“the perennial underachievers of international rugby” – really ?

“Utterly dominant in the domestic competitions” – since when has th Bledisloe Cup and Tri Nations been a domestic competition ?

I don’t know the author seems to try a bit too hard to paint themselves as a kiwi – at the very least try and make it a bit less obvious

you do know what trollng means ?

Is this the same JB who was born in NZ ?? …

“Instead of sticking with Cipriani and working on his defence as Queensland did with Cooper … ”

Sorry KPM but there’s no evidence whatsoever that Cooper’s defence has improved – at the end of the day all the coaching in the world can only go so far, the player has to bring some bottle and neither Cooper or Cipriani appear to want be be involved and the higher up you go the more exposed you get

More flawed than genius at this stage of his development and really he may not progress beyond where he is at present – his tackling is as good as non-exsistent and his game management is severely lacking.

Given the way SBW ran over the top of JOC on Sat night – any wallaby supporter calling for a Cooper / JOC axis at 10 / 12 might want to re-assess that option as well.

Very business like job – unlike say the hurricanes or some of the Aust teams the highlanders didn’t take things for granted and did the basics right – do that against Melb and you as good as assure yourself of 5 points

Well all have our opinions and as I say it what makes blogs such as this what they are – but as I think it may have touched on previously – there are some topics that’ll never be settled …. this minefield is one of them .. as I’d place Hadlee easily above 4 of the 5 you’ve mentioned and as already mentioned ahead of Lillee … swings and roundabouts – with no correct answer

Obviously what makes opinion sites tick is that we all have differing views – ask a kiwi or west indian about their teams and selections and I’ve no doubt both Hadlee and Marshall would romp in ahead of Lillee – and in my opinion rightly so, Aussies of course will always differ.

What I find amazing though is that for some Hadlee wouldn’t make their 4th best team. Now obviously if you look purely at his classification of being an alllrounder then I could see where such a statement might come from, however, if you treat him as he should be – that is a bowler first and foremost who over his career improved his batting to a point where he was considered to be worthy to be classified with the great allrounders of that era then he is streets ahead of some the bowlers being mentioned and balances any attack with the variation he would offer, and I think the original line up in the article places him correctly in this category – Khan is in as the allrounder, who no doubt should make way for Sobers.

If you simply classify Hadlee as an allrounder and then rank him accordingly should you then not apply similar logic to the team wicketkeeper – for most Gilchrist is a lock and for VV above “Gilchrist at 7 have no argument from anyone” – well as Brucy B points out below Gilchrist was a “batsman first, wicket keeper a distant second”, his glove work doesn’t rank up there with the best … given the batting line up above him the age old argument then arises is his batting going to be deemed necessary – on such an argument then would / should Gilchrist actually make anyones top 4 all time team – I’d probably plumb that he may make that 4th line up – when his batting may be required more

A major part of the problem with Oz is the massive hype pre game which inflates expectations to a crescendo which in reality can’t be matched …. the June tests never gave the impression that the Wallabies were within a bulls roar of AB’s and when you analyse the bok game (esp against the 2 previous weeks) there were enough pointers to indicate what was going to happen last night.

Depth in Aussie rugby is paper thin – for the life of me I don’t know why more fringe or up and coming Aussies don’t do what Christian Lealiifano has done and jump the tasman and get a gig with an ITM team – watching some of the ITM games yesterday prior to the test was an eye opener on just how good the 3rd tier is in NZ – more fringe Aussie should attempt to make the grade there first … how much better would say Rob Horne be if he’d played a few seasons for Hawkes Bay or Bay of Plenty.

If the kiwis tighten up a few of their mistakes from last night – next week could be even worse – however in saying that I’ve no doubt Henry will empty his bench a lot earlier if the games over the horizon by half time like it was last night.

” the All Blacks are a side on the up. And so, of course, are the Wallabies. ” … really ? sure the Wallabies were better than the previous June tests – but it would be hard not to be …. but are the “of course” on the up.

I thought the game was scrappy and disjointed – nothing in it said that this Wallabies side reached a level anywhere near what was on display form the previous fortnight – as has been pointed out in other posts they played against 14 men for 20 mins and didn’t take advantage – a good result sure, but this article highlights things lined up pretty perfectly for them – they’ll need to be at a distinctly higher level this weekend – and I just can’t see it from what’s been on display so far

Whatever way you want to try and wrap this you’d have to question whether the boks are in the right headspace for this weekends match – esp if you listen to the latest rubbish coming from PDV .- he’s basically accused the IRB and refs of a conspiracy in order to promote next years W/cup at the expense of his side and the TN as a meaningful competition.

Prior to this rubbish I put the trash talking down to an attempt to merely deflect away from the 2 poor performances in NZ and how his coaching team had got things so drastically wrong – but this latest statement speaks volumes – this is a real circle the wagons boys the world’s against us mentality …. Wallabies surely can’t stuff up on Saturday and not take advantage of this – still seeing it as a scrappy, error ridden game – but now with the Wallabies coming out on top

What is imperative – for both the Wallabies and their supporters – is to be focused on this match and not think it’s a done deal. There’s been a lot of chatter about rolling the boks easily and looking ahead to Melbourne.

This match is vital for so many reasons – esp after last year – if the Wallabies lose this one it’s not a hard jump to see a TN whitewash on the cards, the draw makes it a real possibility esp given the form of the kiwis.

I’m not expecting to see a game anywhere near the levels we’ve seen over the last 2 weekends – the Wallabies just haven’t shown anything like that in the lead up tests – it’ll most likely be ugly and mistake ridden – I’ve got a feeling this could be one big banana skin for Deans and another unwanted 1st to add to his list.

“A hearty salute must also go out to the people of South Africa, who silenced the doubters with a colourful and entertaining World Cup both on and off the pitch”

here, here – totally agree with that call – SA can hold their head high and certainly proved large number of doubters wrong.

Did note that for one instant there the large bounce of the ball was back when Casillas nearly got caught out in the 1st half – overall an engrossing final and congrats to Spain

If you’re only experience of them is via your TV then, I’m sorry, you can’t make an informed opinion of them – the TV coverage amplifies their sound (esp the early round coverage – it appears the techs have been able to filter them out for the latter rounds)

Live at games it’s completely different – the sound dissipates and they’re hardly a distraction at all

Well i suppose Murali could always counter Warne by saying he’s not a drug cheat …. very poor comments by Warne

Murali should also be remember for having to put up with the appalling baying Aussie crowds which drove him to consider not touring here and as someone who did so much to raise funds in the aftermath of the 2004 tsunami

a great no doubt

I know you’re not making a comparison between MU and NSW as clubs – but it appears you’re saying that NSW can use the MU model to develop any possible commercial opportunities and cultivate new markets to bolster their bottom line … all I’m saying is that the reason MU have such a large new overseas fan base in asia is because of their success on the field something NSW doesn’t have

Does someone really need to point out the difference between Manchester United (18 league titles, 3 European Cups , 4 League Cups, 11 FA Cups etc) and the NSW Waratahs (…..) – the growth of an overseas fan base is all to do with exposure to the games and success on the field

More flakey ideas in this article than I’ve seen for a while … considering turning Higginbottom into a centre for the world cup is madness … centre is a tough position to master just ask numerous quality AB backs that have been shifted there by various coaches (Deans being one of them) … Lomu and Rush ended up on the wing with one changing (like a lot of players do) at school and the other after a re-inventing himself in the 7’s game …

Whilst the Reds were a revelation in the S14 – it’s a big call to pin all your hopes on them to provide not only the players but also the gameplan for the Wallabies … a Genia, Cooper, Faingaa inside back combination is far too raw for a tri nations test – if was to be used it should have been in the June tests … I’d expect to see Barnes in the #12 shirt for the Brisbane game

If I were a wallabies fan I’d be more intent on hoping to see some marked improvement in structure and gameplan this series rather than pin any hopes on winning anything – NZ and SA look light years ahead of Aussie at the moment and it’s conceivable that the wallabies could go 0-6 … Deans has shown zero indication of how he wants to play the game over the last 2 years and the wallabies have on more occasions than not looked aimless ..

well said Dom – agree totally – the game doesn’t need to be over adjudicated – the nature of the tournament magnifies the poor decisions and doesn’t really allow for the evening out of poor calls that 38 game season would.

You were obviously with the wrong crowd Davidde – I was with the kiwi contingent and there was Phoenix supporters gear on full display

The new S15 structure may well turn out to be a blessing for the Rebels – over the last few seasons the all australian games have on the whole tended to be dour, error ridden affairs …. with so many “home” games now scheduled the Rebels won’t be so exposed to the the more expansive games of the NZ and SA teams on a regularly basis which will potentially limited their chances of being on the end of of some hidings.

This is full of contradictions – how can he be considered a failure based on 1 game … surely you’re not suggesting that Mitchell was more successful and a better option ….

and it’s pretty obvious that the NZRU actually made a rather astute decision rather than taking pity on him – do you really think the mess that Deans is creating with the Wallabies is better than what Henry has produced

Henry is without doubt the best coach NZ has produced for a number of decades – somehow I think the public won’t realise that until he’s gone

or the highlanders the previous year

Give me a vuvuzela over aussie, aussie, aussie, oi,oi,oi (the like 2022 chant should the FFA win the bid) any day of the week

Given Speed is an Aussie who, within recent times, was head of the ICC … then surely if it was a true rotation policy and the kiwis put forward a strong candidate, which they did, then CA should have had the good grace to accept their nomination – that they didn’t and railroaded Howard into the fray – then this mess should be squarely dumped at their door