@Duluth said in Rugby Law Updates:
@gt12 said in Rugby Law Updates:
On kicking, he loves the 50:22
I would like to see a 22/50 as well. With defences having to drop back to cover the kick it opens up a few more exit options
You'd have to adjust for the ball going out on the full, i.e. only a 22/50 if it bounces? I don't think that's a problem anyway to be honest as most teams drop people back for the kick already.
@Virgil said in Ashes 2025/6:
@Dodge said in Ashes 2025/6:
getting battered in the Ashes in Australia is unlike any other sporting experience, it just lasts so long and its so impossible to avoid. The sinking feeling of knowing you're going to have to stay off twitter, the BBC website, whatsapp because of all the bloody Aussies you've known in London over the years.
Watching us throw wickets away and place 'clever fields' after a couple of overs is depressing. Joe Root deserves so much better from those around him. I still think this team can win a test or two in this series but i don't think i can bring myself to watch...
its always amusing to me how every 4 years theres an expectation your team will win. Like the previous 15-20 years didnt happen.
On paper the English looked more than capable but you've not won a test in OZ since 2010/11.
Australia are fucking tough to beat at home no matter their situation, they seem to find another level when its the Ashes too.
I think you're confusing expecting we will win with believing its possible. I don't know anyone who expected we would, plenty who believed we had a chance, however small.
getting battered in the Ashes in Australia is unlike any other sporting experience, it just lasts so long and its so impossible to avoid. The sinking feeling of knowing you're going to have to stay off twitter, the BBC website, whatsapp because of all the bloody Aussies you've known in London over the years.
Watching us throw wickets away and place 'clever fields' after a couple of overs is depressing. Joe Root deserves so much better from those around him. I still think this team can win a test or two in this series but i don't think i can bring myself to watch...
@W32 said in Bokke vs Wales:
@Dodge said in Bokke vs Wales:
if you put your thumb in someone's eye and keep pushing then you're a fluffybunny. Trying to work out what he was thinking or went through his thick roided head before during and after is about as irrelevant as what colour his underpants were.
You’re just being silly now. Finger near eye for ~ 1 second. No injury occurred. As for roids, well didn’t figure you for falling into stereotypes but I suppose you’re entitled to your opinion.
i wonder whether your opinion would be different if it wasn't a South Africa player involved. I am very sure mine wouldn't be.
As for the roids dig, hell, there's so much evidence of steroid use in school boy rugby in South Africa it has always struck me as unlikely that players simply stop using them as they progress through the levels. Where there's smoke and all that. But yes, it was a dig, at a fluffybunny who'd just shoved his finger in someone's eye. I'm sure he'll survive
if you put your thumb in someone's eye and keep pushing then you're a fluffybunny. Trying to work out what he was thinking or went through his thick roided head before during and after is about as irrelevant as what colour his underpants were.
lots of chat about a changing of the rules re slow over rate on twitter but i don't know what they're referring to - any suggestions?
How is it possible or acceptable for a professional team to bowl 74 overs in 6.5 hours?!
@Catogrande said in Rugby World Cup 2027 Draw - LIVE:
@Dodge said in Rugby World Cup 2027 Draw - LIVE:
well we've never been beaten in a world cup game in Australia, so I reckon we'll win our pool, beat Italy in the R16, Australia in QF, Argentina in the SF and then one of the also rans in the final.
Cough. Cough. 1987. Cough.
no one counts 1987 for anything, that wasn't a real world cup, more like a warm up, no one even remembers who won
@Jet said in Rugby World Cup 2027 Draw - LIVE:
No meaningful pool games in there anyway…
This nations cup thingy that starts next year has more starch to it.
Ireland have no excuse this time….they basically dodge NZ,SA and FRA until the semi.
Are you assuming Scotland win Group D? If Ireland win Group D they dodge those three to the final
well we've never been beaten in a world cup game in Australia, so I reckon we'll win our pool, beat Italy in the R16, Australia in QF, Argentina in the SF and then one of the also rans in the final.
Mark Wood was our weapon. Fuck.
Imagine winning by 70+ points against a (previously) top tier nation and all anyone is talking about his what a fluffybunny your hero is.
@Catogrande said in Ashes 2025/6:
I'm not sure if on catch up I caught the highlights or the whole match!. In such low scoring match, it only takes one good innings to decide who wins and who loses and naturally that will be decided in pretty short time. So hats off to Travis Head, a great, match winning knock.
But it was not all one way traffic. Let's not forget that Aus were rolled for the lowest total in the match. For sure it is advantage Aus but I have a feeling England will not be quite so despondent as some of us fans are.
As regards England's (overly) aggressive strategy with the bat (I refuse to use that word), I really think it just needs some fine tuning. In the past we were so negative, timid even. It was like we were playing for a draw from the first ball sometimes, so I welcome the approach and I also welcome the backing for the players that are adopting that approach. You can't say "go out and play" in such and such a manner and then get shitcanned for getting out doing so. So, something of a reset. Yes let's continue to be aggressive but at the right times.
Then maybe we get a contest.
I think anyone claiming this is the perfect version of Bazball probably hasn't watched much of England in the last year, they've definitely tempered the 'throw the bat at everything' approach in the last 12 months, this test was more of an aberration. I still think we'll lose the series but this team have proven me wrong more times than I care to admit by bouncing back in series.
I go into the next test worried about the batting line up, worried that the bowling attack will break down or drop off in pace v quickly, worried about the style of cricket. So in many ways, the same as I usually feel watching England. Would love to see us turn them over, don't think it will happen but can't entirely give up the hope that this team has earned. Bastards
4 from 4 this autumn, I’ll take that. Haven’t seen the game but was listening to it on the radio, genuinely the worst radio coverage I’ve ever heard, no idea where the ball was on the field or who had it most of the time. Just inane comments about how people feel.
This is going to be a long series of short matches. Glad they didn’t bother playing any proper warm up matches. Shameful
well i woke up and England were already all out, which was a pretty depressing start to the day, so at 10am, i'll take that as a first day's cricket. Just goes to show what a wicket with a bit in it can deliver and how hard it is to bat against top class fast bowling on it.
Archer, Wood, Carse and Atkinson were brilliant, and Stokes gets 5. Madness
Jesus, still 17 overs to go in the day, England could be all out twice!
Think SA are the best side in the world, think Ireland are on a slide from their peak, think therefore SA should win. But i have a funny feeling about this one and think Ireland might just get up and win
As a Pom, its difficult to ever see Aus test team as anything other than an unstoppable force, particularly in Australia. I have basically consistently under estimated this England team under Stokes and Mac - I am still going to be watching through my fingers, I still expect it to be 4-0 or 5-0. But there's no doubt that this is our best chance to do something special for the first time in 14 years. Winning probably beyond them, but being competitive is a genuine possibility, will depend a lot on the fitness of our first choice bowlers.
Apparently Stokes would be only the third English skipper ever to regain the Ashes in Australia - that would be some achievement.
yep, she was incredible, plus creates so much space for her goal attack. She definitely likes to put herself about a bit though, some of the contact calls against the England GK / GD should defo have gone the other way! Not complaining though. Also have to credit the accuracy of balls into the circle to her.
England were better than I expected them to be, particularly through centre court, just couldn't get it done in the last 15 mins of the 3rd match - they looked exhausted tbh.
Oh and since i'm a man posting on a rugby forum about netball, i think its only fair that I mention that Housby is still hot af
@pakman said in England v All Blacks:
@pakman said in England v All Blacks:
@Mauss said in England Vs All Blacks:
I thought the Dingwall try was actually quite symbolic for some of the deeper-lying issues within this team. It shows that the players don’t trust each other and that the opposition is generally smarter than them.
It is honestly an embarrassingly easy score for England: Mitchell throws the long pass to Lawrence, taking out both Taylor and Lakai from the defensive picture. It leaves England and the ABs with a two-on-two: Lawrence and Dingwall against Carter and Tupaea.
There is really no reason for Tupaea to bite in here, unless he doesn’t trust Carter to make the tackle on Lawrence. And that takes us all the way back to the try in the first half, where Carter gets flattened by the English centre. Tupaea gets a flashback, wants to put in a double shot, and then it’s just easy hands at the line for Lawrence. Proctor is far back because he’s covering the English attackers hidden in the boot; he’s trusting his teammates to execute the defensive 2-on-2.
It's smart from England but it is painfully naïve from an AB perspective. Big, individual errors, like Leroy Carter’s in the first half, are a mental challenge for a team. If you’re a good side, you immediately put it behind you and start again. If you’re mentally fragile, it becomes like a domino-effect, influencing your every move and decision from that moment onwards.
After the England Test, I think it’s pretty clear what kind of team these ABs are.
Fragile and lacking composure.
That happened right in front of where I was sitting.
Strikes me positioning of Carter was a bit close to end of lineout. He and Tupaea being another metre wider and Dingwall gap would have been
much narrower.Dingwall has revealed that a lineout or two before this cock up he and Lawrence had noted a flaw in the AB alignment. They swapped possies to allow Lawrence to run a hard line with Dingwall coming close for the short offload.
if that is true, and they came up with it on the field, it must be the first time in years that England have played heads up rugby where the players have taken responsibility. It also suggests that these two might make a decent centre combo. I'm a bit shocked. I hope that's Blackett's influence
