I really like that idea! It would help with unfair criticism regarding reffing too, to have a greater percentage of viewers actually understanding the law…

Plenty of agreement for me on this one, Brett 👍

Educating fans through as many stats possible, and video analysis commentary with sane copyright fair use protection.

The copyright strikes seem counterproductive to me on video footage put together to analyze play. Surely videos that help people understand the game more would just send more eyeballs back to the source of the content to watch the games, you would think?

Staying true to your name I see, One-Eye 😂
Lot of what ifs, but not many would debate against the Chiefs discipline needing to be better to beat the Crusaders.

Happy that our Crusaders won. Those 3 YCs though was the difference, and the Chiefs shot themselves in the foot. Chiefs looked better 15 vs 15.

Crusaders were cunning to press for lineout/mauls for 2 tries to Taylor on penalties when the Chiefs were down a man, rather than attempt a penalty kick.

Some say you need to lose a final to win one, but I am not sure the stats support this, unless losing a final years before with different players and coach counts. You could say with the Hurricanes and Brumbies titles that theory rings true, but most teams stay thereabouts for a while, then fade away unfortunately.

Hope that doesn’t happen to the Chiefs, but I feel you really have to seize the moment when it arrives, like Saders ’98, Blues ’03, Bulls ’07, Reds ’11, Chiefs ’12, Tahs ’14, Highlanders ’15. They didn’t need to lose the final the previous year to win the title, and most losing finalists don’t bite back the following year.

If I was a Chiefs fan, I wouldn’t be counting chickens before they hatch next year, as a few other teams will also have a say in it 😛

True, but how many teams would score 101 points in those 2 playoffs, and still be stingy enough to only concede 11.5 per game. That commitment to defending the line, even when letting in a couple more tries wouldn’t have mattered, shows intent not to be underestimated. Blues only scored that final try when the Crusaders were down to 13 men.

I seem to remember the same optimism and support for the Blues last year 😛

Fair point, but also Wayne Smith won Crusaders titles too. But you don’t have Smith, and we no longer have a dud Blackadder as coach, where the Crusaders failed to get any titles.

Crusaders a different beast now compared to 2012/2013.

Crusaders by 3.

It seems that the general vibe from the panel is that the Chiefs have played more finals like defensive rugby. Chiefs in QF and SF have conceded 26 points and the Crusaders 23. Crusaders showing the defence, and the opposition letting in a truckload doesn’t diminish that, but highlights the intent on defence even when the opposition don’t care.

Crusaders have been 3 points better in defence than the Chiefs in the QF and SF, and they will be 3 points better again in the final.

This is a excellent article, Horse.

It is the coaching and player pathways that need attention. A national competition is a must, especially to feed 5 teams worth of players and coaches. Cutting down teams will limit geographical growth, and adding kiwi players limits regional growth, and you are correct that NZ will choose home grown first mostly even with drafts, because it just increases regional growth for us.

Potentially, the draft could end up over time having 60%+ kiwis making the numbers in Aus, with only a few Aus players in NZ teams. That would only leave about 2 teams worth of Aus players to select for the Wallabies. If a draft was implemented, you would need a cap on movement to protect against that potential development disaster.

Just on a legal standpoint, it would be hard to convince top NZ players to move to a poorer coaching setup, and you can’t legally force players to move. Even in a draft, you may mostly be flooded with excess NZ players, which is currently a option anyway. The point of the draft is to get to NZ’s best, but do the best want to play under Aus coaching and hinder personal development? Maybe for the Brumbies, but they are not the team that need help!

I think your concerns are very much warranted, and a draft put in place to even results can have negative side effects that should be scrutinized against the positives carefully.

Foster says it’s SS’s defence, but honestly I haven’t noticed it being a concern, certainty not compared to Clarke…

I took the point from Brett as highlighting the small margins that decided the game. The Chiefs managed to make those margins count for points, but things were very much in the balance of control for most of the game, and that Brums maul could’ve been a tipping point.

Don’t think Brett is trying to make excuses, as your reply pretty much asserts 😊

All the best of luck for your Chiefs, they’ll need it vs our mighty Crusaders! Let’s hope Stevenson has a blinder to stick it to Foster 👍

Yeah, I don’t think the Brums cracked that bad with all the pressure on the throat. They still held the Chiefs to under 20 points and 1 try, which is a winning formula. Chiefs just were remarkable good under the pump pressure, and that was too hard to match over 80 mins. If the Btumbies pulled in 5-10 mins more composure, it was anybody’s game, but few teams ever manage that

Yeah, just a little more composure over the 80 mins for the Brumbies. Ponies showed huge grit to deny the Chiefs a try just before halftime, but it was lack of composure that caused that threat initially.

Full credit though to the Chiefs to soak up the pressure put on them, and the Brums put them under plenty, and be composed to always have the scoreboard in their favour. Champion teams win the epic tight battles.

The Chiefs are playing the right kind of rugby to genuinely have a good shot against the Crusaders. Defence , composure, and players that can seize the moment when few chances for scoring are offered. I feel you need to restrict Crusaders to at least under 20 points to win. Crusaders though have only leaked 23 points over the QF and SF and scored a truckload of points, and that commitment to defence, when letting in a couple more tries wouldn’t have made a difference to the result, shows they mean business.

Next week is a 50/50 game for me.

We have lost most games against top 5 nations recently, and many kiwis can’t suck up with honesty where the problem is.

Poor inconsistent selections, and too many good players gone over to the NH, with a average coach.

Robertson may turn things around, and his thinking is very much into pushing for overseas selection, which is now I believe the right move for NZ

I think you are being generous,

Apart from Cane, our backrow has been unsettled and inconsistent since the departure of Read.

Spot on with our midfield. ALB has had too many injuries and has gone down in form. Reiko is a brilliant winger, but a defensive liability at 13. J Barrett is inexperienced at 12, as versatile as he is. I would be looking at Ennor and Goodhue (excellent defender) in the midfield, but still not as good Aus 1st choice.

Our front row is ok, but probably 4 other nations with better (SA, IRE, AUS, FRA).

Very good starting locks, but if they go down, stocks get thin real fast.

Positions 9, 10 and outside backs probably the best in the world in combination.

Despite the cocky comments, many kiwis would also agree with my opinion.

Foster isn’t happy with Stevenson’s defence, but selects R Ioane in the midfield and Clarke, both known for defensive misreads…enough wingers too without Clarke, think Stevenson should have been given a shot.
.
I guess J & B Barrett and Dmac are also FB cover, with the lack of FB cover named in the outside backs after W Jordan.

👍

Nice sentiments there, Chivas. IMO, you didn’t lose any humility points in your predictions, as it is a lottery predicting the future, and we should back our teams with hopeful words

The Crusaders are impossible to beat at home in playoffs, but the Chiefs have home advantage, and are still favorites (just) IMO.

Hi Numpty, I think that the turnovers conceded is definitely a problem area for defence, as the best time to score a try is getting ball on the turnover, with the adjusting from attack to defence, so good point made.

The Rebels have conceded most of their points in the last 20 mins, and have had leads or were close behind, to let at times truckloads of points in at the final quarter.

This would suggest a fitness or bench weakness, and at a guess, a disproportionate high number of those turnovers conceded were in the final quarters of their matches.

Reds really pulled out another stoic game vs Chiefs to almost snatch an amazing victory. You could say that the Reds are the chiefs bogey team, but if I were the Brumbies or any other team to face the Chiefs in the knockouts, I would be looking at the Reds defensive pods with interest, as there is something there that disrupts the Chiefs flow…

Blues had an easy win, and unfortunately the Tahs were somewhat in stage fright, as well as Fijian Drua vs the Crusaders, but I think both the Tahs and the Drua had patches of good rugby in the rounds.

Would be massive if the Crusaders could pull through with a title in 2 weeks time with that injury list. Felt so bad for Blackadder coming on to immediately get taken off again with injury concern.

With the Brumbies vs Hurricanes, what a epic match to watch with the nail biting end. Can’t rule for a try you cannot see touch the ground, so right call made. Felt for Savea thinking he scored it, and I don’t doubt his honest, although our own interpretations of what we thought happened doesn’t necessarily mean it matches with reality. Valetini indeed had a great game.

Harsh comment on how old Pita Gus Sowakula looks, hope he doesn’t read these articles 😂

“The loss summed up the Waratahs’ frustrating year, which barely got going.”

There has been much criticism directed at the Tahs. The results vs the Blues was very predicable, because there are 5 teams clearly better than the other 7 this year.

The Tahs season has been described as ‘poor’ by many, but are the Reds or Drua going to be any better in their QF? Doubt it.

The Tahs have certainly moved on from 2021, and have been better than 6 other teams this year and last, which is the best out of the 7 teams who struggle to compete with the top 5.

I know many Tahs fans are disappointed, but you still managed to be better than 3 other Aus teams and a kiwi team on results, which is the only metric that really matters, although some will try to convince you that the Rebels had a better season than the Tahs through mental gymnastics 😂

Wish the Tahs all the best for next year 👍

The Crusaders team in 2004 final.

15 Ben Blair
14 Marika Vunibaka
13 Aaron Mauger
12 Dan Carter
11 Caleb Ralph
10 Cameron McIntyre
9 Justin Marshall
8 Sam Broomhall
7 Richie McCaw
6 Reuben Thorne (c)
5 Chris Jack
4 Brad Thorn
3 Greg Somerville
2 Tone Kopelani
1 David Hewett
Substitutions:
16 Corey Flynn
17 Chris King
18 Ross Filipo
19 Johnny Leo’o
20 Jamie Nutbrown
21 Andrew Mehrtens
22 Casey Laulala

I refreshed my memory and looked to find Leon played all games at 15 for the Crusaders except 1 game vs the Brumbies in 2003 where he played 10, which the Saders won, and was Leon’s position when he played for Marlborough. It was just the 2003 WC SF that Leon was moved to 13.

Sorry for the previous misinformation, and don’t always rely on memory… 😛

L McDonald was injured (concussion by memory) and didn’t play the 2004 final. Ben Blair played FB and A Mauger at 13.

Leon did play games in 13 for the Crusaders in 2003, and maybe 2004 as well, which shouldn’t surprise as Deans was both the Crusaders coach and AB backline coach under Mitchell, and it was ultimately Deans’ decision to move Leon to 13 for the ABs.

The McDonald 15 to 13 switch was similar to Cullen at 13 in the 1999 RWC. Took us a while to realize that you need a specialist at 13, and particularly in ’99, trying to squeeze in more ‘x-factor’ at the cost of fundamental skills in a position is taken at great risk of backfiring.

The Crotty and Smith omissions in the 2019 SF was an epic head scratcher! RWC’s are almost always won on experience…

Cane not starting, being our best defender and work rate player, was also a mistake.

The Crotty non-selection reminded me of when Umaga was declared fit and recovered from injury, but not selected for the 2003 RWC SF.