The Silver Fern

@mohikamo said in World Rugby confirms changes to be implemented across the global game:

yeah a lot of the injuries and f'ing about at scrum time is to give the fat guys a rest
i heard a top level pro soccer player recently say that a lot of players going down injured in soccer is just to give everyone a rest, and not just to get a free kick or someone YC'd

players trying to get someone YC'd is an extremly unattractive watch
in ice hockey you can get binned for enhancement, making it a risky strategy
the transgressor and the enhancer can both be binned at the same time
rugby officials would probably only have do that a couple times and most of it would be out of the game

and here is a radical thought . . . why not penalise the dominant scrum when it turns into a mess
e.g. anywhere else on the field players going headfirst into the ground is going to get someone RC'd
a dominant frontrow deliberately forcing the oppostion to collapse has to be dangerous play
if a team is that dominant the resonsibilty is on them prevent that, not do it!

You post some good stuff man

But this ain’t an example of it

This is some batshit crazy bullshit

@Old-Samurai-Jack said in All Blacks v France:

@Bones said in All Blacks v France:

@Old-Samurai-Jack said in All Blacks v France:

He sets up other players well, is definitely not selfish (don't know where that is coming from)

Right, so the multiple instances of him ignoring support and/or taking the limp option then turning the ball over is great team play? Keep drinking the coolade man. What's good about him not looking to link when he breaks, or overrunning the ball carrier, kicking the ball away randomly or throwing a shit 20/80 pass when he's eventually caught? Yeah very unselfish.

Needs a comma.
I'd like to see his assist stats compared to other players. He seems to be a good link player. I am not sure you have a healthy perspective about this particular player....

I’m with @Bones on this.

He’s not selfish in a “I couldn’t care less about my teammates “ kinda way, he’s more selfish in a “go for the hero play every time” kinda way

Whether that’s selfishness, immaturity, or just poor basic skills, he just takes a lot of bad options.

When you think about all his best moments, they’re all individual plays. Not bad in and of itself, but when you put them alongside all the chances he’s had to put other guys into the same situation by making a simple non-flashy play, they get outnumbered by his errors

@Bones said in All Blacks v France:

Huh, I thought Scooter had one of his better games on Saturday. Looked to be getting back to his bustling type play.

Maybe give him a run at 15?

@Chris said in All Blacks v France:

@mariner4life said in All Blacks v France:

@Chris said in All Blacks v France:

@Halfback said in All Blacks v France:

@No-Quarter Its got to be hard to make a decision like that after 75 minutes of running around. I don't envy his role in that respect, brain must be frazzled.

The longer you look at his decision the worse it gets though:

I think it was the 2 previous restarts we fluffed? 1 penalty and I think the other was a knock on? Can't fully remember. I'd prefer to fluff a restart in the lead.

If we had scored, the French would have to score a try to win minimum, surely it would be better to rumble up the field with possession, in the lead by a score, trying to achieve the same thing as if you were 1 point behind.

On that note, not to Barrett bash, I think Savea should be captain. I think Scotts position may be under threat soon. Savea not so much.

Scott Barrett’s position is no way in danger he will stay captain and starting lock.
There is some right BS being spoken about his performances.
Savea is the one who should be gone to the bench at least he has been a highlight reel for some time now.

Circle the wagons cantabs!!!!!

He nailed all his line out takes,Pinched a French throw,made a lot of good carries,was one of the leading tacklers,and was in the engine room of a dominant scrum.
Vai had a very good first half but threw the stupid pass that led to the French wingers try.
Not sure what Barrett was expected to do kick the goals kick for touch.throw into the linouts and catch it at the same time.
Just dribble being written.

Not sure what you’re watching Chris. He looks very pedestrian to me. No dominant tackles, no carries of note, lots of his little “not really close to a charge-down run-throughs” though.

Vai’i on the other hand is far more dominant at line out, far more prominent with ball in hand. Patrick off the bench has also surprised on the upside this year.

I think SB has been put 3rd best lock, and I think Darry and Holland might just push him to #5 best next year.

Lucky he’s a Barrett though I guess, that tends to extend your career by a year or 2 minimum

@Billy-Tell said in All Blacks v France:

@stodders said in All Blacks v France:

@Billy-Tell or South African 😂😂😂 resident Saffas exempted - but my God, some of your fellow countrymen and women have a pathological victim complex going on. Andrew Brace tried to rob the Boks on Saturday rather than the Boks being indisciplined and inviting pressure.

I’m not South African! Nor English!

Sure, sure 🤫

@Nepia said in All Blacks MOTM v France:

@Victor-Meldrew said in All Blacks MOTM v France:

Went Roigard, Williams and Vaa'i. Honorable mentions to Reiko, RD and Lakai.

You know you can click on the vote total and it tells you who did it?

EDIT: Quoted the wrong post.
@voodoo

Nobody likes a show off mate

I feel like we need a shaming function here - who the hell voted for Jordan, SB or BB??!!

Good thing @Bones wasn't at the game, we might have seen a Piet van Zyl moment with him rushing on to tackle Jordan after he went for the miracle pass and blew the overlap

@ACT-Crusader said in All Blacks v France:

@voodoo said in All Blacks v France:

@reprobate said in All Blacks v France:

Not a fan of this selection. McKenzie is far and away the better ten, and Robertson is putting him in a position where he is likely to come on late and have to chase the game - then he's going to have to try things, mistakes will happen, and he will get rubbished as erratic. .

Or, he comes on and plays really well - and the other idiots pipe up with "see, I told you he is best used off the bench"

I’ll happily put my hand up as an idiot because I still think that is where DMac has been at his best.

And yes, all until Mo’unga returns or FABRR makes the squad…..

You're not an idiot per se for thinking it's his best spot. You're only an idiot if you watch his recent great cameos and use them as your primary evidence as to why he shouldn't start over BB.

I mean heck, I reckon Dan would probably have gone Ok off the bench for 30mins too

@reprobate said in All Blacks v France:

Not a fan of this selection. McKenzie is far and away the better ten, and Robertson is putting him in a position where he is likely to come on late and have to chase the game - then he's going to have to try things, mistakes will happen, and he will get rubbished as erratic. .

Or, he comes on and plays really well - and the other idiots pipe up with "see, I told you he is best used off the bench"

@gt12 said in NBA Season - now 24/25:

See Stewart get ejected for the fragrant on the Freak? Shit like that would turn my hair grey if I were a coach or owner; imagine having your star get hurt from a fluffybunny play like that.

Agree, hate that shit

@mariner4life said in NBA Season - now 24/25:

@mariner4life said in NBA Season - now 24/25:

But the Spurs stink and Wemby is playing crap. boooo.

in Spurs coaching news

Concerning reports out of SA that Pop has had a minor stroke and this might be it for him. Absolutely nothing confirmed as yet so hopefully all bullshit.

And based on the above i should be considered for the role. Since my crack at him Wemby is on a tear. Scored 50 tonight in 28 minutes.

He's spamming the 3 button hitting 20 from 36 in the last 3 games. So what's coming is pump fake, one step, alien dunk.

There something messed up about watching this bloke shoot 16 3’s in a game. At a 50% clip too, fuck me🤯

@ACT-Crusader said in NBA Season - now 24/25:

@voodoo definitely get that, but I’m a tragic and still love it. It’s the games within the game that I like. The games yesterday had a bit more feeling with the NBA cup starting.

That Hawks win against the Celtics was a fun watch too. Aussie Dyson Daniels is one of the best defensive guards in the league and he had a night out on the other end. Plus I love seeing Boston lose these days.

Then Spols doing a C Webb and calling a ghost timeout and losing the Heat the game at the very death. Crazy.

Well we both took an L today as the Celtics won shooting 46 3’s 🤮

This made me laugh. The LeBron haters will appreciate

Boys, I honestly don’t know how you can get excited about NBA regular season

It’s a complete farce, it’s barely watchable stuff.

I love bball as much as any of you guys, and it pains me that I can’t get interested until the playoffs start

@mariner4life said in All Blacks vs Ireland:

If i am a coach, i am having minimum three genuine chasers to every box kick now. Receiving team players physically won't be able to avoid every player, move away from one, you impede another. Only option is stand still. And you create yourself a huge advantage even if the receiver makes a clean catch.

2 players actively compete for the ball (one in the air, the other as a tackler), while the 3rd looks to initiate some contact and takes a swan dive

@KiwiMurph said in All Blacks vs Ireland:

@antipodean said in All Blacks vs Ireland:

@Lancaster-Park said in All Blacks vs Ireland:

Also whats the new ruling about defending a high ball chase? The commentators seemed to suggest its a new tweak but could understand why we got pinged when no one obviously changed their line. Was I just blind?

I'd like to know too as it appeared to my weary eyes that players were penalised for running a straight line back to there the ball was predicted to land.

Below is what I have been able to gather - noting World Rugby have done an awful job communicating this.

From what I can gather it's an emphasis on ensuring the kick receipt team allow more access for the chaser to have a clean challenge.

Basically it's no longer good enough to subtly block or 'escort' by running back towards the ball.

You need to allow access or get out of the way

I actually see the merit in it and I think it's paying dividends.

I've seen more one on one contests and less dangerous contests as chasers can time their contest better as they don't have to deal with as much 'traffic'

Below I found in some different articles.

Basically, match officials have been told by World Rugby that they needed to clamp down on 'kick escorting' this autumn. A 'kick escort' is a player who retreats downfield after the opposition has kicked, impeding chasing players and allowing their team-mate to have a better chance of catching the ball cleanly.

Players who block their opponents from contesting a high-ball against their team-mate are known as 'escort runners', and up until now, provided you didn't change your running line, then everything was legal.

Officials will be more strict with this in the autumn games. If players slow down with an attacking chaser behind them, then they will risk being penalised.

I think it's complete nonsense. The idea that a player on the receiving team, actually has to actively move so that a tackler can get to his teammate to make a tackle/contest the ball, putting his team under pressure (more tackles made, can't get as many support players to the tackled player etc), just seems utterly bizarre.

Run a straight line as a defender, and the tackler can judge where he wants to run and time it accordingly. If the attacker doesn't get there to compete or make a tackle because the defenders are retreating, then so be it.

@SBW1 said in All Blacks v France:

Are we going DM back at 10 or is BB and CT making their way back via the bench?

100% they start DMac Staggering if they don’t

CT a possible starter.. But I hope used off the bench.

@BerniesCorner said in All Blacks v France:

@MN5
Our forward pack is starting to look rather fearsome.
How the heck did we make it to here.

I'm not sure I'd go quite that far. We look solid in the front row at set piece, but not dominant (he says having never been in a scrum in his life) - and ball running from the props is hardly devastating (maybe Tosi aside). Locks we have Vaií playing well, and Barrett looked better last night - but neither is truly world class in the air or around the park. And we still have a pretty unbalanced back row. Sititi has been a massive find, but Cane is in his twilight and Ardie has been average all season.

I really wouldn't call it fearsome. What we genuinely seem to have developed however (probably by accident as much as anything), is depth in most positions. Bench props and hooker come on, we don't miss a beat. Patrick at lock, uptick in power and energy to close. Finau on and a reshuffle with Cane off - better balance and nothing lost.

It's progress!

@MN5 said in All Blacks v France:

@voodoo said in All Blacks v France:

@Steven-Harris said in All Blacks v France:

@Machpants just regarding Amua the game against Ireland was his 3rd start in a row I would be reluctant to change him out for Cody Taylor given his great form but I sense the coaches will bring Taylor back in

I'd have Aumua starting again if his body pulls up well - and I'd be telling him to go hard for 50 minutes. Would love for us to have the luxury of bring a fit Codie off the bench for 30mins.

If Aumua continues to play to his undoubted potential the idea of a one two punch of him and Sami T is a terrifying prospect for any opposition

Aumua made me forget about Sami for a minute. That says a fair bit