The Silver Fern

@sparky said in Scotland v All Blacks:

I thought at half time that finally we were going to get a statement performance under Robertson.

This was an opportunity to play our own game, against a team that was going to let us do that.

At half time this should have gone 50/50 at worst. Like a final score of 40 to 20; as the Scots regained some parity.
Instead the Scots won the second half easily.
So much for playing our own game, and making a statement performance.

Finished well though, always like that.
Showing a bit of mental strength, for the seond week in row.

@hikastags

Rassie is so much smarter than our guy.
Probably a better surfer too.

@MiketheSnow

THEY ALWAYS F'N COCK IT UP!

@NTA

Haha
Dont forget . . . as a dud team, NZ only plays good teams . . . so any records they have are much more impressive than those of the good teams.
Imagine what records Hadlee would have had if he could have played against dud NZ

@Chris-B
75 water polo test
we were in white
the french blue is much darker now than it used to be

@No-Quarter said in Scotland v All Blacks:

we should be picking big blokes to smack them around

This is probably the first team we've played far a while which doesn't really have any players that can smack us around.

They have been selecting horses for courses to a certain extent.
But, this time, with the players available, they are selecting the type of team they want.
I think they are using this opportunity to try and implement their preferred style of play, and use the players that best suit that style, without regard to the opposition.

I think Scotland want to play in a similar way, so this could be a fun game.
But, they have been at it two years now, so if it doesn't happen in this game, it's never guna happen.
And they can fuck that game plan right off, and go back to the drawing board.

I watch a lot of rugby league.
They have similar issues, but the officiating operates in a different manner.

Nelson Asofa-Solomona just about made himself unemployable for a series of similar tackles to the one on the weekend.
I dont think he was actually sent off this year, but sin binned and reported several times.

Referee just penalised and/or binned him for each incident, reporting him to the review panel each time.
Each game as a spectacle was not overly affected.
The incident went under the microscope at the review, and suspension followed.
That is a more practical way of officiating.

The individual player was unable to adjust his technique, and put himself out on the street.

And there is no interweb thread discussing the inconsistent officiating of red cards.

@gt12

A highly trained game officiator thought the exact opposite.
And another officiating expert agrees with Paul.

Just another in a long line of fuckin' embarrassments for WR (last two RWCs decided by RCs) which should lead to meaningful changes.
But probably wont.
Thought we left the amateurish BS behind 30 years ago.

And this occured in a match between the 2nd and 3rd ranked teams in the world, in a game that was meant to showcase the sport in the largest sports market in the world.

@Old-Samurai-Jack said in Scotland Vs All Blacks, 8th November 2025:

Nah, Scots don't have a big physical forward pack, it is a fast team so these loosies make sense for this game.

Yeah, wont be decisive in this game.
Might actually be a good opportunity to see if they can get their "game plan" to work.
Assuming that it is of the high-tempo variety; having a light mobile LF quartette will assist.

@MiketheSnow said in England A v All Blacks XV:

Has always been thus in Wales

Good to see someone has fessed up to being the source of the dumbness.

@NTA
F'n dumb.
I can remember when the full-back was No. 1.
But the No. 8 has always been the No. 8, and that is why we call him . . . the "No. 8"

@MN5 said in Scotland Vs All Blacks, 8th November 2025:

Apparently Brad Thorn was bloody good at this facet of the game

He was.
And I saw a comment he made that rugby league players had no conception of the amount of power that was generated in a rugby union scrum.

Top 14 clubs make the tighthead lock distinction, and they get paid more.

Anthony Seibold

Watched an interview a few weeks ago.
Andrew Seibold.
He was commenting on a trip to Christchurch. Not sure why he was there; but we can easily guess.
He thought he would be completely anonymous.
But he was blown away by people recognising him in the street, and wanting to have a chat.
Who'd of thought, Christchurch, rugby league heartland . . . well . . . maybe not yet.

@nonpartizan

I do find it fascinating.
Initially it did insulate rugby union a little when they went pro; even had some players going the other way which could not have happened in the amateur era.
But a lot has changed in the last 30 years.

In this part of the world rugby union has maintained its edge over rugby league from an international aspect, but in terms of the domestic pro game, rugby union has been blown out of the water in Australia.
And I think the pressure is going to build in the next 10 to 20 years on domestic pro rugby union in NZ.

If you'd told me 30 years ago that three Nelson College potentials were going over to league . . . yeah . . . nah.

And the reverse has happened in England, the other rugby league stronghold.
I think it was a critical mass type thing.
While rugby league had dominance over union in Australia, that was not the case in England.
While being amateur, rugby union was still the dominant rugby code in England.

Most people dont realise how much trouble English rugby league is in rn.
They are a basket case, kinda like Australian rugby union.
Complete opposite to what has happened in Aus.

@Nepia

Yeah it'd be really good to know some real figures.
They don’t have to tell us who is getting what, but it'd be nice to know some averages and totals.

I split the NPC maxs and minimums (we know those) and came up with $38,000.
Split the SR maxs and minimums and we come up with $135,000.
So if you play SR and NPC; add both together and you come up with $178,000.
Which kinda looks about right.

If you are an AB you are on a lot more than that. Call ABs the max contractors.

The entry level NRL contract is $140,000.
The NRL average is somewhere north of $400,000 last time I looked.
A top NRL player and a top AB would be on similar money.

The money will tell the story in the end.
NRL players are starting at 140k; a SR average would be about 135k.
ABs would be on a lot more than that; some a lot, lot more.

The ABs will always be mega; but the professional union game in NZ will (is) slowly get hollowed out by pro league.
It already has been in Aus.
And the pro women already seem to be league/union blending.

At last count there were 160 NZ born players in the NRL.
I can remember when there would have been virtually none in the Sydney comp.
Important to note; that is more than one teams worth of enzeders.

Ball in play was at 56 minutes for the NRL last season, a record.
I noticed also note that refs had been instructed to aim for 2 second play the balls last season as well. Probably why they hit a record.
Which is more than Soccer (55 mins of 90).
Union is at about 37 mins.
NFL is only about 11 mins (of 60)

Marky Mark was a bit freaked at his first Roosters training season, and he was a sevens player, who I thought were fit. But not good enough for league.
In the end tho, he went just fine, and made the national team.
I think a lot of young union players will have taken note of that.

After the Perth Bears and the PNG Chiefs have been bedded into the comp, there will be only one place left for the NRL to go.
I can see that brand spanking new stadium in Chch literally sucking an NRL franchise right in.

@canefan

He said he bought it for something to do.
Seems to be more interested in drilling for gas at the mo.
What ever you can say about his ability to run a football team, he sure knows how to do business.

In fact I would say what Jerry has done with Cowboys is the reason all the big investors (like silverlake) want to get into any sort of sports franchise.
It's not to make money (the players are the ones who make money); it's to make the capital gain.
He bought it for $140 mil 35 years ago and its now worth $12.8 billion.
Thats a 9,000% return. I think.
And that's on top of not winning a championship for 30 years!
Imagine what it would be worth if they were actually winning.

@taniwharugby said in Ireland v All Blacks - Chicago2:

I'm more concerned with the fact the TMO had all that time to look at it, made his call and it was deemed wrong.

Does he get sanctioned for that? I mean in terms of his job, that is almighty fuck-up, and as some have said, while we will never know, it has potentially impacted the outcome of the game.

Credibility of the sport continues to fall.

This is the very concerning thing here.
The incdent has been micro-analysed twice in detail, and the different analysts have come up with different conclusions.
This is not quick, on the spot, call.
WR really does need to explain the reasons why it was rescinded.
Not really bothered which way the call went, but the inconsistency is alarming.

In rugby league this incident would have been only a penalty on the field, and a report made, to be looked at later.
Move on; not a possibly game changing incident.
There are other ways to officiate.