Bledisloe I
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On reflection I really enjoyed that.
Yeah it tapered off a bit. Those tries happened through slackness on our part. About as annoying was squandering chances on attack. We seemed to completely disregard our attacking plans at that stage.
Kind of glad the Aussies have a straw to clutch. Was getting embarrassing.
Struggled to pick a starter who had a bad game. People who are down on DMac are being a touch demanding IMO.
Thought Dubs was bloody good.
My MOTM was A Smith. (I'll have a look if there is a more appropriate thread to give 2c on the Aussie media and Gossipgate).
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@booboo said in Bledisloe I:
@Higgins said in Bledisloe I:
Something like 10000 referees that are available to referee matches and we get this clown (along with those two frog ones)
Actually though Barnesy was pretty good generally (Apart from Foley's pass for Folau's try). Massive upgrade from Poite and Garces.
Was laughing at his usual poor positioning and getting in the way though
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@DMX said in Bledisloe I:
Bench just added nothing good today and I am still strugglingto know why Tuingafasi is an AB.
Yep - if Ofa is our second-best tighthead prop then we are going to be in shitter's ditch if Owen Franks can't play. In the meantime, I'd have Laulala on the bench and not worry that he's a bit limited around the track.
Was interesting to see Kane Hames playing tighthead on Friday night - let's hope he comes on in leaps and bounds under Yoda's tutelage.
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@Rocky-Rockbottom Atu Moli is not ready yet and he is already much better than Ofa. Laulala is clearly our second best tighthead atm. It's a position of very little depth though, hence why Charlie is the biggest loss to NZ Rugby out of all the players who are heading up North.
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@Rocky-Rockbottom said in Bledisloe I:
Ofa.
Ofa, Ofa, Ofa. How do you do it? How do you remain an All Black? When at 50 mins the comms said Ofa had come on at HT, 10 mins beforehand, I just thought wot, 10 mins, and this is his first sighting? Then its scrum pens, getting isolated at rucks for TO, general ineffectiveness, etc.
“But he can play both sides of the scrum”. Well, whoop-de-do, I can walk down both sides of a fucken pavement and neither of them have a red carpet leading straight to the AB’s fitting room.
“Props mature late. Give him time.” Great, so one day he’ll be an average player. This is the All Blacks, not the mummy, mummy, I want to play too mummy mummy can I please have an ice cream development league.Ofa came on for Franks between McKenzie's 43rd minute try and Foley's 45th minute restart.
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@Rocky-Rockbottom yeah I thought the pass was forward on first viewing too
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Just watched the highlights of the first 50 mins. Best part, you know exactly when to call it quits! But fuck me days. To go from that champagne rugby to fucking Ranfurly Draught...that is embarrassing.
Sure, we can talk about switching off and cricket scores etc, but that wasn't cruise mode, that was first day of ripper rugby mode. Awful ball handling, awful tackling, awful kicking. The bench were shocking, which was especially alarming, cos usually our bench comes on and pours lemon juice on the knife wounds.
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A win's a win.
We haven't won for months so I'll gladly take that one. To be 48 (that's 48, not 28, not 38 but 48) up with half an hour to go earns the boys a very very well done!
So a beaten team at home came back with some points, they were never going to win and some of the condemnation for the AB's second half is bordering on la la land.An intercept and a dodgy forward half try doesn't reflect the brilliant rugby played to ensure the win. Pissing and moaning about not getting "more of a win", should have got 80 points, blah blah. When does a NZ team ever go on and get 70 odd points of a tier one nation?
Nah I'll take the win and the performance with the added bonus that there's identifiable stuff to work on
If your TV got stuck on Nick Phipps' player cam, you'd be forgiven for going to bed thinking we'd lost as obviously the Wallabies scored 3 match winning tries in the 2nd half. The guy's a twat.
How many tackles does Sam Cane make?
SBW was trying his heart out too.
Could someone arrange an extra marital affair with Ofa please?
My TV is stuffed as it shows forward passes that are quickly assessed as "fine"
AllBlack supporting isn't going to be the same as it was for the last 8-10 years, but how could they keep up that absolute dominance and it's time dial back the
entitlementexpectation factor.In 2003 putting 50 on the Wobs was simply astonishing - nowadays fans demand more - sheesh.
Good win lads, well done
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I think we have issues with our bench. It used to be such a strength but at the moment barring injuries I'm not sure any of them would offer more than leaving the starters on.
I just don't think Savea is the answer for 7/8 cover. We need a Squire/Read type player.
I would be tempted to just leave AS out there the entire game. Starting to think the ABs game is much more fluid with a quick HB that concentrates on delivery and exceptional passing. Maybe TJ should be left in Super Rugby.
Also not sure we should be moving BB to 15 just for the sake of it. Maybe Dmac on the bench to cover 15 and 10 and only 10 if BB is injured.
We need Coles back pronto, I'm very happy with Taylor as an impact but not Harris.
Charlie was a big loss.
I do have plenty of time for ALB but our back line has stuttered with him in it recently.
That last 30 minutes just reminded me of the Lions games and was very frustrating to watch.
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@chimoaus said in Bledisloe I:
I think we have issues with our bench. It used to be such a strength but at the moment barring injuries I'm not sure any of them would offer more than leaving the starters on.
I think we're in a rebuilding phase. Waiting on bench players to either step up or talent to bubble through from below.
Frankly, I'm not so concerned. This feels a bit like people having a pop at Steve Waugh's Aussie cricket side who dropped dead rubbers. Fark- once the series is won, if you ease off a bit, so be it. Ditto these guys - if our weakness it that we ease up when we get more than 40 points ahead, I'll take it
Magnificent 50 minutes of footy. I really don't think Hooper is a guy to lead people though - he's committed, but still ineffective. Gets to a lot of rucks to muck about. And some of the decision making is suspect as all hell - interfering with the ball, off his feet, in front of the ref in the first couple of minutes sets a tone you don't want.
Cheika blowing up at refs calls (even ones that go for him) is very un-coach like behaviour. Maybe it works for some Aussies, but it sure as hell doesn't work for me.
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@nzzp spot on with Hooper. He's kind of a sacred cow in Australia - never seems to be critised. He is busy without actually doing all that much that is effective as a test 7. Cane is much less flashy but so much more effective. And yes Hooper's captaincy is bad.
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@KiwiMurph said in Bledisloe I:
@nzzp spot on with Hooper. He's kind of a sacred cow in Australia - never seems to be critised. He is busy without actually doing all that much that is effective as a test 7. Cane is much less flashy but so much more effective. And yes Hooper's captaincy is bad.
I've been re-watching a whole bunch of old AB games while suffering on the rowing machine. There was one recently where the ref pulled him aside and said 'you're the captain, act like it'.
The Aussie setup seems to tolerate indiscipline and has for years. Beale, Cooper, O'Connor under Deans were sacred cows. I reckon teams need to believe in themselves and be honest about their shortcomings to really improve. not sure I see this with Hooper and Cheika at the helm.
I was in the Spiro camp of looking at Coleman for captain... but on the back of last night's game, I'm not sure that's going to end well either. Link to his article from a few months ago: http://www.theroar.com.au/2017/07/31/michael-cheikas-new-wallabies-need-new-captain-adam-coleman/
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@KiwiMurph said in Bledisloe I:
@nzzp spot on with Hooper. He's kind of a sacred cow in Australia - never seems to be critised.
He is outside of NSW.
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Didn't see a more appropriate thread so this will do.
Two thoughts:
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Pure speculation: Smith may or may not be benefitting from a more stable relationship and may therefore not have been so bothered by these "new" revelations having effect on his relationship as it potentially all came out and got thrashed out between them a year ago. This may be complete bollocks. But his play did not seem affected.
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Jerome... I will try and not make any judgement on what he may have done. Plenty of relationships are affected by infidelity by one party or the other. But what gives anyone, not least an unscrupulous faceless corporation and the maggots that work for them, the right to fuck up a family? One could argue that Jerome has managed that himself but this is a matter for the parties involved: Jerome, the model, Mrs Kaino, and their two boys. Jerome appears to have made a choice that will potentially wreck his marriage. Given time one or other party in that relationship may have come to their senses and it would have worked it's natural course. But to make money and score cheap "PR" points in such a cynical fashion without regard to the innocent parties I find reprehensible.
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@booboo said in Bledisloe I:
But to make money and score cheap "PR" points in such a cynical fashion without regard to the innocent parties I find reprehensible.
If you're like me, you're reading less and less modern media. Their entire model seems to be this, preferably sourced from Twitter or Facebook so you don't even have to leave the warm cozy confines of a skeleton staffed office.
