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jcmasher

Roar Rookie

Joined March 2018

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Born a Kiwi now have Aus citizenship. Referee for the local Sydney Subbies and with 20+ years in the Army definitely follow the ANZAC. NZ first then Australia against anyone

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Wow!

All Blacks squad: RTS misses cut, surprise Scott Barrett call, Leicester gets debut, Mo'unga on bench

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2d

So who at 8 then?

All Blacks squad: RTS misses cut, surprise Scott Barrett call, Leicester gets debut, Mo'unga on bench

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2d

I think going from 8 to 6 is easier than 4 or 5 to 6 as the game at 8 is closer to what you want from a 6. Prefer that they’d actually picked a decent 6 for the squad though

All Blacks squad: RTS misses cut, surprise Scott Barrett call, Leicester gets debut, Mo'unga on bench

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2d

Well I guess when you don’t pick a proper No 6 for the squad then it’s hard to find one on match day. Barrett was a disaster against England and he will struggle against Ireland, nothing against the guy and I really like him but he’s just not a 6. He’ll go out there and give it 100% but unfortunately it’s not his position and so he’ll struggle. ABs should have picked Cullen Grace and then he could play 8 and Ardie could move to 6. Again not his best position but he’s much better at it than Barrett. Just really glad they didn’t go all out stupid and have RTS in the 23. If Sowakula gets on the field he better step up from the crap he played in the Semi final as that was embarrassing.

All Blacks squad: RTS misses cut, surprise Scott Barrett call, Leicester gets debut, Mo'unga on bench

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2d

Well McKellar hasn’t learnt to coach better for the WR initiative on head contact all he’s learnt to do is complain about the refereeing when his team loses

'Don't see how that works': World Rugby guideline that's been ignored in Wallabies' quest for 'best maul in the world'

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2d

Turanui is so typical of an ex league player. Talks up attack because like most of them he doesn’t under stand defence and so ignores it. There’s no doubt that Perese is an exciting attacking player but I’m not sure that’s the most important trait of a good centre. The 13 is the hardest position on the field and you need a clever rugby brain there who can see what is happening and organise the players around you to react. It’s important on attack but critical on defence and that’s where I think Perese misses out. Also, the 13 needs to be a distributor. The job isn’t to score the tries, the job is to get the ball at the right time to the wings and fullback so they can score the tries. This is another area where Perese misses out as apart from the odd flashy play his timing on distributing the ball is not good enough yet. I like that DR has brought him into the team and can help coach him through some of these issues but I just don’t think he’s ready for a test jumper yet.

'How much will Valetini be the focus?': The Roar experts' predicted Wallabies 23 for the first Test against England

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2d

It may be harsh but I think if we are going to call on these overseas players they need to front up from day one as better than anyone from Australia. Otherwise why pick them? He showed signs of improvement against Wales for sure but still a long way from where I think we want a player taking the spot from a local to be.

It's time for the Wallabies to front up against ancient foes, and this is how they should do it

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3d

Nice work Nick. I think injuries and/or covid will also play their part in the selections with even the first test being hit hard with a couple. TBH even if it causes issues this year the idea of people having to step up and cover for both of these will help build the depth needed for next year. The picks DR makes from overseas will be interesting, especially with the age of some. Personally we will always disagree on Skelton as I still haven’t seen anything from him that makes me want him over the home based players. I thought he was totally ineffective when he turned up in the last tour and he seems to live on an undeserved reputation for me.

It's time for the Wallabies to front up against ancient foes, and this is how they should do it

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3d

Thanks Brett some interesting decisions for Rennie this week and over the tournament as injuries and covid will no doubt continue to have an effect. In some ways, regardless of the results this will be good as depth needs to be developed for the RWC next year. I’m not so sure some of the 3 – 0 whitewash of England predictions will come true but I certainly think if there aren’t too many more injuries then the Wallabies should win the series.

The niggly, nagging questions ahead of the first Wallabies-England Test

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4d

Thanks Geoff and some great points. I must admit I’ve often thought that the only part of rugby in Australia that went professional was the payment to players. The structure, governance and pathways have remained as they were in the amateur era and have never really evolved. I just hope both NZ and Aus work together to resolve it. Personally I can’t see any local only competition grabbing enough sponsorship to be actually worth much to anyone. I do think that NZ is more likely to attract better sponsorship even if they remain local, than Australia but both countries would suffer. AS you say there are a lot of big problems out there and TBH I’m just not sure we have enough big people running the show who can see past their own selfish interests to admit it and find the solution.

The Wrap: Is Australian rugby setting itself up to sink or swim?

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5d

“Lies, damn lies and statistics” Whenever I look at the statistics that come out of a game I always wonder at how often the losing team seems to have the best game statistics. This tells me all those numbers about meters run, players beaten, tackles made etc. etc. are actually not helpful at all. Of course the commentators love them because they’re easy to find, easy to talk about and allow them to not have to worry about making yet another mistake on the laws that they seem to not know or understand. Rugby is a hugely complex game with so much happening all the time that one off statistics are usually pretty meaningless. I always remember listening to Graham Henry laughing at the normal statistics. He said at the time two of the most important ones for him was the speed at which a player could transition from defence to attack and back and the speed to get up off the ground and back into position. They seem to make more sense and considering his record I think I’m with him.

The only stats I trust when it comes to the upcoming Test series

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6d

Nice Nick. I still wonder if Eddie is actually trying a new style that he feels will take him through the 23 RWC. I think he’s smart enough to have a new style and trial it off in parts only so that he doesn’t tie it all together on the field and so others don’t get what he’s doing. Let’s face it if he continues a poor record and then blows everyone away and wins the RWC all will be forgiven

Coach’s Corner special: what will England bring to the party in July?

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1w

That’s such a great point. Neither of the Iaone brothers have really improved at all and certainly have done nothing to demonstrate they should be ABs. I’m not sure what’s gone wrong with the way the coaching team are selecting at the moment but I’m expecting some poor results

How will the Super Rugby Pacific final impact All Blacks selection?

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1w

I’m just glad Rennie is seeing something that I’m missing. Sure he’s got great attacking skills at times but he still doesn’t know enough about the game to put himself in the right position in either attack or defence and so at times he doesn’t attack when he should because he doesn’t know the game. His defence is shocking and he doesn’t know how or when he should pass and when he should hold. Still making basic junior rugby errors due to his lack of experience. Happy for him to learn but I can’t help think he’ll be a liability in the Wallaby jersey for a few years yet

Suli's secret weapon: The man who got Wallabies' World Cup wannabe back on track after post-NRL 'struggles'

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1w

I hope he goes well but about 3 years too early for me

Suli's secret weapon: The man who got Wallabies' World Cup wannabe back on track after post-NRL 'struggles'

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1w

But why would these players come to Australia to play? Sorry I must be misunderstanding something here but it just doesn’t make sense to me.

McLennan's Australia-based Super Rugby competition could be a winner

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2w

I’m not sure where these tier 1 international teams come from in a domestic competition with the odd team from Japan or the Pacific. Neither Australia nor either of these other nations are currently tier 1 (Tier 1 being the top 5 in World Rankings). If it is from the local people who have come from over seas then that’s a huge reach that doesn’t add up. If players from overseas were any good they would be in those countries playing in their professional leagues not down here playing in a 4th tier club competition.

McLennan's Australia-based Super Rugby competition could be a winner

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2w

How would a local competition with a low level of rugby create more income. Europe and South Africa won’t be interested in watching a local competition and I’m not sure many in Asia, America or the Pacific would as well so who’s going to provide the sponsorship?

Are Rugby Australia bluffing?

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2w

I think that rugby would regress and not grow in this scenario. The level of play and intensity would drop off and that would translate to players not able to compete at international level due to the lack of experience in big games. I think that would be bad for the Wallabies.

Should we give Super Rugby the flick forever?

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2w

Who?

Are Rugby Australia bluffing?

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2w

Does anyone here really think that there are sponsors out there who would pay big money for a pure Australian competition? Increasing the number of teams will just lower the overall standard as the player base is diluted. I think it will be very bad for the Wallabies as the jump from this local competition to international games will be huge. While the results this year have not been huge, still much better than last year though – you know straight after a local competition, the experience of the teams in the semi’s and the intensity of those matches will help the players that are in the Wallabies. Without this intensity the players will have to face it in love tests for the first time and I’m not sure that will be helpful

Are Rugby Australia bluffing?

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2w

Disagree mate. I just looked at in slo-mo frame by frame and I can’t see anywhere where he had clear and obvious control with his hands under lifting the ball. In fact the more I look at it the more it looks to me as though he’s resting on his hands and lucky not to receive a penalty. Mind you I wouldn’t have called that live. But I don’t think he was ever lifting the ball and that’s a requirement

How the Brumbies lost their semi-final ‘State of Origin’ against the Blues

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2w

I’ve looked and I actually can’t see any time where he had the ball while on his feet. I also think that where BOK was standing he wouldn’t have seen that picture anyway and that’s actually telling. As a referee you can only ever rule on what you see and if you are on the other side of the ruck like he was there you’d have a completely different picture and so make decisions that we can’t understand looking at it from this side. The TMO and AR’s aren’t part of this decision making process because they look for foul play or off side so they wouldn’t have been part of that decision anyway.
Not saying I’m 100% correct either just what it looks like to me

How the Brumbies lost their semi-final ‘State of Origin’ against the Blues

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2w

I thought he lost and then recovered but as I said “maybe”

How the Brumbies lost their semi-final ‘State of Origin’ against the Blues

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2w

Nick I’m absolutely sure Romano was doing all he could to stop it. I would expect no different from any player on the ground.

How the Brumbies lost their semi-final ‘State of Origin’ against the Blues

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2w
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