The Silver Fern

No one is as bad as the Irish

Whats worse the two assistant refs seemed to be pleading with him not to call it.

The game is fucked if a clean clear out at a ruck is penalized

A crane-fly is making its way slowly across my duvet. The rain has picked up and I have two cups of tea, I have a sense of foreboding, but for who?

I had two moments of pure happiness this year - yelling at my tv until we lost the shield and yelling at my tv until we stayed up

Putting aside genuine upsets there are four or five teams who could realistically have the Shield over the summer.

Taranaki ought to be able to repel Otago in their first defence but then face Auckland, with both sides with All Blacks out who knows who would win. If Taranaki get through, they look a cut above the remainder of the Championship teams they will face at home.

Auckland take the Shield and then immediately face Ta$man. Ta$man would be slight favourites to win their first stint. If Auckland get past that the biggest threat will be Waikato two weeks later.

If Ta$man win then they go to a Crusaders derby on 7 November and would be favourites to retain it. However if Canterbury steals it back it is straight back with a last round challenge against Auckland.

@Stockcar86 Vyv, Rick, Mike then Neil. But it felt wrong.

@nzzp said in Blues v Highlanders:

Kids now playing on the trampoline outside. The weather is so changeable at the moment

Edit: in t shirt and shorts

Yep, I started the fire at three. By the time it got going it was bright sunshine again

Or pregnant - my wife almost was refused residency on the basis she was morbidly obese. Our doctor had to write back that she was in fact seven months pregnant.

[quote name='Kirwan']<br />
[quote name='Fullermorg']<br />
First training session with contact last night.<br />
<br />
Also first session that set out our approach to new ELVs etc..... we have spent the off season developing our fitness to the degree where we are all to a man, much, much fitter than in previous years. [b]The coaches want us to play a game where "a ruck is regarded as a defeat" with us looking to pop out of contact and run the bigger teams around.[/b]<br />
<br />
Last night's session was an eye opener in that we got through 1.5 hours of quality work, with guys not losing skill level due to lack of fitness etc....<br />
<br />
Going well.<br />
[/quote]<br />
<br />
Have they not watched any Super 14? That's exactly what the Hurricanes tried to do and got soundly beaten, doing a good impersonation of headless chickens while they did it.<br />
<br />
You have to commit numbers to the breakdown and set targets, and do all the normal rugby stuff you do, but you also have to kick the leather off of the ball, preferably to just outside the 22. You just have to modify your ruck play to cheat like buggery on the ground, don't roll away and hold on if you're in trouble.<br />
[/quote]<br />
Thats exactly what I thought whn I read this, follow this line and Finchley RFC will struggle Fuller, rebel now or demotion will loom.