Roar Guru
Joined December 2009
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The Carlos Cup is a hypothetical challenge-defence rugby trophy developed in a similar manner to New Zealand Rugby's 114-year-old Ranfurly Shield. The current holder…
Shortly after selecting the Wallabies team on Tuesday, it is alleged that the immediate backlash on online sports forums has forced coach Robbie Deans…
There has been a lot of banging on in the media (especially here) about the imbalance in strength within the Australian conference and how…
And now – under your system – it’s with the Brumbies. Highlanders took it to Canberra and lost.
The Carlos Cup: The trophy you've never heard of
The editors chopped it out, but here it is: http://dasherrugby.weebly.com. Share it around!
The Carlos Cup: The trophy you've never heard of
I’ve thought about doing a Kickstarter to get a trophy made. I doubt SANZAR would lift a finger!
This weekend, the Waratahs put it up against the Rebels. Waratahs have never been able to defend the trophy.
The Carlos Cup: The trophy you've never heard of
Highlanders. But the Blues big streak would more or less remain.
The Carlos Cup: The trophy you've never heard of
Wonder if Stephen Hoiles will have a retirement beer with him…
Steve Walsh retires from refereeing with immediate effect
There’s a floor to how far you can fall when you’re constantly losing to teams rated much higher than you. You only fall further if you play sides rated as relatively strong as you and you lose. Just like we have recently against France, England and Ireland.
You can never say Ireland or Wales would never beat the All Blacks. Look how close Ireland has gotten twice in the last 3 games! I’d even suggest they could have beaten the All Blacks last year if they had played. They had just beaten Australia and South Africa. It kind of corroborates what I’m saying. Each year we don’t play all of the 6N teams, so one year we may miss playing their best team and the possibility of a worthy IRB points change doesn’t happen.
How accurate are the world rugby rankings?
Not necessarily. I see what you mean, but under the IRB system, once your ratings points drop more than 7 points below your opponents, you can’t lose points regardless how big the loss is. And every so often, when you win against a highly-ranked opponent, you get hugely rewarded.
How accurate are the world rugby rankings?
You have to understand the IRB ratings system (http://www.worldrugby.org/rankings/explanation). At some point the IRB arbitrarily assigned 80 points to all the top-tier nations, recorded results for a period and then released the official rankings as soon as England won the RWC. (Apparently for new entrants, they only get 30 points to start with.) Anyway, it’s simply a head-to-head points exchange system. Team A brings so many points to the table and so too does Team B. Depending on 4 factors: the ratings difference; who’s at home; the margin in the game; and whether it’s a WC game, points are added/subtracted from each team. The reason why Wales is above us, while not being able to beat us, is because they have gotten their points from other games. They can beat Ireland and France (and Scotland…), when we can’t. I’ve mentioned it elsewhere, but the international playing calendar helps buoy Australia’s ranking because we play SA and NZ so often, and the NH teams so little.
There are other ratings systems out there, like the Elo system used in chess, and I keep meaning to write an article about an alternative ranking system, but I am too lazy. Ultimately, the system you use to rank sides cannot be used to predict future results, it is simply a reflection of the results so far. Otherwise we’d all hit the TAB and be millionaires!!!
The fella who runs the Pick & Go website has back-calculated the IRB system all the way back to 1960. As we all know, we weren’t that flash in the 60s and 70s and it shows in the rankings he has calculated. We dropped as low as 9th and floated around the 6th or 7th mark until the 1980s and then we started to climb.
How accurate are the world rugby rankings?
You can lose rating points for playing somebody above you and losing. The only time that you don’t, is when your opponent is more than 7 ratings points above you. Nevertheless, I agree with you that by playing NZ and SA so much, the occasional win or draw we get against them keeps us up the top. Furthermore, by SH and NH teams not playing each other so much it keeps Tri Nations teams at the top and the Six Nations in a “tier” below.
How accurate are the world rugby rankings?
I use that site too! It is bloody brilliant.
How accurate are the world rugby rankings?
Going with the Bulls simply because they haven’t lost 3 on the trot at Loftus since 2003. They can’t be that bad!
Super Rugby Expert tipping: Round 3
For mine, I reckon:
– McMahon for newcomer
– Frisby for NRC
– Clark for Sevens
Rugby Union Player Association awards: Full nominations
Some things justifying my OPINION. McKenzie became Wallabies coach on July 9 2012, 38 days before his first two games against the No 1 side in the world. He came in after the previous coach had had 6 years to instill his own unique coaching methods and playing style. Cheika became coach on October 22, which is 16 days ago and has already had a warm up game against a highly-skilled, yet invitational, cobbled-together side. And now the Wallabies face the 6th and 7th ranked nations as their first two ‘formal’ tests. Also Cheika has come in in the year his provincial side won the Super Rugby team and inherits a Wallaby team flush with his Waratahs. Further, McKenzie and Cheika have similar backgrounds and coaching styles. So with all that in mind, I call that acutely “easier and more seamless”!
I already like what I see from the Cheika Wallabies
Despite the short turnaround, it was always going to be easier and more seamless taking over after McKenzie than after Deans, and taking over after a Rugby Championship not before it. That aside, I am pleased we are back talking about on-field rugby not off-field rugby, and I am really, really looking forward to the Tests ahead. Let’s see if McMahon can continue his amazing performances.
I already like what I see from the Cheika Wallabies
Bravo. “…when Tony Dodemaide and Peter Sleep would put opponents to the sword side by side”. Too funny.
The Big Show and other cricket solutions
Can you only buy the jerseys at Ballymore? I’ve been ringing sports stores and Asics with no luck. Not really jumping on the bandwagon, just been too lazy to move from the hill to the merch tent on game days. Go Buses!
National Rugby Championship final: Brisbane City-Perth Spirit preview
Samu Kerevi. He is a beast, but I fear he doesn’t offer too much more than the wrecking ball approach.
McKenzie turns to Skelton for Wallabies
Brilliant video. You can almost feel the continuity of play shudder to a halt around 2007. There is no doubt that the current scrum rules are slowing play down with many resets. My question: are the new scrum rules to protect/control the players who are now much larger and stronger, or are the scrum rules causing the modern player to evolve into less aerobic behemoths? Either way, the time taken for scrums these days is bloody ridiculous and seems to be getting longer each passing year.
While sitting in the Brisbane crowd at the Australia v France game I felt there was a lot of time wasted waiting for the TMO to make a ruling on tries. The clock was stopped, but the crowd was growing more disinterested, because after waiting for the decision, they then had to wait for the kick. I propose the kicker takes the conversion while the TMO is making his decision, with the conversion counting if the try is awarded of course.
Stop the clock on time wasting
Hi Sheek, good article and I agree with your thoughts. I strongly agree that the best way to get past creating arbitrary or amalgamated clubs is to go with city-based teams (where the bulk of the players and fans live). If you try to please too many people, you rarely achieve anything.
Cricket’s Big Bash League stepped in the right direction by opting to have city teams instead of state teams, and I don’t think they lost too many fans from rural/regional areas. Fans simply switched their allegiance to their capital city. And in NRL and AFL, if a team didn’t represent your region, you just picked the closest one. There were/are no Sunshine Coast teams, but I happily took the Broncos and Bears/Lions.
Logistically, I’d start with an 8 team comp, expanding to 10 in the second year. Those two expansion teams would be Perth and Adelaide. Perth because of costs, and Adelaide to give them time to get their house in order. I have my reservations about a Gold Coast team, even though it seems necessary. Gold Coast teams are always flaky and terribly run!
I echo your sentiments about Super Rugby and that it will evolve into what it was supposed to be: a best of the best comp. Australia is not living up to their part of the bargain! Hopefully the NRC will plug the gap.
Do you know if they intend to revive that Australian country cup?
PS I wouldn’t lump UQ in the same basket as SU – verrry different kettle of fish despite the ‘university’ in the name.
New ARC in danger of short-circuiting
I have spoken with Lachie about that race and he said it was a bit of a farce. Everybody was running well within themselves, so they wouldn’t get injured, and he thought that he was pretty lucky to win the race.
My Wallabies side to win the cross-code Great Britain match
It shut a couple of months ago…
Wallabies vs Great Britain rugby league - the smartest stupid game ever?
The 28 year old from South Auckland more like it! Nevertheless, Read was clear winner this year.
Read crowned rugby's player of the year
A trophy similar to the Ranfurly Shield? Sounds just like an article I read here last week…
SPIRO: The ARU must honour the Anzacs by creating the Tom Richards Shield