Crusaders v Blues
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@MajorRage Yeah there were.
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All jokes aside (there are certain players we must not joke about on here) I was pretty happy with the result.
Best crowd of the season, vocal and involved.
Whacked $100 on under 47.5 total points at the TAB (paid $2.20) as it was pretty obvious to me that conditions weren't right for a high scoring game.
I think this is the first time in quite a while that we came with real line speed and aggression on defense. It's how we've won our last 2 titles and it was good to see it back. Plummer and Nonu had real trouble dealing with it behind a pack that was on the back foot, rurus service didn't help either.
Interesting to compare the way the number eights played.
Whetu Douglas seems to lead us in defense and at breakdown,and is super involved.
Akira seems to run away from the ball a lot, he'll pack down in a scrum or stand in the lineout then when the ball is cleared, jog out into the backline and stand around waiting for the ball to find him. I know it's the team patterns that dictate this, but he's such a big strong bully type player I'd love to see him closer to the ruck hurting people, particularly on a cold wet night like this one.
Moody made a huge difference to our scrum.
Tom Robinson the best blues forward for me, he's a niggly prick. Refs missed a clear swinging arm to the head from him on a crusaders player at the bottom of a ruck, I like watching him play
Both fullbacks were good.... as was George Bridge, a Ben Smith like game from him.
Edit: @KiwiMurph feel free to put your grammar nazi cap on and criticise my post
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@booboo said in Crusaders v Blues:
PS. Thought that was a penalty try to Mo'unga
Certainly a reasonable case for it. One of those ones that you sometimes get away with and sometimes won't.
A pretty scrappy game that doubtless would have been better under a roof. On this evidence, though, today's players would struggle in ankle deep mud, a howling wind, chasing a saturated pigskin about for 80 minutes!
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@Chris-B said in Crusaders v Blues:
@booboo said in Crusaders v Blues:
PS. Thought that was a penalty try to Mo'unga
Certainly a reasonable case for it. One of those ones that you sometimes get away with and sometimes won't.
A pretty scrappy game that doubtless would have been better under a roof. On this evidence, though, today's players would struggle in ankle deep mud, a howling wind, chasing a saturated pigskin about for 80 minutes!
Who didn't?
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@MajorRage said in Crusaders v Blues:
@SammyC said in Crusaders v Blues:
Best call of the night
“Hey Reiko, your as useless as your brother”
Conditions kept the blues in it, not a night for high scoring rugby
Must have been some seriously shit calls if this was the best
Simple minds, simple pleasures.
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Seems Like a poor decision by Mike Fraser Surprise,suprise.
World Rugby rules state: A player must not tackle (or try to tackle) an opponent above the line of the shoulders even if the tackle starts below the line of the shoulders. A tackle around the opponent's neck or head is dangerous play. -
@Chris But that has been ignored most of this season, last season it would have been a yellow. This season refs seem to be ignoring the 'even if it starts below' part. The TMO kept showing it, I think to make the ref change his mind. Whereas the ref kept saying, 'starts on the ball and rides up, penalty only' - I wish the refs would stick with one interpretation from one season to the fkn next!
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@Chris yeah his summation and reasoning didnt really add up or make alot of sense, also seemed like the TMO didnt agree with him, but wasnt willing to over rule or call him on it either.
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@Machpants said in Crusaders v Blues:
@Chris But that has been ignored most of this season, last season it would have been a yellow. This season refs seem to be ignoring the 'even if it starts below' part. The TMO kept showing it, I think to make the ref change his mind. Whereas the ref kept saying, 'starts on the ball and rides up, penalty only' - I wish the refs would stick with one interpretation from one season to the fkn next!
I didn't listen to the ref's audio but if said that then it's a penalty try.
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@taniwharugby It has been a common theme this SR season, Summations and Reasoning from the officials has been bewildering.Yes I noticed the TMO was gently trying to ask the question he should have been more forceful instead of a whimp.
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@Chris said in Crusaders v Blues:
@taniwharugby It has been a common theme this SR season, Summations and Reasoning from the officials has been bewildering.Yes I noticed the TMO was gently trying to ask the question he should have been more forceful instead of a whimp.
The problem with TMO interfering is that they are sometimes (often?) wrong. Example being the recent dud call on the Crusaders in SA.
Without seeing the video again, last night I thought he stayed on the shoulder and didn't make any sort of forcible contact with the neck. Borderline, but OK for me. But again, all you want is some consistency.
On the subject of forward passes, I've just been re-watching ABs vs Wales in 2016. It had the Wayne Barnes overrulling his TMO, and callin ga forward pass that even the Welsh comms called as bckwards out of the hand. Seems bizarre that these mistakes keep getting made at the top leve
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@nzzp refs seem to have directives of things to focus on, which is all good, but seems other rules seem to get relaxed or overlooked to ensure the 'KPI' rules are ruled on.
Contact with the head was a big thing a few seasons back, similarly touching a man in the air, but seems both have not been as strict the last couple of seasons...
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@Chris said in Crusaders v Blues:
@nzzp He defiantly contacted the head the pic Machpants posted above shows the start of the head contact, it just gets worse following on from that pic.The last part of the tackle that pulls Mo'unga to the ground is all head contact.
Yeah there are lot of damning pics around
](https://resources.stuff.co.nz/content/dam/images/1/v/a/5/s/z/image.related.StuffLandscapeSixteenByNine.1240x700.1va7at.png/1558833057935.jpg)
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@Machpants there is no reason for the TMO not to get the call on this one correct. As said before he wimped out, because the on field ref kept repeating what he thought he saw rather than watching the replay. The TMOs job is to avoid that preconception. He should be really definite in his call. They need to more like Cricket and directly say change your call to the on field ref. In that regard George Ayoub is the worst offender - when he is there the TMOs role is handed back to the onfield ref making it worthless.
The call last week with the Crusaders was pure incompetence. Interestingly the TMO wasn’t asked by the ref (I think) but offered his opinion. Given the number of things happening on a rugby field at once, this is probably the most difficult situation - what are the rules re when TMO can interfere ( foul play, and in the act of scoring a a try )? But regardless if in the comfort of the TMOs chair you cannot avoid preconception then you should not be in a TMOs role.
So neither case should be accepted. The TMO is a great step towards improving decision making (NRLs better) but just need to keep getting better at it.
