The Silver Fern

@MajorRage said in 2024 Rugby Championship ... The Real Deal OR Not.:

Something occurred to me watching the EOYT games this weekend.

All 3 teams seemed to put into play their best squads and play to their strengths. The teams seemed quite settled & knew exactly what they were trying to do and on the whole, were pretty impressive.

Made me wonder, was TRC only there this year for teams to try things out?

Years gone by, you'd see best teams in TRC and then quite a few random selections for the EOYT. New players would be selected to tour & then tried out in these games. But it seems like it was the reverse this year. Which made me wonder just how much effort was put into winning TRC this year. There were some excellent games, and it's not lost on me that it was the first tournament in a WC cycle, but should it still not be that the best players/plays should be in TRC with the experiments left for the EOYT?

So, has the global axis shifted so much with rugby that the South think winning the EOYT match are far more important than TRC?

Or am I just massively over thinking it.

Maybe they are all using the EOYT as a dry run for bigger tournaments / tours coming post-2024?

Had a great afternoon in Cardiff watching Wales lose to France. Scoreline did not reflect the match.

Some very good skills on show. Also some abject ordinariness.

@mariner4life agree to disagree on Isa.

@MajorRage said in Weekend Wrap Up:

Quite a lot to talk about after this weekends games, outside the official window.

Firstly, Wales vs Australia. Wales should have waltzed this. They looked like it for a while too. Aussie team shorn of all its stars, most of its decent players and filled up with bit parts. They didn't stand a chance and for most of the game, it showed. They were shit. They were pushed around, they were man handled they were terrible. But, this is 'straya. The country that never dies. The country that never gives up. Their second half comeback was immense. Yes, it's easy to say Welsh were shit (they were), poorly coached (they are) and struggling for form (agree). But they should have destroyed this Aussie team. Destroyed them. Instead, they lost. Pivac is fucked, deservedly, & this EOYT, despite a mere 2/4 record has saved Rennie. Because in they 2 they lost, they could have won. And those 2 are 1 & 2 in the world. Fair play to them Rennie. Enjoy your summer chaps, it's deserved

England vs South Africa was brilliant for both sets of fans. SA played their best game in yonks, and England showed the world why Eddie Jones needs to go. I can't see him lasting the summer. Yeah, they may be short of cash, but it's tough to see a team so hated but so many of it's own fans. I genuinely enjoy getting in the faces of opposition fans, but I don't with this current England mob. They are just so resigned to being shit, and they blame it all on Eddie. And on today, you can see why. They weren't in the same class. Scoreline flattered them. Horrible.

I cannot write this up without a proper mention of Doddie. I'll be honest, I'd never heard of the guy before he got sick. Since, Ive seen endless clips of a proper hard nosed cheeky chap. As funny as he was hard. I found seeing him on the pitch a couple of weeks ago very tough watching. He announced it bravely, as he stood strong. He updated often and you could see a drop in many physical things, but never a drop in the determination. Then he went quiet. And 2 weeks ago, we saw why. He had it all taken from him, and it was fucking heart breaking. It was soul destroying. It was god damned awful. In many ways, it would have been great for him to see Scotland beat us. I would take huge comfort in knowing that he saw it . Our records have been falling away recently, what's another one for Doddie. A physical man mountain, who showed how much of a man mountain he really was in his weakest hour.

RIP to a true inspiration.

What a horrific disease.

He was never Eben Etzebeth but seeing him pitch side before the AB game his arms literally looked like matchsticks. It’s ghastly how the human body can break down like that.

Seems like he would have been absolutely brilliant company over a beer or a dram. Fingers crossed a cure can be found one day for that horrible disease.

You’re right, a Scots victory would have been terrific given what Ireland and Argentina have done lately.

@Joans-Town-Jones said in All Blacks v England:

@TheMojoman said in All Blacks v England:

@nostrildamus said in All Blacks v England:

@TheMojoman Stevenson or Lam?

I'd love to see Stevenson in the mix but IMO he would be competing for the 14 spot with Jordan, Telea and Reece potentially as 15 cover. Lam is a maybe, not sure he has the same impact as Clarke though as a power winger.

Foster (rightly IMO) clearly wants to play a power winger/finesse winger combination with his 14 also an extra FB with kicking etc. Leads me to believe Jordan will be the first choice 14 when fit. Telea has been the find of the northern tour.

I'm on the Shaun Stevenson bandwagon. He needs to be and AB.

an

England winger Lydia Thompson appeared before an independent judicial committee on Monday, 21 November having received a red card in the Rugby World Cup 2021 final on 12 November, 2022. The red card was awarded for an offence pursuant to Law 9.13 (Dangerous tackle).

The player accepted that she had committed the act of foul play and that the offence was worthy of a red card. Having considered the player’s evidence and reviewed the clips, the Committee applied World Rugby’s mandatory minimum mid-range entry point for foul play resulting in contact with the head. This resulted in a starting point of a six match suspension.

The Committee took into consideration the mitigating factors and decided that the player was entitled to the full mitigation available (three matches). The Committee decided there were no aggravating factors and therefore the final sanction was a three-match suspension.

The player is therefore suspended for the following matches:

Worcester Women v Wasps Women – 17 December, 2022 Worcester Women v DMP Sharks – 31 December, 2022 Worcester Women v Gloucester-Hartpury – 7 January, 2023*

*The player may apply to take part in the World Rugby Coaching Intervention Programme to substitute the final match of the sanction for a coaching intervention aimed at modifying specific techniques and technical issues that contributed to the foul play.

world.rugby Latest News | World Rugby Latest News | World Rugby

The latest World Rugby news, including about the World Rankings, Tournaments, Player Welfare and the Laws of the Game

Wow. That DDT by the 1970s Balmain player was literally shocking. I think "holy s&!t" was my reaction while viewing that.

Could have, and I mean really could have, broken his neck.

@MajorRage said in Foster GOONNNNNEEEEE!!!!!!:

@Bones said in Foster GOONNNNNEEEEE!!!!!!:

To BP for some pies. Hur hur

I was tossing up between the above and “To KFC”

Late night Sunday is always the 24hr BP

Three out of three so far, c'mon Scotland

Funny ole thing. Was moving two yearling fillies to get handled and they wouldn't go down the race into the yards and all I could think was 'I need Mark Todd here helping'

Yeah if you living there with parents it is different to being there on your own before you are 18

As far as students are concerned, particularly those that are not financially independent, being resident, as a full time student, in another country, is likely to be considered as a series of temporary absences from the parental home. It is anticipated that in the majority of cases involving students the parental home is likely to continue to constitute the student’s permanent and primary home..

@KiwiPie said in EPL 2021 / 2022:

@bayimports said in EPL 2021 / 2022:

no not Mane, we are not bayern

but Bournemouth have their first transfer signature - Ryan Fredericks

It seems more about how much you can pay players now rather than transfer fees given Fredericks (and Rothwell from Blackburn) have come in on frees. Forest have bought Awoniyi, a striker from Germany who I saw a bit on the Bundesliga highlights, built like a fridge.

Meanwhile Gareth Bale looks like he is going to MLS and not Cardiff.

Bale signed for LA

@billy-tell said in Sport Sense of Humour Failures:

@bones said in Sport Sense of Humour Failures:

@billy-tell said in Sport Sense of Humour Failures:

Not funny at all.

Just like your favourite comfy armchair huh?

I'm thinking whoooosh

It's hard to tell who is doing irony - except for Markram.

@nzzp 👍

@Higgins He only won that last year

@Catogrande said in Island Rugby - Dan Leo Documentary:

@junior The thing I find potentially concerning about the proposal to allow switching from Tier 1 to Tier 2 is of unintended consequences, which I see as twofold. Firstly if any young guy knows he can always revert to say Samoa with little consequence it could see a flood of younger guys opting for a chance at a Tier 1. Secondly if much older guys, however good come back what does that do for the motivation of the younger guys who don’t then get a look in?

Maybe I’m overthinking this but I just can’t see it not having ramifications.

I would not restrict the switch back rule to Tier 1 / 2 - it would apply to all countries. In practice though it’s likely to benefit the Tier 2 countries more. I understand your concern about younger guys, but I think the issue with the PI teams and why many are advocating for the switch back rule is because they lack decent players with enough experience (I’m not sure if this is in fact the case but it appears to be the argument).

Also, with what I’m advocating, there’s effectively an 8 year stand down period where a guy is not playing internationally. That to me is enough of a disincentive for silly switch around a and should give at least some guys pause to make an early commitment to their home nation. When you factor in also the time spent playing for their adopted nation, in most cases you’re looking at an overall period of 10+ years which means that any older guy coming back to say Samoa and taking the spot of young up and comer will have to be pretty bloody good because by that stage he’ll be pretty bloody old.

@MajorRage I watched and agree it was v good. I hope he decides to get treatment.

Oh Captain, My Captain, Our Captain!

The 2nd half was disappointing and you could see how important Reid is to organise the defence when he wasn't there. This is the start of a new era under Hay after 525 days of inactivity so it will take some time to adjust to possession-based football. Bell, Thomas and Marinovic were the pick of the All Whites. McCowatt scored a nice goal on debut but also twice lost possession in his own half leading to Irish goals.

We will need to see further improvement against Lithuania on Monday (NZT), a team ranked closer to NZ.