All Blacks v Italy
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@ACT-Crusader said in v Italy:
@Billy-Tell said in v Italy:
Seriously lack of faith shown by some people.
How many people here actually watched every Italy game in the 6N? How many people watch Treviso and Zebre play in the Pro 12?
Very few I imagine.
They are shit!
Italy would be happy to beat the Southern KIngs.
Yes, it's a NZ A side, but if we can't beat Italy with a NZ A side, then our fabled depth is paper-thin.
Personally, I look forward to seeing the new faces have a run out...although I will almost certainly switch to England vs SA after 30 minutes...
Is Sergio Parisse playing ? I hear he can turn water into wine ( or whatever the equivalent is on a rugby field )
You'll have to get someone to point him out to you, as I'm sure you've never actually watched him play....
That is completely untrue, fairly certain he was on the field in tests I've seen against the ABs and Scotland, he was the one with the halo right ?
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@Billy-Tell I don't think anyone here doubts the ability of the players but as we know, chucking a bunch of good players in a test match where there is a lack of combinations and experience can be dicey, even against lesser opponents.
Italy might have performed poorly and I did watch those 6N tests, but they look a settled lineup.
I think some are concerned it's going to be some disjointed rugby out there.
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@ACT-Crusader especially if Italy get some good bounces early on, could be very ugly.
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i've been a big fan of hansen's policy of keeping a core unit and rotating only a couple of players in and out at a time. now we're back to the same old shit. learn nothing about the new guys, combinations aren't there, messy rugby. seems like a knee-jerk to the loss to me.
maybe that's a good thing if they're all knackered, obviously i don't have the inside knowledge on that, but i don't like the change in approach.
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My philisophy: whatever it takes to beat Ireland in Dublin.
All that bonhomie will go right out the window if we lose back to back tests to Ireland.
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@reprobate said in v Italy:
i've been a big fan of hansen's policy of keeping a core unit and rotating only a couple of players in and out at a time. now we're back to the same old shit. learn nothing about the new guys, combinations aren't there, messy rugby. seems like a knee-jerk to the loss to me.
maybe that's a good thing if they're all knackered, obviously i don't have the inside knowledge on that, but i don't like the change in approach.
I'm fairly sure that this regime have always looked for an opportunity during the EOYT against a weaker side to through a bunch of new players in to see what they can see about them. Then they get put back in the box with work ones for later use when required
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Interesting bit in the Guardians weekly rugby mailshot (the Breakdown) -
"Racing 92, who move to their new ground in Paris next season, inquired about the All Blacks playing a match to mark the opening of a new venue but balked at the requested fee of €2m. Depending on how the tour schedule after 2019 pans out, others may have no choice."
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There is no coverage of this game in Australia ?
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No, but the French game and the one against Ireland will be shown on Fox/beIN sports. I can live with that.
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@KiwiMurph said in v Italy:
@mariner4life I'm not a fan of McKenzie, but at least he should provide some positive aspects to counter out his bad stuff, which is more than can be said for Savea last week. As for TKB I think comments on his decision making are well overblown - plus he's played a heap of rugby with Cruden over the years (who himself should be a huge step up on Barrett's performance at 10 last week, which wouldn't be hard).
Not sure about that. If Barrett was poor last week, then Cruden was even poorer.
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Interesting bit in the Guardians weekly rugby mailshot (the Breakdown) -
"Racing 92, who move to their new ground in Paris next season, inquired about the All Blacks playing a match to mark the opening of a new venue but balked at the requested fee of €2m. Depending on how the tour schedule after 2019 pans out, others may have no choice."
That's a shame. I'd quite like to see a game like that. Think NZRU need to be flexible, it isn't Twickenham, so 2m euro is surely too much for a 40k stadium.
This would be a one off opportunity, where as 4th out-of-window internationals for the bigger cut is probably an ongoing annual opportunity.
Could even play it midweek, if need be. If have an 'easy' test that Saturday. Who am I kidding, modern coaches accepting a midweek distraction .....
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No, but the French game and the one against Ireland will be shown on Fox/beIN sports. I can live with that.
Fark me dead this is disgusting.
And it doesn't even look like a stream will be made available in Aus and other countries to watch this game.This will be the first AB match I can recall in years when I've not been able to watch some how. In the past in order to not miss an AB test match I've made the trips in the middle of the night to a pub or the Star casino to watch matches being played on Setanta.
And last weeks experience of watching a "live stream" on my computer was interesting and not that enjoyable as it was pretty poor quality but at least I could watch the game.
Fuck I'm sick of the stupid games being played by broadcasters around the TV rights (and the almighty $$$) that are happening every year now for the November tour matches.
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Interesting bit in the Guardians weekly rugby mailshot (the Breakdown) -
"Racing 92, who move to their new ground in Paris next season, inquired about the All Blacks playing a match to mark the opening of a new venue but balked at the requested fee of €2m. Depending on how the tour schedule after 2019 pans out, others may have no choice."
That's a shame. I'd quite like to see a game like that. Think NZRU need to be flexible, it isn't Twickenham, so 2m euro is surely too much for a 40k stadium.
This would be a one off opportunity, where as 4th out-of-window internationals for the bigger cut is probably an ongoing annual opportunity.
Could even play it midweek, if need be. If have an 'easy' test that Saturday. Who am I kidding, modern coaches accepting a midweek distraction .....
40,000 tickets @ 100 euro a pop is 4 mill. So 50% of the gate to play a game that puts additional strain on players and programmes.
What? Are they a charity?
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Interesting bit in the Guardians weekly rugby mailshot (the Breakdown) -
"Racing 92, who move to their new ground in Paris next season, inquired about the All Blacks playing a match to mark the opening of a new venue but balked at the requested fee of €2m. Depending on how the tour schedule after 2019 pans out, others may have no choice."
That's a shame. I'd quite like to see a game like that. Think NZRU need to be flexible, it isn't Twickenham, so 2m euro is surely too much for a 40k stadium.
This would be a one off opportunity, where as 4th out-of-window internationals for the bigger cut is probably an ongoing annual opportunity.
Could even play it midweek, if need be. If have an 'easy' test that Saturday. Who am I kidding, modern coaches accepting a midweek distraction .....
40,000 tickets @ 100 euro a pop is 4 mill. So 50% of the gate to play a game that puts additional strain on players and programmes.
What? Are they a charity?
But they won't all be 100 euro a pop, and there are costs to deduct.
No we're not a charity. But obviously 2 mill isn't in the ball park, would be more than 50% I reckon. Guess they're not that into it. Fair enough, maybe they're weighing it against other options like a USA game again etc
Where as I'd like to see it as a 5th game, and NZRU to be genuinely constructive if they are indeed interested.
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@Rapido assuming this game would fall outside the normal playing window, then I guess they are within their rights to ask for a fee, which I assume the host nation/team can recoup via TV rights and obviously the apparently meager gate takings?
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@taniwharugby said in v Italy:
@Rapido assuming this game would fall outside the normal playing window, then I guess they are within their rights to ask for a fee, which I assume the host nation/team can recoup via TV rights and obviously the apparently meager gate takings?
Yes, I know that. That's the whole point.
Basically there are only 3 teams currently capable of hosting an out-of-window revenue sharing international. And NZRU are currently in dispute with 2 of them on financial terms apparently (RFU and WRU). We want 2m quid, they're offering 1m.
Seems odd to me to then summarily dismiss Racing with a fee that 2 other parties with twice as big stadiums are already baulking over.
I do actually pretty much agree with NZRUs stance on the 4th internationals at Twickers etc. where they're aiming for a bigger slice (from current approx 25% gate to 50% share). As long as they're flexible. I doubt whether they will get that, but with Ritchie etc at RFU it is political, the WRU probably genuinely think the fee is excessive for them.
Can't keep going to Chicago every year? Can we? So I hope the rebuff of Racing was polite, with a lets meet in the middle ..... because there's some bargaining going on at the moment.
