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"

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?

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

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

Hopefully they've given Carter the lowdown on expectations this week:

• chase Noah's box kicks and Beaudies up'n'unders, but not so hard that you might actually catch one
• if you do get to one on the full, just knock it somewhere, doesn't matter where
• you'll be expected to make a lot of tackles around the rucks, especially near our tryline
• don't worry about running support lines out wide as nobody will pass it to you there - if you want to actually touch the ball you'll need to take some crash-ball off 12 or a forward, or call for a cross-kick (this can often work, especially if you're heavily marked)
• if you do find yourself with the ball out wide, you have a few options - kick it away (chip or grubber, your call), slow down and cut back in towards the fatties, or pick a defender out and run straight at them. Under no circumstances are you to try and beat someone on the outside, or find a support player that tries to link up (unless you pop a pass aimed at their head or feet in order to end the play).

Good luck son!

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.

@JK Cheers for the reminder - OK, here is the Race Report:

The Goal
My ideal "everything-goes-perfectly-on-the-day" goal was to break 12 hours - that would mean something like a 90min swim, a 6:10 hour ride, a 4 hour marathon, and 20mins in transition / toilet stops. Spoiler alert, I didn't quite pull it off!

Here is how it unfolded:

The Swim
Was a cracking morning in Port Mac - 14 degrees, sunny skies, smooth water - perfect for the swim. I started near the back as I'm a poor swimmer, and I got into a nice rhythm early. It's a unique swim as you walk out and over a weir after about a km, then again on the way back in - gives you the chance to check your pace and wave to any supporters. I was flying at the start which was unintentional, turns out there was a decent current taking us out...obviously that wasn't so useful on the way back in, though I was more focused on not working too hard than my speed, so I just kept plugging away, trying to be smooth and conserve energy.

Got out of the water with 81 minutes on the clock which I was stoked with, having expected to take between 90-100. I'd need those 10 minutes later...

The Ride
Brutal. Just brutal.

My plan was to ride somewhere between 28-30km/hr, depending on conditions (road, elevation, wind etc). The wind wasn't a factor until the last 60kms, but the road was chippy as hell and really undulating - and I battled to hold my pace. I've never seen so many people get flats, I must have seen 20 people on the side of the road - one bloke I spoke to afterwards said his mate got 3 x flats before he abandoned the race!

Had plenty of dark moments where I thought I was never going to get off the bike, I remember the section from 75kms to 90kms just seemed to take forever, and thinking fck me, I'm still not even halfway through this ride, let alone what comes afterwards.

Managed to keep dialling back in, breaking it down into chunks of 5km, and focussed on nutrition - I got through 4 Cliff energy bars, about 4 packs of Cliff energy Bloks, and I made sure I got water and gatorade at every aid station.

The last 40kms I decided to let up a little to conserve some energy, and I finished in 6:30 with an average pace of 27.8kms/hr. I probably went a little hard, and my ego refused to let me get off the bike and walk up Matthew Flinders (for those unfamiliar with the course, MF is a short but stupidly steep street, 18 degrees I think - they lay out a carpet down the side of the street for athletes to walk their bikes up, and many do so).

Overall, given the road conditions, pretty happy with the ride, and thanks to my faster swim, I was only 10mins behind schedule.

The Run
Probably not that accurate to call this a "run". It was really more of a grovel, a shuffle, a battle of mind over body.

The ride really took it out of me, and I was cramping after just 2kms. My 12hr plan needed me to run 5:45/km pace, which I had planned to structure as running about 5:35/km in between aid stations, and then walking the short up/down hill section of each lap (4 x laps total), and to walk fast through each aid station to get the nutrition in.

After the first cramp, I knew I needed to reassess. The next bar in my mind was breaking 12:30, which would have required averaging 6min/km - I had a go at this until about 10kms, when it was clear that my hammies just had to be stretched out more often and there was going to be relatively frequent sections where I would need to walk it out for 100m or so.

So I decided to be realistic, and reset the bar again at breaking 13 hours. The mental arithmetic was actually pretty useful I think to keep me occupied. I knew averaging 6:45/km for the run would get me a 4hr 45min marathon, which should work out to just under 13 hours total time on course - by this point I had already banked 10kms at a quicker pace so had some room to slow up. The plan now was just to hold on, stay consistent, shuffle when I felt Ok then stretch and walk fast whenever I started cramping.

I took water and gatorade at every aid station in the first 21kms, I had my own Bloks, but also grabbed a gel at one point. Fark I hate those things. Was pretty well under the required 6:45/km pace at this stage.

The 2nd half of the run I switched to water and Coke, and I was actually starving - I tried to eat some banana and pretzels, but couldn't swallow them so decided to go without. It was about 6pm by this stage, and the weather had turned massively - wind was up and it was freezing cold. Spectators were huddled in hoodies and blankets, and barricades were blowing over. They handed out glowsticks so we could see other competitors in the less well-lit sections. The ambulances on-course handed out a lot of those tin-foil jackets to competitors wo were struggling in the cold, and a few got helped off course, their day disappointingly over after so much effort.

I'm lucky that I don't feel the cold as much as others (one of the benefits of being 94kgs...) so I was OK with the weather - the wind was tough, but the cold probably helped keep my heart rate down - quite bizarrely for me, my heart rate shows a steady decline from start to end of the run, with an average of 142 which is super low for me - shows how it was the legs that were letting me down rather than the ticker I guess.

Anyway, kms 21-30 were rough, and seemed to take forever. But I had in my mind that if I could just get to the 30km mark, then I was on the home stretch - and even if I had to walk the last 12kms, I knew I could finish from there. Big mental boost when I got to that point.

The last 10kms I tried to shuffle the whole way - there were some small periods of walking and stretching, and boy was it slow, but mostly I kept going. I knew I was going to hit my 6:45/km average target with about 5km to go - by this time I couldn't stomach any more nutrition, so it was water only for the last 40 minutes.

Turning into the finishing chute (as opposed to running past it for another 10km lap) was a pretty epic feeling - running down the red carpet, getting high 5's from the amazing crowd, ringing the 1st timers bell, and hearing the announcer call out my name and tell me I was an Ironman, was a pretty cool feeling I won't forget in a hurry.

Final finishing time was 12:55.12 - not the dream time, but I think respectable enough for a first timer. While the legs didn't have enough in them to run the marathon I wanted, I was pretty happy with my mental game to hang in there when it hurt like hell.

Hats off to those folk who took closer to the max 17 hours to finish near midnight - the mental fortitude those guys showed to battle the course for that long is something I will never comprehend.

The Aftermath
Once I had the medal, it was a quick massage in the tent, then out to see my wife who was amazing support on course. Grabbed a kebab and chips to take back to the hotel room where I also had beers and wine waiting for a celebratory party.

I managed about 1/3 of the kebab and half a glass of wine before climbing into bed, freezing and feeling terrible. My feet ached, I was freezing cold by now, and I slept terribly from all the sugary crap I had injested through the day.

Yesterday I felt heaps better, and I smashed a huge brekkie, a pie, a huge dinner, beers and wine - and I plan on doing more of the same all week. I certainly won't be dusting off the running shoes or that evil bike trainer in the next few days.

Immediately after the race I said to my wife "I can't understand why anyone would do more than 1 of these things - after the swim, I didn't enjoy any of that". 2 days later, and I'm already wavering and contemplating going again - I know I can train harder, and I know I can go faster...let's see how I feel in a few weeks...

@sparky said in Jonathan Sexton's conduct:

World Rugby HQ love Jonny Sexton and the boys in Green. Absolutely no surprise to me that he was. given such a gentle slap across the wrist.

We can expect the referees at the World Cup to give every 50:50 decision for the Irish as well.

Come on, let’s not get all GAGR around here eh?