The Silver Fern

Dmac , despite his haters , starting to look the goods as an impact weapon

@mariner4life said in Tuivasa-Sheck:

If he switched he would be the AB right wing instantly

Not tall or slow enough

This underdog shit is not so bad aye ?

My view on the whole thing is a bit more simplistic,

I think the margins between the top 4 sides are tiny, you could replay the quarter final the next week and get a different result and replay the final and get a different result next time around .

But as always, winning papers over the cracks and losing over emphasis them.

I think we missed a golden opportunity to look at dmac as first receiver against against a very good defensive side like the boks .

Even if it’s off the bench with 20 to go

funny interview with Mrs Ioane today with Veitch ,

She met a lions supporter who was sleeping in his van outside ponsonby rugby club ,

Took him home for a feed , made him a bed on a matress on the lounge room floor , told him to make himself at home ,

Sons come home an hour later ( both still live at home and share the same bedroom since they were kids ) introduces her sons Reiko and Akira

Guy had no idea , could not believe it

@Machpants it’s funny listening to the nh analysis,

Listening to Stuart Barnes before the game , Barrett should be playing 10 but they can’t trust his goal kicking, so mounga has been brought into the side. That is a weakness.

They have no idea.

Jordies defence in midfield is great

With afl finals in Melbourne, nrl in Sydney, no one appears to give a fuck here . That’s the biggest concern , the wallabies could die completely and no one seems to care , its a bigger story in Nz .

Not a prediction, more a gut feel,

Boks leave with a 1-1 result, and the abs play out of their skins and win a close one this week with all the hype , then back up poorly and lose in Wellington . Just feels like the way this team rolls .

@mariner4life said in Does Rugby have a Superstar?:

Oh to be so good looking that Dan is seen as normal

Met a pommy bird in a bar about 13 years ago in thailand and when she found out im from nz she went on to tell me a story,

A girl at her work used to brag she is good friends with an All Black and would introduce her , she was all excited visualising a Dan Carter type,

When she got to meet him she was a bit disappointed and underwhelmed,

I asked do you know his name ? she said Anton Oliver

@ACT-Crusader said in All Blacks vs Scotland:

@dogmeat said in All Blacks vs Scotland:

Taylor and Stanley had played ONE test together prior to the 87 WC

95 Lomu Kronfeld Mehts and Osborne had 5 tests between them

2011 On top of the injury issues at 10 the back 3 practically got introduced on the way to Eden Park for the first test.

they are 3 of our 4 most successful WC's 2015 is the outlier.

Sure it's nice to have a setlled experience team with viable back-up options across the fiels, but it hardly ever happens.

Another example for 2011 is halfback. If you look at 2010 it was clear that Jimmy Cowan was the first choice starting halfback starting 9 matches including Wales x3, Ireland, Boks x2, Oz x2. In 2010 Weepu came off the bench in 6 matches and started 3. He hadn’t started a test match since 2008 EOYT before he got the start in 2010 Welly test vs the Boks.

Come 2011 prior to the RWC, Cowan starts tests vs Fiji Boks x2, but they give the two Bledisloe starts to Weepu.

RWC rolls on and Cowan starts the first match against Tonga. We have Weepu on the bench in the second match (vs Japan) as a reserve 1st 5 (Ellis started and Cowan was the reserve halfback). Match 3 is France our most important pool match and Henry goes to Weepu (with Ellis as reserve). Final pool match vs Canada and he starts Cowan with Ellis as the reserve. Weepu is selected as reserve 1st 5.

QF vs Argies - starts Weepu with Cowan as reserve. By this time Cruden has joined the squad and into the team.

SF vs Boks - starts Weepu with Ellis as reserve. By this time Beaver has joined the squad and is named in the 22 but doesn’t play.

Final vs France - starts Weepu with Ellis as reserve.

So a long winded way to say - given how it played out in the RWC with our halfback position, what happened the year prior had very little bearing IMO. The critical thing was that Weepu had experience and was called on in 2011 despite up and down form and fitness in 2010.

Thought Andy Ellis was fantastic closing out that final too, Beaver got all the plaudits , but Ellis calmness in difficult circumstances probably doesnt get the credit it deserves , you just never know who you may need to rely on .

A good old fern meltdown,

I picked a good time to wander back in

I suspect end of the day we will be judged on how we play, as per normal

@Kirwan said in All Blacks v England:

@Catogrande said in All Blacks v England:

@Nevorian said in All Blacks v England:

Thing that annoyed me most was that up to the 70th minute I was content in knowing we were going to show Twickenham what happens when you disrespect the haka

Tell that to Campese!

Seriously though, I have heard of several ways in which it is respectful to address the Haka and it keeps changing. Is there a definitive response? Is it indeed necessary for this to be "respected" or are some Kiwis just a bit too precious about it?

Do what you like, it's your stadium. I thought it sounded cool having the english crowd singing. Only response I wouldn't like is booing, that would be a bit much.

Yeah I’m the same , don’t see why other countries are supposed to put the haka on a pedestal and just sit there and shut up . I have no problem with them doing their own form of song that gives them a feeling of patriotism while it’s happening like the haka does for us , all adds to the us against them vibe for me

@nzzp said in All Blacks 2025:

@canefan said in All Blacks 2025:

@Duluth said in All Blacks 2025:

@canefan said in All Blacks 2025:

Razor must be a bit slow

I think he'll raise it again in the next 6 months

With or without stellar play from DMac

DMac is so much better than Barrett at 10 right now it's not funny. How Beaudy is the AB starting 10 I have no idea.

There is an accepted narrative out there that beaudy is experienced and calm, and dmac is erratic ,

once people form opinions it takes a lot of convincing to change their minds

I’ve stayed out of the ref stuff until now but I think the confusing part for me is the different extremes they go to at times ,

In the wc final they go back a zillion phases to look at a slight knock on in the lead up to a try, and then here they don’t even look at a knock on in the act of scoring it.

@booboo said in All Blacks 2025:

And we thought 4th 1st five eighth was pushing it ...

I see similarities between Christie and Beaver , a couple of maligned players , knocked for their skill level but I think it’s fair to say if we look for positives don’t lack ticker physically.

@Bovidae said in All Blacks vs Wallabies Bledisloe I:

@game_film said in All Blacks vs Wallabies Bledisloe I:

some idiot has decided to put it on the same time as the AFL grand final.

That's irrelevant to a NZ audience.

Some idiot has decided to play the Perth test at 10:45 pm NZT.

My neighbour who I get on with said yesterday I’m having people over for the grand final , you coming .

I said love to mate but the Allblacks are playing at the same time and my team isn’t in the grand final ,

He looked confused and said , But it’s the grand final ,

But I’m still a kiwi . Priorities

Remember the fun days when we used to completely bury teams in the last quarter

This thread is starting to resemble the good old days around AB selection time ,

All we need is Toeava to make himself available .