Dmac , despite his haters , starting to look the goods as an impact weapon

@mariner4life said in Tuivasa-Sheck:

If he switched he would be the AB right wing instantly

Not tall or slow enough

funny interview with Mrs Ioane today with Veitch ,

She met a lions supporter who was sleeping in his van outside ponsonby rugby club ,

Took him home for a feed , made him a bed on a matress on the lounge room floor , told him to make himself at home ,

Sons come home an hour later ( both still live at home and share the same bedroom since they were kids ) introduces her sons Reiko and Akira

Guy had no idea , could not believe it

@Machpants it’s funny listening to the nh analysis,

Listening to Stuart Barnes before the game , Barrett should be playing 10 but they can’t trust his goal kicking, so mounga has been brought into the side. That is a weakness.

They have no idea.

Jordies defence in midfield is great

@ACT-Crusader said in All Blacks vs Scotland:

@dogmeat said in All Blacks vs Scotland:

Taylor and Stanley had played ONE test together prior to the 87 WC

95 Lomu Kronfeld Mehts and Osborne had 5 tests between them

2011 On top of the injury issues at 10 the back 3 practically got introduced on the way to Eden Park for the first test.

they are 3 of our 4 most successful WC's 2015 is the outlier.

Sure it's nice to have a setlled experience team with viable back-up options across the fiels, but it hardly ever happens.

Another example for 2011 is halfback. If you look at 2010 it was clear that Jimmy Cowan was the first choice starting halfback starting 9 matches including Wales x3, Ireland, Boks x2, Oz x2. In 2010 Weepu came off the bench in 6 matches and started 3. He hadn’t started a test match since 2008 EOYT before he got the start in 2010 Welly test vs the Boks.

Come 2011 prior to the RWC, Cowan starts tests vs Fiji Boks x2, but they give the two Bledisloe starts to Weepu.

RWC rolls on and Cowan starts the first match against Tonga. We have Weepu on the bench in the second match (vs Japan) as a reserve 1st 5 (Ellis started and Cowan was the reserve halfback). Match 3 is France our most important pool match and Henry goes to Weepu (with Ellis as reserve). Final pool match vs Canada and he starts Cowan with Ellis as the reserve. Weepu is selected as reserve 1st 5.

QF vs Argies - starts Weepu with Cowan as reserve. By this time Cruden has joined the squad and into the team.

SF vs Boks - starts Weepu with Ellis as reserve. By this time Beaver has joined the squad and is named in the 22 but doesn’t play.

Final vs France - starts Weepu with Ellis as reserve.

So a long winded way to say - given how it played out in the RWC with our halfback position, what happened the year prior had very little bearing IMO. The critical thing was that Weepu had experience and was called on in 2011 despite up and down form and fitness in 2010.

Thought Andy Ellis was fantastic closing out that final too, Beaver got all the plaudits , but Ellis calmness in difficult circumstances probably doesnt get the credit it deserves , you just never know who you may need to rely on .

@Kirwan said in All Blacks v England:

@Catogrande said in All Blacks v England:

@Nevorian said in All Blacks v England:

Thing that annoyed me most was that up to the 70th minute I was content in knowing we were going to show Twickenham what happens when you disrespect the haka

Tell that to Campese!

Seriously though, I have heard of several ways in which it is respectful to address the Haka and it keeps changing. Is there a definitive response? Is it indeed necessary for this to be "respected" or are some Kiwis just a bit too precious about it?

Do what you like, it's your stadium. I thought it sounded cool having the english crowd singing. Only response I wouldn't like is booing, that would be a bit much.

Yeah I’m the same , don’t see why other countries are supposed to put the haka on a pedestal and just sit there and shut up . I have no problem with them doing their own form of song that gives them a feeling of patriotism while it’s happening like the haka does for us , all adds to the us against them vibe for me

This thread is starting to resemble the good old days around AB selection time ,

All we need is Toeava to make himself available .

Blues are definitely better ,

Listening to them trying to put the daggers into tana today on radio sport was unfair I thought ,

I can see progress even if it isn't reflected in the wins .

After we lost to Australia in 03 ,

Ted and co when taking over , put lots of emphasis back into our forwards , Making them dominant Again,

It’s like we have done the full cycle, and it needs to happen again

Rumors that Wayne smith may have a role similar to what schmidts was before he became more hands on

@ACT-Crusader said in It’s Razor. Robertson New All Blacks coach.:

@kiwiinmelb said in It’s Razor. Robertson New All Blacks coach.:

@mariner4life said in It’s Razor. Robertson New All Blacks coach.:

Wracking my brain trying to think of another professional sports coach who has the job for a full season knowing he's not wanted?

Very strange fucking time

I actually don't know how I feel about it to be honest.

I want to believe everyone is a stone cold professional and just gets on with the job. But that's fantasy.
If Foster isn't their guy he shouldn't be there now.

It's all ridiculous really.

I think Malthouse to Buckley at Collingwood was similar.
It was a bit ugly from memory.

It was ugly due in large part because of the bizarre succession plan thing they had going. Buckley was Malthouse’s assistant and was basically serving out his time and then Eddie had to put everyone out of their misery and they gave the reins to Buckley. One journo said to me there was a bit of backgrounding going on as well. This all despite Collingwood producing great results in 2009, 10 and 11.

In theory if this wasn’t a RWC year (and the NZRU had their act together), Razor would’ve been brought in immediately.

Yeah the situations are different in that Malthouse had been successful, and Buckley was the club’s favourite son and north melb in particular threw a decent coaching offer buckleys way . So they thought they were being clever in locking him away for the future . I don’t think they were prepared for how pissed off malthouse would become over the whole scenario.

Fozzie isn’t Malthouse .

@mariner4life said in It’s Razor. Robertson New All Blacks coach.:

Wracking my brain trying to think of another professional sports coach who has the job for a full season knowing he's not wanted?

Very strange fucking time

I actually don't know how I feel about it to be honest.

I want to believe everyone is a stone cold professional and just gets on with the job. But that's fantasy.
If Foster isn't their guy he shouldn't be there now.

It's all ridiculous really.

I think Malthouse to Buckley at Collingwood was similar.
It was a bit ugly from memory.

@Victor-Meldrew said in It’s Razor. Robertson New All Blacks coach.:

@Old-Samurai-Jack said in It’s Razor. Robertson New All Blacks coach.:

Yeah, there has been "go forward" since the assistants changed without a doubt.

It was as patchy as fuck though. The forwards performance in the 2nd half of the England EOYT game was probably worse than it was against Ireland and France the year before Ryan came in. If the new coaching set-up can get the consistency sorted out and improve composure under pressure that would be a solid start.

Consistency is the key word , I think our potential best competes with the best ,

But it’s the uncertainty of what type of performance we get at any given moment has been the Achilles heel of this era, and while there has been improvement, the eoyt showed us it’s still there .

@Billy-Tell said in It’s Razor. Robertson New All Blacks coach.:

4 years later than it should have been but yeah! Finally a coach selected on his record and not his connections. I expect some promotion of youth as the ABs need a rebuild.

As an aside I hope this lets foster concentrate on the job at hand. NZ are rank outsiders for the first time ever which might work in our favour.

Has to be less pressure if the expectation is lower and fozzie is technically already out the door .

I’ll be shocked if it’s not razor ,

After selecting such an unpopular coach last time , from a marketing point of view they will want to get as many as possible back on side , plus everything points to the fact he can coach anyway .

Good game

@KiwiMurph said in Blues v Crusaders:

That was more Toddy than Ethan

The way he quickly snatched at it looked like he wasn’t expecting it

@Crucial said in Blues v Crusaders:

@Machpants said in Blues v Crusaders:

Seems to be lots of talk about last years GF, is that girl friend, gluten free? Dunno.

Anyway what is interesting is this game is a repeat of last year's final, surprised no one has pointed that out yet

Thank you.

Can't stand that Aussie thing of Final/Grand Final.

Final means final. Not decide who plays next week.

And then there's the stupidity of 'Finale'.

That reminds me. The GOM thread needs some new additions.....

ive been in australia so long I wasnt aware its an Aussie thing , its just become part of the language

@Crucial said in Blues v Brumbies:

Could have passed earlier and stayed available IMO.

Reiko is a third floating winger more than a midfielder. Distributing and setting up others isn’t his strong point.

He may still be our best option at 13 though.

Would still be keen to see JB, ALB with RI on the wing

I really wanted to see Caleb get a good extended run in the 11 jersey because I thought he would be the answer with reiko at 13 , now I’m not so sure .

Maybe reiko is our best 11 after all