“Especially if they’re at 5000-1 again.”

We will never ever get such odds in the epl and most other comps/sports worldwide. It seems it will be the biggest payout ever, in uk alone we are talking up to 25M pounds. Bookies have been offering cashouts since xmas thing is many punters joined the leicester bandwagon during the season and although they didnt get then 5000-1 odds they will still make a nice profit.

What a feel good story it is! And thats why although I watch and appreciate sports with finals I still prefer the first past the post format. 10 months of hard work rewarded, something that a bad draw or unlucky bounce during finals can not ruin. The most rewarding of all trophies imo.

Few mistakes in this article: no, Ranieri didn’t “pick Mahrez up from League two in France for a mere $400,000”. Mahrez moved to Leicester in Jan 2014 under Nigel Pearson. Ranieri joined the club 18 months later. Fee was about 450,000 euros.

I think all clubs ‘gamble’ to some extent when they sign new players and in Leicester case all if not most new signees (including Ranieri) had the season of their life at the same time. Plus they had no major injuries and the same 13-15 guys played all season. Don’t think its going to revolutionise things though and big clubs will always buy proven players over newbies. That’s what Leicester would do too if they had unlimited funds. However for us fans and especially Leicester supporters its been a season we will never forget.

Are you being serious ben? You would never support an organisation, individual etc who occasionally ‘take advantage’ of rules in place which may be ethically flawed? Are you a hermit (with access to internet that is)?

Re last night’s game I felt sharks defensive effort was amazing and they took full advantage of ref’s leniency at the breakdown (felt they slowed the game at pretty much every ruck).

I think it was very valuable for mckenzie to see what awaits him at international level: tighter, better defences. No matter how skilled and fast you are strong defenders are going to ask a few questions.

Good article scott, same here it saddened me to see semi’s name.

On matty johns radio show i heard semi would probably be on 30k a test playing for oz, say 4-5 tests per year, while he would get a couple hundred bucks for Fiji and play once or twice a year. That’s a 150k difference, less travel and a strong chance of winning titles. Hard to say no.

As others have said league isnt the only sport like this and basically all sports where you have a big imbalance between rich and poor countries are likely to experience it. But to be fair with semi and other islanders, nz and oz themselves have made a mockery of the international game for years: how many kiwis have played for oz and vice versa in league or union? Hard to expect islanders to stick to their nation of birth when aussie and kiwi themselves play for the neighbours. Some like brad thorn even manage to pkay for both countries in 2 different sports. So its not a league only issue but a more global one unfortunately.

So t

🙂 you’re too humble mate

Haha good call pman 🙂 and great blog will! Pretty avge first half from both teams but tahs finally realised there are still bp to be won in 2016.

Wow they’ve done it!!! Superb win, showed so much heart for the ppl of Kumamoto!! Pisi is still such a classy player, Viljoen under the high ball wow! Amazing result!

All fair points pk, I particularly like your duty of care thing. Thing is players often jump ‘almost’ at the same time but not quite hence even if you’re honestly playing the ball yiu may just jump 0.2sec after the other bloke. Its really a tough one but agree that perhaps its an area that must be policed now before we get a dramatic incident.

perso I would probably be hop/jumping the last 20m just to cover my a.s 😉

yep agree with you 2. Perso I think that refs will never be able to get these calls right: an up and under, 2 players coming at full speed from opposite directions, the only way the contest is sort of ‘fair’ is if/when the 2 blokes jump exactly at the same time, which is almost impossible.

There is always one guy who jumps 0,2sec earlier than the other who consequently ends up under the 1st jumper. Its all about timing and in a way Emery was red carded for ‘not having the perfect timing’. Its harsh to red card a bloke for not being technically perfect.

If we push this reasoning, I reckon players should jump as early as possible even if it means they are a bit too far to have a realistic chance of catching the ball. Last night Emery jumped when he was too close to the ball/almost under it, and had no time to pull out. In a way he was ‘too fair/committed’ to really playing the ball. It would have been better for him to try milk a penalty, jump early etc.

Only way to have zero risk is to ban contesting bombs like that but you would still get guys colliding on the ground. Near impossible to clean this aspect of the game imo.

Spot on jerry. Thats what refs meant when they said ‘ no intent’. It was careless, clumsy etc but the last thing emery wanted was to hurt le roux. Nowhere near as bad as a spear tackle in my mind but yes le roux’s landing was atrocious. Reckon the same hit with le roux ending up on his back rather than neck would have been a yellow instead. Nothing sclandalous about a red though.

As an aside classy apologies from emery to wlr after the game and wlr knew the kiwi didnt mean any harm. One of rugby’s many imponderables, just glad we have a happy ending.

Perso I think FTA should be for:

– all national team games
– special games i.e cup final
– possibly some/all ACL games involving aussie teams (last rounds?).

I think too much football (i.e A League games) would not only affect crowds but also not get massive tv audiences. In other words it would/could kill off the game. Domestic leagues belong on pay tv (or other media) but not FTA imo, not in oz and not in most countries.

Agree happens everywhere. The saffa commentators during lions v stormers said grass needs a bit of cold weather for the roots to get deeper and stronger. May explains why grounds in NZ or north UK are a bit better than in warmer regions, dunno.

rugby grounds are just another victim of el nino 😉

Agree bp. Phipps is no genius but I reckon he’s by far the most complete scrummie in oz. Defensively he is head and shoulders above the others and again proved it last night. He’s keen and always put his body on the line.

Having said that he’s a (big) notch below other international scrum halves and his passing game is average at this level. A good hard working scrum half but technically limited imo.

Yep agree flanker, Palu deserved his yc but so do many other ‘ruck cleaners’ who just throw themselves kamikaze-style at any ruck (TPN was ‘good’ at it too). Refs have to protect not only the blokes who are on the receiving end but also the cleaners themselves.

Poor performance from the Tahs. I would be harsher than david re Kellaway, didnt do well defensively (positioning and tackling). Didnt mind Folau at 13 but KB was the only standout in tahs side. Love him at 12, made foley and folau looked better than they actually were.

Score line flattering the rebels, canes could have scored twice as many tries if Fifita among others hadn’t made a few crucial handling errors (great presence though!)

Can’t wait for next week, the pace of the game should be tremendous. Chiefs have imo been the fittest team in the comp so far (thats what won them the game vs blues last week I reckon). When I watch them I often wonder what are these guys doing at training other teams aren’t, massive fitness difference!

Anyway will always go for a team with anti hero Barrett over anyone with a well rehearsed pre-kicking routine like mckenzie (love the bloke as a player but jeez this smile…he almost deserves a late tackle for it). Go canes!

If anything that’s a good PR coup for Tahs and oz rugby in general in a somewhat anodyne SR season so far.

The 2 best aussie fullbacks (maybe) paired in the centre is intriguing. Reckon izzy will also be used as first receiver a la nonu, sbw etc.

If I were Coetzee the first thing I would do would be to cap Faf de Klerl and Malcolm Marx (and a few other lIons) in June so that no one else get them. Actually I would pick the whole Lions team for Boks first game. Would send the right message to the players and supporters.

Very good brett thanks.

Re “The conference format is already having a weird effect on the way the competition table looks after six rounds’ I have to say I haven’t once looked at the table(s) this year. That’s imo one of the main issues with those convoluted, multi conferences, odd byes etc formats: tables don’t mean much. I think its something sanzaar has to look at: make sure people watch their product not only for its quality but also the end result, i.e winning the actual tournament. How many SR fans would today be able to say who tops the ladder (their first reply would be ‘which one/’).

Re Kings, cheetahs or wolves rather good ‘db/try’ stats, could some of those tries be ‘soft tries’, I mean more cause their opponents have let their guard down (early in the match being too complacent and/or late when the game is over?). Lions my team of the tournament so far.

Great preview Patrick. Would love any aussie or euro to beat the Americans on home turf.

I have Day (my fav aussie) and McIlroy as co favorites simply cause their SF at the match play was just brilliant. Didn’t read too much into McIlroy loss for 3rd spot, his w-e was already over.

Louis Oosthuizen and Victor Dubuisson my (long shot) outsiders.

Partially agree with gibson there. Agree that coaches themselves and the philosophy taught in nz are probably of a higher standard than in oz or anywhere else in the world but imo it doesn’t explain the massive skills gap.

I would love to know when all SR players started playing rugby or even touched their first rugby ball. Was it at u7, bit later, much later? When I watch kiwi teams I feel their boys were born with a rugby ball, probably played it all their life with a proper team or in their backyard. Looks second nature to them. Other teams, especially in the nh, have acquired skills but just dont feel the game the same way. Innate skills are hard to match or beat even with hard work and when it comes to rugby it seems the little extra things kiwi kids do are the difference 15 years later when they play the game professionally.

In the nh and perhaps oz too its not rare to see a player starting rugby late in his teens and turn pro later. Does that happen in nz too? Their players make things look so much simpler and natural that it feels its not only coaching drills or athleticism that’s the difference.

Agree lester.

Its quite sad really to see 2 big rugby nations like argentina and oz whoring their way (pardon my french) around the world and play a crucial game thousands of km from home for no particular reason other than make more money.

I know we in oz have already moved bledisloe matches to Hong Kong in the past but I sort of feel we are used to being treated like this by the aru ($150 tix for not so great seats, thats why we struggle to pack a 40k stadium for the argies and saffas and dont get full house for NZ) so in a way it didnt go too badly.

Different situation for the argies imo: they are the new big kids on the block, have a new SR franchise and have a genuine chance of doing well in this RC.

Adding salt to injury playing a ‘home’ game in england for any argie must be hard to swallow!

Well, thank god their 2 struggling latin brothers will send their b teams in June so all aint bad! 😉

I think we should relaunch our copa latina with our gypsy cuzzies from romania. That would teach a lesson to the anglos ha!

Only thing am saying is that I hope (and think) the welsh will be worthy opponents. Am also excited to see how the new look AB will look like, if they will play a faster brand of rugby without their old guard the same way they did when Aaron smith took over weepu.

I just look at things in a positive manner and know I will enjoy the series.

@taylor, the ‘taking the series seriously’ thing I was referring to is mostly because some NH have brought a fairly negative attitude on tour (that’s what I felt when I saw the French a couple of years ago in oz). I just think and hope the welsh will at least give it a crack, that’s all. I want a contest, and even if its a 50-12 hiding with a welsh side trying against a very good AB one I’ll be happy with that. (that’s why I enjoy watching a side like the Lions in SR, they may lose more often than not but they try hard 80min of the 13 odd games they play every year).

taylor and moa, the way I see it is that Wales will take these series very seriously indeed; they know that 3 hidings and they wont be considered again anytime soon.

Of the 6N, Scotland and Italy are imo out of contention for a 3 test-series in NZ and France would only make it on reputation alone. England and Ireland are now the only 2 genuine/decent enough sides to deserve a NZ invite. From what I have seen in the last few years vs wallabies and SA, wales deserve their 3 test-series in nz but they will have to prove that they are worthy opponents and that’s why I think Gatland and the Welsh RUF will tell their guys they aren’t going to NZ as semi tourists.

Plus although you guys have already replaced mccaw, carter, Conrad, nonu etc I still think other sides may fancy their chances a bit more now?

Agree Ngati, that’s exactly how I see it too. When Ireland toured NZ in 2012 they got hammered in test 1 and 3 but got very close on test 2. I don’t think this welsh side is any weaker than Ireland were in 2012? Out of the 3 NH sides touring the south they will be the ones least expected to win a test. They have nothing to lose really and their big backs always ask questions to defenders.

I know I will enjoy watching your new midfield combo against big guys with 50+ caps. Gatland back home will be interesting too (first kiwi coach to come back to NZ since RD with the wallabies I think?). I actually like the 3 match-ups we get this June and although NZ v Wales looks the most one sided its also perhaps the most interesting in terms of rugby. (the welsh may have lost 9/10 vs SA and Oz in recent years they are nonetheless one of the few NH sides if not the only one who have been competitive pretty much every time they took the field. NZ will have to work to put 50p on them I think).

🙂 thanks for the kind words moa, very much appreciated! One life too many options!

Plus there is the (remote) possibility I would be parading my AB jersey in Welly or Auckland streets if I were living there and that’s a scary thought!!!