@mariner4life I don't generally give Kent much of my viewership but I don't remember this type of carry on when Lomax signed with the Eels
raznomore
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@canefan yup we have the makings of a world beating team. We need some very aggressive hard hitting locks and 2 straight nutcases on the flanks with Savea.
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@Rancid-Schnitzel yeah sorry I realised after I hit send it sounded like I calling you out. No, more my feeling just tacked on at the end.
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@Rancid-Schnitzel agree. But if there was anyone who I wanted the ball to go to it was Talea and he was still on the field. A myriad of things could have happened to turn the game and unfortunately they didn’t come off. I doubt very much ALB coming on, in the grand scheme of things, was the losing of the game.
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@Rancid-Schnitzel no but then leaving Jordon on would have been dicey too. The occasion just got the better of him.
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Haven’t read the thread.
Obviously gutted. There are days and there are days. This is the latter. Decipher that as you will.
I would like to think, that what was the centrepiece of our game being utterly ruined like this, there will be some wholesale changes to improve it. So it doesn't ever happen again. But then that would assume that the people who decide the rules actually care about the game. There is no feel for the gravity of the situation or what’s at stake from that gormless tnuc in the TMO box. He’s a grown up hall monitor. The teachers pet that even the teacher doesn’t fucking like. The feeling with any of these officials should be about the game. It’s flow and the affect whatever contentious call may have on the game. It can not be some idiot, train spotter with zero fan in him making these calls. I’m not for a moment suggesting that these people turn a blind eye. But to over turn an on field decision so long after the fact. To decide one head contact doesn’t require any type of review and then another a red card. Then once the precedent has been set go ahead and ignore your own standards by allowing Kolisi to return. That not only is there no feel for the game but there is a level of self interpretation going on. Not a clear directive.
Im absolutely fine with SA winning. They deserved it. They played what was in front of them and defended like demons. du Toit was immense. I wish we had someone in our team that kept people looking to see where he is. He fairly blindsided fucking everyone today.
We had the chance to take the lead and we missed both of them. We also l, IMO, should have kept pushing instead of taking the long range attempt. Our ball security was horrid and players we’ve depended on went missing. Jordan and Taylor at the front of that line. I felt the choice to sub Smith was the worst call we made as a team. He was in control and the game was far from decided. Christie shouldn’t have been in the match day squad let alone on the field. Talea was my MOM. He was outstanding. Savea close behind. The props DeGroot and Lomax carried well and held up our scrum amazingly.
I don’t think we were supposed to win. Not in the stars, World Rugbys plans and certainly not in the poor excuse for a coaches playbook. If there’s one take away from all of this, and I am not vengeful person, but Fozzy did not really deserve to have “World Cup winning head coach” in his resume. And he doesn’t.
Malo boys. Malo. You did us proud.
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It’s been a minute…
I’ve been preoccupied with life. Perhaps I have lived in Australia too long now. The game with all its changes and the lack of parochialism for the game, here in Eshay-land, has rubbed off on me. I don’t follow the NPC anymore and couldn’t tell you who the captain is for Wellington. But this World Cup has been somewhat of a revival for my interest. I have always been a rugby guy but it’s waned in the Nrl stronghold of QLD where I live. Now though, watching this WC has been great for helping me remember that even though I don’t recognise many things about the game I grew up playing, living and loving. There are still aspects of this great sport that are thankfully still very much the same. The drama and the banding together to get the job done are very much still there. The fairytale for someone like Whitelock to be the player to earn his team penalty to finish them off. It’s why we watch.
Not surprisingly I still hate England. But I also now very much dislike Ireland. Sexton, as others have said, is an absolute fuckwit. Seeing all these Insta posts during the last few years, saying he was as good as Larkham, Wilkinson and DC was annoying. But the closer the World Cup got he was being touted as the best flyhalf the game has seen. The best flyhalf the game has seen shovelled the ball on for 80 odd minutes today. The biggest game of his career and all he had to offer was an etc set of hands for the ball to touch. I haven’t been here for some 2-3 years and when I was the Irish posters were always very good blokes. I don’t like to say gracious as that sounds patronising. Just good guys. But fuck your team has become easy to dislike. When you’re the top guys detractors are everywhere I guess. Also to be the best you need to have an arrogance about you. But Ireland, in the last 10-12 months especially ( “ …a shit McCaw”) have just built themselves up to a point where todays obvious tragedy, for them, is oh so enjoyable for everyone else. The fact they have been as good as they have been is great for the game. It’s great for their fans and great for their country. But otherwise pretty please, with a cherry on top, eat. a. dick. (Can I say that? I am not up to date with the in and outs of the fern in 2023). Again that’s not focussed on the Irish posters here. Just the Irish team themselves and the non rugby Irish bandwagon hoppers. But especially you Sexton. Who post match had a face like a thousand sucked lemons. I don’t doubt his disappointment was real and he has had an outstanding career for his country. But you’re the type of player the game needs rid of. There was a moment where, as a senior player he was mouthing off, post game at one of his teams mates when he should have been consoling him. Fuck right off.
Anyway on to the next. Ardie and Cane played their best game together, I thought. We tackled like demons and there were selections we either couldn’t make through injury or discipline that meant we could have been potentially better. So fuck all this talk that Ireland didn’t show up. We just meshed and got it right with what players we had on the day and tackled them out of the game.
I don’t care, in this moment, if we win from here. I’m contented, for today. Tomorrow will be different. But today I’m just happy for this team.
I’ve been drinking since 3pm it’s 7:30 now so I apologise if that’s incoherent waffle.
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@mn5 I think she probably did impress in the UK in Fury's camp. In sparring under less pressured situations I reckon, given his background for training the house down and working on the nuances of whatever sport he's playing this week, that he was probably more technical. Looked a million bucks.
Last night though he looked sloppy and over excited. Just needs to calm the fuck down and let his reach and athleticism do the rest. I mean fucking look at him. He's always been a specimen. He looks like a boxer. Just needs to sit back a bit. The close exchanges he missed so many punches and one of the "shots" he gave Hall was a forearm to the side of the head.
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I've seen some people saying sbw barely touched him. But that's not true at all. That one that initially knocked hall down looked like not much but it hit his jaw and neck. All that weight behind it would have fucked up most people. Hall was defo dazed. The last punch was a glancing blow but it connected. I've seen the super slomo and you can see the force in Halls outer cheek, the other side of his face. He got clocked.
SBW is still off balance and doesn't know how to throw from inside. If you watch it back he initially hit hall with what was supposed to be a big wind up punch but was too close in. Still got the job done. Well done to him.
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I think Hooker is drinking too much of his own coolade. He's seen as this ready to go tough guy. Much like Cowboy was. But he's not good enough to be that guy. He needs to cool it with all the undefeated up and comers. He could still carve out a good finish to his career with taking similarly skilled fighters to himself. A few must see wars. I think his fight with DP has given him the idea he's elite.
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Been a fan of Aspinall for a wee while. Seems to be very level headed. Lightening fast and has a super well rounded game. I think he's really what everyone was hoping Gane was. A complete figter. I have no doubt this guy will be the future of the division.
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@shark i can't see this working for any involved. Not with a bunch of rabble like this. A year of hidings and the team will be cut and forgotten. Like the Sunwolves.
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I knew as soon as the Italy first half was over we were in trouble. I don’t remember seeing a dirt track team have less fun. That should have been a game where testing new combinations led to free flowing spectator friendly rugby. You can say Italy played their part as spoilers but I’d counter that by saying get fucked. It was fucking Italy! It highlighted a coaching teams inability to build. Foster and co seem like they want to maintain not innovate. Or more likely are scrambling to maintain and can not innovate.
There’s some flakey selections. I’ll start right at the top. Sam Cane was injured and had to pass the arm band on. However once your designated captain returns to the full test team against fucking France he remains out of the captaincy picture? For the record I prefer Whitelock. But that’s not the point. Cane was back. Telling the media that the coaching staff want to ease him in is hilarious. It’s fucking France, in France. There’s no easing in to that. You’re already there. What message does this send to the players? Especially a rag tag bunch like this. And it is. When your leadership, in the coaches box and on the field, is all over the shop. You are a rag tag bunch. You reap results like this. The message is “we are rudderless and we’ll see what happens”
Cheers Fozzy for helping a couple years ago but you need to get on your bike now.
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@victor-meldrew I imagine the NZRU is Homer and currently there’s a monkey crashing cymbals in his head…
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@act-crusader narp. I’m drunk and sticking with my opinion….
Not really. I get what you’re saying and agree to an extent. But I don’t think either is actually suited to the role. Especially not against this type of opposition. I don’t think it’s about building combos or sticking with them to see what we get. I think is the case of these two they do not and will not give us what we need. Plenty of players have gone that way. You choose Snake as an example which is fair but to me both players are mediocre centre options.
It highlights the midfield problem we have and it’s not one easily solved. Who else was there?
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@dan54 the Irish weee fantastic. But this is a full blown bitch session now. There’s no time for measured opinions or congratulatory posts to the opposition. This is a virtual lynching. Make All Black Rugby Great Again…
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@stargazer had to be something serious.
That’s the problem with Reiko and Havili. They need babysitters. They need experience inside or outside them. That’s on the coaches. If you haven’t made a player into a stand alone test weapon then they shouldn’t be on the field to begin with.
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@mofitzy_ this
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Whitelock shouldn’t have opted for 3 when we were rolling.
Selections for this game were just absolute head scratchers.
TJ is an impact player not and 80min half back. Weber>TJ
Reiko is a wing. His passing and decision making simply have not progressed. He still makes poor reads at important stages and his accuracy is horrible. I don’t know if he has the ability to learn “care factor”.
I’ve had a problem with Havili from the start. It’s not the kicking, as poor as it was. He does not bend the line in the crash. He hits the line and makes no ground. We lose momentum and too often the ensuing ruck after he is tackled becomes a contest. He’s a very skilful player. I just don’t think he’s good enough to be an AB 2nd 5.
The pack. Poor all around. Our muscled and our worked. Whitelock and Retallick haven’t had less effective games in recent memory. Glimpses of Ardie but not enough to inspire the rest of the pack. It’s been a while since I’ve seen a tight five link as well as the Irish did. They played smart balling playing rugby. Something we used to be famous for.
We all knew. Apologists aside. We all knew Foster wasn’t shit. His game plan was fucked. It’s looked shaky all year. Cricket scores papered over the cracks. But from that SA game you knew something wasn't quite right. The Italian game confirmed it for me. The complete lack of cohesion, regardless of the combinations trotted out, was scary.
Lastly as much of a servant he has been to NZ, the canes and Wellington rugby. I don’t think I would care if TJ never played a game for the ABs again. He’s reached that stage that NZ halfbacks usually do where they think far too much at the base of the ruck. Fuck about and ultimately make a poor read or stifle our forward momentum.
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Utter brainless back play. At no stage have I felt like anyone has been reliable since Barrett went off. Jordan does his thing but from TJ to Jordie, it’s been disjointed and inaccurate.
Alb going off and leaving Reiko and Havili to run the mid field shows we need to look somewhere else. These two lack punch(Havili) and accuracy(Reiko).
And that’s the game. Sorry but that was poor selections, poor execution, and poor rugby from Nz.
Not taking anything from Ireland. They were superb.
NRL 2024
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