Roar Pro
Joined May 2013
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I love watching all sports (honest - even dressage) especially live. But I do TV, radio and internet commentary too. Don't mind highlights, but struggle with 'delayed live'.
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Spiro Zavos has a long association with rugby, so his knowledge and experience must be respected. But he's wrong about the value of drop…
Australia may have been second in the tournament, come fourth on the rank of improvers on World Ranking Points (WRP) during the 2015 Rugby…
Pool A in the 2015 Rugby World Cup has been called the 'pool of death' as it contains four teams in rugby's top ten…
England out-scrummed Australia and England won the game. The two may or may not be related, but Australia are probably the worst scrummaging side…
As of today there are fewer than 300 days until the Rugby World Cup 2015 kicks off. Having yesterday looked at the chances of…
With 300 sleeps until the tournament's kick-off, what's the pecking order for the 2015 Rugby World Cup? The pools Group A: England, Fiji, Wales,…
There's been a resurgence of grumpiness recently about referees and nationality bias, with some observers suggesting the non-neutrality of the referee's origin may result…
There's been a lot of chat about how badly the Wallaby scrum was for game three of the Lions series. But it was the…
Under fire coach Robbie Deans must stay in position as the Wallabies coach regardless of what happens in the second and third Tests against…
It's trickier than it looks, kicking for goal. You don't just bang it at the posts, hard as you can. It takes science, skill…
Well, that was a toughie. Edge-of-the-seat rugby from start to finish with luck probably, the defining factor. But it shouldn't have been like that.…
There's a lot of debate around concerning the Lions first XV Test selection and how it was derived. Here's my analysis of how the…
Saracens have a reputation for taking waifs and strays in off the street, turning them into top-line performers, and putting them out to play…
Warren Gatland's not going to Australia to shake hands, have a few frosties and get a tan. Oh no – he's off down under…
The British and Irish Lions announced their arrival in 2001 by starting their tour with a record-breaking win over Western Australia at the WACA.…
So, how's he going to do it? How's Warren Gatland planning to win the Lions Test Series in Australia? Well, first, lets assume that…
The British and Irish Lions are unique in sport. The US pick all-star teams to play one-off pro-bowl inter-conference games, but these games against…
The NFL does a good job of making going to the match into ” a family day out”.
They have tailgating picnics, BBQs, former stars running masterclasses in the car-park before the game etc.
Creativity & marketing make this more of an event.
That doesn’t really happen in Europe at sports events and I think SANZAR follow the Euro-model, mostly.
TV gives the fan a whole lot better view than going to the game and is infinitely cheaper.
But the atmosphere, the shared-experience, the excitement are all better at the ground.
It can’t be taken for granted, though.
Rugby needs more creativity & marketing, less grey blokes in blazers behind the scenes
Is TV killing the stadium experience?
Don’t be confused.
The fact that the “Big Teams” aren’t doing so well is not equivalent to poor entertainment.
The Super Rugby product is fantastic:
– 29 games, 15 Try-Scoring Bonus points. Wow!
– Rampant wingers running their hearts out up & down the touchlines
– emerging talent all over – Alofa, Boshoff, McMahon & Lowe for example
Australia alone has cause for celebration in
– the Tahs attack
– the possibility that the Force or Rebels might make the playoffs, spreading the core of Aus rugby out can’t be bad
– genuine competition for Wallaby places in the next RWC hotting up
What’s not to like?
I didn’t even mention Cheika’s artwork
Super Rugby: The first term report card
…sorry
having beaten France & England already.
The greatest days In Irish rugby history
It’s by no means a foregone conclusion that Ireland would have beaten Scotland.
They had Home Field and form, yes.
But Scotland also had form, having beaten France & Ireland already.
We’ll never know.
The greatest days In Irish rugby history
That’s a tough one to answer, as the French Teams play more than other French Teams.
So the non-French would, by assumption, have differing attitudes to home/away.
Also, the French don’t care so much about the Heineken as do the other countries – they’d rather win their Top 14.
As for the Amlin, I only think the teams in the Amlin worry about that and even then, not very much at all.
French Top 14 is fundamentally flawed
It’s not obsession.
Just noting another milestone in the resurgence of Aus Sport.
Not so long ago, there was no Ashes, NZ were League World Champs and The Lions were kicking butt.
Aus were tops in Aussie-Rules and that was about it.
Now look!
Rebels vs Crusaders: Super Rugby live scores, blog
22 Feb Sharks 27v9 Hurricanes
28 Feb Rebels 35v14 Cheetahs
28 Feb Stormers 19v18 Hurricanes
7 Mar Hurricanes 21v29 Brumbies
7 Mar Reds 43v33 Cheetahs
8 Mar Crusaders 14v13 Stormers
8 Mar Bulls 38v22 Blues
So, 7 before this, with 3 involving Aus-Conf sides.
Probably a record start
Rebels vs Crusaders: Super Rugby live scores, blog
I can understand your frustration then with pens & refs to the fore.
Most of the NH Club Rugby can be like that – slogging out technical games in the mud.
I have seen some good S15 though:
– the Rampant Tahs
– the surprisingly cool Lions, games 1 & 2 with Marnitz Boshoff being a threat from anywhere
– the Rebels running them up, then the Force running amok v the Rebels – how surprising was that?
– the Chiefs grinding it out
– the Sharks coolly destroying the opposition
– loads of great finishing
– drop goals
– rolling mauls
What’s not to like?
Try watching Glasgow, mate – up for the play-offs but having got a 4-try BP in 14 League matches. Grinding
Rebels vs Crusaders: Super Rugby live scores, blog
Is that the first extra-conference loss by an Aussie Super Team this season?
I think so.
Rebels vs Crusaders: Super Rugby live scores, blog
Oops – got my Blogs mixed up.
The Chiefs sound as if they’re rolling on where they left off last season
Didn’t see this game, but I’ve seen the previous weeks.
They look like a “many-ways-to-win” side, finding the result any which way they can.
Keep that up and there’s 3-in-a-Row on the cards.
Chiefs vs Stormers: Super Rugby live scores, blog
Is that the first extra-conference loss by an Aussie Super Team this season?
I think so.
Chiefs vs Stormers: Super Rugby live scores, blog
Brave of you to to be doing predictions here, too, Scott.
Picking “Home Team to Win” is beating you, going into the final round.
Enjoyable analysis again throughout the comp, however.
Six Nations finale: Ireland's to lose
This year, we have Super Rugby at 17/22 home wins – 77%
– substantially in excess of the Super Rugby Stat of 57% quoted
I know that in 2013, of the 125 games 82 were Home Wins, 40 were aways and there were 3 draws.
I make that 66% Homes.
Given that you’ve likely done a lot more analysis than me, looking back more years,
and that there must be numbers to balance these recent ones in excess of your 57%
then I suggest that there is a trend in Super Rugby from a low Home-Win % to a higher one.
Does that mean there are a lot more French players in the “Super”?
For the record,
I’ve seen a fair bit of Top 14 and I reckon your conclusions are wrong,
and agree with many of your detractors above.
French Top 14 is fundamentally flawed
STREWTH!
You blokes are really struggling at this, aren’t you?
Picking “Home Team To WIn” has a success rate of 17 from 22.
This is better than any of you chaps and considerably better than some.
The 17/22 is 77% – substantially in excess of the Super Rugby Stat of 57% quoted in
Ben Darwin’s ahhtrrrageeeeeous French analysis
I haven’t checked Ben’s numbers, but I know that in 2013, of the 125 games 82 were Home Wins, 40 were aways and there were 3 draws.
Anyway, if Ben’s Meta-Data is correct, then we are due a glut of Away Wins.
Therefore, the Tipping Experts should bet “away”.
Note, also, that not all of the Tipping Experts are doing better than “Coin Toss”.
Best of luck for the rest of the season, chaps.
But my top tip for you is to stay away from The Bookies.
Super Rugby Expert tips - Round 5
I’d be surprised if it took this incident for Rowntree to be briefing his guys, especially Vunipola.
The Aus scrum tendency to push left was known in England at the time of last year’s (2012) test, Eng v Aus.
And the articles I read then led me to the conclusion it was known about long before then.
The thinking was that, since Aus were so rubbish at scrummaging, they were up to all sorts of shenanigans to put the other lot off.
One thing was the ‘engage to the left’ tactic.
Another was the Number 8 leading the engagement – where the #8 started pushing the second row, who pushed the front-row into contact. I can’t figure out how long it took the #8 to learn when to start timing his drive, but they looked to be quite good at it. They were still doing this one until quite recently.
Wallabies vs Italy: player ratings
Danny Cipriani is currently Sale’s #10 in the English Prem.
He’s knocking on the door of an Engkand re-call.
Not quite the high point of playing for the Melbourne Rebels I agree, but not quite obscurity either.
How those around you can make or break a rugby career
I’ve seen Scott Allen’s analysis and a lot of it looks irrefutable. I doubt if Mr Allen has deliberately skewed the footage to underpin his point. Also, I suspect he’s done a thorough job in his research. There may be stuff off-camera, he has missed, to which McKenzie has access, but I doubt it.
McKenzie may or may not be a good observer of scrum shenanigans. He has a lot of test experience. He has a lot of Super League coaching experience.
What’s obvious is that, in his Internationals to date he’s had sod-all success on picking a decent scrum-unit or had any influence on his selections sorting it out on the park. So that kind of negates any claim that “Link knows best”
Undoubtedly, Brown’s feet were in touch. And in the same set, that looked like a forward pass.
Hartley’s casual run-back looked like he meant to obstruct Moore. Although I thought Moore could have got to Farrell if he’d ignored Hartley. Regardless, the ref had a good look at it and thought it wasn’t obstruction.
This looks like a desperate tactic by McKenzie to try to influence future events with a “but ref, we’re overdue some bias our way” appeal.
Best of luck.
But I’m with FTR above – man up.
Wallabies fire off refs complaint to IRB
Didn’t the Australian Prime Minister touch up The Queen’s @rse during one visit to the colonies a while back?
Tuilagi sorry for bunny ears to PM
A side has to try to blend the talent it has available, not put square pegs into round holes.Similarly, it would be silly to try to force players to action a game-plan to which they were nor physically equipped.
If Australia’s talent is lighter weight 12s then play them. No point in putting Lealifano on the weights for a spell then giving him crash ball. The Wallabies produce strong, fast 7s, capable of ruling the pitch. Because some teams (e.g SA or England) have success with bigger, slower open-sides doesn’t mean Australia should try to change their style. Wales & NZ do OK with fast, light 7s.
And as for: “one trick pony like Pocock has become” – maybe, but what a trick. Pocock is one of Australia’s few world class players. A man so feared that the ABs worked their training routines to especially counteract his play. One of the players the Lions were scared of. What a player.
What’s changed with the Wallabies?
Top article, Yujio.
Excellent description of today’s Union and League. Great comparions of the 2 great games. However, I reckon hybridizing the codes is neither wanted nor required by either code. Both sets of players could come together in the 7s boom, more likely.
There are many ways to play most of the positions around the Union field, which gives it the appeal of complexity.
E,g,
Props can be big technical shovers like Adam Jones or faster more mobile versatile units like Vunipola.
#12s can play Warrenball like Dr Jamie Roberts or 2nd five eights like Giteau.
Scrum Halves can be bossy little pack-movers like petit général Morgan Parra or man mountains like Mike Phillips.
The current openside is more likely to be built like a centre and the blind-side like a 2nd row. Still, there are many styles of play and variations abound in back row playing styles.
I think you’re right about smaller bodied blokes making for League.
Union flankers need replacing with extra backs
If Aus plays 10 times with Samoa then they we’ll be in 2113.
How often are Aus prepared to play them? One in 10 years seems about right.
Australia fourth best team in the southern hemisphere?
Well if Etzebeth couldn’t make it as a lock there, what did the other guys at his school look like?
Wallabies more troubled than ever
This has been a good article for getting the opinions going. Nice one ii
I have heard the
Robbie Deans………. “had two very public distinct key performance indicators – first, to bring back Bill and second, that big cup named after a Kiwi Governor-General”
bit a few times, but I can’t find the source of the comment outside hearsay & gossip.
Was there a press conference sometime?
It’s not that important, but I find it difficult to believe that the ARU would publicly issue their 2 KPIs.
Not to mention the subtext – Bugger the grassroots, screw player development, sod the clubs, f. the 3N/4N etc
Debugging the Robbie Deans myth
There’s three-quarters of the season left.
Plenty of time to turn anything around.
There’s no point at all in changing the coach. I can’t imagine anybody had a “win 100%” or simla clause in their contract.
Stay calm
Rugby union worldwide weekend review