Ferns v Oz World cup
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The a capella anthem was cool. The match started with Holmes doing her best Ben Blair impression. After that forwards took control. The ferns 13 looks a very good player. Horrible first 30 but then onwards and upwards.
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@Old-Samurai-Jack said in Ferns v Oz World cup:
Can't find highlights anywhere. Not promoting the tournament very well!
Just watch the full replay but fast forward the first 25 minutes
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Right - First 14 mins: Hirini, Du Plessis, Tui and Holmes look like donkeys.
Oz could've scored three more tries if they did more than one pass from every ruck.
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Gee there's some average refereeing of the ruck in this game. One has to ask why the women's game needs to have female referees...
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The refs were poor for all matches, the rucks/collision areas in the BFs game were a dogs breakfast where seemingly anything was legal tender.
That aside, BFs will be better for this outing.
They need to start better though. As well as throwing massive numbers into the BDs, I noticed Aus did a good job of blowing over the ball in the first half, and negating go-forward efforts our pack may have gained, keeping them well
away from pilfering ball or sniffing out any TOs. That needs to be addressed. -
@antipodean said in Ferns v Oz World cup:
Gee there's some average refereeing of the ruck in this game.
Go watch Wales v Scotland. Ref is letting the ruck breathe for an eternity and Wales are playing merry hell with it.
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@Jailbreak7 said in Ferns v Oz World cup:
The refs were poor for all matches, the rucks/collision areas in the BFs game were a dogs breakfast where seemingly anything was legal tender.
That aside, BFs will be better for this outing.
They need to start better though. As well as throwing massive numbers into the BDs, I noticed Aus did a good job of blowing over the ball in the first half, and negating go-forward efforts our pack may have gained, keeping them well
away from pilfering ball or sniffing out any TOs. That needs to be addressed.It became a game of Sevens with 15 players for a while as possession was everything. Same happened at the end of the Wales/Scotland game.
The biggest thing in Rugby is allowing contest-ability without stifling attack. It is a difficult balance to get right and some of these refs are struggling with it.
It seems that to become an international ref you just need to concentrate on appearing calm and in control while trotting out one liners like " I understand your view but that isn't what I am seeing". Laws can be ignored if things are happening too fast for you.
Smith and the other coaches know this only too well. They understand that we cant play to our strengths without the ball and that the top teams will keep the ball away.
England showed themselves as vunerable to hard running and rely heavily on 'bullying' their opponents, especially when their superior fitness kicks in. It say a lot to me that even when well up on the scoreboard and against opposition second stringers and tired defences late in the game, they still go to the maul and close drives. I think that if they are going to be tipped up it will be because they aren't used to resistance, or to having those set pieces nullified. I hope that the BF coaches can get Jason Ryan in for a session on maul defence -
I watched on Stan, but just subjected myself to 2hrs of talk back radio on the drive to Welly airport, and learned that Spark didn't even show the (presumably very expensive) Rita Ora HT show??!!
Classic.
Oh also, Brian from Newmarket (or someone from somewhere anyway) reckons that the NZ Men's Netball ream deserves pay parity with the womens team
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@voodoo said in Ferns v Oz World cup:
I watched on Stan, but just subjected myself to 2hrs of talk back radio on the drive to Welly airport, and learned that Spark didn't even show the (presumably very expensive) Rita Ora HT show??!!
Classic.
That was a bit of a fuck up on the halftime show thing. It was a licensing thing apparently. The song she chose (presumably because she doesn't have many) had different rights owners than the opening ones and the event organisers took the risk that they could do the deal for an international broadcast in time. They couldn't.
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@Crucial said in Ferns v Oz World cup:
The song she chose (presumably because she doesn't have many) had different rights owners than the opening ones and the event organisers took the risk that they could do the deal for an international broadcast in time. They couldn't.
Like that scene in Jerry Maguire where some guy can't sign a particular collectible card for a kid because of their contract
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They said it was a sell-out, but apparently 6,000 "people didn't turn up" hmmm.
A truly bizarre game however, 17-0 to Aus and then 41-0 to the BF. An absolute horror show for 25 minutes that thankfully got better and better as the game went on.
Still after the mauling (literally) they got at the hands of the English and French last year I'm not overly confident of the BF's chances.
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@Windows97 said in Ferns v Oz World cup:
They said it was a sell-out, but apparently 6,000 "people didn't turn up" hmmm.
those are 'usually' sponsor seats arent they?
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@taniwharugby if sponsor seats were liberally sprinkled around the entire stadium - then yes.
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@Windows97 said in Ferns v Oz World cup:
They said it was a sell-out, but apparently 6,000 "people didn't turn up" hmmm.
They sold all the tickets available. So it was a sellout. Tickets were for the whole day (3 games) not just the BFs one. As they were really cheap there would also have been a few that didn't show or only showed for a bit (maybe to take the kids for the experience and show) then leave. What more do you expect?
A truly bizarre game however, 17-0 to Aus and then 41-0 to the BF. An absolute horror show for 25 minutes that thankfully got better and better as the game went on.
I wouldn't call it bizarre. Hard hands and in awe of the occasion meant early mistakes that Oz was good enough to take advantage of. We had zero possession and therefore territory for the first period. Once we woke up it was business as usual.
Still after the mauling (literally) they got at the hands of the English and French last year I'm not overly confident of the BF's chances.
Last year was very different to this. Different players for a start. Last years team had no games for years leading into that tour. There was also some dysfunction in the squad and management. All addressed. Now we need to catch up fast against sides that have been pro for much longer than we have. Our ball playing skill is still well above the NH teams, we just need to get the ball.
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@Crucial What do I expect - well I expect that if people buy a ticket they turn up. Outrageous I know.
Great they sold the tickets, disappointing that it was 6k short of a full house on the night.
However I didn't know it was a ticket for all 3 days, having lived in Auckland I could certainly understand the travel fatigue trying to attend for multiple days and if they couldn't be bothered come day 3, fair enough.
What was concerning for me about the NH tour was that it looked like professionals against amateur's (us being the amateurs). France and England simply looked stronger, fitter and more drilled/organized.
Whether we've caught up enough since then well find out soon enough, the players now being professional and having the professional comp certainly helped, plus the international warm-up games we had with Aussie and Japan. If that is enough to overtake the hard yards that professionalism brings (that the NH certainly has the jump on us) I'm not so sure.
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@Windows97 said in Ferns v Oz World cup:
What was concerning for me about the NH tour was that it looked like professionals against amateur's (us being the amateurs). France and England simply looked stronger, fitter and more drilled/organized.
Ummm, that's because it was. BFs only handed out paid contracts to some players this year. England and France have been pro for much longer and play in semi-pro domestic comps.
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@Crucial Yes I know that was the case
In the past we've had "the flair" to stay ahead, but on that last tour you could see that they'd not only caught up but gone past us by some considerable distance. I can only hope we've used that time wisely.
