The Silver Fern

@nostrildamus said in Blues v Highlanders: @Dan54 said in Blues v Highlanders: Geez mate Susan of Herne Bay? There's a name I have seen since probably the 70s when Loosehead Len was at his finest! You showing your age?? Maybe I'm showing yours! From an article 2 years ago: https://www.nzherald.co.nz/sport/phil-gifford-how-looshead-len-changed-my-life/YAZA7VSLCVDV7AVY6J26PFIS6Y/ That said, I am indeed older than 2 years old. But young enough to not admit how old ah mature I am... F*** me I just proved how bloody old I am!! I read it when it was raunchy new stuff. Have I been buying rugby news for that long??

@SouthernMann hah! [image: 1775883986820-1000032536.png] @frugby yeah sorry probably should have said I didn't see the full incident - just caught the back end of a replay after going to tmo which showed Bell smashing someone's face, at which I winced, uttered "oh that's not good" and went back in the kitchen. Came back surprised to hear it was only a yellow...

@Grooter said in Pasifika v Highlanders: @frugby having a true lock like Lavanini in the side gives me confidence we'll be able to make a contest of things in the next month, where as if we were to end up with a locking duo of Haig & Tai cribb then yeah all optimism would be lost Lavanini just does a locks job. Makes a hell of a difference

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@cgrant said in Crusaders v Highlanders: @SammyC said in Crusaders v Highlanders: Lee and Cahill were big upgrades on Gardiner and Hannah. I expect Penny to drop both once his favorites return from injury. That's harsh on Gardiner. I am not a fan but he has been outstanding since the beginning of the competition. 2 costly dumb yellow cards and multiple stupid errors in every game. Lee had the same workrate and was 100x more accurate

@SouthernMann said in Highlanders v Force: @Landers92 said in Highlanders v Force: @SouthernMann said in Highlanders v Force: How about a chip and chase Superb crowd mate. Afternoon footy. Hopefully they pull out a win to have you fizzed for the octagon Nice to break my Landers drought. Dunedin has been awesome for the last couple of days. Now pissing up at Eureka. Shit Jonah Lowe went good eh. Lowe is going to be a loss if that injury keeps him out for long , he looks more and more comfortable at 13.

The Reds try in the first half should not have stood. The 15 was clearly in front of the kicker (13); no way Howden didnt score that. Thats 14 points! Highlanders deserved more

@Kiwiwomble Yep for sure, and matching skills to game plan hasn't been a strength of late. Actually you could argue neither skills or game plan individually have really been a strength...

Huh, I thought Hotham didn't look any different apart from the Trump outfit

@SouthernMann said in Highlanders v Moana Pacifika (pre season wk 2): Big issues. Fabian walking off with an arm injury. Don't break him you fluffybunnies.

@WoodysRFC this is excellent. Given how well he performed yesterday he'd be my pick for the 21 Jersey.

@Yeetyaah said in Highlanders 2026: @SouthernMann this actually gives the Landers a better chance right? This scratching is understandable. After all he did suffer an unfortunate injury ... to his hair...

@Bones said in Highlanders Vs Chiefs: @Bovidae said in Highlanders Vs Chiefs: Apart from one botched kick when he slipped I thought that Roe was very good in this game. Obviously Ratima will start but Roe will be better for playing 80 mins. That was quite funny, who was he yelling at as he went down? I think he was just cursing himself.

@darylmitchell Inferior competition. Difference last year was Moana were worse so we beat them 2x, we beat the Tahs because they were worse, and we beat the Force in the worst game ever. We lost our way at points this year, but the direction of travel has again been upwards.

@reprobate wait.... what do you mean? You're posting and it's not centred around the hurricanes? Unbelievable! Hurricanes is life and now I can't wind back from my first comment so I'll try brush it off by rolling out my favourite "well it's been let go before" bunk argument.

@taniwharugby thought other than Ardies brilliance individual feats Apoua would have been close to player of the day

@Chris-B said in Highlanders v Crusaders: @Chris For a good part of the season you could construct a very strong "Missing XV" from injuries and gone from the previous year - have to play Richie at halfback. Would certainly have given what we were fielding a good drubbing. Brewis, Taylor, Williams Barrett, Whitelock Sione Havili, Blackadder, Dunshea Mo'unga, Burke Goodhue, Ennor Faingaánuku, Nanai, Jordan The Canes have had just as many injuries this year and are still in contention so it’s not always just injuries. Every team goes through that. Interestingly both the Crusaders and Canes really struggled when they had Hohepa at 10 for a long period. I think as long as you have key players in key positions then you can cope.

@Canes4life said in Chiefs v Highlanders: @Mr-Fish said in Chiefs v Highlanders: Few big injury returnees for the Chiefs this week. Sititi? Lord, Trask too.

Got around to watching this finally. Holland is very, very bloody fit, isn't he. Good to see JRK back, a few nice touches and a few errors, to be expected. Fakatava looks like he's been working on his kicking this year - he made a couple of errors with kicks just going out on the full, but I like the ambition - there's a big difference between a box kick which drifts too far infield and one which is very close to the sideline. Important if Miller is going to play, as he stands way too deep. With everyone fit, there's a pretty dangerous side in there: Nareki, Tavatavanawai, JRK, Tangitau, Fakatava is a decent list of attacking threats, and they all look for space.