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JD, that is classic whataboutism. Just because Chieka got Kepu to put late hits on Carter 9 years ago, does that make it OK for McMillan to use Finau to do the same now? Maybe neither was/is in the best interests of rugby.
Super Rugby teams week six: Foketi back after horror injury, Suli benched, Sam Carter set for debut, DMac rested
Like his tackles on Lolesio and Lynagh, it was a bit late and very forceful despite him knowing the guy no longer had hands on the ball. My current profile pic shows the hit on Reihana and Lolesio. The ball was passed high right to left across Reihana’s path and he just got his left hand to it to put him technically in possession, so not a tackle off the ball by the book, but it certainly was de facto.
Super Rugby teams week six: Foketi back after horror injury, Suli benched, Sam Carter set for debut, DMac rested
I don’t disagree. In the decision on Franks the words ‘no mitigating circumstances’ and ‘reckless’ were used but somehow they started at mid-level which made it 4 weeks. Fa’agase got the rough end of the pineapple when comparing his situation to other, more ‘notable’ players.
Super Rugby teams week six: Foketi back after horror injury, Suli benched, Sam Carter set for debut, DMac rested
Found else-web: Franks’s 4 week starting point for suspension was cut to 2 weeks with an early ‘guilty plea’ and then reduced down to just 1 week thanks to attending ‘head contact process – coaching intervention’ training.
How does a professional player of Franks’s age and experience (or really any professional player of any age) get credit for doing a training session on the hows and whys of not hitting opponents in the head? Why isn’t completion of these sorts of training sessions a requirement before being allowed on the park at this level? These guys are paid to play the game. Knowledge of current rules, interpretations and protocols shouldn’t be an optional extra.
Super Rugby teams week six: Foketi back after horror injury, Suli benched, Sam Carter set for debut, DMac rested
Any news on why Owen Franks is listed as a reserve for the Crusaders when he is meant to still suspended this round?
Super Rugby teams week six: Foketi back after horror injury, Suli benched, Sam Carter set for debut, DMac rested
McKenzie picked up some sort of leg injury/niggle in Round 1 and has been wearing quite a bit of tape since. Not surprising to see him get some rest against ‘cellar dwellers’.
Nice to see young Reihana back in the Crusaders line-up after he got smashed by Finau in Round 1.
Super Rugby teams week six: Foketi back after horror injury, Suli benched, Sam Carter set for debut, DMac rested
I wonder if we will see Rodda back given the timing and speed of getting Sam Carter into the line-up.
Super Rugby teams week six: Foketi back after horror injury, Suli benched, Sam Carter set for debut, DMac rested
Grealy and/or Petaia will have to shuffle around if there is an injury in centres or fb. (I really hope we don’t have to see that!)
Super Rugby teams week six: Foketi back after horror injury, Suli benched, Sam Carter set for debut, DMac rested
A solution to getting a striking contest back into scrums, and getting rid of crooked feeds and greatly reducing resets, is to get rid of feeds altogether. How? Place the ball on the mark for the scrum and have the hooker from the team in possession place their foot on top of the ball, then form up the scrum with the ball already in the middle of it. The ref can still manage the process with (i) crouch (ii) bind (iii) set, but with the ball already in, as soon as ‘set’ is called the scrum is live, so there is no such thing as an early shove. The hooker with a foot on top of the ball can rake it back after the ‘set’ call. Note that if the hooker has their foot on top of the ball, they won’t be able to get as low as is usual now, and opponents will also be setting higher so their hooker can have a strike at it on the ‘set’ call. This should produce fewer collapsed scrums and if a scrum does collapse but the ball can be extracted, play on. All the nonsense about instability before the feed just goes away while still having a scrum contest, and perhaps a better scrum contest with some hookers actually earning tight-heads by a quick strike instead of just pushing power.
WR's mooted law changes are great - but show there's a hell of a lot wrong with rugby in 2024, and that sucks
The problem with reducing the relative value of penalties is that that encourages professional (cynical) sportspeople to infringe more often, unless the reduction in penalty value is accompanied by more expansive use of yellow cards.
WR's mooted law changes are great - but show there's a hell of a lot wrong with rugby in 2024, and that sucks
For a long time it has been the case that when you post, you own post will appear as a blob. If you then hit your browser’s refresh button, the formatting turns up and all is right with the world.
WR's mooted law changes are great - but show there's a hell of a lot wrong with rugby in 2024, and that sucks
One might quibble about how much quality education those NRL scholarships provide when the boys and schools focus so much more on their footy performance than academic attainments. It’s a system with problems on many levels.
More 'Scary Schmidt' than 'Sleepy Joe': Ireland tales that show the new Wallabies coach could be a polarising figure
Does anyone know when the Reds flew over to Perth? Whenever it was, it didn’t work and shouldn’t be repeated.
The Force turned up and played their best rugby of the year so far to score a bunch of good tries. Congratulations to all the long suffering, now celebrating Force fans.
Reds' 'unbelievable, unfathomable' double disaster sums up shocker as Force spring stunning upset
Lynagh didn’t slide a couple of steps as he should have and left the door open. I wonder if he’s still not quite right after getting smashed two weeks ago.
Reds' 'unbelievable, unfathomable' double disaster sums up shocker as Force spring stunning upset
If that’s their bottom mark for the season I will be quite content.
Reds' 'unbelievable, unfathomable' double disaster sums up shocker as Force spring stunning upset
Attack? So you want Whitaker out the door, not Coleman. Whitaker has been assisting under-performance by the Tahs for years longer than Coleman.
Deja vu for Tane as Drua deliver another heart-breaker to under fire Coleman
Robertson came through one of the world’s great provincial systems at the Crusaders with lots of rugby IP all around. O’Gara made a point of spending a couple of seasons as an assistant at [checks notes] the Crusaders before taking up his gig at La Rochelle. Maybe some exceptional former players can be fast tracked in their coaching development because they have seen a lot of top level coaching through their playing careers and they may pick up what they need quickly. But success stories like Robertson and O’Gara seem to be exceptions rather than the rule. Like players, some coaches are just better than others.
Set up to fail: The gaping hole in Aussie Super Rugby coaching CVs - with one clear exception
Ewan McKenzie was a good super rugby coach and even better when he was allowed to pick his own team.
Set up to fail: The gaping hole in Aussie Super Rugby coaching CVs - with one clear exception
The real longer-term benefit of selecting Kiss as Head Coach may just be his insistence on bringing in his experienced assistants and insistence on recruitment of a couple of experienced props to play alongside and mentor the youngsters. This marks a shift to a more professional mindset than the parochial amateurism that drove all those years of dud decisions of choosing ‘good local blokes’. If Kiss’s tenure progresses well (and so far, it has been as good as anyone could have wished) that professional mindset should take hold and become the prevailing culture for a long time. [fingers crossed]
Set up to fail: The gaping hole in Aussie Super Rugby coaching CVs - with one clear exception
Kicking stats from just 4 games doesn’t tell anyone enough. Goal kicking is about consistency, but test match goal kicking is very much about where and when.
Wallabies Power Rankings: How every Test contender is shaping up one month into Super Rugby
Neither. Koro’s weakness on defensive positioning got badly exposed last year. Toole is certainly an attacking weapon and perhaps against a struggling Welsh side it might be entertaining to see him in some space, but I don’t think he’s yet shown what is needed on the wing against the AB’s & Boks. He can be useful as kick-chaser/tapper downer, but opposition high kicks to his wing would worry me greatly. And when he starts making some important tackles, I’ll be more impressed.
The astounding numbers that must propel Corey 'Rocket Man' Toole into a Wallabies jersey
The most important selections that Schmidt has to make before the Wales series is to fill out his assistant coaches bench.
Wallabies Power Rankings: How every Test contender is shaping up one month into Super Rugby
Alternatively, he might still be recovering from the head knock Barrett gave him while Barrett is back on the park this week. The Reds looked better with Henry at 12. I hope Paisami plays well and doesn’t try to do too much all at once.
Super Rugby teams: Tupou benched, Jorgo back for Fiji trip, Petaia sidelined, Swain surprise
In the first minute (0:55ish) of Hanigan’s first run on start against the Highlanders(Rd.3), the Highlanders got a penalty when Hanigan utterly failed in his clean-out attempt on Tavatavanawai when the Tahs’ new winger, Reilly, ran a kick back. Straight up converted penalty goal to the Highlanders. At 3:55, with the Tahs on attack just outside the Highlanders’ 22, Hanigan simply over-ran a pass from Vailanu, got it behind him and dropped it cold to be picked up by the Highlanders. Less than a minute later, the Highlanders scored their first try. Now, other Tahs made mistakes in that try, but they should still have been working phases at the other end of the pitch but for Ned’s drop. That doesn’t seem to be the ‘consistency’ that Joe Schmidt wants.
There’s a long way to go in the season and I like the fact that Schmidt has clearly said he’s not ruling players in or out on the first few games played this year.
Joe Schmidt's search for a 'cold-hearted bastard' - and the issue he'll lose most sleep over
That makes sense.
Super Rugby teams week six: Foketi back after horror injury, Suli benched, Sam Carter set for debut, DMac rested