M
Reasons I hate the Irish
O'Mahony and Sexton are whiney mouthy cockheads
The fucking carry on after every little thing that goes their way
Zombies is the worst song of the 90s
BOD and his victimhood
James Lowe - Chiefs (53 caps)
Jamison Gibson-Park (Hurricanes 13 caps, Blues 30 caps)
Bundee Aki - Chiefs (25 caps)
Mack Hansen - Brumbies (21 caps)
Obstruction
Ruck shenanigans
Farrell is a low breed league player and Owen's dads
I hope we destroy another set of Irish dreams
Problems persist everywhere, and i believe the thing that damns this coaching group is their nailed-on selections are huge problems.
Jordan is not a fullbacks asshole. All our best fullbacks have been at their best when they can bring other players in to the game. Mils was a genius at linking up with his wingers. Ben Smith made constant smart decisions creating for others. Jordan can't pass for shit, has no vision outside is admittedly freakish ability go be where needed. Doesn't exactly kick well either. Should go back to the wing, and a real fullback found.
Wingers? We are churning through them, none are setting the world on fire. But in their defense, do we do anything to create them opportunities to shine? The structure also appears to have them glued to touchlines waiting for the ball rather than turning up in unexpected areas to create mismatches.
The midfield continues to be a mess. Proctor has been given the whole year and has done nothing with it. Jordie is nailed in to the 12 shirt, and appears to run our attack, which is an issue because he has a terrible passing game. In fact all his highlights this year are admittedly amazing scramble defense plays. QT looks good but is prone to a terrible defensive read. Calls for Leicester to come in to the midfield, but if is going to carry the ball like that looking for offloads no thank you. Again, these guys are victims of an attacking structure that does not appear to be set up to make the most of them.
The issues at 10 have been done to death. Another Barrett is nailed in to the jersey despite a complete inability to kick well, pass well, engage defenders, run the team, or even defend well (a lowlight reel of bad Barrett covering tackle attempts in conceded tries would be funny to watch).
Halfback, Roigard has become our best player despite being ponderous getting the ball out. Has to kick because the 10 and 15 can't do it for shit. At least takes the game on.
The loose forwards do my head in. Led by the enigmatic, "close to best player in the world" Ardie Savea who flat out refuses to do the required shit work, and can not put a shot on to save his life. Lakai tries his guts out but is shoehorned in to a role he is ill-suited to. The 6 jersey continues to be empty. Sititi is far too much like Savea and Lakai. They are a weird mix of great athletes who are not a menace to other teams ball, aren't big enough to dominate collisions on either side of the ball, and do not generate quick ball for us. The traditional strength of NZ rugby has become our weakness.
Lock is fucking good except the guy with the worst form of all of them (and if we are real for a minute, even at his peak Scott had a limited ceiling) is the fucking captain and has to play.
Props? Our scrum has been no more than ok all year. They can't carry for shit. And for some fucking reason, we are using them as ball players?? Personnel are there i think, but the use?
Cody T has had yet another great year, Sami T has not, but he gets fuck all rugby and yet we expect him to just come on and carve on 10-15 minutes a fortnight??
Not only are the selections fucked, but what we do on the field is fucking terrible as well. Look at how England defended on the weekend, sprinting forward off the line, hard accurate tackling. We sit on our fucking heels and make soaking tackles. And even then we miss them. England went through us and around us with relative ease on the weekend. They are not alone this year. Even in the tests they lost, Australia made us look stupid on several occassions.
With the ball we play meaningless phase after meaningless phase. There is no intent in the carry. Slow ball, static ball carriers, out the back pass, wide pass. All eaten up by line speed and an easy drift. Then we kick it away, generally too deep because we are not accurate. We kick an enormous amount of ball away with no real intent other than getting as far from our try line as possible.
The final damning thing for this coaching group is, I could have written this post 12 months ago. We are not growing, we are not fixing problems. Yes selections are changing, mainly through injury, and on the fringes (oh we'll change the winger and a blindside). The core problems are locked in.
Fuck these guys
you know what, that's the most positive thing i have seen out of this coaching group yet. This isn't working, lets try something else. Nice and quick too.
@Winger said in Bledisloe 1:
@antipodean said in Bledisloe 1:
@Daffy-Jaffy said in Bledisloe 1:
That level of whinging is undignified. All involved should be ashamed to have participated in that.
If it was in reverse unsure how I would feel. I think more inclined to blame the player for just ignoring the ref's warning
i know exactly how this would have gone had Mo'unga been the guilty party
The Cantabs would have been piling in to Raynal hard out
The Auckland guys would have been piling in to Mo'unga
Half of everyone else would have blamed Foster. The other half would have blamed a Ioane brother.
look, i don't want to jump off the deep end here
lol who am i kidding, yeah i do
what in teh actual fuck? Between Razor dead keen on eroding the very fabric of the game, to the NZRU being hell bent on removing opportunities for NZ AB fans to see them play by taking AB games away from NZ, it looks very much like too many people at HQ no longer see the ABs as the team of the people of NZ, they are just another commercial franchise.
haven't read the thread but i bet it's spittle-flecked and angry. Seriously if you didn't find that fun you need some joy in your lives
When there is a bit of chaos, rugby is the best sport on the planet. Give me the carnage of last night over a robotic chess game any day. Cracking tries. Card drama. ref drama. some incredible pieces of individual skill on both sides of the ball. An after-the-hooter try to win. fuck what more do you want??
Firstly i would like to at the same time apologise, congratulate, and commiserate with the Wallabies. I didn't think that team was capable of that result. They were fucking excellent. Down 10-zip in the same number of minutes, they rallied straight away. They scored some incredible tries. Their loose forwards were beasts and just smashed ours. That was as one-sided a battle as you will see. Foley played a bit of a blinder really. Outside backs were a handful. A great performance cruelly not rewarded by a strange (but probably correct i guess?) call. You throw a couple of their missing pieces in to that team and they are going along not too bad are they?
For us Sami T was a fucking beast. In to everything, running like a train. Huge game. So glad he didn't get towed early. Our veteran locks were bloody good too, probably the next cabs off the rank for AB MoTM voting. Jordan seemed to find that spark again as well. Lots of stuff to fizz about in Black.
Enormous fun game. I am going to have to put up with a shit ton of whinging about the ref over here for a few days. And you know what? I reckon i'll let 'em. We won, and it was really harsh. So it's pretty easy to be magnanimous about it
A great Thursday night's TV
It's a fucking world cup semi final
Play the top team and hope we are in a position to give guys an early mark
Every single All Black forward should be able to take every single All Black back out the back of the stadium and beat them with sticks.
The forwards were under the pump early but righted the ship and took over and the backs repeatedly fucked everyone else. Knock ons, shit options, penalties, turnovers, missed kicks, dog shit.
Sam Cane is a fucking test match warrior, and th3 slander on his name from salty Blues fans needs a written fucking apology. Who hits fluffybunnies and stops them? Who gets breakdown turnovers and pressure? Who gets his old legs in to wide channels? The warrior.
Taylor my MotM, just a massive game. Starting props remarkable to sort the scrum and dominate around the track. Barrett much better this week but that knock on was terrible. Vaai more passive in contact but good on the floor and the air.
Good start with ball in hand for Sititi. Same old shit from Savea.
It was an ugly game full of errors and aimless play. South Africa are not yet comfortable in their new game plan. Willy Le Roux is the worst top level regular test player in the world.
TJP needs to shut his fucking hole. Learn a lesson.
Fuck the backs
What has become apparent (well, what has been rammed home really) in the past 10 days is that rugby has allowed itself to become a sport where the refereeing panel are no longer just there to facilitate the game and allow it to happen, but have become nearly the most important people on the pitch (or box). Rugby is no longer about 30 players, it is about 30 players, and 4 officials whose remit has become sanctioning every single act on the field to its fullest extent.
The term rugby accident no longer has any meaning. Angus Ta'avao got his face caved in and got a red card. LF was in the air and got a yellow. In the England v Australia game two attempted intercepts got two players binned. Papali'i got penalised for a perfect cleanout because the touchie thought something else happened and had to get on the pitch.
Rugby is obsessed with getting people off the pitch. In a game defined by the fact it is a constant contest, players are sent from the field for contesting. Cards are flying thick and fast. AWJ got carded for absolutely nothing but suspicion on the weekend. How is that in any way acceptable?
And i absolutely do not blame the referees even one bit. This comes down to the lawmakers, their guidelines, and the instructions given to their referees. This is the game World Rugby want. Every controversial incident is met with a new, far stricter than required guideline in case it happens again. And that guidelines normally involves another player off the pitch. Professional Rugby is, above all else, a form of entertainment, and yet here we have a governing body obsessed with actively degrading their product, to appease who?
And yet, for some, they do not go far enough. Look at the chat in rugby media after every test. "this is a disgrace, there should have been more cards!! that card wasn't harsh enough, it should have been red!" every single fucking week. Pre-game the focus is on the ref, and what they should look at. Post-game the focus is on the ref, and what they misses, and who else should have been sent from the field.
I have heard more about Jaco in the press than the fucking players over the past couple of days. In what world is that the best outcome?
Long time fans are becoming more and more disillusioned. Casual fans are turning it off. And the response will probably e another crack down and more cards. Awesome.
@Machpants said in World Rugby chairman election:
Ugh nothing like a bit of corruption and nepotism to really help stink the place up
is there any role Cliff Curtis can't play?
Congratulations @Frank on the nuffiest thread in Fern history
Wrong opposition. Wrong players.
It's absolute peak nuffie. Top ferning
Everyone relax. Stuart Barnes thinks we're in trouble. Pretty much every time this sour, misguided midget predicts our downfall we romp home.
there isn't anything much more overrated in the world of rugby now than the "bomb squad"
Essentially a couple of props, one who is as wide as he is tall, that get to play 35 minutes. And a good lock. They are good at scrums and fuck all else. If Barnes is on to the saffers trying to play NFL, they'll be blowing their ring pieces out after 10 minutes, and then they have to tackle Sami T and young Williams. Good fucking luck. And in case no one noticed, we have a fairly decent lock on the bench as well.
Against us those forwards are going to have to do more than push in scrums and mill around the halfway mark watching kicks go both ways over their heads. Their starting props have been under pressure all tournament. Their veteran #8 is starting to look old in the legs. They've brought back headless Faf to start.
We'll be out of sight before the bench even comes on.
Welcome back Bart
Try this little known website called grindr. I reckon lions fans will be all over it
@gt12 said in Argentina Two: Newcastle, 28 November:
Scott Barrett (39)
fuck off
@gt12 said in Argentina Two: Newcastle, 28 November:
Ardie Savea (48)
fuck off
@gt12 said in Argentina Two: Newcastle, 28 November:
Jordie Barrett (22)
fuck off
@gt12 said in Argentina Two: Newcastle, 28 November:
TJ Perenara (68)
fuck off
As New Zealand and Australia get set to do battle on the sporting field once again, this time in the Bledisloe Cup, the one-time pinnacle of International Rugby, i think it is only fair that we, as kiwi fans, take a moment to spare a thought for our Australasian cousins. The realists among them are starting to come to terms with the reality that their star has faded, and they are no longer the sporting superpower they once were.
Around the turn of the century, Australia could lay claim to being the best all-round sporting nation on the planet. Not a huge population, they still managed to excel in a number of discipines:
Tennis: Their two best players in Hewitt and Rafter spent time at #1, and won multiple Grand Slams. The Woodies, particularly Woodbridge, could lay claim to being the best doubles players ever. It was a golden time
Cricket: Undisputed kings of all forms, unbeatable at home, nigh unbeatable away, with a host of all-time greats; and in the discussion as the greatest cricket side of all time
The Olympics: Sydney was a triumph of an event, with the home nation taking home 58 medals, including 16 gold. THis flowed in to 2004, where they took their tallies even higher, across a huge number of sports
Motor Cycling: Mick Doohan was coming off 5 straight MotoGP championships, while Troys Corser and Bayliss were winning Superbike titles repeatedly
The Socceroos were assembling their greatest ever side that would eventually get out of the Group Stage of the World Cup, including such luminaries as Cahill, Kewell, Schwarzer, Viduka, Aloisi, Bresciano
And of course rugby. 3 super sides were always at the pointy end. The Reds topped the table in '99, The Brumbies were tussling with the Crusaders for the claim to be the best team in the comp. And this flowed to the Wallabies. '99 World Cup. 01 Lions. Multiple wins over the All Blacks, legit claim to be the best team in the world.
And this isn't an exhaustive list, their league team was more dominant, it seemed no matter what they played, they won. A true golden age.
Compare and contrast with today
In tennis, their two best players are a couple of douchebags universally reviled by their own fans, who can't even be fucked playing at Wimbledon
The cricket side has slipped to 4th in the world records, and closer to little old NZ than the top of the table. Series losses home and away are now the norm, rather than a cause for shock. Players were on strike a week ago because they couldn't afford to buy a 2nd Italian sports car
In the Olympics, Australia's plummet down the medal table has been stark. Medal totals have halved, and again, they are closer to little old NZ than the top of the table.
Do they still ride Motor Bikes? Daniel Riccardo seems like a bit of a dude in F1, but hardly in a position to actually win anything.
The Socceroos are in a fight to qualify for the next World Cup, despite playing a bunch of impoverished nations.
And of course the rugby. Super teams winless against NZ opposition. One team fighting their death in Court. The Wallabies are unable to bank a win at home against Scotland any more. Grass roots on it's knees. A bad Bledisloe series, and the public could switch off, for good this time.
So, dear All Black fans, while you are having your pints this weekend, celebrating the return of test match rugby, and the opening of the once-revered South Hemisphere competition, take a second and commiserate with our trans- Ta$man cousins. They are going through a tough time of it, it's never easy getting used to a new reality.
Well done Ireland that was awesome. I loved watching you play. Hard, physical, inventive. Absolutely dominant everywhere except the scoreboard which flattered us all day. The constant ball in motion was confusing the AB defence all day, and your breakdown work was friggen excellent. A deserved dominant win built on good work both sides of the ball.
As for the ABS, fucking LOL. Talk about hammered boy. Picking an entire side of guys who can't make a dominant tackle, or get over the gain line, or be physical at the breakdown is certainly one way to play. Was the plan to confuse them by letting them have too much ball? We could not stop them doing what they wanted. Conversely when we had the ball we could do shit because we couldn't get past the gain line
So we kicked it, poorly. Over and over again. Because that's all that Ireland gave us.
Scored a couple of really pretty tries though. Jordan's a fucking star. The first was a hilarious piece of defence we ruthlessly exploited. The 2nd came out of absolute nothing.
The loose forwards were shit. They should be embarrassed the only guy who put a hit on was fucking TJP. Savea is just a non-entity in a game like this. Just a waste of space. The other two tried but just didn't have the ability.
This is humbling and shows exactly where we are. Which is nowhere.
@SBW1 said in All Blacks 2023:
My feeling is that Razor will try to change eligibilty rules and get someone like Richie back for the All Blacks if that is the case he could indeed go on to be a great in the 10 jersey. The island nations will be stronger not only in this World Cup, also in the future.
I hate everything about this post
No to change the rules.
And no to players just moving to play for other nations just because they've taken the cash elsewhere
@Kiwiwomble France crashing our really took away my emotional fallback option.
We're the only thing standing in the way of the forces of darkness
