Sheehan gave a good post match interview.

Unlike Itoje who was a bit of a tool after Tests 1 & 2

@Chris-B said in Wellington v Canterbury:

@Chris Yeah - I think that's the purpose of swapping Chapman and Drummie.

Ta$man has Christie and Hotham, so whomever is behind them probably won't get much time - that's OK for Mitch at the tailend of his career, but they want Chapman playing.

Yep that is exactly the reason for the swap.

@Mr-Fish said in Manawatu v North Harbour:

@delicatessen said in Manawatu v North Harbour:

Laumape started his AB's return campaign on the right note. First touch was a dinky chip to no space just outside his 22 with no advantage. Lovely.

There's that kicking game all his supporters love to talk up.

I was one of those when he left lol. Certainly was never his main drawcard tho.

@Bovidae said in Auckland v Waikato:

Four wins in a row over Auckland as well, which looks to be Waikato's best winning streak.

Equals.

Waikato won 4 in a row over Auckland 1954-55

1954 won 23-9 (Ham); won 14-13 (Auck)

1955 won 24-13 (Ham); won 17-14 (Auck).

@Bovidae said in BOP v Ta$man:

Vakasiuola

He went off in the preseason game with a head knock so maybe concussion .

Hopefully he’ll come back a la Steve Austin

Bigger, stronger, faster

Fingers crossed the NFL have rebuilt him

@canefan said in Wallabies v Lions II:

Tim Horan had a very balanced view of the game. The Wallabies had it in the bag and let it slip. The final decision could have gone either way, he was disappointed for the Wallabies and their fans, but felt the ref did a good job. Refreshing

He's right, for all anyone screams about the last tackle/ruck, count how many Wallabies are standing there looking and not getting into defensive line. There about 5, that try could and should of been stopped regardless of what happened at ruck.

@sparky said in Hawkes Bay v Counties:

@Duluth said in Hawkes Bay v Counties:

No Dalton Papali'i?

Hopefully he'll be on the plane to Argentina.

Still unusual given he was released, and only had minimal minutes throughout July, but maybe plans have changed.

@MiketheSnow said in Wallabies v Lions I:

@Catogrande said in Wallabies v Lions I:

@Dodge said in Wallabies v Lions I:

@MiketheSnow said in Wallabies v Lions I:

Friends who went said it was a great evening with a tremendous atmosphere

Farrell totally vindicated with his selections of Beirne and Curry in the back row

Beirne got MOTM but I would have given it to Curry

Excellent, dominant first half from the Lions and should have kicked on to give the Wallabies a real pasting in the second half

But personnel changes gave the Aussies a sniff and they were like 50 year olds at the Oasis reunion gigs, didn’t need a second invitation to have a go

There is no way on God’s Green Earth that Earl had arms in that tackle

Should have been Penalty (possibly Penalty Try) and YC

12-24 with Earl in the bin from the 60th - 70th minutes is a very different game

Lowe, Keenan, and Freeman the only realistic changes for the second test

With possibly Morgan or Pollock on the bench instead of Earl

If Schmidt has his thinking cap on this week and the Italian ref wants to penalise the Lions offsides and repeated killing of the ball in their own 22 it could be a very interesting second match

Back three all had pretty average games which there’s no real excuse for when your forwards are that dominant.

As for the Earl tackle, surprised he got away with it but wouldn’t necessarily blame BOK, the TMO was categorical that there were arms in the tackle and it was fine, BOK checked on a number of occasions but was shut down.

That was my recollection but on watching again, when BoK goes to the TMO for checking the try, he says firstly that he wants to check for foul play by red in the lead up to the try AND states that he feels that there was an attempt to wrap using both arms. The TMO agreed with that.

And even with slow mo they were both wrong IMHO

I think the discussions between the refs should not be broadcast. It discourages debate and disagreement.

@Bovidae You’d hate to be a hooker between those two. Talk about head in a vice!!

@nzzp Scotland didn't play at Eden Park in 1987. They played one game there in 2011 but they lost that narrowly to England.

https://www.bbc.com/sport/rugby-union/15124512.amp

Ruben Love is all class and deserves more outings.

Fabian Holland is a keeper.

@hikastags said in USA v England - Washington:

England 50+

I suspect you're thinking of the average age of the 2003 English team 🙂

@Billy-Webb said in Springboks v Italy II:

I am deliberately going to ignore debating the legality or "spirit" of each of the 2 new tricks the Boks put on show in this game.

Good point. We're not on an internet rugby forum to discuss important sort of stuff affecting rugby.

@canefan said in All Blacks v France II:

@Dan54 said in All Blacks v France II:

@brodean said in All Blacks v France II:

@Dan54 said in All Blacks v France II:

@brodean understand your point etc, but I doubt whether Love is even been considered starting for ABs this week, after about 4-5 games at most starting for Canes. And I a Canes man (and Love fan). I doubt any test coach in world would consider a starting 10 with so little experience.

You're probably right about consideration from the coaches. Doesn't mean they're right.

The guy is 24 now. He's had 5 years of Super Rugby experience and started 13 games for the Canes at 10. It's an experimental French B/C team. Beauden Barrett had already played 24 tests at 24. We're too conservative now.

Problem is that coaches at Canes (rightly or wrongly) haven't thought Love is good enough to steer them around field at 10. Their job is to do what they think is best for Canes, and selectors have to (I think) select on a good body of work, so they have confidence they won't cock up in tests.
I tend to agree I would like to see more of Love, but if at 10 off bench. Her starts and makes a few balls ups, imagine the melt down (and in press etc) about playing him before he ready.

Laidlaw shat the bed by reinstating Cameron as the starter when he returned from injury. Bad for the Canes, bad for Love and his AB potential

Speaking of body of work - there was more than enough body of work to show that Brett Cameron wasn't the answer but Laidlaw went that path anyway.

@Mr-Fish said in Argentina v England II:

@Windows97 said in Argentina v England II:

How on earth did this happen? A weakend Argentina team beat the Lions at away and then proceed to lose at home to an England side sans-Lions players...

Make it make sense lol

Argentina rotated out a lot of their squad for this series. They didn't use a full-strength team.

More Latin disrespect.

@cgrant said in AUNZ XV vs British and Irish Lions:

@ARHS said in AUNZ XV vs British and Irish Lions:

Just watched. Anzac midfield pretty awful. Bizarre back subs made. Horrid back pass from Fakatava. I guess just nothing clicked for them.
MP don't look to get getting the old Laumape. Looks a bit slow.
The Lions were very clinical and impressive all round.

Most Ferners who were hoping to get Laumape back in NZ should be in a very different mood now. Of course, they didn't watch the Top 14 games where he was involved. He was already a shadow of his former self.

There's a reason why they end up back in NZ. They're not wanted by anyone overseas.

Not sure if Scotland have ever played on a surface like that!

The back 3 of Fiji played well but was impressed with some of the forward tactics. Kept it tight despite the temptation to swing it. Too many errors at times but a very good win that I see has shaken the rankings up.