@akan004 but the umpires aren’t looking at the ball every delivery. Maybe the bowlers were ignorant (or wilfully so) but it’s suspicious.
And where did the sand paper come from if this plan was hatched on the fly? Nipped down to the hardware store in the lunch break?
@antipodean so that's why Hartley wasn't called up for Lions duty...
@Catogrande With the number of foreign players your union caps it wouldn't be rich for long. 
@semper Yes, didn't explain myself very well. You can only declare for someone you qualify for.
But the transfer fee would apply to all players. So if Ireland want to naturalise a kiwi born and bred super rugby centre with no Irish heritage, he would need three years residency plus a transfer fee to the NZRU.
@Crucial I think you missed the bit about lower ranked nations paying less. And why shouldn't they pay something? The NZRU developed the player. Better than them being capped once by NZ and never being available again.
How about:
Basically make it a very expensive for tier one unions to recruit offshore.
OK, I can live with the preferential parking, the benefits and the roomy toilets (with their nice soft seat) but now I find out that the red button on the wall calls a hot nurse for a BJ? I am OUTRAGED.
I demand a button like that in all public conveniences.
And in my loo at home.
<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="TeWaio" data-cid="581123" data-time="1463760586">
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<p>I am the last person to big up the latest greatest hyped England player, but this guy is the real deal. I watched a few 6N games focussing just on him, and the only other player I have ever seen read a game so well is McCaw. Itoje just pops up everywhere in the right place. I think in a few years he'll be the best player in the world. </p>
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<p>I agree. Itoje looks exceptional . The Poms will no doubt screw him up though. Make him add another 20kg of unnecessary muscle and play 45 games a year until he's slow and broken.</p>
<p>Watched the BBC documentary last night and would make the following comments. I'm not going to address the reprehensible behavior of the police afterwards:</p>
<p>1) Clearly the 96 were not at fault</p>
<p>2) The ground was very poorly designed to act as a neutral venue. 44% of the supporters had to go through 28% of the turnstiles. And once through the turnstiles the only obvious entry point to the standing area was Gate C (which only led to the central pens) which was directly in front of the entering fans.</p>
<p>3) Duckenfield was out of his depth and didn't know how to deal with the situation. He clearly froze and paralyzed an effective police response.</p>
<p>4) The crowd outside the gate were clearly angry and frustrated but the game should have been delayed to calm them down (wrong police decision). No evidence of unticketed supporters however.</p>
<p>5) When the outer gate was opened by the police the central pens were already overcrowded. The critical error by the police was not closing Gate C to the central pens sooner.</p>
<p>6) There had been no planning from or training for the police or emergency services on how to handle the situation which made it far worse. They clearly had no idea what to do.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>One more general comment which the doco did not address. Despite the above errors, looking at that footage it was an accident waiting to happen. With hindsight, it's hard to believe that anyone thought that having standing only pens behind the goal (without exits) was ever a good idea. All it needed was the right combination of ingredients (eg. an FA cup semi final and policing error). The interviewed fans said that being a bit crushed was normal. They even had crush barriers in place so they knew crushes could/did happen. Also, getting into those pens and being part of a swaying mass of people was part of being a fan. People were swapping their seated tickets to get into the standing area. Basically, if there had been a fire, bombing, shooting or anything else to induce panic, exactly the same thing would have happened. Mental. While police incompetence pulled the trigger, the lasse faire approach of Hillsborough and the FA to crowd safety was probably the major factor that caused this. </p>
Ngatai grabbed his legs low and then stood up. Only one way that tackle was going to end. Nothing to complain about. <br><br><br>
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<p>Because jumping looks cool.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Also, so long as you're not taken out in the air, it hurts less than standing your ground and getting smashed in the tackle.</p>
<p>Bryn Evans?</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Maybe I wasn't paying enough attention, but the first time I registered Ben Smith and Toeava was during respective EOYT selections.</p>
<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="antipodean" data-cid="567594" data-time="1459056867"><p>I'd suggest it's not. When travellers have a history that competes on a misery scale with millennia of genocide or intergenerational slavery it may be the same thing.</p></blockquote>
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I didn't say it was the same thing. I was raising more racially emotive terms to clarify the point that what he said was racist.<br><br>
As others have said you don't have to be a genocide/slavery victim to be racially abused. He should have just called him a fluffybunny.<br><br>
And in any event I think gypsies should rank fairly high on your 'misery scale'. They even tick your genocide box. Travellers aren't exactly living the high life either as far as I'm aware.
Travellers and gypsies are technically different although the terms have been misused enough that it gets confusing.<br><br>
Would people feel differently if the slur was Jew boy or Black Boy? How long did Suarez get for calling Evra "negro"? It's the same thing really and I'm not surprised that World Rugby don't want to see it condoned on the field.<br><br><br>
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<p>I'm surprised how much the press are loving Billy V. I was at the game on Saturday sitting behind the posts. From my angle, his go forward impact was not as apparent, but what was clear is that each time after he crashed it up, he then went and stood out on the wing or dropped to a second full back position to get his breath back. He didn't hit any rucks (that I noticed) and only tackled if an Irishman ran at him while he was standing at 2nd or 3rd receiver. Zero effort at cover defence, kick chasing or getting involved in any attacking movement. Every now and then he'd just stop and stand still during play to recover or retire out of the line and leave his teammates to it. I was shaking my head when he got MoTM.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Have since seen the replay and admittedly, from side on, he is very effective at hitting the ball up. But England have to play with 7 forwards for everything else.</p>