The Silver Fern

@Crucial said in Ireland v France 6N:

That excellent long range France try showed why playing “wild” can make Ireland look lost. Ireland are so well structured on attack, defence and transition that sometimes a bounce pass or piece of unexpected throws their shape into disarray.
It’s a scary tactic to play though and carries no guarantees.

The main talking point of the last 2 weeks is how to beat France. The match had a 46 minute ball in play time which is incredibly high. Ireland and Italy both kept the ball in play and kept the massive French pack moving. France had few lineouts in both games, mainly from penalties. They were physically spent by the 60 minute mark allowing ireland to keep possession easily and pin them back.

@Bovidae said in 2022 NH tour, not ABs:

Did anyone watch the Munster-South Africa XV game?

And today’s vintage have matched that historic accomplishment by thumping a second-string South African side 28-14 at Páirc Uí Chaoimh in front of a record crowd of 41,400.

It was cohesion vs power and cohesion won. The rain was coming in sideways so made it a scrappy affair. SA tried to bosh their way over but Munster were relatively comfortable holding them out.

Rassie is over in France but no doubt the video editor will be on all night.

@Rancid-Schnitzel said in NZ U20 v France U20 (World Rugby U20 Championship):

How ironic is this? Was very recently that we were hearing that the big money imports were killing the domestic game in France. Now they appear to be at the leading edge. Why is that? All the money being pumped in? Whatever the case, it does appear concerning that we may be behind the times. It won't be the first time but it's not a great position to be in.

France have won the 6 nations once in 10 years.
Their u20s Have not won the 6 nations for a few years.

I wouldn't get carried away by u20 results especially in a mud bath. It's nice to win but underage teams develop differently in different countries. France have a lot of teams which means their players will get opportunities. Their squad have over 250 top 14 games. About 5 times higher than the next highest.

Tuilagi has gotten a lot of press but he will need to lose plenty of those kgs if he wants to play for France senior team.

A law change limiting the number of subs would swing the balance towards lighter players again but that's another topic.

@broughie said in The Current State of Rugby:

Said it before but these athletes ar bigger, faster and stronger and consequently the field has become compressed. That's why there is less space and the game is a grind. Is probably why support play and chancing the off load is so popular because fractions of seconds could be an opportunity. Maybe 13 players is the option or a bigger field.

Everything these days seem to benefit bigger players. From 8 subs, to TMOs, to reset scrums, water breaks etc.

I think reducing the number of subs allowed on to 5 (8 on bench, only allowed to use 5) would swing the balance greatly towards fitness over size. The days of the bomb squad would be at an end.

@nostrildamus said in All Blacks v Ireland, 2021 NH Tour:

Ireland played like a Schmidt-coached and drilled team to my ignorant eyes but with more steel in the attack and defense. Is that also the opinion of the Irish fans?
IMO Farrell is an excellent defense coach. Which is a bit surprising given how his son tackles.

No. They stopped playing the Schmidt way at the end of the last 6 nations against England. Farrell tore up the Schmidt script and got them playing with pace and moving the ball more.

@Billy-Tell said in 2019 RWC - Squads:

@Wurzel said in 2019 RWC - Squads:

@Billy-Tell said in 2019 RWC - Squads:

@Crucial said in 2019 RWC - Squads:

Predictions time:

Pool game 'Key Games'

• Australia bt Wales
• France bt Arg
• NZ bt SA

Pool other 'upsets'

• Japan bt Scotland
• Canada bt Italy

Quarters
SA bt Ireland
NZ bt Japan
France bt Aus
Wales bt England (wishful thinking)

Semis
SA bt France
NZ bt Wales

Final
I'm not going to predict because I'm a wuss

Canada beat Italy?!

Canada would be lucky to beat a NZ schools 1st XV - they have totally and utterly regressed. I wouldn't even be surprised if Namibia beat Canada. TBH, the RWC pools got thrown out of sync by the Spain/Germany/another country which escapes me (?Romania) being disqualified for fielding 1 or 2 ineligible players.

They won't beat Namibia. They're terrible currently.

Russian and Canada are going to stink up this RWC after the last two tournaments have seen the margin of victory over minnows get smaller and smaller.

The RWC is always 4 teams shy of being a reasonably competitive 20

4N
6N
Pacific Islands
Japan
Georgia
USA

Namibia
Canada
Uruguay
Russia

The best hope for the future is probably that sides like Germany and Spain get stronger. Canada's demise is a mystery - they've produced a couple of very good players down thru the years, not least DTH van der Merwe, who at his peak was an excellent winger (although he was a SA import if I'm honest).

Unfortunately after many years of progress, Germany rugby has gone backwards due to infighting which led to their billionaire benefactor pulling out. He now is the owner of Stade Francis.

Spain look like the next big thing in rugby. They've a lot of players and are getting stronger. They're next to France too so they've a supply of Spanish qualified French players. Portugal U20 destroyed Canada and Tonga and lost by a late Japan try to miss out on next season's U20 world championship. Holland are also getting stronger at U20 level. Those 3 countries could potentially join the Pro14 in the next decade.

@mikethesnow said in Wales v Argentina:

What hasn’t been mentioned is the complete shithousery of some of the Argentinian players trying to milk penalties and YCs

The one where Sheedy was penalised for raking the face during a strip of the ball was fucking shocking

The Argie should have seen yellow for acting and should certainly be cited

No fucking place for poofball histrionics

They've always been extremely petulant. Must be very annoying to play against them but if it works for them..

June 8th Kutaisi stadium, Kutaisi
Ireland U20 vs New Zealand U20

The baby blacks will be up for that match!

@booboo said in Italy vs All Blacks 2021 NH Tour:

@daffy-jaffy said in Italy vs All Blacks 2021 NH Tour:

Italy: 15 Matteo Minozzi, 14 Federico Mori, 13 Juan Ignacio Brex, 12 Marco Zanon, 11 Montanna Ioane, 10 Paolo Garbisi, 9 Stephen Varney, 8 Renato Giammarioli, 7 Michele Lamaro (c), 6 Sebastian Negri, 5 David Sisi, 4 Marco Fuser, 3 Marco Riccioni, 2 Gianmarco Lucchesi, 1 Danilo Fischetti
Replacements: 16 Luca Bigi, 17 Ivan Nemer, 18 Pietro Ceccarelli, 19 Niccolò Cannone, 20 Federico Ruzza, 21 Abraham Steyn, 22 Callum Braley, 23 Carlo Canna

I will again admit my ignorance of NH rugby and state that I recognise none of those players.

They have a few good young players now. In fact their U20 team is better than Scotlands now which bodes well for them. At this moment though they're still weak.

Look out for Garbisi, Minozzi. backrow is decent.

The Latinos celebrate as Spain beat Samoa and Uruguay beat the Scots.

Zimbabwe beat the USA

@nostrildamus said in RWC Week 3: Argentina v Samoa:

It is on Friday at Stadium Stade Geoffroy-Guichard, Saint-Étienne? Weather forecast is cool and dry but isolated showers, I assume that favors Argentina but I've got no knowledge of what they are used to, weather wise?

If its wet it could favour Samoa. They kicked well against Ireland which allowed their heavyweight pack use its weight. Argentina were dreadful against England in the wet.

Don't think Argentina will be that bad again though. This could be one of the games of the tournament so far.

You'd think Wales will win this one but who knows. Wales beat Fiji, Aussies lost to Fiji but Wales had a much harder time trying to contain the Fiji attack.

Wales look better coached so I think they'll win even though the Aussies have better players.

I think Schmidt's time is coming to an end. Getting outplayed by Wales and Scotland is enough for me. He has far more resources to pick from yet that's the best he can come up with. Forget the win against NZ. That was truly a one off.

They're capable of stopping England because they play a risk free, grind down the opposition type of game but its puke rugby and only good for the odd one off victory.

@cgrant said in France v Ireland:

The French forwards were impressive and won most of the collisions. They showed Foster what level of physicality is required to win a game against the top NH nations.

They were blowing out their arses in the last 20 min. Ireland with too many simple mistakes including, incredibly going for 3 points when 6 points down and 10 minutes to go.

Stephen Jones is just playing it smart. He says everything the English like to hear and winds up other nations. He knows who his audience is so he is kissing English ass while at the same time being controversial when it comes to other countries. The English are used to seeing the opposite so Jones has carved out a niche for himself there.

I don't think he dislikes other nations but knows how to push certain buttons so he is talked about more. And let's face it, it has worked.

@antipodean said in Ireland v Italy:

@profitius said in Ireland v Italy:

@antipodean said in Ireland v Italy:

@profitius said in Ireland v Italy:

@mikethesnow said in Ireland v Italy:

@cgrant said in Ireland v Italy:

@mikethesnow
Worst game by Ireland in years. When you are playing against 13 then against 12 men, you should score at least 15 tries.

Absolutely

Ireland are the new England

Easily disliked

Italy down to 12 men for the last 10 minutes and Ireland go for catch & drive from the lineout

Then continue to play pick and go

Flat track bullies

Calm down. Its not as though ireland are still playing Schmidtball. Farrell is picking a mobile, ball playing team that's good to watch usually. Why get upset over a nothing game like that?

I think he explained it well. Same reason I dislike the Brumbies.

So ireland were supposed to take it easy on the italians? And if ireland miss out on the championship by points difference - which has happened before - they can console themselves in the fact that they took it easy on the italians?

But you've already lost to the eventual winners!

Quite frankly a team that doesn't demonstrate the ability, interest or intent to spread the ball and enjoy themselves against 12 with the result sewn up doesn't deserve to win a title.

6 nations so far

Ireland has most passes by far. 674 compared to Frances 371.
Ireland has most run meters 1584. Nearly 300m more than France.
Ireland has most line breaks by far. 22 compared to Wales' 10.
Ireland has 2nd most defenders beaten. 2 behind Scotland.

But never mind those facts. Just take a very selective few minutes and form an opinion.

@nzzp said in Six Nations 2017:

@profitius said in Six Nations 2017:

Forget the win against NZ. That was truly a one off.

The way they played in the return match in Ireland would suggest it wasn't. THey played really well that day - well enough to beat damn near anyone except a motivated NZ team. Great test to watch.

What's truly remarkable is that the English have this winning streak that started in their last pool match in their home world cup where they couldn't get out of their pool! No suggesting that the team back then was crap. Well done to them, and particularly well done Eddie Jones.

Scored 0 tries in that second game. 0 tries against Wales. 1 try against France. That's the problem. The game plan is to use the forwards as battering rams and inch their way up the pitch.

@mikethesnow said in Ireland v Italy:

@antipodean said in Ireland v Italy:

@profitius said in Ireland v Italy:

@antipodean said in Ireland v Italy:

@profitius said in Ireland v Italy:

@mikethesnow said in Ireland v Italy:

@cgrant said in Ireland v Italy:

@mikethesnow
Worst game by Ireland in years. When you are playing against 13 then against 12 men, you should score at least 15 tries.

Absolutely

Ireland are the new England

Easily disliked

Italy down to 12 men for the last 10 minutes and Ireland go for catch & drive from the lineout

Then continue to play pick and go

Flat track bullies

Calm down. Its not as though ireland are still playing Schmidtball. Farrell is picking a mobile, ball playing team that's good to watch usually. Why get upset over a nothing game like that?

I think he explained it well. Same reason I dislike the Brumbies.

So ireland were supposed to take it easy on the italians? And if ireland miss out on the championship by points difference - which has happened before - they can console themselves in the fact that they took it easy on the italians?

But you've already lost to the eventual winners!

Quite frankly a team that doesn't demonstrate the ability, interest or intent to spread the ball and enjoy themselves against 12 with the result sewn up doesn't deserve to win a title.

Hear fucking hear

You're Welsh, yeah?

@TeWaio said in Six Nations 2017:

@Crucial said in Six Nations 2017:

@MN5 said in Six Nations 2017:

@Bones said in Six Nations 2017:

@Stargazer Barnes caved to Norths whinging about being bitten, running over from the sideline to cry and try tell anyone who'd listen that he had bite marks on his arm...

Barnes needs a rest and to be sat down and shown the massive inconsistencies in his game.

Refs seem so much more above the law than players ( in lots of sports and it shits me to no end ). If their blunders are apparent after people look at them impartially after the event they should be stood down, fuck, Barnes shouldn't have refereed another game after his efforts in 2007. Also they should be seen and not heard and let the game flow, Nigel Owens, Billy Bowden....fuck off with your 'quips' and 'idiosyncrasies'.....we're there to watch sport, not your self indulgent shit. I know NZ comedy is in a pretty poor state when shows like 7 days get airtime but with YouTube being readily available we don't need you dickwads trying to be characters.

Barnes just kept digging the hole deeper for himself didn't he?
He's an odd one as he can go 98% of a game looking like a very good ref then completely fuck things up

Yep, totally agree. The fact he is a very good ref, good communicator most of the time makes the fuck ups even more painful. During his brain explosions it's like he pre-decides stuff and then is too arrogant to change his mind:

This forward pass ruling was fucking amazing:

Not surprising Wales were involved again. He went to school in Wales and yet he is always reffing their matches. It was his 4th or 5th time reffing a Wales Ireland 6 nations match which is amazing considering they can only play that once a year and theres always big calls going against Ireland late on. The match against France was his second time reffing Wales this 6 nations. I have to applaud the WRU for consistently getting their man.

Worst ireland performance in a long time but still managed to just about get the bonus point. Not a great 6 nations for the Scots.