The Silver Fern

@kruse said in All Blacks vs Springboks I:

@rancid-schnitzel said in All Blacks vs Springboks I:

@antipodean said in All Blacks vs Springboks I:

One thing TSF is terribly good at is straw man arguments.

It's entirely fine and proper to point out a player isn't up to Test rugby at that stage of their development. That doesn't rule out maturity and improvement. It certainly doesn't rule out criticism.

Again that's not the argument. It's when a player is ripped to shreds as being shit, not up to it etc. And again let's stop pretending nuance is a thing here.

Nuance is a thing everywhere. If only you can recognise/understand it.
And it's "balderdash".
Boulder Dash was a sweet little computer game.

Stick to reviewing shitty Movies. It's a much better use of your time.

I'll have to rewatch it but Samsoni was attracting several defenders at a time, not going backwards and solid with ball security, given last week they gave Akira a lot of 2 tackler attention it would be rather mouthwatering to see them both on the field.

@bovidae said in Openside flankers:

@mikethesnow Yeah, those are the two names I was familiar with. Duncan Jones is in the squad too.

Didn’t see Duncan
He was great for us along with Adam Jones

Scott Morgan had a few caps too

@machpants said in All Blacks vs Pumas II:

@majorrage said in All Blacks vs Pumas II:

Still plenty to talk about on that game, so not going to lock it over one of the silliest spat's I've seen on TSF.

Ball, not the Man, team.

Is there an award for that?

Get in line, amateurs.

@kirwan pretty sure he wasn't if you actually watched the game closely.

Can't really do anything with this fucking vertigo, so I had this still on the sky recorded. 2 points that came up later in the year confirmed

ABs attacking shape was fucking non existent, just individual brilliance made most of the tries. As mentioned above set piece was shit, but HEY we've got individual brilliance George bridge has no positive impact, he is such a pathetic thing to have as an all black 11. That's lomu's Jersey FFS.

Also TJ was rather good, aside from his desperate desire to take every penalty quickly. Conversely DMac was a fucking idiot, with no control, crap passing (first 6 mins, 3 passes to ground), and an ability to either pass to someone in a much poorer position, or run himself into a worse position.

Those two passes to Akira to put him on the outside from Jordan were things of beauty too.

@antipodean said in All Blacks MOTM vs Aus III:

@canefan said in All Blacks MOTM vs Aus III:

@antipodean said in All Blacks MOTM vs Aus III:

@junior said in All Blacks MOTM vs Aus III:

@victor-meldrew said in All Blacks MOTM vs Aus III:

@gt12 said in All Blacks MOTM vs Aus III:

Under Shag, Cane got left out of the starting line-up of a WC semi-final.

Yeah, the one bloke who would have caused England serious problems from the word go.

That loss still rankles with me - and not just for the Cane omission. Some of the dumbest play I've seen from an AB team for years, mainly from the senior players

It’s taken me a long time to accept that Sam Whitelock might be a decent captain after his facepalm to Farrell late on, which effectively ended what little glimmer of hope we might have had of pinching that match

I don't blame him for that - it was a ridiculous intervention by the referee.

Farrell was being a prick. But he bit the bait

That's not in contention. It's the bullshit reversal from Owen that's the issue.

I agree. But in the current climate the retaliator almost always gets pinged. So we can argue but at the end of the day he needs to keep his discipline there

@nostrildamus said in Wallabies vs All Blacks 3 (Perth):

ooh baby

Tom Decent  /  Sep 9, 2021  /  Rugby Union He’s back: Cooper to partner McDermott against Springboks, Bell starts He’s back: Cooper to partner McDermott against Springboks, Bell starts

After 1541 days in the international rugby wilderness, Quade Cooper will be back in a Wallabies jersey this weekend.

Too traumatised to face ABs, so now Noah is a mental wreck from the same!

@mn5 said in Test Schedule this year:

@dan54 said in Test Schedule this year:

@mn5 Sorry fellas got distracted, but not sure why I cranky etc, I just wonder why I get shit because I asked if anyone knew of the ABs having a harder test schedule. Instead of answering I get called a Fozzie supporter (which I will be while he coaches ABs, because I an AB supposter) . So I tkae it noone really know of a heavier test schedule?

One should never get cranky on the fern, it’s all fun and bullshit on here anyway.

I agree wholeheartedly mate, I never take it too seriously, hell it's a forum on the Net!

@catogrande said in Foster, Robertson, Rennie etc:

@booboo said in Foster, Robertson, Rennie etc:

@catogrande said in Foster, Robertson, Rennie etc:

@victor-meldrew
I know both sides have a view about the rivalry, probably based on the importance of the game to both countries, but really? A rivalry is usually based on a bit of to and fro results wise. For sure Wales have run NZ close a good few times and often approach the game in a similar way. But it’s been almost 70 years now and never away from home.

Wasn't really one sided until 1980 when we smacked them up in the Centenary Test. Still really close matches (st least in Wales) in the 70s.

Back in the 70s you played them twice.

3 x really as you should count the Wales XV game after the Irish Centenary test in 1974.

So quite regularly for those days.

And if you just count tests it was 7-3 up until 1979. And only the 2x 1969 tests in NZ weren't close. (Only two games in NZ to that point.)

Enough of us old blokes around who remember when Wales was Wales.

And then there's Bob Deans. We're still not over that.

This convo should probably go in the other thread but can't be fussed moving posts at the mo.

@pakman said in AB Greatest 15 Rugby Pass:

@victor-meldrew said in AB Greatest 15 Rugby Pass:

@winger said in AB Greatest 15 Rugby Pass:

The whiteboard session that proved Ma'a Nonu as an All Blacks great The whiteboard session that proved Ma'a Nonu as an All Blacks great

Everyone knows about the greatness of former All Blacks midfielder Ma'a Nonu on the field, but few know the impact he made off the park.

It was pretty obvious Ma'a was a keen student of the game if you look at how he developed over the years. Certainly no-one's fool rugby-wise

Pretty happy with Bruce Robertson at 13. He's still the standard for an old bugger like me - think Conrad Smith but better and a bit more skilful. Could drop a goal from 40m if you needed him to.

Couldn’t agree more.

Check out a 20 year old BR at 9.23:

How fitting:

Aaron, Akira and Codie.

@bovidae said in Hansen/Foster's recent selection philosophy & the consequences it has on team balance (back-row, back-three, bench etc..):

@pakman said in Hansen/Foster's recent selection philosophy & the consequences it has on team balance (back-row, back-three, bench etc..):

Sotutu is excellent in lineouts, and has superb passing skills.

The problem has been that Sotutu sometimes doesn't pass when he should (for example, ignoring BB right before HT vs Fiji). Jacobson has always been used in the lineout in any team he has played for.

We should just be happy that we have some depth in the loose forwards, and there are options.

Agree , I think Ardie is miles better than Sotutu when it comes to passing/ decision making from the base of the scrum.

@bones said in All Blacks MOTM vs Aus I:

Whitelock, Paps, Smith.

May rewatch but they seemed to be the only ones without a glaring mistake.

Penalty in front of the ref, didn't see a mistake, unnecessary forward pass.. ah oops answered. Anyway, apart from mistakes, good selection although I thought Sam came more into the fore later on. Nugget was mostly excellent, again but I worry about our replacements..

I have another apology for the AB coaches, I thought in an earlier Bledisloe the coaches had the bench replacement timing all wrong. Maybe, but it is clear that a bigger issue is, the AB bench just isn't of the same calibre.

@pakman said in All Blacks vs Wallabies Bledisloe 1 Eden Park 7th Aug:

@nta said in All Blacks vs Wallabies Bledisloe 1 Eden Park 7th Aug:

@pakman said in All Blacks vs Wallabies Bledisloe 1 Eden Park 7th Aug:

@chris said in All Blacks vs Wallabies Bledisloe 1 Eden Park 7th Aug:

Smashed in the scrum not good by the subs

Bell monstered Ta’avao.

Having Matt Philip behind him helps. I've only just reached that point.

Having just rewatched it may be Ta'avao has been a bit hard done by. First scrum after Patty T on and Whitelock swaps sides. PT packed very high on Karl, and looks like Sam slipped off Ta'avao, who then has whole Wallaby pack driving through him.
Poor cohesion by Black pack, whereas Wallaby changes seem to have been upgrade.

Ta'avao did Ok at previous scrum with Codie and BBBR still on, although scrum did collapse on his side.

@akan004 said in Frizell assaults woman:

Hopefully the UK won't let him in. Don't want him to be on tour with the ABs.

UK will, he doesn't have a criminal record does he?

Havili, Reece and Ioane.

Plenty of candidates out there tbh.