Good Rugby Reads
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<p>Great bit of writing.</p>
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Moving piece on O'Connell in the guardian. <br><br><a class="bbc_url" href="http://www.theguardian.com/sport/blog/2015/oct/13/paul-oconnell-injury-ireland-world-cup">http://www.theguardian.com/sport/blog/2015/oct/13/paul-oconnell-injury-ireland-world-cup</a><br><br>
Funniest part (if you can call it that):<br><br>
"I looked up at the clock and it said 2 minutes 19. I told the doctor: ‘Mick, I’m not coming off after 2 minutes 19 seconds.’ Mick said: ‘There’s 2 minutes 19 seconds left of the half. You’ve played the whole half. You scored a try.’ I argued with him: ‘I didn’t score a try. You’re only saying that to get me to come off.’ That’s when he said: ‘Look, you’re not going back on.’ I saw the video later and I did score but I have no recollection of it†-
<p>Some scrum analysis from the France/ Ireland game that is interesting for this weekend.</p>
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<p><a data-ipb='nomediaparse' href='http://www.the42.ie/ireland-france-scrum-analysis-2-2385386-Oct2015/'>http://www.the42.ie/ireland-france-scrum-analysis-2-2385386-Oct2015/</a></p> -
<p><img src="https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/28142445/12106975_722977211067842_8166477604996593051_n.jpg" alt="12106975_722977211067842_816647760499659"></p>
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<p>Interesting infographic. Aus with 9 foreign born players!</p> -
<p>+ 5</p>
<p>-39</p>
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<p>Combined +/- is -34.</p> -
<p>I quite enjoyed this article</p>
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<p><a data-ipb='nomediaparse' href='http://www.theroar.com.au/2015/10/14/the-rugby-world-cup-stats-they-dont-show-you-on-tv'>http://www.theroar.com.au/2015/10/14/the-rugby-world-cup-stats-they-dont-show-you-on-tv</a></p> -
<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="SammyC" data-cid="528342" data-time="1444941312">
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<p>I quite enjoyed this article</p>
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<p><a data-ipb='nomediaparse' href='http://www.theroar.com.au/2015/10/14/the-rugby-world-cup-stats-they-dont-show-you-on-tv'>http://www.theroar.com.au/2015/10/14/the-rugby-world-cup-stats-they-dont-show-you-on-tv</a></p>
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<p>The best TOW/T team is New Zealand. In an amazing nine per cent of tackles, the All Blacks have won turnovers. This is one reason it is so difficult to build momentum against them if it takes more than a couple of phases. Wales, 8.4 per cent, and Ireland, 7.6 per cent, are also high on the TOW/T chart. The least productive in TOW/T? Scotland (3.9 per cent).</p> -
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<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="SammyC" data-cid="528367" data-time="1444946560">
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<p>it's interesting to see that stat, because watching the games I always thought the other teams go for the turnover a lot more.</p>
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<p>We seem to stand back and fan out, and pick our moments to contest. </p>
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<p>How wrong I was</p>
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<p><em><span style="color:rgb(111,120,135);font-family:'Open Sans', 'Helvetica Neue', sans-serif;background-color:rgb(240,244,250);">Sam Cane, McCaw's understudy in the seven jersey, <strong>explained the reason for the skipper's absence on the turnover list was the All Blacks not trying for turnovers in the first place.</strong></span></em></p>
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<p style="font-family:'Open Sans', 'Helvetica Neue', sans-serif;color:rgb(111,120,135);background-color:rgb(240,244,250);"><em>Coach Steve Hansen has said throughout the tournament the All Blacks were using the first four matches to rehearse scenarios they will likely face when the tournament is into the knockout phase.</em></p>
<p style="font-family:'Open Sans', 'Helvetica Neue', sans-serif;color:rgb(111,120,135);background-color:rgb(240,244,250);"><em>Hansen has put a curb on kicking for territory as one way of putting pressure on themselves and Cane revealed they were also testing new defensive strategies.</em></p>
<p style="font-family:'Open Sans', 'Helvetica Neue', sans-serif;color:rgb(111,120,135);background-color:rgb(240,244,250);"><em>"We can vary how we want to defend," he said.</em></p>
<p style="font-family:'Open Sans', 'Helvetica Neue', sans-serif;color:rgb(111,120,135);background-color:rgb(240,244,250);"><em><strong>"You will see in a lot of pool play we're not contesting rucks a lot but we're putting teams under pressure through our line speed and physicality that way forcing teams into errors and trying to cut down their time and space.</strong></em></p>
<p style="font-family:'Open Sans', 'Helvetica Neue', sans-serif;color:rgb(111,120,135);background-color:rgb(240,244,250);"><em><strong>"We can change that because obviously we've got guys who are good (at the breakdown) as well so it's just depending on the opposition that we're playing as to how often we try and contest the breakdown."</strong></em></p>
<p style="font-family:'Open Sans', 'Helvetica Neue', sans-serif;color:rgb(111,120,135);background-color:rgb(240,244,250);"><strong><a data-ipb='nomediaparse' href='http://tenplay.com.au/news/2015/10/13/all-blacks-say-lack-of-turnovers-part-of-their-plan '>http://tenplay.com.au/news/2015/10/13/all-blacks-say-lack-of-turnovers-part-of-their-plan </a></strong></p>
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<p>so they are still going for (and getting) turnovers, just not the more traditional way that is visible and easier to quantify (as a fan just watching)</p>
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Depends what the data source they used for their stats analysis - on how they define what is a turnover. It isn't always consistent.<br><br>
That was the most glaring stat that doesn't equate to eyeball evidence. <br><br>
Therefore did turnovers also include knock-ons coughing up possession etc? Held up mauls resulting in opposition scrum feeds. Etc. Or is it reduced simply and only to Pocock style jackaling? -
<p>Barnes must have had a memory wipe to erase the two very different WC warm up matches against England</p>
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<p><strong>If Dan Carter’s game is as inaccurate as his observations on France, Philippe Saint-Andre’s team could just have the ghost of a chance once again in a Cardiff World Cup quarter-final. According to Carter, France “can be poor one week and awesome the nextâ€. No they can’t, Daniel.</strong></p>
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<p><strong>This is the worst France team of the professional era. The results leading into the World Cup showed Saint-Andre’s winning record at a pathetic 42.5 per cent, it showed France up as a bottom-half Six Nations side in the past four years. Three fourth places and one ignominious sixth place two years ago. France are a cliché, not a force.</strong></p>
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<p><strong>I can remember France being good against Australia a few years ago but “awesome� Forget it. Of Saint-Andre’s 17 wins in the lead-up to this tournament, eight of them had been against the combined might of Italy and Scotland, their Six Nations lower-tier colleagues, with another one each against the three Pacific nations.</strong></p>
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<p>As for Carter’s claim that “the French can beat anyone on their dayâ€, well, they haven’t beaten New Zealand on any of the four occasions since the last World Cup final. The All Blacks have won their past eight consecutive clashes. It is true that, even so, France have a good record against the All Blacks compared with the rest of Europe, but that is more to do with Kiwi dominance than a secret French recipe for beating them.</p>
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<p>New Zealand were fortunate in the final in 2011, but nerves and a crisis at fly half were as much the reason for the narrow margin as Gallic genius. Carter is right to have dismissed 2007 memories, these are “for the public and the press . . . it’s [New Zealand] a new teamâ€. He’s not the only player to have noted the fact. Thierry Dusautoir, magnificent in the 2007 and 2011 games, admitted this week: “It was a different context in 2007 and a different team.â€</p>
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<p>And a different coach; Saint-Andre’s appalling tenure in terms of results and performance will come to an end tomorrow night, an end that should have come earlier had France been realistic about winning the World Cup. Instead, Serge Blanco, the man who appointed him while busy sinking Biarritz, his club, was recalled to assist the former France wing. Only the French could be quite this obtuse.</p>
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<p>Is it any wonder that the rugby journalists from the land that gave us liberty, equality and fraternity are screaming for revolution on the part of the players? The head coach’s analysis of the hammering at the hands of Ireland is indicative of the delusional thinking that has scarred his regime. This France team have bulk. They are picked to bash. Yet in the aftermath of last Sunday’s defeat by Ireland, Saint-Andre said: “The only thing that worried me is that in the last 20 minutes we were no longer able to make the right decisions.â€</p>
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<p>The last 20 minutes are the ones when the lungs of half the team not replaced start to burn and when the fresh additions have to settle quickly into the system. If there is not an adequate system for the players to adopt, chaos will reign. Whereas Ireland were attuned to the nth degree, the France players were a rabble, unaware of any particular system except a tenuous demand for “patience†from their head coach.</p>
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<p>After four years of failure and a series of selections that have made France ever more ponderous, Saint-Andre’s only demand is for “patienceâ€. It is one of those words adopted by people who have run out of any new ideas. You will hear former players talking of the need for patience, to recycle the ball, to “go through the phasesâ€. “Going through the phrases†more like; teams cannot keep the ball forever. This is a Utopian dream, one beloved of coaches who believe that union can be made into rugby league without the sixth-tackle rule.</p>
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<p>Size is one of the not so secret or subtle assets for the “patience†devotees. None has been more trusting than Saint-Andre. Blessed with big men and a solid scrum, he has built his sandcastle around it and pretended that the 42.5 per cent winning ratio is down to any number of other factors other than his not so much flawed as non-philosophy.</p>
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<p>France get heavier, turgid and less ambitious while New Zealand have focused on speed, dynamism and penetration instead of patience. Teams who are patient cannot afford many mistakes because it takes them so long to create an opening. Penetrative sides can throw the odd speculative pass to no one, knowing that the chance will come again.</p>
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<p>Whereas Saint-Andre has seen his side slump, Steve Hansen, the New Zealand head coach, has been on the rise since 2011. The All Blacks have lost three times in 51 games. On average they lose one in every 17 games. At the moment they are on a five-match winning run. Defeat would be a statistical anomaly.</p>
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<p>France folded in the most important final 20 minutes of their tournament against Ireland last Sunday. New Zealand found their best form against Argentina in the game’s last quarter. Saint-Andre’s side hunt ploddingly for patience, Hansen’s men a repeat of the pace and penetration that blew away an impressive-looking Argentina side. Carter will need the worst game of his life if France are to have the remotest chance of a 2007 repeat.</p>
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<p><a data-ipb='nomediaparse' href='http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/sport/rugbyunion/article4586993.ece'>http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/sport/rugbyunion/article4586993.ece</a></p> -
<p>An analysis of where it went wrong for Ireland</p>
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<p><a data-ipb='nomediaparse' href='http://www.the42.ie/ireland-defence-argentina-analysis-rwc-15-2398472-Oct2015/'>http://www.the42.ie/ireland-defence-argentina-analysis-rwc-15-2398472-Oct2015/</a></p>
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<p>and BODs take</p>
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<p><a data-ipb='nomediaparse' href='http://www.the42.ie/brian-odriscoll-argentina-ireland-2398687-Oct2015/'>http://www.the42.ie/brian-odriscoll-argentina-ireland-2398687-Oct2015/</a></p> -
<p><a data-ipb='nomediaparse' href='http://www.therugbypaper.co.uk/features/columnists/brendan-gallagher/24104/brendan-gallagher-this-golden-generation-of-pumas-will-top-the-world/'>http://www.therugbypaper.co.uk/features/columnists/brendan-gallagher/24104/brendan-gallagher-this-golden-generation-of-pumas-will-top-the-world/</a></p>
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<p>good article on the Argentina setup</p> -
<p>Reading Michael Lynagh's "Blindsided" at the moment in fits and starts. Starts off dealing with his stroke, then talks about rugby a lot.</p>
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<p>The man was fucking paranoid about goal kicking it would seem, and pretty self-effacing besides. Some good quotes in there from Grant Fox and others, and the mental side of kicking goal in rugby.</p> -
<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="SammyC" data-cid="531476" data-time="1445308388">
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<p><a data-ipb='nomediaparse' href='http://www.therugbypaper.co.uk/features/columnists/brendan-gallagher/24104/brendan-gallagher-this-golden-generation-of-pumas-will-top-the-world/'>http://www.therugbypaper.co.uk/features/columnists/brendan-gallagher/24104/brendan-gallagher-this-golden-generation-of-pumas-will-top-the-world/</a></p>
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<p>good article on the Argentina setup</p>
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<p>shit i knew they were young, didn't realise quite how young.</p> -
<p>On the South Africa - New Zealand rivalry</p>
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<p><a data-ipb='nomediaparse' href='http://www.theguardian.com/sport/blog/2015/oct/23/new-zealand-south-africa-rugby-greatest-rivalry'>http://www.theguardian.com/sport/blog/2015/oct/23/new-zealand-south-africa-rugby-greatest-rivalry</a></p> -
<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="reprobate" data-cid="531702" data-time="1445342738">
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<p>shit i knew they were young, didn't realise quite how young.</p>
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<p>I had no idea that Cordero was younger than Montero - that's two bloody good wings they have there.</p>
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<p>I'm looking forward to getting over the Argentina for a RC game in the next few years.</p>
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<p>Interesting to note that Gallagher has the ability to write when he chooses not to troll or be a whiny bitch.</p> -
<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="KiwiPie" data-cid="532870" data-time="1445624837">
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<p>On the South Africa - New Zealand rivalry</p>
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<p><a data-ipb='nomediaparse' href='http://www.theguardian.com/sport/blog/2015/oct/23/new-zealand-south-africa-rugby-greatest-rivalry'>http://www.theguardian.com/sport/blog/2015/oct/23/new-zealand-south-africa-rugby-greatest-rivalry</a></p>
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<p>great read</p> -
A nice piece about Argentina's coach Hourcade and their development in the past couple of years. <br><br>
<a data-ipb='nomediaparse' href='http://www.theguardian.com/sport/blog/2015/oct/23/argentina-daniel-hourcade-rugby-world-cup-australia'>http://www.theguardian.com/sport/blog/2015/oct/23/argentina-daniel-hourcade-rugby-world-cup-australia</a>
