The Silver Fern

@Jailbreak7 it was dumb, borne out of frustration (plus milked for all it was worth) but one our greatest captains was yellow carded for something dumber, so I can cur him some slack on that one.

In hindsight a tough call probably needed to have been made and one of our stalwart locks shouldn’t have started. Scott Barrett was pretty good in that first half and he along with Cane would’ve been pretty handy with how the game was being played.

Given we barely competed at England’s LO ball, the loss of one of our 2 metre locks wouldn’t have mattered.

@rotated said in Why this feels different...:

@pakman said in Why this feels different...:

The sad thing to contemplate is that the way money is influencing things a combination of NH getting its player base together and the increasing player drain is making staying near the top an incredible challenge.

It's ironic though, the drain is supposedly much worse now but the second gut punch in 2007 was realizing that McAlister, Hayman, Mauger, Howlett, Jack, Masoe, Kelleher etc had all played their last test (at least for a while); and over the next few months Collins and Evans firmed up as leaving too.

This time only Read from the starting side is off and it would be hard to argue Smith or SBW left too many test in the tank either.

One thing which really upset me about 2007 was that we were by far away the best team there.

In 91 and 99 Oz were tops. In 2003 England was no 1, just. Being at Ellis Park in 95 and seeing what it meant for the nation was the ONLY time I've ever watched the ABs and thought, 'It wouldn't be so bad if we lost this', and after all it was a draw by normal standards.

Saturday for me felt as though we played the final a week early. That said, no guarantee Poms will get up this week.

@ACT-Crusader said in AB MotM V England:

@Old-Samurai-Jack said in AB MotM V England:

A. Smith was a workhorse I thought. He was taking on the big boys when our big guys were missing.

Sheesh, I thought his decision making left a lot to be desired. If I was Rattue I’d be demanding a public square explanation as to the box kick just outside our attacking 22 alone. And that wasn’t one of those platform was a problem issues. We were on attack and actually building.

I can remember watching mccaw do the voice over for the 2015 final, in a similar attacking situation early in the game , smith kicks it in behind them into the in goal, and the Aussies took it away with ease, looked like a similar stupid play.

Mccaw adds , that kick in behind them was planned , didn’t really come off .

Maybe smith was working to Instructions, , hard to fathom why , but When I saw it , I thought of the above.

@sparky said in All Black Coach - Ian Foster:

@Hooroo said in All Black Coach - Ian Foster:

I want Foster.

It's worth the money just to see the over-reaction and implosion.

Worth it now?

Not much of an over reaction at all

@rotated apologising for a ref not following protocol wasnt it , given IIRC the decision was correct, just how they got there was against the TMO protocols?

@Wally said in Favourite AB tests:

I’ve read various versions of this. The coach of that team (Mcphail?) was quoted as saying “Kevin reckoned he never hit anyone but his hands were so swollen the next day he could hardly hold a beer”.

He may have done the physical damage unseen.

Meads tells of St Wilson of Whineray (also a champion heavyweight boxer) sorting out opposition forwards and emerging from the scrum or ruck with a halo round his head while said opposition forward emerging seriously groggy

Foster's backline looked great against Ireland. Be interesting to see how they go in the next two games. No problem with Hansen sharing praise with his deputy when he does a good job. Foster will be a serious applicant to the AB's Chief role.

Joseph and Robertson have had much more success as Head Coach so are the favourites to succeed Hansen IMHO.

Smith easily MOTM. His passing is pretty much rugby porn, and he makes everyone else's job easier.
Then Read and Goodhue I went for. Best game by Read in ages, and not many on here picking Jack to start, but he smashed it.
Hell of a team effort though.

Some harsh comments on Todd given what utter bullshit his card was.

@rotated said in Risk Analysis / Confidence Levels:

it was effectively a points decision which went the wrong way.

You reckon that we should have lost that?

@Rapido Ah, okay, my bad.

@Bones I remember for years I was p!ssed at the continued selection of Nonu...he showed me!

@SynicBast said in RWC: All Blacks v Ireland (QF2):

@Bones said in RWC: All Blacks v Ireland (QF2):

@Billy-Tell well yeah, if your foot is on the line, you're outside the field of play right?

In touch and field of play are separate concepts. You can have one part of your body in the field of play and still be in touch. Howver if you are required to be outside the field of play then no part of your body can be inside the field of play. That's why they use separate terminology.

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@sparky said in RWC: All Blacks v Italy (Cancelled) (Pool 😎:

Very easy to make the right call with hindsight, but I think if they had moved the kickoff forward three and a bit hours to 10:30 on Saturday morning Japanese time, then this game could have gone ahead and everyone would have got back indoors ahead of the typhoon arriving in Nagoya.

I would imagine, given the seriousness of the situation and the unpredictability of the typhoon, this was simply not possible. The authorities had to shut down the trains, and other utilities, the last thing on their minds was transporting rugby teams and their spectators to and from a ground in the middle of a typhoon warning zone

@Bovidae said in RWC: MoM All Blacks Vs Namibia (Pool 😎:

@Kirwan said in RWC: MoM All Blacks Vs Namibia (Pool 😎:

ALB and Jordie were the standouts for me, struggled to pick a third so didn't. Lots of players around the same level

I was the same but went for Frizell as my 3rd pick. The top tackler for the ABs, 2 lineout steals and a couple of decent carries. He's having a solid RWC so far.

He's going really well, as is Pat T. Those two hitting some form has given us some much needed depth at lock and 6.

@sparky How dare they!

ABs handled the ball 400 times.

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/sport/news/article.cfm?c_id=4&objectid=12273802

@Machpants said in RWC: All Blacks v Namibia (Pool 😎:

@Nepia some people lack the mental capacity to recognise more than a handful of players. Trying to remember the names and actions of players from more than one team is a task too far for upper Southern islanders, it seems 😜

I don’t know I like Brodie Retallick and remember his name ohhh wait he was born in Canterbury maybe you are right 😎