The Silver Fern

This by the Hurricanes is a fucking disgrace

Bunch of whiny bitches, happy the Crusaders won

Add the grubby antics of their captain & the Canes are a hard team to like

How's stat?!

Andy Zaltzman

Test Match Special statistician

It is the first time in all international cricket, men's and women's, that the top three have all been out for one.

@Crucial said in QF1: Crusaders v Highlanders:

@Chris said in QF1: Crusaders v Highlanders:

@Crucial Yep Shaking at the knees at that prospect

Typical arrogant kiwi!

Kiwis rugby fans being arrogant is like a Pope being Catholic or Bears shitting in Woods

I mean the mighty Waikato Chiefs who "check notes" have a NEGATIVE points differential & won 7 games this season

They're just going to roll into Buenos Aires and win

They are on a massive 3 game winning streak

Includes beating the excellent Reds and amazing Rebels + a game play in a Suva sauna

@nzzp said in 2019 Rugby Championship:

@taniwharugby said in 2019 Rugby Championship:

so, Crotty out for upto 8 weeks, Scott Barrett upto 6...both with breaks in thier hands.

Changes things.

@Jaguares4real will be bullish now

Made a massive difference when they went off

Damn Right I am

Crotty is the general of the Saders backline Goodhue at 12 is a likely weak point for Saders

Goodhue got exposed a few times in Defence last week, lacks top end speed

Romano will replace Barrett adequately

Jaguares will be vulnerable in 1st half especially on 1st game on tour

Lions scored 40 pt in 1st 50 mins in Jo'burg

Landers had a 13 pt lead at half time in Dunedin

IF Jaguares start well then will finish well

Jaguares have 2nd best Points Differential this season in SR in 2nd half of matches

@taniwharugby

Progress has been made but more needs to be done

Ledesma & Quesada have & will continue to make a huge difference to Argentinian Rugby

This year will be a good marker for Los Pumas

Long term they'll be in good health as Kiwis & SA will be decimated with key personal playing in Europe & Japan

Jaguares have shown the way - in their last 22 regular season games they've beaten:

Sharks three times
Bulls three times
Stormers twice
Brumbies twice
Rebels
Waratahs
Chiefs
Blues
Hurricanes

and with a chance to beat Reds & Sunwolves within next 3 weeks

That leaves Crusaders Lions & Higlanders- 5 pt loss in Dunedin

That's an impressive list of victories once Jaguares got some competent coaching in their systems

@Chris-B

Indeed

NZ and SA sides are being hollowed out

Highlanders have no depth in back row & outside backs in 2020 for example

Super Rugby in 2020 will be a very open competition

Long term I cam see Crusaders & Jagaures being the best teams as they can retain their experienced players & keep adding young talent every year

With a round robin stage + more games vs AUS & NZ sides Jaguares enjoy playing against they'll continue to impress

SA sides have packs that can bludgeon & stifle Jaguares

@Smudge

I'd think being found guilty of wife ashing in a court would be TERRIBLE

Missing out on a pro contract paying better coin wold be TERRIBLE

Having the incidence reported ad nausiem would be TERRIBLE

I'm no fan of reactionaries and puritans

He committed a crime and was dealt with at the time

As far as I'm concerned he is forgiven and life goes on

@Mokey said in Bledisloe #1:

@booboo If we play like this at the WC we'll be lucky to make it out of our group.

Steady on

You have Italy as the 3rd best team in your Pool

Italians are a Tier 2 side

There is more chance of pigs flying than Italians beating ABs

@nzzp

It was Cueto

ENG had an easy route to the Final

AUS were a decent side but their Tight 5 were as soft as baby shit & England exposed it badly

French were emotionally & physically spent from their QF victory vs [redacted] in [redacted] A game refereed by [redacted]

Boks were by far best side in 2007 RWC I would have backed them to beat any team in the Comp

@Tim said in Bledisloe #1:

@Steven-Harris My contention is that Hansen has handled him wrong, as Graham Henry pointed out. The same way Hansen f*cked up with Steven Luatua - a better player than any of the bums available now.

Luatua was fucked over

Guy has been carving it up for Bristol in English Prem

He would walk into ABs #6 shirt today
He's a much better player than Teddy Bear Fifita, Frizell and Squire

Piatau as well would do a good job at wing
I'd take him over Bridge and Reece for sure

@Stargazer said in QF 3: Jaguares v Chiefs:

@Hooroo Yeah, I think the Chiefs have a good chance of winning their QF, although the Jaguares are a different beast than early in the season and better than previous years. It won't be easy.

Chiefs will be 7 pt underdogs in Buenos Aires

Jaguares have been the best team in Super Rugby the last 10 weeks

9 wins & a bunch of teams dispatched with ease

Their last meeting is meaningless due to the state of each team:

Jaguares were 14th after that loss

Struggling with new head coach and 1st fives

Jaguares will be happy to play Chiefs who travel to BA on a short week

World U20 final is this Saturday hence QF was pushed back by 24 hours

Chiefs have their best squad healthy minus DMac

If Jaguares play to their maximum they'll be too good for Chiefs to handle

They were able to rest Creavy Lavanini Matera Cubelli Diaz Bonilla de la Fuente + Boffelli last week vs Sunwolves

Buenos Aires crowd is going to be wild

@taniwharugby said in QF 3: Jaguares v Chiefs:

Based on the pre-match talking up by that Jag fan, Chiefs musta played outta thier skins to be so close...

Seriously though, well done Jags, also kept my multi alive.

Bummer for the Brumbies having to get on that big bird to BA.

Jaguares were okay in the game but did enough to win & deserved to win

Chiefs were nullified in the 2nd half minus a good 5 min spell near Jagaures goaline

This was why I was so confident they would win

Jaguares have 2nd best Points differential in the 2nd half in Super Rugby
Today they won 13-7 in 2nd half

Chiefs apart from their scrums and set piece attacks off them were really poor overall

In general play they struggled to challenge Jaguares D

I counted FOURTEEN handling errors from Chiefs

Most of them forced by line speed in defence Most unlike a NZ side

Still game was in doubt for a while

Chiefs best players were their Back 3 and Debrizieni

You can;t win knockout games like that

Finally Jaguares crowd was

Posted without Comment:

Sam Cane said:

"The team that defended the best tonight won, and that was Jaguares. I thought their defense was outstanding. We made more mistakes, and it was due to that pressure."

"They attacked the breakdown very well, we struggled to get any quick ball, and because of that their defense was set and they just kept coming at us."

"They thoroughly deserved the win, they came here to play. The style of rugby they played tonight I think it will bode very well for them, hopefully for the next 2 weeks."

@rotated said in TRC: The All Blacks against the Springboks (version 98):

@Bones said in TRC: The All Blacks against the Springboks (version 98):

Geez I'm with @Stargazer people really do underestimate Todd. He's a quality performer.

Todd is fine. If Todd is head and shoulders the best loosie in your pack then you have a problem.

That's horse shit

Todd is unlucky that he's behind the two best openside flankers in World Rugby He starts for any other Tier 1 Nation

He was Crusaders best player in SR Final Ducking pest at the breakdown and did well to disrupt Jaguares attack

@Chris

You're mistaken
I'm not excited more intrigued by sudden decline in ABs skill levels overall especially amongst their backline

2019 RWC is a different beast to last 2 Comps when ABs were the best side by far TBH there were no serious challengers

If ABs are not at their best they will lose

@Bones

I stand by the words

I say what I mean and I mean what I say

Chiefs fans are getting ahead of themselves if they really think

they're on a comparable level to Hurricanes & Crusaders

Rebel were a fucking disgrace last weekend

Jaguares can actually kick the pill

@Chris

Amen to that

Crusaders are the gold standard

NE Patriots of rugby world DOMINANT for 20 years

Jaguares have the best ingredients to replicate the success of Saders

Batch of young players being developed and having the chance to start
with pathways in place from U20 onwards

Culture

Kids are very passionate about playing for ARG

Looking at U20 side vs French they were ready to fight from 1st minute....

As well players will want to stay locally Buenos Aires is a great place

European & Japanese clubs not as inclined to sign ARG players so more stay in the country proportionally

COACHING

This is the most overlooked side of Jaguares revival

Ledesma last year set the wheels in motion BUT Quesada has taken it to another level

He's on a similar level to Plumtree and Razor Robinson in coaching acumen

What a surprise that 3 best coaches in SR have 3 teams with best records this season Honourable mention for Brumbies as well

The greatest complement I can say it that Jaguares play like a New Zealand Super Rugby team

Kicking game is elite - avg most kicks per game in SR this year

Counter attacking game is deadly You don't want to sloppy in D with Cancilliere and Boffelli on the loose

Physicality in Defence and willingness to concede penalties

Chiefs and NZ fans/media don't realise the buzzsaw they're likely to run into in Buenos Aires this weekend

@pakman

Ofa T is a good all round player but at scrum time he got folded like a tent twice by Trevor Nyakane

I would worry big time for Ofa T against European scrums especially if he play LH prop

TBH only AB prop I'd have full confidence in going into RWC is Franks against European sides