@Windows97 said in NZ Rugby Collective agreement:

It was a great one-off injection of cash into the game and grass roots no doubt...

I could see the theory - that Silverlake leverage their digital/marketing knowledge to grow the AB brand and revenue.

In practice, that did not happen. NZR+ was a shocker and a money pit. That's the sort of shit that happens in a corporate. Foster's pretty scathing of the 'commercial focus' of NZR - but they seem to miss that getting the onfield stuff right leads to off field success as well. Crusaders have the best back office and it supports onfield success. Most other Super bakc offices seem ... poor to mediocre.

@Steven-Harris IMO the Sharks missed Matich's work in those 1st phases and close to the rucks.

Friedrich was excellent in the 2nd spell though, after a poor 1st 40.

I am never a fan of NRU interfering with players going to clubs, but I would hope they try to persuade clubs from 'poaching' players.

MN did not need Letoga at 8, a few of the young fellas who joined.them this year have moved from thier club they grew up at, youncan understand people moving for success and a pathway to higher levels.

Not sure how you persuade them to stay at other clubs, but you need a stronger all round comp otherwise it will see other clubs weaken further.

@Bones said in All Blacks - loosie selections in recent years:

@MN5 said in All Blacks - loosie selections in recent years:

@Bones said in All Blacks - loosie selections in recent years:

@brodean I was just surprised to see Sotutu as medium and did a brief Google, which showed him as the same height and a couple of kilos lighter. Even Flanders was the same height, but significantly lighter (although I'd be very surprised if he's still only 108kg).

Its more down to height.

Kieran Read and Liam Messam were about the same playing weight but 1.93cm and 1.88cm respectively which bizarrely put them as "big" and "medium" respectively

They're the same height, David.

Don't say sorry to me. Say sorry to Messam.

@Snowy said in Rugby or NFL:

A lot of the TMO interference would be solved if guys like Murphy stuck to “clear and obvious”. To me that means watching a replay at normal speed, can you see something worthy of reversing on field call? If you have to slow it down and watch it 5 times, it is neither clear nor obvious! Therefore the decision on field stands.

And if you need more than 20-30 seconds to make up your mind it should be ref's call

Edit, I just repeated TRs point 🙄

@booboo said in Lima Sopoaga:

Sorry. Had to remove the quotation marks in the thread title.

Driving me up the wall.

That's the kind of modding we can all get behind.

@Mr-Fish said in Blues 2025:

Moananu rumours incorrect?

It was me who posted he was likely headed back to Auckland but it wasn’t decided on which Auckland club he was joining(or I just wasn’t being told). Both were keen. The Slater signing threw a spanner in the mix. All signs point to Moana you would now assume if what Frugby is posting is correct

@Mr-Fish said in Super Rugby 2025:

@Nepia said in Super Rugby 2025:

@Duluth said in Super Rugby 2025:

@Nepia

They're probably counting/estimating unique individuals.

So 2m unique individuals over the entire comp watched, and of that 700k (on Sky and Open) of them watched the final?

Yep, but chances are anyone who watched an in-season game also watched the final.

It's good numbers, but it's also interesting they haven't released the overall season increase like they did for Sky Go and digital platforms.

I don't think there was an increase, but due to the fact there were less games.

@Devon-Kiwi said in Stu Wilson RIP:

@booboo said in Stu Wilson RIP:

@sparky said in Stu Wilson RIP:

Rest In Peace

Some great memories there. (And some interesting bits at the end: was it Ricky Cowan with that League try?)

Loved watching hom play
Thanks for the memories!

Thank @sparky

I remember robbie stuart as a player

grafter . . . absolutely zero flare in his game

kinda surprised at the time that he made AB

in retrospect tho, considering the amount of players who get AB appearances under contemporary regulations, I have no doubts of his selection being justified

a lot more players of olden times (at least as good as Robbie) would have also made the AB list nowdays

@Mr-Fish said in Māori All Blacks 2025:

NZR have been quite explicit with their intentions, with the MABs playing in July and the ABXV playing in November. Could probably be a better set-up but I don't mind it hugely. It's just 'unfortunate' that so many of the top Maori players are in the All Blacks at the moment and that the third tier is a bit weak.

ABXV would be better selected after SR too, but I guess more money to be made doing it this way around? Maybe giving NZR too much credit?

@sparky said in Thirty years ago today......:

Jonah Lomu became Jonah The Great.

Jeez he was starting to look frail by then.

Typically humble, self effacing interview from Jonah. Absolute legend.

Worth noting that if Mike Catt hadn't been in position to help him regain his footing ( and get trampled in the process ) he might have fallen short of the line considering Will Carling did pretty well to actually ankle tap him.

Have never heard Tony Underwood interviewed so have no idea what he's like but it almost upsets me that Jonah did that to a couple of good roosters like Carling and Catt.

Almost.

@NTA said in Cricket: WTC Final Oz vs SA:

@sparky said in Cricket: WTC Final Oz vs SA:

@Smudge Was the ICC Chairman man of the match or something?

It's like something the dictator of a small country would post on social media.

He looks like a young, Indian version of John Howard.

He has twice the forehead John Howard has

@nzzp said in Major League Cricket:

Pros: winter cricket for NZ

Cons: Danny Morrison commentating
Crazy high scores

Yeah he is kinda a cricket version of Justin Marshall

@nostrildamus said in Did the new Dunedin stadium make the Highlanders/Otago soft?:

The Highlanders had some scary, hairy, half-bull props in that era and I can just imagine the flaring from their nostrils in the freezing air would have been a bit of a psychological weapon.

Sure, and when the Highlanders had electric backs staring at you with a scrum 60m out, that was a great psychological weapon too.

This whole argument is a bit like the one used about big football clubs not enjoying going away to Stoke on a Cold Tuesday night. The numbers don't back it up.

As long as they sell all games on to Stan I'll be happy. By all, I guess I mean the Magpies games. 🙂

Don’t forget Norm Berryman

Players unavailable due to injury

Te Toiroa Tahuriorangi, Shoulder, TBC
Simon Parker, Ankle, TBC
Josh Lord, Concussion, TBC
Manaaki Selby-Rickit, Toe, Short-term
Liam Coombes-Fabling, Hamstring, Short-term
Anton Lienert Brown, Collarbone, Mid-term
Malachi Wrampling, Hamstring, Mid-term
Kaleb Trask, Hamstring, Mid-term
Sione Ahio, Ankle, Long-term
Rameka Poihipi, Knee, Season