The Silver Fern

The SA Craven week and A side play their counterparts from England and France every year for the last 4 of 5 years. Setting them up to be successful internationally.

Down the local park again today.
Force v Reds
Steady breeze almost directly downfield.
Very typical on this ground.

First the U19s; Reds 59, Force 50!
Crazy game, the Reds did not kick the ball out of defence when they ran into the breeze in the 2nd half.
Just pounded it up, that won them the game.
The Force did kick into the wind in the first half, and concede 40+. Very silly.

In the main game Force conceded 3 long range tries in the first 20 mins of the first half, while they had the wind.
That decided that game.
The Reds looked very good.

Now the interesting part of the arvo.
Down the local park, I just barged my way into a nice spot, right on the touchline.
Standing there a couple of minutes; this little guy steps in front of me.
Now, I haven't seen this guy for 40 years, but straight away I know who it is.
I'm thinking; fuuuuck that's LES KISS.
I'm right next to the Reds bench.
So, for the rest of the game I'm checking out his style, probably more than the game.
Very understated, he wasn't actually coach of the day, but I could hear him chatting quietly to the guy who was.
If he wanted a change, they made the change.
He was up and down, but never demonstrative, calling several players over for a few quick, quiet words.
Never raised his voice.
UNLIKE HIS ASSISTANTS, who were all Nick White types FFS, and were trying to ref the game.
At one point the Reds were marched ten for back chat. But it was right next to the bench, and dont think it was the players, I think the ref got the shits with the Reds bench. Fuck I did.
Very imprssed with Kiss' style, can see why he got the gig.

@pakman said in Boks v Wobblies I:

Howard was extremely well regarded by Leicester.

5f8ea80e-c3c1-473d-8083-276fe0b83ec5-image.jpeg

2ca1614a-12c2-4af0-a7f3-906d4d6cf2cd-image.jpeg

He's an interesting dude. Would love to sit down with him over a beer to talk scrums, or have him at our club to run a session

@canefan said in Wallabies v Lions II:

Tim Horan had a very balanced view of the game. The Wallabies had it in the bag and let it slip. The final decision could have gone either way, he was disappointed for the Wallabies and their fans, but felt the ref did a good job. Refreshing

He's right, for all anyone screams about the last tackle/ruck, count how many Wallabies are standing there looking and not getting into defensive line. There about 5, that try could and should of been stopped regardless of what happened at ruck.

@MiketheSnow said in Wallabies v Lions I:

@Catogrande said in Wallabies v Lions I:

@Dodge said in Wallabies v Lions I:

@MiketheSnow said in Wallabies v Lions I:

Friends who went said it was a great evening with a tremendous atmosphere

Farrell totally vindicated with his selections of Beirne and Curry in the back row

Beirne got MOTM but I would have given it to Curry

Excellent, dominant first half from the Lions and should have kicked on to give the Wallabies a real pasting in the second half

But personnel changes gave the Aussies a sniff and they were like 50 year olds at the Oasis reunion gigs, didn’t need a second invitation to have a go

There is no way on God’s Green Earth that Earl had arms in that tackle

Should have been Penalty (possibly Penalty Try) and YC

12-24 with Earl in the bin from the 60th - 70th minutes is a very different game

Lowe, Keenan, and Freeman the only realistic changes for the second test

With possibly Morgan or Pollock on the bench instead of Earl

If Schmidt has his thinking cap on this week and the Italian ref wants to penalise the Lions offsides and repeated killing of the ball in their own 22 it could be a very interesting second match

Back three all had pretty average games which there’s no real excuse for when your forwards are that dominant.

As for the Earl tackle, surprised he got away with it but wouldn’t necessarily blame BOK, the TMO was categorical that there were arms in the tackle and it was fine, BOK checked on a number of occasions but was shut down.

That was my recollection but on watching again, when BoK goes to the TMO for checking the try, he says firstly that he wants to check for foul play by red in the lead up to the try AND states that he feels that there was an attempt to wrap using both arms. The TMO agreed with that.

And even with slow mo they were both wrong IMHO

I think the discussions between the refs should not be broadcast. It discourages debate and disagreement.

@Nepia said in Wallabies v Fiji:

@KiwiMurph said in Wallabies v Fiji:

@Mr-Fish @Catogrande

I don't think that's exactly true.

If the attacking phase is under two phases (which this was) then the TMO can go back 2 phases

See note at the bottom of the below 2025 TMO protocols

alt text

My issue with that table is that the touch wasn't part of the "attacking passage of play", it was part of a defending passage of play. So "technically" (yes, I'm being a pedant) that column shouldn't really apply.

I think that's the point - you can go back two phases regardless of whether an infringement happened with the attacking passage of play.

Might be misunderstanding you though.

@Nevorian said in Ireland v Wallabies:

Thought if they had scored off the TT intercept that might have taken the game, unfortunately support didn’t quite get there

Shit option from Tupou - should have given it to Williams once through the line, and then followed him. They should have both drifted left a little and called Sua'ali'i and Jorgensen into the middle of the field.

Passing late and badly is never a good option. See it all the time with the leaguies at my club: they think the offload-in-contact is a hero move, rather than staying alive to support.

Took me 2 days to get up the courage.

TBH it isn't all bad. Besides some shit refereeing, and this stupid short kicking tactic, we're not doing too badly.

Physically we're dominant.
Mentally we're kittens

@African-Monkey said in Autumn Test 2024 : Wales v Australia:

Random thought, but how has Gareth Anscombe only played 39 tests! Thought he'd be between 60-70 tests minimum by now. He's been there forever.

Injured and fucked off for a while

@NTA said in England vs. Australia (2024):

I’ve never seen anyone shadow off loading before

@DaGrubster said in All Blacks vs Wallabies I:

@Dan54 said in All Blacks vs Wallabies I:

@BerniesCorner said in All Blacks vs Wallabies I:

I've started doing crosswords to ward off dementia

So have I but suspect I left it too late!!😖

That’s the 4th time you have replied to that post Dan 🤦‍♂️

Post? What post Grubs???😁

That was the physical manifestation of me sitting my A Level examinations at the end of my secondary school education

Enough natural talent combined with a little bit of work and the questions I spotted coming up to feel good about the performance and the result after 30 minutes, only to see that there is 50 minutes left to the 'test' and with the odd exception of an educated guess I'm an observer for the remainder of the time unable to do anything about it

@NTA said in Pumas v Wallabies I:

Tizzano has 57 tackles in his first 3 Tests at 100% completion.

He's a fucking animal, that kid.

57 tackles at 100% suggests more of a machine than an animal. That's seriously impressive.

@Kruse six months is the going rate for doing something more or less everyone else is doing ineffectually (but according to Rugby’s sumptuary etiquette) in a way that is effective but aggravates the pearlclutchers.

And Aussie fans should be delighted if their coach catches 6 hard - every other coach who has, has gone on to win the next RWC.

Sadly, doubt Joe was gaming the subs. Nothing I’ve seen from teams he’s coached suggests he has the nuts and/or diabolical cunning. Which is a shame. Rugby needs a devilishly cunning Aussie team prepared to do whatever it takes to win completely. fuck up the scrum for two decades to win five or six games - of course, sandpaper cricket balls, bowl underarm, sing Waltzing Matilda after the Haka - if it means a single, one point win over Georgia, yes 100%.

Playing in the URC give the big benefit of getting use to the NH refs. Our teams struggled in the first 6 month but had to adopt or die.

4 scrums in the whole game. New Test record or something

😂😂😂