The Silver Fern

Damn it @Mauss I was just about to post the exact same thing

I couldn’t care less about the volume of kicking and lack of “rugby”. That’s the great thing about rugby, more than one way to win a game. Especially in weather like that.

I’m very glad we don’t play like that though!

What irks me is the constant stoppages and time wasting and using medics and water runners to coach. They need to get the fuck off the field. They shouldn’t even be miked up.

If it carries on like this, we might have to go to neutral medics and the players can drink the rain from the sky

Absolute disgrace

@Machpants said in RWC Week 3: Wales v Australia:

@mencey said in RWC Week 3: Wales v Australia:

@Stargazer said in RWC Week 3: Wales v Australia:

@mencey said in RWC Week 3: Wales v Australia:

Game over me thinks. Will they keep Eddie?

I suspect they'll keep Eddie ... with all the excuses of the Lions Tour and "2027"

Didn't think about that. The Lions will absolutely slaughter the Wallabies unless there are some serious changes. The thing that worries me is the way the All Blacks played against SA in the warm up and there first game against France, we may be looking down the barrel of another hiding against Ireland in the semi's assuming we get that far. Scott Robinson may have his work cut out for him the next few years. The defence of Ireland and Wales the last couple of days has been outstanding.

We face Ireland in the quarters, no way we make the semis. I am hoping we make a game of it unlike the wallabies here

Fuck man, enough with the defeatist bullshit, it's getting boring

Yeah, we lost to them in a series a year ago, we all remember it. We also thumped them 42-19 in the first game of that series remember? In the 2nd test we played for a while with 13 men, and with 14 for 18mins. And in the 3rd test we fought back to within 3 points with a side that included Havili at 12, BB at 10, no Scott Barrett, and RTS on the bench.

You may not like the lack of development since, but at the very least the starting side is absolutely settled now, assuming injury recovery continues the way we are told it is. Frizz over AI is an upgrade, JB over Havili at 12 is a huge upgrade. Midfield combo being settled is massive. SB is in great form so we have 3 quality locks to choose from.

Yeah this isn't a vintage AB side, props and back row still has real issues, and we lack punch at 15 and a cohesive kicking game.

But we aren't playing some mythical side on a run of 300 wins in a row. Ireland are absolutely beatable, and we absolutely have the team to do it in a one-off QF.

Get on the bandwagon man!!!

Lots of depressing "I don't care about this game much, things have changed, feel a bit sad" sentiment in here.

Well, fuck that I say.

In the hopes of perking some of you up, here is the Voodoo runsheet for the day - and I for one and in a fucking good mood about it.

7am - woke up to shining sun and a coffee ready for me thanks to my lovely wife.
7:30am - made bacon and eggs rolls. Checked weather forecast for Homebush, will be c. 25 degree for kick-off - get the fuck in!
8am - showered, dressed, about to take the lad to the cricket nets to see if I can get those feet moving - at the moment they're grounded like he has lead in his shoes - like his old man to be fair. Might work on that bowling action a bit too. Will take the dog to chase his ball around and generally get in our way.
10am - collect girl from rowing, buy boy new cricket bat, buy lunch from somewhere - no doubt a cheeky stop at Dan Murphys is in order
12:30pm - nap time
1:30pm leave for the ferry / train to Homebush. Beers on the ferry, no doubt some good banter on the train. I will be wearing my AB's shirt like a good 47yr old bloke does. Punt horses as much as I can get away with.
3pm arrive to ground, more beers, eat overpriced pie and chips.
3:45pm kick off following horrendous anthems
4:45pm AB's up 20 at HT, more beers and chips
6pm back on the train after 40 point win, Aussies looking demoralised at the realisation of another year gone with no Bled, and the prospect that they still have to go to NZ next week. The silence is so beautiful that no further comment is required from me
7pm back on the ferry for more beers.
7:45pm home on the couch, red wine opened, takeaway ordered and watching Manly touch up the Roosters
10pm bed or another bottle opened - haven't decided yet. Got to leave some room for spontaneity.

Sounds like a pretty good day to me.

Sooooo - I'm slowing coming to the realisation that everything is coming up AB's at this RWC. We have all underestimated the genius of the coaching group and the master plan they have put in place to bring the cup home.

Bear with me while we look at the events that have transpired over recent times, and extrapolate to make a couple of predictions:

• Rennie gets ditched for Eddie - Foz gets in his ear and sows a few seeds ("mate, start a rumour that Hoops and Quade are a bit toxic, I'll buy you a couple of beers") - see below for importance later

• Foz picks Narewa, knowing he wouldn't play - effectively giving him a free option to choose his last guy during the tournament - credit to @Duluth for sniffing this one first

• The team make the tough decision to throw the opener against France - it's not an easy call to drop a pool game, but as we all know, history is yesterdays newspaper. Stunning and brave really.

• We now face Ireland in the QF after Fozzie does a deal with Rassie to also throw their pool match against Ireland ("bro, if we both drop a game, we can avoid each other until the Final!"....."iz it?!!")

• We now plot to take Ireland out in the QF. Sure, not easy, but look what Foz and co have done to maintain maximum powder-dryness - kept Roigard hidden until this week, forced DeGroot to get suspended, made up injuries to Frizell and Jordie, told Rieko to pretend to have the dropsies and miss stand-up tackles, make Jordan smoke a blunt before each game, hardly play DMac, drop Sami completely, and have BB run at 80% pace and kick aimlessly whenever possible. Bone fucking dry.

• As for the QF opposition, those Irish bastards have enormous pressure on them. They have QF ghosts, a win streak to protect, and they've just seen a systematic destruction by the (apparently) re-born All Blacks side - aura is back like you wouldn't fucken believe and they're quaking in their boots

• So now we get past Ireland, and appear on the other side of the draw as planned, to presumably face a depleted Wallaby side in the SF (see first point) - but wait on, the plan has worked even better than expected, and we now have Wales or Argentina or fucking Japan in the SF - holy smokes! We roll Wales obviously (apologies @MiketheSnow ), and fuck me if we aren't in the RWC Final.

• SA await us, we battle to the death, and ultimately prevail in a dogfight. The SA 8-0 bench backfires after they lose Faf to a hair injury early, and Rassie is consigned to history as being somewhat of a flawed visionary.

• Fozzie returns home a hero, and Razors contract is torn up. Fozzie signs for 8 more years, and Razor takes up the Wallaby reigns after Eddie signs with Japan at Christmas.

Anyone buying this??!!

Marc Hinton logic - "BB dropped for shit kicking and option-taking - pretty keen to see him get a run at 10 though eh"

Firstly thanks to everyone who has shared on this thread. Absolute legends all. I certainly have benefitted from reading your stories.

Thought I'd add a little colour to what prompted me to start this thread.

A little over a year ago I was in a strange space. Not depressed, but bored and stale. Same job for 14yrs, stuck in the crazy hectic Sydney life of work, traffic and running around after 3 kids. Doing OK financially, but locked in a high-opex Sydney life meaning both of us were working pretty hard. Mum back in NZ with terminal lung cancer, time remaining unknown.

Decided to take a year off and reset, managed to secure a sabbatical from work, and moved the whole family to Bali. Thought by not working I'd be able to get back to NZ fairly easily to see Mum as needed.

Obviously 2020 got in the way of most of that, and we find ourselves back in Sydney again, back into the hectic lives we left behind - just without the cultural experience we had hoped for and with a big hole in our savings!

Had started back at work early given we were back in Sydney, and although some of the staleness remained, I had a new found appreciation for the stability of a job I still liked. Until a week ago that is, when I found out my company is exiting the country in a few months . It was announced to the market just last night, whic is why I haven't posted until now. Looks like I have a role until April, after which I'll be job hunting (haven't had a job interview since March 2005...eeek!).

I certainly don't write this to complain, I am very conscious that many folk on here have had extraordinary events happen in their lives, and 2020 has totally destroyed some peoples lives around the world - like many others have said, that has made me very thankful for all I have.

But its been quite interesting to find out a bit about myself this year. Before 2020 nothing really bothered me. Never really got anxious about much, was always pretty confident. That definitely got shaken up this year. Even the minor task of getting the family back to Sydney from NZ caused me an inordinate amount of anxiety at the time, and now I find myself pretty stressed again at the thought of seeking and (hopefully) starting a new role.

Turns out I really do value stability in my life. Routine. A sense of control, whether its real or not. I am looking forward to getting that back, the volatility of 2020 has really not been enjoyable.

Thanks again to all those who have shared, and to the wider Fern community. 2020 would have been a whole lot worse without you horrible cnts to "talk" to.

Wtf is going on here

I don’t even understand the sledge - who the fuck wouldn’t want to be called a poor man’s McCaw??!!!

@bayimports said in All Blacks EOYT:

@mariner4life said in All Blacks EOYT:

Maybe you have to read every article since the start of the international season to get an idea about what his agenda really is (hint, he fucking Haaaaates DMac)

But to start with "i hope we lose by shitloads so the coaches can pick who i want" is a fluffybunny move from a supposed journo. Then he basically goes on a long rant about the two old heads (a rant he's had before).

fair enough, cant say I have read much of his shit

You’ve made me realise that I don’t read any rugby articles at all anymore. I never go to NZH, Roar, RugbyPass. I don’t even click the links people post here

I watch games, form an opinion, then come here to have my opinions corrected by you guys.

Seems to be working ok for me so far.

I can't understand why people are calling for any change at all, unless injury related - either one sustained in the first test, or having not been considered for selection due to an existing one.

Nobody had enough of a shocker to be dropped after a 10-day prep into a single test.

Same team for me with Ratima in for TJ (prefer Christie off the bench to finish the game if he has to be there somewhere). No way we mess with RI, and Perofeta absolutely deserves to stay on.

It was an AB first-test performance for sure, but lets give them another shot to improve and then see where we are at.

Should we lob in an application?

A rotating panel of 7 Ferners voting by majority after taking input from the wider group.

The panel of 7 can be adjusted every year based on the results of the Fernies.

What could go wrong?

Mods, feel free to delete if innapropriate or unnecessary, but I wondered if it might be worthwhile having somewhere for our little community to ask for or offer help to each other.

People could post requests (advice, favours, whatever) or offer assistance in some way.

For example, it sounds like many people could be becoming unemployed in the near future. Maybe Ferners can assist with CV reviews, job market advice, financial modelling for home budgets etc.

Obviously physical movements are limited so don't any of youse hit me up to help weed your garden...

Clarke is 23, he's been playing rugby for 18 years. Presumably in competitive games for 10 of those.

We shouldn't be having to teach him how to look for support players when he gets to the ABs

It's one thing to try to link and mis-time a pass, or to have a mix-up with someone. But watching him you sometimes wonder if he's ever made a pass in his life.

That one (fantastic) break last night where he called Ioane early to run a line, then when Rieko did exactly that at speed, and he didn't even look at him.

Just odd

Thinking about heading out to Sydney Airport just to see if one of you report it here that I'm on the move

I'm aliiiiive!!!!!!!

All went pretty smooth in the end. Up at 4am, easy drive to Akl, 5mins wait with the police at the border.

All the airline staff were awesome, plane totally empty, and the pokice and army at the Sydney end were all great.

Ended up at the Meriton Suites in the CBD - 2 bed, 2 bath, 3 tv apartment on the 29th floor, ocean glimpses west and north, city views south,and a balcony with real fresh air. Really cant complain!

Aside from the fucken NBA being cancelled of course!!!

Pricks, though I shouldn’t be surprised.

HB has always just been a bogan version of Manawatu

@Landers92 said in Leon MacDonald Quits:

Anyone remember a few weeks ago what I was saying about this Leon McDonald situation? I can’t remember what thread it was in, maybe AB’s 2024. I wasn’t just saying stuff for the sake of it after all…

I can barely remember stuff I said a few hours ago, let alone stuff you said a few weeks ago

Huh, I thought DMac was excellent tonight. Exits in the first half in particular were orgasmic for a AB fan that hasn’t seen a good one in about 7 years

Goal kicking was ace

A couple of bad options, but shit, he handles the ball about 800 times per game, he’s not going to get them all right, especially when he was getting served tripe for 50 minutes

The bombs were all on the money for Clarke to compete too

The quick throw was def mostly on Jordan - he probably shouldn’t have thrown it all all, but when he did, it was such a weak pass that DMac had to come back to the ball towards the sideline and into the traffic. If the pass was quicker he could have gotten into space on the outside

I have Aumua as my MOM, but DMac was great tonight

Rieko creates a bit of debate around here, but these injuries to Reece and Clarke are showing his huge value to the team. To be able to play 11, 14 and 13 provides such flexibility for us, and even if he’s not the strike force he once was, he never really has a bad game in black.