Foley never got to play with White and now we’ll never know how well they might have worked. Foley outside Genia was a a “known known”

Riddler,
You’re not wrong. Foley prefers playing flat. But he didn’t play well and deserves to be dropped on that performance. He’s just lost his confidence and is out of form. The problem is so is CLL. (As was QC – even more obviously) Too’mua is the only contender in form. He needs time with White.
Cheers, Rob

Maybe. But I think Eddie knows that when we are ON we are a more dangerous team than Wales. England will beat us most of the time, but occasionally we are great. Wales are very well coached, but England know they can grind them out with their present team. Big if is whether we are ON for 80. Here’s hoping we can be, because it would be awfully sweet.

Nick,

I agree, White is actually our key player here. When he starts our 10 has so much less pressure because of his speed, kick and snipe. Wales game was another proof point. To be honest Genia’s pick up, slow and predictable clearances (albeit a great pass) has been a problem for the past 3 years as he has gotten older and less fit. But he’s still a great finisher.

I am a Foley fan, but I have to say he has lost his confidence. Sayonara.

CLL is similarly out of form. 100% respect for his story, but he hasn’t played that well in any of his tests this year.

On the other hand To’omua is playing well so we have to roll the dice and establish his combination with White for the challenges to come.

Start White and To’omua for 65 minutes for next 2 games, with Genia coming on at 65.

Also at 65, worth practicing what we would do if To’omua were injured. I don’t think we should carry either CLL or Foley on the bench. It just weakens our bench for an eventuality we hopefully don’t need. My vote would be to bring JOC into 5/8 and Beale (who should remain a finisher) into IC at the 65min for the next 2 games.

I think we need to give the front 5 plus Hooper and Naisarani a break for these two matches to have them fresh. However, I’d keep Pocock’s workload up as he needs to be getting more game-time to be back to his best.

Losing to Wales has made it very hard, but I have a feeling Eddie Jones would have preferred Wales than us.

The knock-out rounds will be fun!

Cheers,
Rob

I think White is actually our key player here. When he starts our 10 has so much less pressure because of his speed, kick and snipe. Wales game was another proof point.

Genia is simply too slow after 15 minutes on the field. But he’s a great finisher.

I am a Foley fan, but I have to say he has lost his confidence.

CLL is similarly out of form.

To’omua is playing well so we have to roll the dice and establish his combination with White for the challenges to come.

Start White and To’omua for 65 minutes for next 2 games, with Genia coming on at 65.

Also at 65, worth practicing what we would do if To’omua were injured in the last 3 games. I don’t think we should carry either CLL or Foley on the bench. It just weakens our bench for an eventuality we hopefully don’t need. My vote would be to bring JOC into 5/8 and Beale (who is normally a finisher) into IC.

By the way there are some classic crayon pictures in NZ Herald “proving” that Gareth Davies was on-side.

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/sport/news/article.cfm?c_id=4&objectid=12272064

Euclid must be turning in his grave!

Not to even check it? Wow.

TBH I think Poite was trying hard to referee with discretion, but the TMO was really making it hard for him eg the Kerevi one.

Earlier there was one TMO replay where the Welsh guy caught our guy (Kerevi?) clearly in the head: I thought after the last week that it was a straight red irrespective of the outcome (our guy was fine, didn’t complain), but Poite and TMO came up with “reckless, just a penalty” (Maybe there’s another rule I’m missing with head contact – can anyone help with that incident and the interpretation?)

It was very, very frustrating viewing.

Fionn
Disagree.
There were 10 points that were clearly awarded to Wales that resulted from Referee/TMO mistakes. That’s the match.
Fair enough refs can make mistakes in fast moving pace of game, but the the offside intercept and the Kerevi penalty were both TMO/Referee mistakes in slo-mo.
The Reece Hodge incident was only days ago, so raw.
Cheika has to front a press conference minutes after the match, and take baiting questions from pro journalists who know how to stir anyone.
It would dead-set tempt Nelson Mandela to be cranky in those circumstances.
Sure we’ll get a new coaching team next year whatever happens, but if you think Shag, Jones, Gatland or Rassie would have not had a go after these circumstances, well you’re dreaming.
Cheers, Rob

I know Ken, but 75% of concussions in tackles happen to the tackler!

It’s mad to set up and enforce this at RWC – that’s peak cynical temptation time….

At least one nations RWC will be wrecked by this…

And that’s not going to help with the stuff we can actually control
(which isn’t much in reality).

Make Rugby Great Again

Bring back the biff

Yep losing a winger for pool rounds is one thing, but come the QF there are going to be some nervous tacklers out there…
Simple tactics against England would be to run at Farrell and slip a bit and go down for the count. That’s their RWC done

Quade could show them what a cheap high shot really looks like.

I mean that kindly.

Same
I think White’s kicking game will be missed and his threat around the ruck.

Yep I do

Great stats.

Even accounting for the weather in Ireland v Scotland, that was abysmal viewing. Boring.

Look we probably run too much, if we had a decent kicker we probably would kick more. But at least when we play, we and the opposition usually have a great highlights reel.

Cheika’s “galloping green” philosophy plays into the hands of NZ, SA, Eng etc these days when off-side defence snuffs out running offence, but at least we are keeping the running rugby flame alive.

I agree, he definitely ought to avoid exits if he’s a starter!
Best off the pine as we keep saying.

Carlos,

Great article, thank you. Your Missus is right Carlos, it’s right there in front of all of us, hiding in plain daylight.

In the case of RWC there are 2 x top 20 refs running the sideline. Have you ever asked yourself, what are they doing? The answer: virtually nothing. A schoolboy could watch the sideline right? Anything controversial like, “did he put his foot into touch before the try?” goes to the TMO. Basically they are two spectators having a bit of a jog on an all-expenses-paid junket to Japan. Occasionally its their turn to actually be the guy with the whistle (which is very, very hard as you point out Carlos). Then again they could get the other easy day, the TMO job. So let’s say that on this trip these blokes are working really hard 25% of the time. Getting paid. Watching footy. Nice gig.

Here’s a crazy idea: what if touch judges were told to police the off-side (ie that’s their job, not the game ref, he’s already doing too much). There’s two of them remember. Fit blokes. Well trained. Good eyesight. Already on the sideline. With a flag in their hand.

Here’s a really easy analogy: soccer. Same two fellas jogging up and down the sideline with a flag in their hand. Now their job is technically harder right? They have to get the timing of when the guy runs and the through-ball is kicked right to determine offside. They seem to manage it. If you explained our offside rule to them, they’d laugh. Too easy.

So why haven’t we fixed this?

Unfortunately, World Rugby don’t think offside is a big deal – it probably suits some of the power countries style of play – I really don’t know. They seem to spend heaps of time on new, complicated rules, but this obvious, foundational one? Nah

As a result every team cheats. Properly cheats. On every team, everyone is synchronized so that they all cheat equally. They train for it. Some do it more blatantly than others. That’s called “rush defence”.

But there is a consequence if you don’t police a foundational rule for about a decade. If Offside Defence snuffs out Running Offence, what do you do as a coach? (see if you can guess the teams here):
a) Box kick more
b) Play turnover counter-attack better
c) Kick long better and wait for penalties
d) None of the above and fall down the world rankings

Now hands up if you think box-kicking, turnover counter-attack and long kicking are an attractive advertisement for rugby? Nah, not really.

So it’s important we fix this. And it’s easy to fix.

World Rugby, over to you.

Cheers,
Rob

Only minor inconsistency is that Arg would have to beat Eng to make QF3. And if they do then all bets are off where that pool ends up. Unlikely, so probably more accurate to say QF3 is Aus/Wal v Fra. (As very unlikely that France beats Eng)

A healthy incentive for our game against Wales:

Route 1: QF v Fra, SF v SA/Ire
versus
Route 2: QF v Eng, SF v NZ

Answer: we need to beat Wales!

That’s right Highlander. I don’t see how going lower than chest is going to meaningfully change the number of concussions (ie when you count both tackler and tackled). If Hodge had gone low and copped an accidental knee and been knocked-out, we’re OK with that right? We don’t say, ohh we’ve got to stamp out this incident because he was knocked out, ohh look at the slo-mo replay that Fijian kneed him right in the head…

To me an accident while attempting something legal (2 arms, chest height) shouldn’t be punished, (anymore than the attacking player shouldn’t be punished if he accidentally knocks out the tackler with his knee or hip).

In GP races they call it “motor racing incident”… they happen, no-one deliberately or negligently did anything wrong.

Geoff, you’re more measured than me. This Hodge one is where I hope the citing judges make an important distinction.

World Rugby have to be seen to be “doing something” about concussion, brain damage etc etc. Player welfare and legal reasons. We all get that.

Truth is in our game you can be tackling low and cop a knee, a boot, a hip and be knocked out. If there’s a 110kg bloke coming at 100km at you, you’re actually more likely to be the victim!

There’s no way we can make our game “safe”.

Of course there are some things more dangerous than others and those things need to be rubbed out. There’s a clear difference between this and say Scott Barrett v Wallabies or SBW v Lions, where there was intent and no arms. (I don’t mean to pick on the ABs, it’s just the 2 most obvious examples that we all know)

There is other stuff that is (to my eye) ridiculously dangerous yet completely sanctioned e.g the “choke tackle” and the “neck roll”. Both of those are deliberate and attacking the neck which is far more delicate than the head.

For me, Reece Hodge was incredibly brave, trying to do the right thing (2 arms), caught in a split-second accident that was no-one’s fault. The outcome was that the Fijian fella was concussed – not good. But what if Hodge had been knocked out by an accidental knee? Would that have made the result better/OK? Outcome “not safe” = yellow/red card?

Point is: if we want to have a “semi dangerous” game – because it can never be “safe” – we can’t make rules by outcomes. We need to take into account the intent and the context.

There was some really good refereeing of that by the NZ ref in the England v Tonga game. A Tongan tackler was tackling low, but the English guy was running very low (slipped?) and copped a head-jerking monster tackle. TMO took a look: no malicious intent, both arms, context… no penalty.

If Hodge gets pinged for this then you can put it down as the turning point where the lawyers took over and there are going to be citings every match being called for by coaches.

I’m glad we played them first-up and got through with no injuries. By their 4th match against Wales Fiji will have sorted their scrum and line-out maul defence. They’ll be playing do or die – and the Welsh boys might be wearing a few bruises even if they do win. Wales are smart pro’s so they’ll probably find a way, but expect some collateral damage!

Hmm, nice idea of Kerevi to wing. He might be pretty dodgy catching and kicking though (although scratch that, who wants to see Kerevi kick – if he’s caught it!)

Definitely agree DHP/KB swap.

Danny, I think yours is the most pertinent point here. World Rugby have to be seen to be “doing something” about concussion, brain damage etc etc. Player welfare and legal reasons.

Truth is in our game you can be tackling low and cop a knee, a boot, a hip and be knocked out. If there’s a 110kg bloke coming at 100km at you, you’re actually more likely to be the victim!

There’s no way we can make our game “safe”.

Of course there are some things more dangerous than others and those things need to be rubbed out. There’s a clear difference between this and say Scott Barrett v Wallabies or SBW v Lions, where there was intent and no arms. (I don’t mean to pick on the ABs, it’s just the 2 most obvious examples that we all know)

There is other stuff that is (to my eye) ridiculously dangerous yet completely sanctioned e.g the “choke tackle” and the “neck roll”. Both of those are deliberate and attacking the neck which is far more delicate than the head.

Reece Hodge was incredibly brave, trying to do the right thing (2 arms), caught in a split-second accident that was no-one’s fault. The outcome was that the Fijian fella was concussed – not good. But what if Hodge had been knocked out by an accidental knee? Would that have made the result better/OK?

Point is: if we want to have a “semi dangerous” game – because it can never be “safe” – we can’t make rules by outcomes. We need to take into account the intent and the context.

There was some really good refereeing of that by the NZ ref in the England v Tonga game.

If Hodge gets pinged for this then you can put it down as the turning point where the lawyers took over.

Yeah, by the time Fiji get to their 4th game together and have worked hard on a few obvious technical weaknesses in scrum and line-out maul, they should be primed for a do-or-die against Wales. I’m glad we played them first-up!

Reece Hodge the hardest done by in these scores for me. Very brave and more than did his job.

White didn’t have much protection from ref or his forwards. Genia certainly looked better when he came on, but Fijian forwards had lost some sting by then.

CLL flattered by a 4.6 – he really isn’t playing well atm – that try was his fault as much as it was Kerevis. I think we’d get more running game from Foley – given that we’re not kicking from flyhalf anymore. I’d even prefer Too’mua given we’re not kicking.

DHP good and I’d like to see him start and Beale from bench against Wales.

Hodge was the victim!
It’s not that he didn’t try to make a 2 arm tackle, it was that he got smashed!
How could that be a Yellow?