Aura watch
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@rotated said in Aura watch:
Even more challenging for Ireland would mentally need to back up from beating NZ/SA before a prospective SF.
Is that the likely QF for the team coming 2nd in the SA & NZ pool?
Clearly this Saffa hasn't applied his mind much beyond the pool games...Fok. That's a tough one already at QF stage but as I mentioned elsewhere, this RWC has more genuine contenders than any I can recall.
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@rotated said in Aura watch:
@No-Quarter said in Aura watch:
I know they're a real threat but I can't take Wales completely seriously at the moment, they've still got a big mental hurdle to overcome.
A lot will depend on how the tournament breaks in terms of QF/SF match ups.
In the abstract I can see Wales/Ireland winning the RWC, but the reality of winning three weeks in a row with the mental swings that happen is another thing. Like we saw in 2011 with the ABs the relief/achievement of making the final finally can be mentally hard to back up from,and we have seen that in all sports thus the old 'you have to lose one to win one' adage.
Even more challenging for Ireland would mentally need to back up from beating NZ/SA before a prospective SF.
I think Ireland would just be happy to reach a semi-final for the first time, which would also involve having beaten one of the heavyweights. I doubt they have the wherewithal do rinse and repeat for a semi and a final, especially given their attritional gameplan.
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@rotated said in Aura watch:
@No-Quarter said in Aura watch:
I know they're a real threat but I can't take Wales completely seriously at the moment, they've still got a big mental hurdle to overcome.
A lot will depend on how the tournament breaks in terms of QF/SF match ups.
In the abstract I can see Wales/Ireland winning the RWC, but the reality of winning three weeks in a row with the mental swings that happen is another thing. Like we saw in 2011 with the ABs the relief/achievement of making the final finally can be mentally hard to back up from,and we have seen that in all sports thus the old 'you have to lose one to win one' adage.
Even more challenging for Ireland would mentally need to back up from beating NZ/SA before a prospective SF.
Oz need to beat Wales, England/France, NZ/Ireland/SA AND then win final!
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@pakman said in Aura watch:
@rotated said in Aura watch:
@No-Quarter said in Aura watch:
I know they're a real threat but I can't take Wales completely seriously at the moment, they've still got a big mental hurdle to overcome.
A lot will depend on how the tournament breaks in terms of QF/SF match ups.
In the abstract I can see Wales/Ireland winning the RWC, but the reality of winning three weeks in a row with the mental swings that happen is another thing. Like we saw in 2011 with the ABs the relief/achievement of making the final finally can be mentally hard to back up from,and we have seen that in all sports thus the old 'you have to lose one to win one' adage.
Even more challenging for Ireland would mentally need to back up from beating NZ/SA before a prospective SF.
Oz need to beat Wales, England/France, NZ/Ireland/SA AND then win final!
Ouch
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@booboo said in Aura watch:
@pakman said in Aura watch:
@rotated said in Aura watch:
@No-Quarter said in Aura watch:
I know they're a real threat but I can't take Wales completely seriously at the moment, they've still got a big mental hurdle to overcome.
A lot will depend on how the tournament breaks in terms of QF/SF match ups.
In the abstract I can see Wales/Ireland winning the RWC, but the reality of winning three weeks in a row with the mental swings that happen is another thing. Like we saw in 2011 with the ABs the relief/achievement of making the final finally can be mentally hard to back up from,and we have seen that in all sports thus the old 'you have to lose one to win one' adage.
Even more challenging for Ireland would mentally need to back up from beating NZ/SA before a prospective SF.
Oz need to beat Wales, England/France, NZ/Ireland/SA AND then win final!
Ouch
yeah ... IReland will get NZ/SA, Probably Australia (or whoever beats them), and then the final. Basically there's no easy route this time around. NZ might have the easiest QF if we get Scotland - but the other 5-6 teams that are really competitive will be playing off. Quarters wlil be a weekend of superb rugby ... may book the Monday off already
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Peter Fitz is a good writer who spouts an enormous amounts of crap. And wears a headscarf.
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@mariner4life said in Aura watch:
Peter Fitz is a good writer who spouts an enormous amounts of crap. And wears a headscarf.
Perhaps the best description I have read of him
He was kind of interesting for a while, but I don't bother reading much by him any more.Edit: a polite version of Stephen Jones? Or is that too harsh
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@nzzp said in Aura watch:
@mariner4life said in Aura watch:
Peter Fitz is a good writer who spouts an enormous amounts of crap. And wears a headscarf.
Perhaps the best description I have read of him
He was kind of interesting for a while, but I don't bother reading much by him any more.Edit: a polite version of Stephen Jones? Or is that too harsh
his history books are actually really good. That's what i was meaning. I don't read his media stuff.
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@mariner4life said in Aura watch:
@nzzp said in Aura watch:
@mariner4life said in Aura watch:
Peter Fitz is a good writer who spouts an enormous amounts of crap. And wears a headscarf.
Perhaps the best description I have read of him
He was kind of interesting for a while, but I don't bother reading much by him any more.Edit: a polite version of Stephen Jones? Or is that too harsh
his history books are actually really good. That's what i was meaning. I don't read his media stuff.
I find his books really wordy , I read the readers digest abridged version of Tobruk and it was really good without his usual bloviating .
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@MajorRage said in Aura watch:
I like him. Bit of a loudmouth but people in media rarely aren’t.
Generally like what he’s got to say too. Reality is that AB aura is a thing, and the world is desperate for it to go.
Comparisons to Jones are way off.
His humour is generally self deprecating in a way Jones never is
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Not really getting the negativity in this thread about Peter Fitzsimons.
Stephen Jones comparison is well off, Fitz actually loves NZ rugby and will often talk it up when others are putting it down on Oz sports shows (rugby and non rugby).
Jeremy Clarkson seems to a prick who goes out his way to be a prick, Fitz seems to be a good bloke.
Haven't read his books and only read his columns when in cafes - so the wordiness never annoys me. Also, not sure what's up with the headscarf ... actually maybe the negativity is fair enough based on that alone!
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@Nepia said in Aura watch:
Not really getting the negativity in this thread about Peter Fitzsimons.
Stephen Jones comparison is well off, Fitz actually loves NZ rugby and will often talk it up when others are putting it down on Oz sports shows (rugby and non rugby).
Jeremy Clarkson seems to a prick who goes out his way to be a prick, Fitz seems to be a good bloke.
Haven't read his books and only read his columns when in cafes - so the wordiness never annoys me. Also, not sure what's up with the headscarf ... actually maybe the negativity is fair enough based on that alone!
Fitzsimons has a strong respect I think for NZ. And yes most of his books are a good read, as mentioned above Tobruk and the Mawson Antarctic story. Maybe if he is aware of the Aura he has been following the Fern?
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I read a fair bit of Fitzy in weekend SMH and the odd book in the late nineties and early 00s. It was new and novel that an ex-rugby player (a tight forward of all people!) could actually put pen to paper in semi-coherent, slightly self deprecating manner, but perhaps it wore off over time?
I can see the unflattering comparisons with Jones etc come from. Fitz wrote The Rugby War a seriously compelling, well researched, in depth account of the WRC and game going pro back in 1999. Yet despite being capable of some much more, he does use many of the same tropes as Jones - aura, sheep, the islands, infeririority complexes etc.
The only differences is I'd happily have a beer with Fitzy, he just wouldn't have one with me.
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