Ever wondered BNHF why for all your endless pontificating very few people seem to like it?

And it was a one-off game in neutral ground as a WC friendly as a money spinner.

“The pain of the days and weeks after that dark July, as well as the bumps and bruises along the way, including as recently as August when they suffered their biggest defeat to the Boks to lose the inaugural and prestigious Qatar Cup, still runs deep.”

Christy go get a real job, perhaps with Qatar Air, they are big on spin doctors these days. How can an inaugural cup be prestigious? And secondly who says it will be a regular fixture? Mate you have sold your soul to the devil and it seems many on the Roar are sick of your weirdo articles. Quantity, in your case, is proof of lack of quality.

The AB forward bench is pretty strong, young and fit without much stress unlike ur 3 last games. Barnes will be cracking down on time wasting, fake HIA and pow-wows. Plus the AB have a very good kicking game, when on song, and they will play at pace. If NZ play with discipline they will steer clear of set piece and Sa lose a back or 2 Kwagga does not a back make.

Prob is Neibaeur says u need 30 points to win and if the AB avoid set piece it makes ur life difficult. NZ has 3 world class locks and Frizzel and even Ardie as jumpers. De Groot and Lomax can match SA props early and 140kg Tamaiti coming on later. Bongo is knackered so I dont see SA forwards as having much advantage. Le Roux on for Pollard? Barnes is the key as well as discipline but the AB will want a fast start to tire SA fwds out. The AB kicking game will be varied and they wont want to kick out if possible. Thet will pepper SA short wings with Telea, Jordan, J Barret contesting.

Point being Rassies with this pick is an egotistical wank – he thinks 7/1 is a clever tactic but it only makes sense with certain team – Eng for eg. If you let the AB play fast and get scoreboard pressure then that split is nonsense. D’Alende is a bash merchant who rarely passes and up against Jordy B. Reiko makes Kreil seem like the robot he is. Pick 2 fast wingers and no intention or method to feed them. Rassie is being stoopid

Myth that Bok pack are bigger – NZ is heavier

Look back to history mate – the Kiwis have been towelling you up consistently.

Get off the horse trank mate the Argentine backrow are more than a match for the pom or bok backrow and the AB’s more than match them for size. Sick of these rubbish comments that the Boks or Poms are behemoth’s when it is just a myth. The AB forward pack is heavier than the Boks. Pointless mythical justification for 2 of the most boring teams in the world claiming a false narrative. You lost mate slink off to the BRONZE medal which is more than you ever deserved.

Time to slink off when the only person who likes you is Micko

Do you have a job or another hobby like toy train sets? Endless prattle about your NH superiority when at the end of the day your spurious arguments boil down to club competitions, where people running them with nous unlike yourself, hire predominantly SH players who gleefully take your money. You disparage the RC and SR competitions endlessly but Leinster vs La Rochelle is still just a club comp at a low standard.

Test rugby is a different beast you will eventually realise and the 6N, while a mild distraction, has been proven with a solitary WC win to the north to be a powder puff bit of flippery.

Yawn

have some tissues and a good blow

“How many coaches have not coached in the SH loads.”

Because they are not wanted in the SH yet you lot take SH coaches all the time. Wales = Henry, Hansen, Gatland; Scotland = Cotter, Rennie; Ireland = Schmidt, Nucifora and England = EJ. Sure there are others that escape me but you can name one Irish ‘assistant’ in O’Gara who credits his success to coaching in NZ. How many straws do you have left to clutch ?

Hah – Ryan’s SR experience has created a formidable forward pack and they will have no fear of SA. The NH influence has most of your teams home already.

My buddah you are tedious. So much for your vaunted NH teams, if Fiji was not robbed, then all you 6N blowhards would be home drinking flat warm beer.

Lol the biggest giggle is that PE would give $200m to that rabble

Back in your igloo Swede and chew some dried reindeer

“I stopped watching it in the late 2000’s because I could see what a disaster it was going to end up being.”

Yet here you are again with your whinging and moaning – off to the AFL mate where at least you Ozzies will always have a win.

Olympic success is/was wildly skewed towards swimming where the main competitor previously was USA. Now China will overtake you. Most other Olympic events Australia does not perform that well. SO your cherry picking is somewhat narrow from what I listed.

A lot of Kiwi’s have a distaste towards Australia’s brashness but have an affection towards most other things – sweeping comment like “Kiwis seem to have a distaste for Aussies” proves the point. Of course NZ people choose to live there and work due to higher pay and come to stay permanently – I lived there over 35 years, longer than I lived in NZ, and that is not uncommon. There are over 100k OZ in the UK.

The NZ teams in your domestic leagues were all invited by Australia in fact – probably to add numbers to their broadcast figures. Contrast that with the ARU that shed a team – even the AFL flirted with expansion to NZ.

See, the bitter people are like yourself wallowing in despair about your performance in rugby, and then you have miseryguts like Micko who “stopped watching it in the late 2000’s because I could see what a disaster it was going to end up being” yet is a constant on any thread denigrating his neighbouring country. Kiwis in a rugby forum rarely have cause to be bitter but some of you lot get real salty.

Also my original comment was directed to the chief pessimist Micko but you felt the need to pipe up?

Yes but those Fijians are wanted – if the Aussie boys were wanted they would be gone tomorrow

All very well suggesting sending those players “to Europe to experience higher standards and knock out rugby at quality institutions” but that assumes they will be wanted?

In $BW speak – Bro, CuzzyBro, you have a major chip on your shoulder.

NZ will utilise opportunities that having a close larger nation can provide and why not?

“Australia is a genuine global sporting superpower” — really? Well tickle me to death with an emu feather. Let’s see your claims eh. Oz WC in Rugby League played in a few places like the North of England and the global powerhouse of PNG. In domestic NRL over 65% of the players are of Kiwi or PI origin. AFL has that global win of hybrid Irish games every decade or so otherwise the rest of the world doesn’t care. Cricket – the nice cosy English/OZ duopoly till the upstarts from the colonies took over winning percentages, maybe 7 old Brit colonies makes it global powerhouse? Swimming dominated by a few countries that have a warmish climate. Tennis? An occasional fluke surrounded by pretentious brats who talk but fail. Sailing – oh yeah the AC 30yrs ago and nothing since. Skiing/Winter Snow sports hah don’t even start. Cycling the odd performer every decade or so but they all train overseas. Olympic athletics lol. F1 and MotoGP some wins but outliers – curious fact NZ has more F1 champs than you and McLaren still on the grid unlike Brabham where you fickle lot wouldn’t contribute to keeping it going. Supercars dominated by Kiwis – kick your cousins out of that as well – 3 of them in the top 15 in IndyCars this year. Surfing? Mick Fanning a long time ago. Soccer ranked 27 globally.

That’s covered a few major sports Champ (btw I forgot Netball – see Cricket above) and I struggle to see your “genuine global sporting superpower” claims with any substance.

Finally …. the NZR centralised system is being implemented globally and I see no other countries rushing to follow the OZ model which incidentally has not even existed for 20yrs if it ever had one. NZ rugby has been bailing you out since 2007. Also you delude yourself thinking NZ is “culturally fixated on Australia” as NZ has more respect for it’s culture than John Williams knocking out a ditty about a thief shagging a sheep down by the dam or a Welcome to Country where the speaker gets the actual code wrong. You are a bit thick if you dont realise that all around the globe that smaller countries not only focus, but delight, in beating their brash neighbours.

All you do ‘Bro’ is whinge and complain about Kiwis being very very good at their national sport but not ONE time have you offered any solution to RA demise that makes any logical, realistic, financial sense. It is probably high time you gave up on Rugby and became an AFL/NRL fan where you can claim to be world champs and not be so depressed and miserable. It’s over for you Mick and you will never be happy. Enjoy your life mate.

I read somewhere today that discussions with PE options have been stopped due to RA dismay at PE valuations. What did RA expect with these results? AB’s got PE buy-in because they are a global brand and it seems to me the RA delusionists thought they would garner similar funding when globally the Wobblies are nada.

Haha so 5 more overpriced potential league players says the clown? The same messiah Suaalii’s who is reportedly reneging on his move to RA as a bad career choice?

Nope they were ‘big’ in the OZ environment at that time, but never globally, and a few years of success as opposed to the AB legacy doesn’t translate. This is a major reason behind the decline of OZ rugby – when they are winners they are popular but when they lose the Aust fanbase slips away. Bit like the current media currently on the anniversary around historically winning the Americas cup so long ago praising the result but it was in Bob Hawkes time and nothing since and Ozzies dont care unless they are winners.

“Q: You were the architect behind Eddie’s return. Do you have any regrets this year around parachuting back into the head coaching role and any bullish public statements you made?

No. Eddie’s cutting from England provided a catalyst which we had to decide on quickly. Dave’s win rate was 38% and Eddie’s was 73%. We were going no where fast. Those bullish statements also helped us get new Sponsors, the ‘27 and ‘29 World Cups, get a broadcast arrangement and cut us a fair deal against the Kiwis when they tried ruin us.”

Hamster BS again – EJ had no comparable win rate as he didn’t coach OZ.

What new sponsors? How many $$$? The WC deals were done before him. The Broadcast arrangement where they want to reduce the paltry $16m currently paid and with the national team failing to get out of the pool – that broadcast deal will be savaged cos nobody wants it.

I read somewhere today that discussions with PE options have been stopped due to RA dismay at PE valuations. What did RA expect with these results? I travel a lot around Asia and in the local markets team jerseys from all popular sports are a huge knockoff item – apart from the soccer heavyweights you always find AB kit but never the Wobblies and it has been like that for decades. AB’s got PE buy-in because they are a global brand and it seems to me the RA delusionists thought they would garner similar funding when globally the Wobblies are nada.

Finally, that old BS about the Kiwis fair deal when they actually had a product that people wanted and the Hamster felt he was entitled to a 50% share when nobody watched OZ game = FFS the clown needs to go NOW