Exodus 2018
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@family-man said in Exodus 2018:
@bones said in Exodus 2018:
@chris-b good spot, potential welcome back to Mr Saili. Well worth the deal.
Winston Stanley is at harlequins aswell I believe
Midfield issues post WC solved in the stroke of a pen!
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@family-man said in Exodus 2018:
@bones said in Exodus 2018:
@chris-b good spot, potential welcome back to Mr Saili. Well worth the deal.
Winston Stanley is at harlequins aswell I believe
He is, but he's a Samoan!
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@majorrage said in Exodus 2018:
The Tew article has been picked up by the Sneering Pommy media brigade the response is as expected.
We rape the islands etc, so only getting what we deserve ... we don't get irony etc etc.
You didn't suss that the press were being ironic?
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Disappointed that the NZRU have chosen to go with a Premiership club in a club-run competition.
Itâs been my view that alliances and collaboration should be happening between union run clubs and competitions. This is the NZRU supping with the devil. Hope theyâve brought a long spoon.
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@catogrande said in Exodus 2018:
@majorrage said in Exodus 2018:
The Tew article has been picked up by the Sneering Pommy media brigade the response is as expected.
We rape the islands etc, so only getting what we deserve ... we don't get irony etc etc.
You didn't suss that the press were being ironic?
I don't even know whose being ironic anymore.
I know it's not s fucking free ride that I've already paid though
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@pot-hale said in Exodus 2018:
Disappointed that the NZRU have chosen to go with a Premiership club in a club-run competition.
Itâs been my view that alliances and collaboration should be happening between union run clubs and competitions. This is the NZRU supping with the devil. Hope theyâve brought a long spoon.
But that idea of the English and French clubs being the Devil really only relates to their relationships with their own unions. For the NZRFU I donât see that they would see any differential between the clubs and say the provinces.
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@catogrande said in Exodus 2018:
@majorrage said in Exodus 2018:
The Tew article has been picked up by the Sneering Pommy media brigade the response is as expected.
We rape the islands etc, so only getting what we deserve ... we don't get irony etc etc.
You didn't suss that the press were being ironic?
We're Kiwis. We don't get irony.
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Current Exodus 2018 First XV :
- Bird (Chiefs -> Racing 92)
- Thomson (Hurricanes -> Scarlets)
- Kaino (Blues -> Toulouse)
- Shields (Hurricanes -> Wasps)
- Messam (Chiefs -> Toulon)
- Sopoaga (Highlanders -> Wasps)
- Nanai-Williams (Chiefs -> Clermont)
- Ngatai (Chiefs -> Lyon OU)
- Moala (Blues -> Clermont)
- Tamanivalu (Crusaders -> Bordeaux-Bègles)
- West (Hurricanes -> La Rochelle)
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@booboo said in Exodus 2018:
@catogrande said in Exodus 2018:
@majorrage said in Exodus 2018:
The Tew article has been picked up by the Sneering Pommy media brigade the response is as expected.
We rape the islands etc, so only getting what we deserve ... we don't get irony etc etc.
You didn't suss that the press were being ironic?
We're Kiwis. We don't get irony.
I meant it ironically. Wait. What?
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@catogrande it'd be like if you had 10,000 spoons and all you need was a knife, but then the next day, you needed a spoon but only had a knife, surely that'd be ironic?
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@taniwharugby so now Iâm having irony explained by a Kiwi. Now that is, well ironic really.
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So question with this deal in place with the Harlequins. Would it be safe to assume that the Harlequins are the only team NZR could strike a deal with in the English Premiership? Therefore that would be a key benefit for the Harlequins - they can't sign NZ based players long term (e.g. greater than 2 years) - but they are the preferred choice (in that particular competition) if NZ based players want to get some cash.
NZR would strike similar deals with teams in other competitions - especially the French one..... -
@catogrande said in Exodus 2018:
@pot-hale said in Exodus 2018:
Disappointed that the NZRU have chosen to go with a Premiership club in a club-run competition.
Itâs been my view that alliances and collaboration should be happening between union run clubs and competitions. This is the NZRU supping with the devil. Hope theyâve brought a long spoon.
But that idea of the English and French clubs being the Devil really only relates to their relationships with their own unions. For the NZRFU I donât see that they would see any differential between the clubs and say the provinces.
Yes youâre right.
I withdraw my remark. -
BEN KAY
March 2 2018, 5:00pm, The Times
England donât need to change now... but Eddie Jones should pick Brad Shields for Rugby World Cup
Ben KayIf you listen to the debate, bordering on hysteria, that has raged since Englandâs defeat by Scotland at Murrayfield, Eddie Jones needs to change up to a quarter of his team for the game away to France next Saturday. âSack Dylan Hartley as captain,â they say. âDitch Mike Brown. Move Chris Robshaw back to blind side or drop him altogether. Bring in Ben Teâo. Start Richard Wigglesworth. Maro Itoje is off his game.â And so on.
Someone even started a poll asking whether Jones should resign. After 24 wins from 26 games? Ridiculous.
On Tuesday morning, I was asked, along with my colleagues at The Times, to select my starting XV to play France and my XV to play New Zealand in a possible 2019 World Cup semi-final.
For the France game I selected exactly the same line-up that was defeated by Scotland. I know from personal experience with England post-2003 that the moment a coach becomes reactive in his selection is the moment that the team lose their direction. That team deserve the chance to prove that Scotland was a one-off bad day.
Casting my mind further ahead to my team for the World Cup, I put down Brad Shields at blind-side flanker. If you look at the areas England will look to strengthen over the next 18 months, then Shields may well prove to be the answer.
Shields is not even playing in England yet and he does not join Wasps until next season, so will have less than one club campaign to force his way into the national set-up. But we know that Jones is keen and the big-bearded Kiwi (with English parents) would bring something to the England back row that has been missing.
Super Rugby does not always prepare players for the Aviva Premiership or the international game because of the contrasting styles. Shields, though, has the attributes to adapt and also the skill set to bring something different to the table for England. He is one of those players who seems to have boundless energy and is able to operate at high intensity; he can go through the gears quickly to create opportunities. He has a natural rugby brain and vision; he is a good distributor of the ball in the wide open channels, which makes him a fantastic link player. He reminds me of George Smith in that regard and in the explosive power and footwork that he brings as a carrier around the edge of the breakdown.
When his team do not have a lot of momentum, he has the strength to pick and go and drive them on to the front foot. Courtney Lawes is a good carrier, but in the loose. Robshaw can pick and go but he is not explosive. If England had Billy Vunipola or Nathan Hughes running off that initial drive from Shields, they would have a platform upon which to play. Shields can use his combination of power and good footwork to knock the guard defence off balance and then a quick pass to Vunipola running at full tilt against a defence rocking back on their heels and half the battle is won.
Shields is also very strong over the ball and a World Cup back row of him and Vunipola, with Sam Underhill as a defensive tackling and breakdown presence, strikes me as being ideal.
When it comes to the France game, I can see Jones making the odd tactical change: Joe Marler to scrummage against Rabah Slimani, perhaps, or a 10-12 combination of Owen Farrell and Teâo to combat the physicality of Mathieu Bastareaud.
But Jones can explain a tactical shift to the players; they may have already been expecting it. What he cannot be seen to do is to undermine the vision of where this team will be in 2019 that he has sold to the players. To make wholesale changes would do that.
Apart from anything else, Jones trotted out his usual line after the defeat that as coach it was his responsibility. To axe Brown or Hartley would make it the playersâ fault.
The England cricket team in the 1990s could never get their selection strategy right, they were always chasing their tail. The same happened with the England team I played in after 2003. Andy Robinson promoted players and then dropped them after a defeat; it was always reactive and Jones has been very strong as a proactive selector.
The temptation is always there to make changes because England have the luxury of such a deep player pool and there will always be somebody outside the squad who is playing well and being championed for a call-up.
Heyneke Meyer, the former South Africa coach, once said to me when he was in charge at Leicester Tigers that he hated dropping players after a bad game. He wanted to give them a chance to put it right but also, further down the track, he felt it would have a negative impact on the playerâs mindset the next time that he was picked.
England will have been through every reason why last weekâs performance wasnât acceptable but selection is about the coach showing faith in his players and in the vision that he has laid out for the team.
On the subject of Hartley, he did not have a great game in Scotland and when England are struggling the sight of the captain leaving the field early reinforces the impression that they are a team without enough leaders.
People have said that Farrell should be captain because he is on the field at the end of the game, which is a flawed argument because he takes over the captaincy then anyway. So why change something just so he can be captain from the start?
Most of an England captainâs responsibilities come before the game, in galvanising the squad, acting as a conduit between coaches and players, dealing with the media. Farrell does not need all that on top of being the chief playmaker.
England do not need to make kneejerk reactions as it would risk shunting them off course.
England donât need to change now... but Eddie Jones should pick Brad Shields for Rugby World Cup
If you listen to the debate, bordering on hysteria, that has raged since Englandâs defeat by Scotland at Murrayfield, Eddie Jones needs to change up to a quarter of his team for the trip to France next weekend. âSack Dylan Hartley as captain,â they say. âDitch Mike Brown. Move Chris Robshaw back to
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@jauzy019 Great news for Zac and a super signing for Nevers (he's way above their level)!
He played very well for Waikato last year (his absence was immediately felt when he got injured), and has also had two excellent seasons of sevens under his belt. He thoroughly deserves a professional contract; just a pity it's only 2nd div in France, but it's better than nothing (I'm still of the opinion that NZR is pathetic in their refusal to sign him, especially because they claim to be committed to mental health). I'll be looking for illegal streams to watch him play now and then (if anyone is streaming Pro D2 games at all). He seems to be dealing with his mental health problems well now, although obviously being far away from home will be challenging for someone who needs good support around him. I wish him all the best.
