clear examples of forward passes in that video. Terrible refereeing.

@antipodean said in Japanese Rugby:

@machpants said in Japanese Rugby:

@antipodean said in Japanese Rugby:

@machpants said in Japanese Rugby:

@antipodean said in Japanese Rugby:

@duluth said in Japanese Rugby:

Do the referees not know you can't pass forward?

Played advantage until DMac got the penalty????

what?

Was joke, the forward pass led to a DMac turn over (he was opposition) a few seconds later. Penalty back 20m better than a scrum. Genius seeing into the future by the ref 😜

Gotcha. One I could almost understand but there were numerous clear examples of forward passes in that video. Terrible refereeing.

Did you see the Genia try put on by a Cooper pass? I think that was the worst of the lot.