The Silver Fern

The young lock from the Rebels, Trevor Hosea looked really impressive . Another quality youngster from the 2019 u20s team.

Why not? This comp is now a bit of an experiment, so may as well throw some minor law changes in there too.

The concept behind extra time is sound, as draws are pointless in a pointless comp. May as well find a winner.

The issue is the way the attacking team is now being officiated it's not advisable to have the ball in your own half at any stage. So it's kick to kick to kick until a team makes an error.

@African-Monkey

Yeah I don’t think they have a chance of catching the Brumbies.
I think they might finish second as long as Toomua stays fit

@Darren not to mention that consistently one of the best and most influential players over the past couple of seasons is sitting on the bench... and he's a fucking 12! But yeah let's disregard how good Ioane was at 10 last year.

@booboo said in Rebels v Sharks:

Afternoon rugby! How good?

Trouble shit that is the requirement to run errands with Mrs Boo and stop somewhere for a coffee in the arvo. Wouldn't have if game was a NZ team admittedly.

But it was cool to sit on the couch of an arvie after gardening and watch footy. Reminded me of late season NPC.

@Tim yep, not looking good for the two big cities.

@African-Monkey said in Brumbies v Rebels:

He has his critics for his lack of vision during his League days, but Solomona Kata looks handy on the wing. He's very strong in contact and could be a handful for opposition defences.

I didn't even realize he'd converted!

@Tim said in Sunwolves v Rebels (Round 1):

How did Jarred Adams go at loosehead?

Good around the field. But the Rebels were well on top in the scrum for most of the match

Think we’d have a better shot against the Jaguares, but the direct flight to Christchurch is understandably more appealing!

https://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/rugby/super-rugby/113466880/super-rugby-chiefs-hoping-to-face-topseeded-crusaders-in-quarterfinal

@Crucial said in Crusaders v Rebels:

@Damo said in Crusaders v Rebels:

@Damo said in Crusaders v Rebels:

@Chester-Draws said in Crusaders v Rebels:

@Damo said in Crusaders v Rebels:

@Damo said in Crusaders v Rebels:

That is an example when advantage should be over in my book. Rebels might have gone 80m if that pass had stuck. They had a clear advantage.

Instead we go back for a scrum 10 metres back from where the lineout would have been. Especially since it was only a scrum advantage. PK advantage would be different.

And again. Scrum advantage should be over once a team gets clean ball and are free to use it as they wish.

Except that's not what the rules say.

And I prefer referees who play to the actual rules, not dodgy commentators on chat groups.

Oh yeah. What does the law say? Enlighten me.

Fudge it. Can't resist:

Law 7(1):

Advantage:
a. May be tactical. The non-offending team is free to play the ball as they wish.
b. May be territorial. Play has moved towards the offending team’s dead-ball line.
c. May be a combination of tactical and territorial.
d. Must be clear and real. A mere opportunity to gain an advantage is not sufficient.

I think that d. is the bit that annoys most viewers. This is exactly the previously described scenario where a player in the clear is passed to but drops the ball. Laws say that opportunity is not sufficient but to the viewer it looks like the team has already experienced an advantage to the point where they could have done well.

The other annoying one doesn't happen that often but can be awful. That is when a team is on attack in the 'red zone' and they keep making small inroads breaking down the defence. It can go on for ever giving them every chance to score a try before a handling error dictates going back.

There is a school of thought that if a team gets a PK advantage in the opposing teams 22m line, then the referee should never call 'advantage over'. Either the attacking team scores a try, or the attacking team comes back for a PK. I don't know if I quite subscribe to it, but I can see the logic for a PK advantage.

As all above have stated, a joke of a (non) decision.

YC and PT IMHO

My god they miss having Michael out there. Who’s the donkey playing at 12 for the Sunwolves?

Edit: it is Burleigh, who after his earlier spill gives away a penalty. No wonder he looks a bit slow, he’s about my age.

@Crucial

That's not hard as that's exactly what the Reds are.

Took my three year old daughter (first game) to this game and it was a heap of fun. Kids add such a different experience to it.

Was a real strong northerly for the whole game so it was no surprise that it was a game of two halves. Also the fact that this Canes team isn't that much better than the Rebels.

Ardie really stands head and shoulders above the rest of the forward pack. Most things he does at the moment are of high quality and his timing of picking moments has come along way from the raw player he was a few years back.

And in saying that, id still pick an in form Cane over him for knockout rugby.

@Kirwan said in Waratahs vs Rebels:

Rebels were unbelievably dumb in the last ten, deserved to lose

Having not seen this particular game: they've shown a couple of idiot moments this season that I would not normally attribute to Wessels' coaching.

I'm wondering whether it actually IS his coaching, or whether they've got Genia/Cooper issues.

Now to see if the Tahs can beat a non-Aussie team without Folau.

Rebels game plan: attack until we win

Stormers game plan: defend until we win

Couple of tinny tries, all from pressure. Hardly a classic, but physical.

Wallabies World Cup backline for me. 9. Genia 10. Cooper 11. Banks 12. Kerevi 13. Petaia (if fit) 14. Maddocks 15. Folau

Pre-match the excitable kiddies on The Roar were wetting themselves at the opportunity to jam it right up Brad Thorn, having been worked up into a lather over a period of weeks by acolytes reminding them of that horrid fellow's vendetta against Our Your Quadie.

Show them vision of a couple of Canterbury matches from the early 2000's and they couldn't tell you which one was Brad and which one was Reuben. They express themselves in a manner worthy of your typical Collingwood supporter, citing a non-existent rivalry on the field, naked anti-New Zealander racism and Thorn's stubborn bigotry in selecting a side which suited him as coach. The last time Quadie cried in similar circumstances his handlers had him pronounce the coach as "tokix", after spending a week to have him remember it and rehearse how to say it.

I think the only time Thorn might have noticed Laptop Cooper on the field, during his eight or nine times losing to the All Blacks, was when he spotted him kneeing a fallen Richie McCaw's head while no-one was watching - Thorn missed by a whisker sending the chancer into Friday week. That certainly does not qualify as rivalry.

He hasn't learned how to tackle, he still kicks (and passes) out on the full and yet the hyperbole is now being cranked up for the campaign against Michael Cheika, who couldn't select an acceptable team so long as his arks points to the ground, just like Robbie Deans before him and just like, in recent seasons, Daryl Gibson, Dan McKellar, David Wessells or Tim Sampson.

Cheika worked out some time back that one defensive turnstile in the mid field is luxury enough but that hasn't registered. I suspect (hope) that, like Brad Thorn, he has heard the quote from NFL coach Buddy Ryan "If you listen to the fans, you'll be sitting up there with them."

Toulon owner Mourad Boudjellal delivered a boot up the Khyber Pass half way through the li'l fella's contract period, spluttering "Sacre bloody bleu, talk about vin ordinaire mate mes amis - it's difficult to go from foie gras to pâté!" He was missing Jonny Wilkinson's exceptionalism and Tana Umaga's before him - there is the standard to be met.

Wayne Smith of The Australian sets the bar low to accommodate an adequate low level performance by his preferred 10, punctuated by several characteristic bloopers, while two undisciplined local outfits scrambled loosely about the park in an incoherent display. He hallucinates:

Triumphant return for Cooper

"Quade Cooper orchestrated a Test match-like intensity from the Melbourne Rebels to shut out the Queensland Reds 32-13."

I watched the second half closely and it was unremarkable stuff from just about everyone, 25 weeks out from the World Cup.