The Silver Fern

Both first fives tonight are incredibly talented footballers but neither can “run a game” as great players like Fox or Mertens or Carter could.

@Victor-Meldrew said in RIP Tiny Hill:

Anyone Meads was in awe of had to be a very, very special player.

Heard a story that Tiny Hill was photographed wearing shoulder pads (they were for protecting an injury) during a Lions tour and the Lions management/UK press made a big thing about how soft he was.

Went well, apparently.....

Here is the explanation:

Hill was feared so much he resorted to wearing shoulder pads, not to protect himself, but to limit the damage he caused the opposition and his teammates at training.

"I have a long bone in the shoulder that points out," Hill says.

"I used to drive a wedge into players I tackled and my team mates would moan and grizzle about being hurt all the time, so Allan Elsom brought these rubber pads along and I wore them for the rest of my career.

He was a tough nut:

Hill was surprisingly dropped for the second test in Wellington, despite playing in Canterbury's 9-6 victory over the tourists. Hill believes his retaliation to an assault by prop Chris Koch was the reason he was discarded. Hill decided to settle things in the lineout.

"I said to Bob Duff to move up to No 2 and he said, 'What are you on about?’ I said, ‘just do it’, and when the ball went in I turned to Chris Koch and, whack, whack, I let him have a few.

"The South Africans immediately started yelling. But not Koch. He was on the ground."

At the game the best moments included nullifying the lineout drive/maul. The crowd gave them heaps every time.

From Stuff: “"We tried the peel around the front, we tried one towards the back, we went straight, pretty much did everything that we could and they were just very good. There is nothing else you can say," a deflated Whiteley said.

@mariner4life

I have been a season ticket holder for 15 years. Every year we used to get a survey about how things could be improved and I would complain about the shit beer (warm Tui in plastic bottles). Finally they listened to me!

Play like that against Ireland and we’ll get done.

The one silver lining in the cloud is that Foster is gone

@Victor-Meldrew said in The mighty Totara has fallen. RIP BJ Lochore:

@jegga said in The mighty Totara has fallen. RIP BJ Lochore:

He deserved a better end to his test career than the one he got even though it does add to the legend a bit.

Think it was the 3rd Test at Athletic Park. If so it was the 1st Test I went to - we lost*

The bloke came out of retirement and didn't even think about its impact on his legacy - he wanted to help out his mates & the All Blacks. Legend indeed.

*And thus began the Curse of the Meldrews

I was at the first test. Meads et al looked so fit and powerful when they ran out. We couldn’t understand how these “Poms” with white legs and pockets in their shorts could win.

Sir Brian had such mana and served his country without ever pushing himself forward. A big contrast with many of today’s attention seekers with their publicity agents.

Drummond is fucking useless.

@Bovidae

I remember watching Nepo playing club footy when he was about 20. Mike Cron ( who I know) stopped for a chat. I said that young tighthead looks ok. He replied: too small will never make it.

@Machpants Thanks. It reminds me of that last Irish test we lost. Both starting Irish props ran for around 30 metres and Moody and Franks had 1 and 0 respectively. It's become a big liability for the All Blacks.

Top game. Unfortunate but fair red card. Great game plan from Robertson et al. He/they have adjusted the game plan all season. I was against Robertson's appointment but happy to admit I was completely wrong. He has revitalised the team and the Canterbury rugby public. I am very happy.

My brother used to work with an Aussie international in Sydney. He used to maintain that Andy Earl was the dirtiest player he’d played against. Then one Monday morning he came into the office after playing the Boks on the Saturday. He just said 2 words. “Uli Schmidt”.

Hansen and Fox walked out past us about 10 minutes before the end. Getting a bit of advice from our group. Hansen head down and dour. Fox found it funny. Good on him.

@tim

Used to be a death sentence but now almost 100% cure.

Maddock and Thorne couldn’t coach a Div 2 Club team.

Agree 100% about Dale. He was Sydenham coach and/or rugby development guy for around 10 years. He helped establish the Sydenham rugby academy graduates of which are currently All Blacks (Taylor and Laulala) and Scottish internationals (Berghan and Jonny Gray - Jonny was at Sydenham for a year as an 18 yr old) and a former Irish international (Ah You). He managed to stop the standard Christchurch thing where junior club players going off to Boys’ High and St Bede’s were snapped up by HSOB and Marist (think Nasi Manu and Elliot Dixon) and got them back to Sydenham. He was hugely popular with the players. He is a genuinely nice guy who was always prepared to have a 10 minute conversation about rugby wherever you met him. I still txt him for advice about my car!

Goodhue by far our best so far

Cameron is not up to this level

I don't get Cron's fixation on Tu'ungafasi. He's a typical lazy Auckland prop.

He was a teacher at CBHS in the 70's and coach of the first XV. We played them at Straven Rd in bitterly cold southerly rain. The ref blew his whistle for both teams to come out of the sheds. We trotted out to stand in the freezing cold while JG kept the Boy's High team inside for another 5 mins. They beat us 6-3.
I had him on (good naturedly) about it at the 25 year reunion of the 2 teams.