The 'other' June tests
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<p>Georgia leading 9-6 vs Samoa at Halftime...</p>
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Will be interesting to see how this team grows over the next few years, and if they can be good enough to qualify for the next RWC.. There are a few injuries and "family absences"</p>
<p> </p>The Samoa team to play Georgia:<ul><li>Albert Nikoro*</li>
<li>Faatoina Autagavaia (18)</li>
<li>Reynold Lee Lo (6)</li>
<li>Faialaga Afamasaga (3)</li>
<li>David Lemi (capt) (42)</li>
<li>Patrick Fa'apale (7)</li>
<li>Dwayne Polataivao*</li>
<li>Jeff Lepa*</li>
<li>TJ Ioane (8)</li>
<li>Alafoti Faosiliva (15)</li>
<li>Teofilo Paulo (22)</li>
<li>Faatiga Lemalu (15)</li>
<li>James Johnston (14)</li>
<li>Motu Matuu (31)</li>
<li>Sam Aiono (1)</li>
</ul><p style="font-family:'PT Serif', Georgia, serif;color:rgb(25,25,25);font-size:16px;">Reserves: Seilala Lam*, Nuuuli Lene*, Jake Grey (4), Talaga Alofipo*, Oneone Faafou (2), Danny Tusitala*, D'Angelo Leuila*, Malu Falaniko*.</p> -
<p><span style="font-size:14px;"><span style="font-family:arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">About ten minutes into the second half, Samoa took a 16-9 lead, after a converted try from Lemi. Georgia's number 7 (<span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);">Giorgi Tkhilaishvili</span>) just scored from a driving maul and after the conversion it's 16 all.</span></span></p>
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<p>some huge units in the Fijian team</p>
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<p>anyone else watching this...seems sky have 2 audio streams and one of them is about a second or so ahead of the play, so you hear a whistle, a second or so later you see the ref blow a penalty and hear the whistle again.</p>
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<p>Awful game of rugby I thought. Samoa had no scrum at all. Good to see them blooding younger players however.</p>
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<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="African Monkey" data-cid="586258" data-time="1465618637"><p>Awful game of rugby I thought. Samoa had no scrum at all. Good to see them blooding younger players however.</p></blockquote>
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Yeah 7 debutantes plus another 8 guys with under 10 tests. Will be a steep learning curve for many of them over the next few years as they try to build for 2019. -
<p>Osbourne didn't have his best game. Nakarawa is some player.</p>
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<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="Bones" data-cid="586196" data-time="1465590846"><p>
Oh yeah Robson was fantastic, brilliant try too, that was a ridiculous run.</p></blockquote>
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Kind of ridiculous he could almost come to a complete stop and not get swallowed up by cover of some sort.<br><br>
This was far away from test standard rugby. -
<p>Did anyone see the match between Argentina and Italy? Just noticed the final score was 30-24 to Argentina. Somehow I expected a more convincing win by the Pumas. Maybe due to Jaguares fatigue? Or isn't Italy as bad as I expected?</p>
<p> </p>
<p>This is the only legal highlights video that I could find: <a data-ipb='nomediaparse' href='http://www.espn.com.ar/video/clip/_/id/2701343'>http://www.espn.com.ar/video/clip/_/id/2701343</a></p> -
Conor O'Shea (former Ireland FB and Harlequins coach) has taken over the helm at Italy.<br><br>He's a smart thinker and knows his coaching. He's got s tough job ahead of him, but I think he'll make a difference over the next couple of years both to teams playing in PRO12 and with the test team.
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Have to give props to Georgia who have started a three-match tour to the Pacific Islands this month with consecutive matches against Samoa, Tonga and Fiji - good experience and support for all four teams.
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<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="Pot Hale" data-cid="587131" data-time="1465724727">
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<p>Have to give props to Georgia who have started a three-match tour to the Pacific Islands this month with consecutive matches against Samoa, Tonga and Fiji - good experience and support for all four teams.</p>
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<p>The one thing Georgia don't need is more props</p> -
<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="mimic" data-cid="586237" data-time="1465613822">
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<ul><li>Faialaga Afamasaga (3)</li>
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<p> Any who watched the game see how Faialaga went?</p>
<p> </p>
<p>He's been playing for my club (Mid Western) this season.</p>
<p>Hope he doesn't get injured in these tests, as we are missing him big time! Damn International season, getting in the way of club season!!! :knuppel: :whistle:</p> -
<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="Gunner" data-cid="587346" data-time="1465779224">
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<p> Any who watched the game see how Faialaga went?</p>
<p> </p>
<p>He's been playing for my club (Mid Western) this season.</p>
<p>Hope he doesn't get injured in these tests, as we are missing him big time! Damn International season, getting in the way of club season!!! :knuppel: :whistle:</p>
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<p>Barely saw any of the ball. Made an error towards the end as Samoa finally had some posession in the Georgian 22 which ended any hopes of Samoa winning.</p> -
<p>The official livestreamer of Samoa v Georgia has posted the full match on Youtube (anthems only start at 10'28''):</p>
[/media]</p>
<p> </p>
<p>[media]
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<p>[hr]</p>
<p> </p>
<p>A low quality highlights video has been posted by the Georgian Rugby Union (with Georgian commentary):</p>
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<p>[media][/media]</p>
