The NZ Rugby bods already have their eyes on Kalyn Ponga, unsure though if he’s been approached yet, but by all accounts he’s about to be!~ Everything leads to the distinct possibility of him going to New Zealand, but who knows? Money talks and it’s unsure if he’s into it for the cash or as he’s said himself many times after playing rugby in New Zealand that his dream has always been to hopefully play for the All Blacks;

Across the Ditch, you’ve just had your last game for your Country if you do what you suggest, as you’re classified as having ”abandoned ship”, end of story! ~ There has been quite a few top Representative Players head overseas in their prime over the years and have never played International rugby for their country again!

Jez! In New Zealand if you choose to head overseas regardless of who you are or whatever quality Player you are, you ”crap in your own nest” and any thought of coming back and getting your spot back, ~ forget it, as it won’t and doesn’t happen;

Rugby Australia has had the words written that “It could very well Bankrupt Rugby Australia”, so, in light of those types of statements, do we all presume that if Folau wins this case that the “Almighty” whom ever they may be would allow it to happen? I personally think not!

Mark Richmond; And they’d all be guessing, Rugby Australia has over the years done some stupid things as we all know, but I doubt very much that they’d be stupid enough to put something out like Folau suggests, ~ Folau’s in the gun and he knows it so he’s clutching at straws!

Jez! Folau would be presuming RA has put it out there when it’s on pretty much every Rugby blog site going around which is where he’d have read it! You’d know as well as anyone else that in a case like this that “no information on this said matter whatsoever shall be passed, discussed or whatever else”, ~ so Rugby Australia is never ever going to do anything of the kind! ~ it’s on all types of rugby blogs and as long as it’s still ongoing, the juicier it gets and that’s the stage that Folau would have read it! ~ He is going to have to prove that the ”’leaker” is RA before anything else!

Ethan! R.A.hasn’t broken any confidentiality agreement at all, ~ the breaking of any agreement is in Folaus eyes only, he’d have seen it on sites like these from people who have had an inkling that RA had done and it’s now spread all over the place (presumption) and the guy himself has seen it and opined it was RA who put it out there!

In a sense it shows the mentality of this guy Folau for him to even think for a moment that in a case like this where there is a substantial amount of monetary gain or loss at stake, ~ do you really think that RA is that stupid! ~ Folau is clutching at straws here as to me who knows not much about the Legal side of these cases at all, it appears that as much as he says he’s going to clean Rugby Australia out of everything cent they have, I think he hasn’t got a leg to stand on and it could very well end up if he loses his case that he ends up to be the one that’s paying for both sides of the argument! ~ It seems obvious that he’s being propped up here anyway, perhaps by someone well moneyed who has a similar misguided opinion that he has;

Whatever way we look at this thing, it leaves no doubt at all that Folau is damaging the Brand Rugby to suit no other end than his own!

And the point of this garbage post is what? ~ You are crap stirring and nothing said in that junk above deserves a comment! ~ Haven’t you got anything better to do!

Fluidity! what fluidity are you speaking of, there is no fluidity like letting the game flow, it doesn’t happen and the reason is of course the plethora of convoluted and stupidly dumb Laws made difficult because they can be made difficult as every Referee has his own interpretation of any said rule which is indicated by the constantly ”heading toward the Referee by the Skipper to query as to ”what was that for”? each time he gets a different answer so it’s no wonder when players are left standing around wondering as to why!! they got that for! A classic example was a game a couple of weeks ago between the Blues and the Sharks when the Referee which by all accounts was a Rookie having his first game absolutely whistled the Blues out of the game it was pitiful to see! ~ Also the continual whistle blowing for the most infinitesimal ”knock on” like a ball moving two inches forward ending up with endless time wasting!

Dean F. ~ You leave no doubt as to which Team you support, but you’re totally incorrect in mentioning Richie McCaw flying into a ruck and breaking jaws etc, I don’t remember that, and if you are a keen follower of rugby, you’d know very well that McCaw was never a dirty player, ever! He was a hard player but a fair player and if you mention of him breaking two guys jaws, you can bet he was going in there attempting to clear out any player who was deliberately impeding the passage of the ball by being unpenalized for being offside in that said ruck or maul! ~ McCaw would have received more dirt placed on his gnarled old body for no other reason than going in and getting that ball, than he ever gave out and in fact I can remember that useless piece of Kiwi Lard Skelton when playing for the Aussie’s during a break in play and McCaw was just standing waiting to restart with his hands on hips, and for no reason at all this useless fat Skelton flew at him from behind hitting him squarely in the back winding McCaw who went down with some injury of sorts, laid there for a minute or so then got up and play restarted, he never said a word to anybody on the uncalled for and cowardly incident! ~ Topic being dirty uncalled for and unpenalised play, you’ll find that it all evens out in the end, as this game of ours is a contact sport no less!

None you mention are top quality International Players!

Why would Ronan O’Gara even think perhaps that he’s like to coach Australian RUGBY? ~ If and when he ever decides to leave the Crusaders, I doubt he’d ever want to go anywhere near the Wallabies, the Coaching position in this Country is a out and out poison chalice and every Coach knows that, ~ His own words are that he’d prefer to stay with the Crusaders, but if it can’t happen, he’s had a job offer in France!

AdO! Obviously you know Raelene personally as it appears you must with your undoubted knowledge of her capability as the Boss of the Australian Rugby outfit! ~ I suppose you’d be aware that she beat about six others for the job in hand so she knows what she’s at, ~ I particularly like it that she’s a Kiwi also the place where it all stems from, ~ The superior knowledge that is!

That’s the reality of it TWAS, he has got to the stage that he is in a state of detachment with the whole world in general unless everyone shares his belief’s which are so far removed from reality, everyone and everything is against him! ~ He needs Professional help and not the Legal variety!

HawtDawg! All over a Homophobe being canned, you’re the loser mate, supporters don’t need players with attitudes like yours!

Rob! That’s a load of rubbish mate, Folau is the very same as every other Rugby Player and is not above the Laws of Rugby Australia, they being his Employer, he’s not that big, he’s bucking the system and it’s bitten him quite correctly right on the butt!
He is after all only a player, no less and if he was an out and out Super Player of the Century eg: you’d have to think that R.A. may, just may have had another think about it! ~ Folau is not indispensable, he is but one of number of ordinarily good rugby players

Ad-O: Proof mate, let’s know your source, Raelene Castle is a brilliant Operator else she wouldn’t’ be there! You talk rubbish!

His beliefs have been on the table since last year, so has the proviso that he ”will not do it again” ~ he did it again so out he goes, he disobeyed his Boss! ~ Joyce and Qantas have nothing whatsoever to do with this rubbish as they being the principle Sponsor would have a proviso attached to any deal made with Rugby Australia and anyone else for that matter that, ”no disrepute whatever it may be shall be brought upon Qantas whatsoever”, and if it does, ‘end of the deal’; ~ Folau put himself and his belief above everything else with the firm belief he and only he was spot on because the ”Old Fulla Upstairs” actually personally spoke to him and told him so! ~ He has only himself to blame for the predicament he has got himself in, and it appears quite obvious that the monetary factor is surely his prime concern as it’s run dry and since he’s dedicated himself to his said belief, he won’t be able to donate as he used to!

Exactly as said; Rugby Australia has never been beholden to Folau, it’s the exact reverse he is after all their employee therefore he does as he’s told and it is written as such in his contract; if he strays from the norm on his contract as written, he suffers the consequences, and he has! ~ Folau is a Radical Christian and seems that he only has the moral authority from above to tell the World of his said beliefs, ~ not true everyone knows that! ~ He has bucked the system once too often and it’s cost him his job so Rugby Australia after warning him against this had no option, end of story! ~ We all have our beliefs of some thing or other and most people are tolerant of other folks and those beliefs, but Religion is a very touchy subject particularly when is it portrayed in a homophobic manner and do not and will not have it shoved at them in a manner such as portrayed by Folau as he should be acutely aware that his beliefs would be espoused by the minority and if you’re not into that sort of thing, you’re rightly offended! ~ The Player obviously is of the opinion that he is ”Holier than Thou” which we all know is a load of bull! ~ Finally if this guy could be regarded as an absolute Superstar and totally irreplaceable to Rugby Australia, he would have a little bit of leeway, but he’s not as he’s nothing more than a highly paid rugby player and the old saying of “no player is bigger than the game” rings very true indeed!

T/Man Weber was as good as the Numbers one and two Halves in the All Black team in that game, he was awesome in fact as you say! ~ I have a feeling they may not take a third Halfback though as I read it somewhere recently that they could easily travel with two Halves, ~ don’t know what that reckoning means as it would free up a spot somewhere else! Let’s see mate!

The Chiefs played that game the best way to beat those big Dudes South Africans, they did it as the All Blacks have done for years, ~ Play fast and hard, and tackle till you drop and keep the Opposition on the backfoot running backwards that is, consistently and eventually they slow down and miss tackles etc, it’s a factor in South African Rugby, they have that opinion that big is not big enough, they need to be huge, and it’s cost them over the years as good teams like the All Blacks just run them all over the Park till they are almost on their knees! ~The Waikato Boys played to their game plan and stuck to it, and really speaking they deserved to win, ~ Mistakes were creeping into the Sharks game and they found the need to fight, which is a sure sign of frustration! Well done to the Chiefs and although the Sharks did try the same grub tactics as they got away with last weekend against the Crusaders, but the Referee was wide awake to that collapsing the scrum tactic and pinged them more often than not! ~ I really enjoyed that win as the Scribe of one of the Rugby Rags in South Africa went on about how hard done by the Sharks were to just draw against the Crusaders, He wrote, “next week we play the Chiefs who we should be able to pluck easily” His words!!

The Waratahs were woeful and only performed in patches which wasn’t very often ~ It could be said that blaming the Referee is ”bad form” but that particular Referee Egon Seconds has been and still is regarded as a very poor Referee, ~ just ask the Rebels their opinion of Mr Seconds and his ability or lack of same as a Referee!

Still miss it: ~ How could those of us who played in those days under those rule, ever forget!, ~ Yep the fullback with 3 broken ribs would have to stay on as there was only three Reserves as they were called and those Reserves were only allowed to go on the paddock if the injured Player was certified as being unfit to play by a Doctor no less, ~ Rocking up to a game on crutches never let you off having to play, if you could move at all, you played! ~ Every game had an Ambulance Guy there with a Black wooden suitcase full of not much as he was the ”Zambuk” very lightly trained as to how to bandage something or stick a Band Aid on somewhere! and he wasn’t qualified to say if any injured player was seriously injured enough to stop him playing, so you had to wait for a Doctor to arrive if there wasn’t one at the game! ~ Great days alright mate, gawd!! when you look at the game as to what it is now in comparison to ”back then” there is no comparison! Leather boots, Leather ball that turned out like a piece of snot when picked up if it was wet, Jumped off the ground in Lineouts, and of course the subtle art of Mountaineering in rucks or mauls by someone with leather sprigs nailed into the sole of his boot and a nail sticking through and that guy was ”working all over your unfortunate to be there, body! ~ Tackling mattered not if you scragged him or anything like it as there was no rule as to how you should tackle, and if he got up after that ruck or maul and staggered around for a few minutes, he was deemed as OK to carry on!~ Great days played hard when today they say they play hard but at the end of the day it is today not much less a sanctified Lolly Scramble! Cheers.

I saw Barrett and Laumape cut the defence to ribbons just the other day!

Cooper!!!!! Did anyone watching that game take notice of what he was doing most of the game, he did nothing and he was back in his favourite spot ‘behind’ the run of play out of harms way in case he had to tackle or was about to be tackled! Worst first five in Australian Rugby!