The Silver Fern

@Stockcar86 said in SF: Crusaders (Good) v Blues (Evil):

This plan to have Dalton hanging out on the wing is screwing Blues at breakdowns

Paps and Akira. Neither are anywhere near the break down

BB has gone back to the slow soft nothing passes to players in a bad position like he was earlier in the season. Just playing with no mojo or positivity

Christ in a bike the Waratahs would have done better than this rabble.

@chimoaus said in SF: Crusaders (Good) v Blues (Evil):

Remind me what Leon's role in the ABs is?

Razors hairdresser

Telea needs to make up a few negative marks already.

To be honest, as a Chiefs supporter I think I’d rather get to a final against the Saders than the Blues (playing style wise)

@Jailbreak7 said in SF: Chiefs vs. Brumbies:

So has Lord picked up a niggle, or just not considered good enough by McMillan?

Just not enough room for everyone.
NAK gets the bench as he can cover 6

@Bones said in The Current State of Rugby:

@mariner4life said in The Current State of Rugby:

@Crucial the fanbase of the North Queensland Cowboys calls bullshit

You talking about attendance? Is Townsville similar to Dunedin or is it more like Otago in size?

Population is about 50k more than Dunners if Wiki is to be believed.
In perspective if 1 in 20 of those extra folk attend a game thats another 2.5k bums on seats

@Windows97 said in SF: Chiefs vs. Brumbies:

@Nepia said in SF: Chiefs vs. Brumbies:

@Bones said in SF: Chiefs vs. Brumbies:

@Bovidae said in SF: Chiefs vs. Brumbies:

@Bones said in SF: Chiefs vs. Brumbies:

So is Lord just dropped? Ouch.

Refer to my earlier post. If Lord doesn't start he won't be on the bench as a specialist lock with the utility value of Ah Kuoi.

Yeah, can understand it, just thought he looked to offer a heck of a lot more than Vaai, and surely if they rate Vaai he provides the same cover from the bench, especially when you have PGS there anyway?

I've found the recent Fern underrating of Vai'i a bit weird. He's put together a decent amount of tests and has always performed for the Chiefs. (Which is not discounting Lord, I expect next year they'll complement each other in the Chiefs engine room).

I think Vai'i has had one of his better seasons, he was good in the pre season and has carried his form through the competition.

I do wonder however that with the absence of the SA sides that dynamic/lighter/mobile locks don't get shown up by the brute physicality of the SA sides and hence "look better"?

Vaa'i needs to be compared with a young Whitelock not with BBBR. In that regard he is doing his job.
Lord looks to be the BBBR replacement and he should get a good run at that job next season.

@mariner4life said in The Current State of Rugby:

@Crucial the fanbase of the North Queensland Cowboys calls bullshit

Fair enough although I'm not sure that family attendance due to inbreeding should be counted as an example.

Highlanders are a great example of the kiwi tyranny of distance and sparse population. Plenty here in Central Otago that would love to go to games but a round trip to Dunners is out of the question. The realistic crowd catchment for the Landers is very small and without the students with cheap/free passes to the zoo the stadium would be very light on numbers.
Yes, if the team performed better and the likelihood of a positive night out was in the offing, more would go but there's still a relative cap on spectators in a general sense.
The opportunity though is that rugby can still be the big offering in town. Other options are taking games to Invercargill and Queenstown.

@SouthernMann said in Otago 2023:

I think the game was an end to the means. Where the real tool was being able to have the 50 of the best under the coaching group for a month leading up to it. We know about 10 to 12 guys outside the contracted will probably need to play during the season. The month of being on top of these guys means they will know who isn't up to it, and who may give it a good shake.

This approach is quite common in most unions. The talent spotters promote some possibles and the coaching staff get to see if they are worth pursuing. Simple stuff like turning up prepared, attitude, ability to listen and apply. All the base stuff.

Wouldn't really matter who you got in the forwards. Without a decent pivot you'll still never get a backline going.
Is there a chance for Ioane to be a prodigal son or have bridges been burned? Trask is back at the Chiefs on a promise and they will presumably still have Reihana as well. If Ioane doesn't go overseas his options are Highlanders and MP.
His time with the Chiefs will have given him a bit of maturity I reckon

@Kiwiwomble said in Highlanders 2024:

never been that big a tuipulotu fan if im honest...kind of has Jamie Mackintosh vibes in he never seems to dominate as much as someone that size should

Every now and then he plays to his size. He seemed to show up in that regard a bit this year. But yeah, he often appeared to go into his shell.

@Chris-B said in Road Cycling:

@Machpants George hasn't had much luck since he shifted to UAE. Good to hear he's seemingly in the plans for the Tour - I was wondering if he'd make the cut, because they've got plenty of strong options.

I think he gets in on experience. Probably good to have a guy in the team that knows how to pace a long tour and will take his turn at the right time. Will know when to say to management that he has one big turn left in him if they want to use it.

@HLD2023Champions said in Highlanders 2024:

Thr Blues have signed a new lock from France. Does this lead to the rumours of a ‘Blues All Black’ coming to the Highlanders…
Patrick Tuipulotu…

Maybe not an AB, but Darry is a SI boy. Family with strong North Otago links