Bledisloe 1
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@ACT-Crusader At least that was just good rugby for fuck sake.
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@SBW1 said in Bledisloe 1:
@Daffy-Jaffy Who is in next week apart from Ardie?
Has he had his sprog? If he hasn't then I don't think he'll be able to join test week midway through.
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Just back from the match. Absolute bedlam, that was great fun. What an ending, haven't seen the replay yet so don't have an opinion.
I don't normally like that stadium for rugby because it's the wrong shape, but it was rocking tonight. Looked like it was about 50:50 in terms of support, but sounded more like 70:30 - the Kiwis were rowdy as
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I'd hate to be Foley meeting Rennie after the game. The coach has all those injuries, a crap winning record, everyone writes this game off for his team and he had a voodoo reversal (at least for one game) in his grasp until one of his most experienced players refuses to listen to the ref with the game virtually won...
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and we win/secure the Bled, hold two games in a row and our best props and midfield (and loosies) are still unclear. As is 10 (Richie still ahead by a nose for me but neither he nor BB control a game).
Two of the players many on here want to be replaced or moved (Ardie and Cane) were, and the team looked no more lethal, effective, and composed.
Without Samisoni we are cooked. -
Been busy with work and family stuff all day so only just seen some highlights.
Some thoughts:
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Nice to wrap up the Bledisloe again.
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Samisoni is awesome.
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Some really crap skills and awful defence nearly threw that one away. Foster's AB need to learn to be ruthless. Some thing not right in the squad culture.
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Aussie discipline was absolutely crap.
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Their national team might be outstanding, but French referees are still the worst in the world.
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J. Barrett : nothing spectacular. His clearing kicks were surprisingly short. Looked better when he went to 2nd Five.
W. Jordan : Rocks and diamonds. To be fair, he was not the only one to miss a tackle on Samu. The latter was on fire this night.
R. Ioane : Rocks and diamonds too. A real threat in attack but his core roles as a centre are not mastered (like "draw and pass").
Havili : not enough time on the field to get a comment.
C. Clarke : he had a shocker. Does not know how to link with his support players and looked completely lost in defence.
R. Mounga : not his worst game in black but not the better either. Scored a good try and controlled the game pretty well until that kick out on the full.
A. Smith : anonymous. Did not try a single run behind his forwards, which eased the Australian loose forwards' job.
H. Sotutu : two terrible things during the game (the missed tackled on Foley and the kick in a try scoring position). Otherwise a sweet pass to Clarke in a hole and a few strong carries. Not so bad for a guy who had not played a single minute for three months.
S. Cane : was sorely missed after his head knock ! I never thought I would have written something like that before this game !
S. Barrett : pretty anonymous. He is not a 6.
S. Whitelock : looked old with concrete feet. Did well in the LO though.
B. Retallick : not a bad effort from the giant. Did well to straighten the attack for ST's second try.
T. Lomax : excellent first half with strong scrummaging and good cleaning at the rucks. Unduly penalised in a scrum where Slipper was clearly the culprit. One brain fade which could have cost more than a simple penalty.
ST : best player on the pitch. What else ?
E. De Groot : was not outstanding as he was against the Argies. Looked a bit out of his breath.B. Barrett : unsteady under the high kicks. Did very well for Jordan's try.
Q. Tupaea : is he slow ? Was beaten in pure speed by Samu. Atrocious injury which could rule him out for the rest of the season.
Christie : gave more rythm to the ABs attacks than Smith as he was getting quicker behind the rucks. Should have been called earlier IMO.
D. Papali'i : could have shown he is the best openside in NZ but was average at best.
A. Ioane : just 12 minutes on the pitch. Could not put his mark on the game.
F. Newell : scrummed solidly but he does not know how the clear bodies in the rucks.
D. Coles : safe LO thrower. Cost the last penalty but was it his entire fault ?
G. Bower : A few strong carries but cleanout work in the rucks not entirely satisfying. -
@MajorRage said in Bledisloe 1:
@NTA said in Bledisloe 1:
@Kirwan said in Bledisloe 1:
@barbarian said in Bledisloe 1:
@Kirwan said in Bledisloe 1:
@barbarian said in Bledisloe 1:
Nah I’m sorry but that’s fucked. First and only time I’ve ever seen that call, and it’s in the 79th minute of a Bledisloe. Just absolute horse shit.
Take the win NZ. But it’s hardly a famous victory.
What was the ref supposed to do? Just wait for the hooter for the next minute?
Player has to take responsibility.
Blow time off. That’s what he does, and it’s what every ref has done in that situation.
Or just let Foley kick the ball three seconds later and not make the game about him.
But he made a call I’ve literally never seen before. On the back of an incredibly dubious penalty for sealing off.
He blew time off, warned him, put time on and told him to play. Then he impersonated a statue.
Ref was correct.
Someone in the media here has looked at it:
Yeah, I did the same thing.
Including the 10 seconds the clock was off, it was 50 seconds.
Which doesn't really feel too outrageous to me.
Whether he was wrong or right, I struggle to accept this reffing. I'm not convinced Raynal gave Foley enough notice that he had to kick it straight away with time on.
There were plenty of other opportunities during the match to punish time wasting. To do it only at the death, when the match was in the balance is obviously what will stick in the craw.
Sadly, it will also understandably lead to a great deal of whinging and teeth gnashing during the week, and knowing WR, they will issue an apology and whatever time wasting directive behind this decision will be jettisoned and the game as a whole will be a lot worse for it.
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Stuffs player ratings are generous...
Plenty of mud being thrown at ref, but we all knew it was going to be a lottery..
Besides the time wasting call, there was plenty of variability from him, scrums were a farce, forward passes missed, defenders not releasing the tackled player, red card missed, hands beyond the ball not penalties... Probably a whole lot more.
But pretty much what we expectedSamisoni was best on park by miles.
Thought BBBR was alright, and tight 5 okish...
Loosies... We missed Cane.. Paps was was disappointing and didn't take his opportunity.
Sotutu was awful.. Valentini so much better. He did have a couple of OK hit ups and linked well in 1st 10mins, Those stupid arm tackles trying to hold people up rather than actually tackling...and that kick... Fark me..
I hope Jacobson gets a run next weekSB not great last night, did hit some rucks and tackled a bit but 6 is still a problem
Smith needs some time on the bench...
Mounga, WJ and RI were rocks and diamonds.. Defence in particular a worry.
CC.. Bench him or back to NPC.. Just not good enough, poor reads on defense, literally could not run away from his support players more.
In general it was a hot mess, of individuals, who should have a significantly higher level of rugby smarts..
Certainly a further step down for the ABs, no doubt we'll hear about learnings and hurtings, can't remember an all black team butchering so many tries that I would expect most NPC teams to finish.
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Didn't watch game...but that was an interesting read...despite the scoreline, sounds like we were shit ref was typically French and Swain is a dog.
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@Stargazer said in Bledisloe 1:
Look at his team mates!
I can't help but feel he may have contributed to the refs decision, having one of your own players yelling at you to kick it out would have been heard by the ref and may have influenced his decision.
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@Mattasaurus said in Bledisloe 1:
Long time to go... French refs go both ways... Ebbs and flows
Quoted for no reason really ... just got some time to waste.
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@Damo said in Bledisloe 1:
Scrum decision was pretty bad. The Wallaby back 5 just walked around.
Couple of times
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@Canes4life said in Bledisloe 1:
@Steve said in Bledisloe 1:
Samisoni is the second best player in NZ now by a fucking mile.
Fixed this for you
Behind Rieko?
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@Steve said in Bledisloe 1:
@Frank said in Bledisloe 1:
Why was Darcy Swain not given a red card????????????????????????????????
Havnt seen such a cowardly act from an Aussie since Dan Andrews closed the Victorian borders.
Quote because funny
