Nick, in my family it was majong. Whether to go for the cheap hand or play the higher stakes games all based on what you got in hand at the start but changing as the situation demanded, watching what others were throwing out to determine what suits or other cards they were collecting making sure you did not throw the cards out you thing they were after. Changing strategy from a high earning game to just majong cheaply because you can see someone is building up for a major win which would cost you or if towards the end of the game just breaking your cards and throwing out tiles they do not want and keeping what you think they want so no one majongs in the end. At Uni we would play Friday nights for small stakes. Whoever was winning at midnight had to buy the roast chicken for supper and if you were not winning enough it cost you. Cheers

Hi Nick, another great article like always. Thank you. Why are NZ retaining their players? Are they paying more than RA? The problem I see with reducing the number of teams is your income from TV rights would also reduce, so do you gain anything? If you say only 5 Reds were up to the pace of NZ rugby, then obviously it is a coaching problem, of conditioning. Why do our players who go overseas improve remarkably? There again coaching, conditioning, mental toughness and skills is what is lacking. The Reds have a good and talented squad but having only 5 being able to compete over the 80min points to coaching. I think this is our main problem in oz with all the teams to a greater or lesser extent. Are we demanding enough from our players in training? Are we tailoring indervidual programs for them to improve? As for money we should allow for players to regularly to take sabaticals with the Japanese clubs say every 2 years to allow them to earn extra and top up?

Hi Jacko. Maybe an approach is need to Twiggie to fund the “Fortescue Cup” as a replacement to the NPC. Say for 5 years to get it up and running. He is the only one who has the money and the interest in rugby. On the other hand there is Gina Rinehart but if her kids have to fight her for money it’s unlikely she would sponsor it. But she may do if its called the Gina Tinehart Cup! Cheers.

JW, I disagree. Line off the back foot is one thing. A lone 5m back is another. Refs not standing in line line at the back of the lineout often get it wrong. What is the problem to making ut easier to police if the 5m back rule comes in? I think the refs and the players need all the help they can get. Cheers

DOC. I agree. I would like to see a free kick for scrum infringements unless there is dangerous play. If the ball is playable, the ref makes them use it and play on. The scrum was originally a method for one team to have an advantage by put in after a knock on to get possion. Not a weapon for penalties. When a line out throw is not in straight, the opposing side should only be allowed a throw in and no scrum option. All this would reduce the number of scrums and resets. A collapse scrum close to the try line that stops a pushover try should still be awarded a penekty try. Cheers.

JW, further more if the offside line is setback 5m behind the last foot of the ruck, how do the players gauge that line. The only way I can see is for lines to be marked on the pitch every 10m. Cheers.

JW, I say no to the 6 pt try. I like that there is a conversion and that, the conversion being easiest from infront if the posts makes teams try to score under the post. However we could save time by making both conversions and penalties dropkicks. As far as offside, I agree that the assitant refs should assist in policing this and also scrum infringements and the TMO with the overhead cam. Your suggestion of the offside line being 5 m back is impractical as this exact distance would be difficult to judge. The only way this could happen if the tmo could draw a 5m line on the screen from an overhead shot and he then is the judge. This could also apply to forward passes but you stjll have to make allowance of forward momentum of the ball. The touch judge should assist in the not straight rulings in line outs. He is the person in the perfect spot to do this. There should be no scrum option in tbe event of a crooked throw. This will reduce the number of scrums. The ref is often to one side so how can he properly judge? Too often the ball is never thrown down the centre between the two teams but along the line of the throwing side which makes it very difficult to compete. This needs to be addressed. On Mauls, this is tactical part of rugby and must stay. Teams can both learn to use it as a weapon and also how to defuse it. As far as the card system, I think thay should be 3 cards, yellow, orange and red. Yellow 10min, orange 20 min with a replacement player after 20 minutes, red for for serious dangerous intentional fouls and off for the rest of the match without a replacement. With regard to scrums, the penalty for a scrum infringement should be a free kick unless it is a dangerous foul or penalty try in the case of a scrum collapse preventing a pushover try. The scrum was to allow the side which did not knock on an advantage to gain the ball via the feed in. To then provide a penalty for a scrum infringement takes it way pass the original intent. As for crooked feed by the scrum half, Nick Bishop said that this has come about and been accepted because with strong opposing scrums, the hookers cannot afford to lift their feet to hook in fear of being pushed off the ball. However in the French vs England game, I saw the French hooker hook!!! I would like to make it mandatory that the ball be put in straight down the tunnel in the scrum. I’m sure teams will work out how to gain the ball if they have to either by push or hook. With the advantage rule, advantage on knock-ons should be over once the ball crosses the line of where the knock- on occured. A penalty advantage should be over once thr team had gained a certain number of meters, say 30m. At present there is no consistency in the advantage given by the different refs so such rule changes should bring us consistency. Cheers

Hi Nick, another great article – thanks.
With regard to time of ball in play, does the hot and humid conditions of Brisbane effect that as against the cold weather of the north do you think? Cheers.

Hi Scrum, I have just looked at the footage of the tackle in a vid on Roar and it clearly shows no head contact. Cheers

HM, please…… look at the replays. I have no skin in either the Ponies or the Reds. I’m a Force fan. I agree with the current system of being tough on head contacts but in this case there was none. Cheers

Looking at the replays, in the views that counted, Rob V only made contact with his hand and lower forearm with Tait’s chest. There was clear daylight between the rest of his arm and Tait, no contact to the head. It should never have been a yellow card or even a penalty. Cheers.

David, yes I agree it would have been better to go inside and recycle the ball than being pushed out. This happened twice. It’s judgement I guess and will get better with experience but you have to give Jordan the credit for s superb cover tsckle
Cheers

Tom is very good but needs to weene himself off the silly mistakes and give away penelties. I think as he gets more experience he will e WBs material. Cheers.

Hi Nick, great article. Can you please look at the comparisons between halfbacks. Dupont seems to have a huge punt and always gets it over the halfway line from within his 22. Our Oz half backs are lucky to kick to our 10m line from the 22. This is a huge advantage for France. Also would you compare the passing and darting of the halfbacks and and their ability to read the game and game management. I think we do have a few starting to raise their hands but even our top 2 would not be in the world top 5 halfbacks. Cheers

Gray Hand. I agree with you. But it was a yellow card all day. Cheers,

PK, Uru unfortunaty was not at his best in this match particularly in the lineouts. Nick’s praise of him on Friday and the clips in the article showed he was a fantastic jumper and quick to get up. Unfortumately we did not see any of that this match. Problems with the call? throw? Cheers,

gigs 20, but if Cheika used Quade as Ewen would have done and as DR is doing rather than his favourite tah it might have been another story. 😂

Hi Zulu, I think you are being unkind to DR. Firstly, did Jock play well enough or sufficent games to be included in the extended squad? The use of Skelton and Beale was because of injury replacements, time and financial constraints. It was also aa one time opportunity to access these players to see how good they were and if they were the right fit. I’ve no doubt Jock will be included if he continues to play well. Cheers,

Rob9, yes I do think Kellaway should be in the mix. He is good under the high ball and I think reads the play well and can inject himself into the line, make breaks and passes. However he will be a loss on the wings but we have others to cover those positions, TW, MK, JP and others. Tom is is pretty good but does some silly things. If he can cut that out he would be great. Cheers.

Why not try Rob Valintine at 12? He busts tackles and can off load and pass. He would be the next in power to Kerevi. However, who then fills his spot in the backrow? Cheers.

Impossible 😂

Thinking out of left field, they could always try Rob Valantini at 12 bit that leaves a hole in the backrow. He would have the best tacklebusting ability and drive of all Oz WB contenders. Cheers

Hi Carlos, please do not take me wrong, I am not trying to disparage Argentina. Yes there is a small percentage of the population in Argentina who speak English well. You have your bilingual english schools like St Andrews which teach the UK GCE curriculum and where only English is spoken in the mornings so there is and there is great fluency in the language. However even for them the translation to writing plain English is difficult. My partner who is a translator went to St Andrews but when she came to Oz and to uni here, the comments from leturers was, why do you write so complicated, what does this mean because she was using clauses and sub-clauses and Spanish syntax. When I say flowery, I mean it in a positive way, where many adjectives, clauses and sub-clauses are used in the composition of the sentence as it is in the Latin way. I have bought a few books on Tango from BsAs in English and the translation from the Spanish is similar to the way Francesco writes. As I said I only ever hear gringos speaking it in the street. Any Argentinians I have met apart from my partner only speaks halting English and none speak it at home. Most who speak it at home are desendents of English speaking migrants as it is for Germans. There are possibly some whose parents are English teachers. So Carlos, I can only come to this from my personal experience. Saludos.

Thanks Biltong, from your moniker you are probably from SA and though English is your second language, you probably have countless opportunities to hear and practice English. In Argentina English is virtually not spoken. I have only heard it spoken in the street by gringos. My other half is Argentinean and I am trying to learn Spanish so am coming to understand the flowery way native Spanish speakers construct their speech. It is their way and and part of their culture. It is difficult for them to translate from this lovely flowery language to the more cut and dried direct English unless they are constantly exposed to it. I am finding it difficult but going the other way round. I do understand your difficulty with with it. Like Francofile English, it takes some getting use to. I’m certain that Francesco has taken your comments onboard. Viva la difference! Cheers.

Hi Biltong, try writing in Spanish as if it was your second language and see how you go. I think Francesco did well expressing himself in English. Yes it was a bit convoluted and some expressions were not what we are use to but that is the style in which Argentinians normally express themselves and it would need a lot of embeddement into an english speaking society to change. I think Francesco was very brave to sumit the article due to the lack of fluency of his written English but it was understandable even if you had to read it slowly. I applaud him and look forward to more from him. We need to encourage the likes of Francesco to contribute. Cheers.