The Silver Fern

@jegga said in RIP Tiny Hill:

@Catogrande said in RIP Tiny Hill:

@jegga said in RIP Tiny Hill:

@kiwiinmelb said in RIP Tiny Hill:

@Victor-Meldrew said in RIP Tiny Hill:

@kiwiinmelb said in RIP Tiny Hill:

@Bovidae said in RIP Tiny Hill:

A different breed and generation. Tiny Hill was a lock but at 1.88 m and 94kg was shorter and lighter than Rieko.

Backlines now , probably look as big if not bigger than forwards in that era,

I remember as a kid in the late 70s reading the player stats, the heaviest guys in the team were usually the props at 16 stone , that’s 101 kgs

Plenty of tough, hard buggers in those days. And size doesn't come into it.

Red Conway of that era was 86kg and 5' 9" and seriously hard, Had a finger amputated so he go on tour to SA in 1960. Grant Batty at 70kg and 5' 5" was an equally hard bastard. You just can't get away with the sort of stuff they did back then.

Sad, as BBBT would have been in his own personal heaven.

...Elvidge needed four stitches to his forehead, and one arm hung loose from a damaged collarbone, but he returned to the turf of Athletic Park.

The Otago second five-eight moved out to the wing and scored the winning try.

He had also scored in the first test on his Carisbrook home ground.

Elvidge never played for New Zealand again.

“My memory of the game is pretty minimal,” he told the NZ Herald in 2017.

Have to love that quote.

Looks like he had a very dry sense of humour, theres some footage of him playing here

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/sport/news/article.cfm?c_id=4&objectid=11838675

That man delivered me into the world!

@Daffy-Jaffy said in RWC: All Blacks v Canada (Pool 😎:

An amusing 'troll' found on Rugby onslaught -
All Blacks introducing controversial goggles in yet another display of blatant cheating
When is enough, enough…? The All Blacks today released a brand new piece of kit in their All Blacks range. The “Offside 3000 Goggles” are to be launched mid-way through the World Cup and the team will be wearing these goggles in their match against Canada.

Many online aren’t pleased about the introduction of the goggles which have 3 new features which the All Blacks will love to employ.

The features include…

Flash black to alert player when the referee isn’t looking.

Measurement calculator on the goggles to see how far they can go offside without ref noticing.

Special visor so they can avoid making eye contact with players after they cheap shot them.
Ardie Savea was seen in a video interview with the All Blacks saying that the goggles were designed to help with his eyesight.

We’re simply not buying that Ardie, we know what they are really for

What a major Fuck tard that troll was he forgot to mention if he clicks his heels 3 times and wishes ,Ardie will be back in Wellington.

Savea, ALB, S Barrett for me

@Bones said in Results of the RWC XV voting:

@jegga said in Results of the RWC XV voting:

@Snowy said in Results of the RWC XV voting:

I'm a bit shocked at all of the Polish chicks...

Did someone say Polish chicks?

alt text

I have thought at times "was that post written by a polish chicken? Probably not, they know more about rugby".

@nzzp

That try and the 70 yard kick and chase gruber against the Wallabies 2005 were my absolute faves.

@Billy-Webb said in RWC: All Blacks v South Africa (Pool 😎:

@booboo your caption?

Laidlaw suffers the combined onslaught of Du Preez and Bates.

@Damo said in The Mystery of Josh Ioane’s Omission:

There is such a thing as a gentleman's code still in rugby I think. I'd be surprised if many coaches would ask a player to pretend to be injured to support a strategic switch.

Yeah. Does happen though. Tom Williams blood gate springs to mind (albeit a club game). Wouldn't really have thought ball tampering would go on in cricket either due to a gentleman's code. "It's just not cricket" is a saying for a reason, but it happens.

Big pressure can make people do odd things.

Rankings mean nothing now.
The World Cup draw is basically random

Read
Ardie
Crotty.

Really wanted to add votes for:
TJ
ALB
Bridge
BFA

What annoys me about the above is the lack of forwards. Not a lack by any of them, probably more the "obviousness" of the Flash Harrys who couldn't look flash without the fatties doing their thing. I'm annoyed at myself.

@booboo said in Next AB captain?:

@Bones @nzzp

What do you call those girls that hang around with rugby players?

Backs

I never knew you were of that persuasion fella...

Not world cup but worth 2 and a half minutes to reminisce just for the sake of it

@Snowy said in Hansen needs his head read:

@Billy-Webb said in Hansen needs his head read:

@Snowy said in Hansen needs his head read:

@canefan said in Hansen needs his head read:

Once we are out the tourney is over for me.

I'm not quite that extreme but Wayne Barnes ruined rugby for me in some ways.
I'm not convinced that it was all above board either.

Substitute Wayne Barnes for Bryce Lawrence in a certain QF in 2011 and we're rowing the same boat.

My view on that is a little slanted. My ex neighbours brother's name was Bryce Lawrence (not the referee). The old bloke (70+) received death threat calls in the middle of the night from SA fans going off their head. He died not long after, was going to happen anyway but pretty f'd up.

Probably what stops me from giving Wayne a call even now.

Wow. That's seriously messed up and uncalled for. Even such a call to the ref Bryce would be just completely f'd up.
Being pissed off is one thing. Making phone calls like that is just wrong.

Voted 6 days after the fact before seeing the results. Read and Savea were no-brainers. My 3rd vote could have been for a number of players but I went for Laulala - those scrums, and he very effective as a distributor too.

Fun fact: Siale Piutau and Kieran Read played in the same Counties Under 16's Rep team.

@Chris-B said in AB RWC squad:

@Steven-Harris @Rapido Yeah - just reading you guys thoughts on this now, but I've written similar on another thread.

I think the should have taken Big Karl instead of Atu Moli and focused Ofa on the tighthead side.

Would have been handy on Saturday! Bringing on the two Tui's adds a LOT of oomph!

Ardie-Cane-Read will be the first choice back row for South Africa, Italy and the knockouts if the ABs get there.

But there questions to ask beyond that. Who covers 6 and 8 to give Ardie and Read some rest for either the Namibia or Canada games? What happens if Ardie or Read are injured less than 48 hours before a test?

@cgrant said in SANZAAR players coming home:

Players I'd like to see back in NZ for Super Rugby :

Fitzgerald (the Chiefs' stock of locks is rather empty)
Colin Slade
Ihia West (he's been good for La Rochelle and there aren't many experienced 1st 5/8 in the country)
Charles Piutau and Steven Luatua (of course)
Rory Grice (two years ago, he was rated as the best Nr.8 in the Top 14 - it's a position where the NZ teams are lacking big physical men)
Michael Fatialofa (he would bring some grunt to the Blues second row)
Victor Vito (his experience is needed)
Tawera Kerr-Barlow (for the third halfback spot in the ABs)

Saw West play. Looked bloody sharp. Was carving up. TKB not so much. But he seemed to have a vendetta against the opposing 9. Got himself a yellow.

@sparky said in The Old Blacks:

There is life in the old dogs yet.

As a certified Old-Bugger, I'll lift a Jamieson's to that.

As somebody who enjoys a good spar with @Baron-Silas-Greenback it is bloody annoying how often he's right with these things ...

@Snowy said in Bledisloe #2:

@antipodean said in Bledisloe #2:

Finally managed to get sufficient internet to watch extended highlights and it looked fantastic. Reminded me of the France game where the All Blacks finally clicked with the new game plan.

https://f4.bcbits.com/img/a1940151534_10.jpg

We gave them just a taste. Plenty more where that came from