Roar Guru
Joined August 2011
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There have been some great articles written recently about how average the coverage of rugby on TV in Australia really is. So I thought,…
A brilliant article by Brett Susan yesterday on the memories and dangers of Newlands got some great responses from members about their rugby memories.…
With all of the negativity that has surrounded his tenure, I thought I might try and write my view of Robbie Deans the man…
There has been a lot written and said about the relative strengths of each conference in this year's Super Rugby Competition, particularly in relation…
Discussion is him playing at 10 since the injury to Fergus Burke looks serious and he is going to miss at least half of the campaign, whilst back up Rivez Reihana is very green.
Rugby News: Eddie to reveal next step 'very shortly', Rassie resumes 2019 role, Wales legend joins Crusaders
Game stats and the issue with that is no scaling for quality of Opposition.
Some players look good against poorer teams’ and rack up the stats, others like Ardie have performed week in week out.
RWC Team of the tournament: Six Boks, three All Blacks and an Aussie manages to knock out Will Jordan
Wallabies won the 91 and 99 RWCs on the back of the best defence at both tournaments.
1991 a bit less so, but 99 was 100% defense based, England scored more tries.
Exclusive: Path clear for McKellar to return as Wallabies coach despite Leicester job, Cheika's update on future
Arg were ranked higher than Eng in the Semis
Just because SA made it look hard doesn’t mean it was harder.
Legacy vs ego: The Springboks are playing for South Africa, the All Blacks are playing for themselves
Yeah, found this site, its a bit hard to read but fascinating the impact matches can have on rankings.
It is such a weird system, particularly capping the exchange to 4 or 6 pts.
Biggest Pts exchanges in single matches were
Port Fiji Port gained 4 pts
Eng Arg Eng gained 3.27 pts
NZ Ire NZ gained 3.22 pts
Stat Stupidity: Eight weird and wonderful numbers from the Rugby World Cup
Fair enough, the other way to look at it is the ranking points difference before the start of each match.
NZ v Ire 87.69 v 93.79 -6.1
NZ v Arg 90.91 v 83.07 +7.84
SA v Fra 89.79 v 90.59 -0.8
SA v Eng 92.48 v 84.03 +8.44
So using the ranking points in theory the matchups, the AB’s had should have been in tougher matches.
Stat Stupidity: Eight weird and wonderful numbers from the Rugby World Cup
To those that are commenting on here that a few words shouldn’t hurt, not everyone can so easily move on. As a society we have decided it is not ok to verbally abuse others.
The cop it on the chin rhetoric is garbage. There are plenty of people who don’t cope with being verbally abused, they shouldn’t be excluded from sport or victimised.
Despite what the press says suicide rates were at their highest in 1960’s for men. So the tough it out mentality was devastating for them and their families.
From the ABS website
Rates tended to increase throughout the 1950s, peaking at 18.4 deaths per 100,000 population in 1963. Rates remained high throughout the 1960s while the 1970s and early 1980s
And all those tough old buggers (80+) out there, they take their own lives at almost 3 times more than the rate of teens (who are still lower than any male cohort under 30 years)
England react with fury as Bok cleared by World Rugby after TWO racism allegations made by Tom Curry
Using the recent rankings is very misleading as RWC matches carry double points.
Using rankings before the RWC NZ had semis and Qtrs vs higher ranked teams.
Fra (3)
Nam (21)
Ita (13)
Urg (17)
Ire (1)
Arg (6)
SA have had.
Scot (5)
(Rom (19)
Ire (1)
Tong (15)
Fra (3)
Eng (8)
Stat Stupidity: Eight weird and wonderful numbers from the Rugby World Cup
Of recent Wallabies I think the balance is in Aussie favour
Quade Cooper, Will Skelton, Brandon Paenga-Amosa, Hunter Paisami, Jordan Uelese, Noah Lolesio, Taniela Tupou, Brandon Paenga-Amosa, Lalakai Foketi, Jermaine Ainsley, Lukhan Salakaia-Loto,
Were either NZ born and or played school boy rugby there.
'Didn't want to leave': The Aussie-raised star in World Cup final - and the 'vision' that led him to the All Blacks
Always been a strength of the NZ system not bringing on young players to early. @ 22 he is very young for a prop and even this year has shed an incredible amount of puppy fat.
Another year of 2 of the hard work he’s put in and he very well could turn into the Best tight head in the world.
Contrast that to Australia and how many “great” young players have come through early and faded as they lacked an older head teaching them.
'Didn't want to leave': The Aussie-raised star in World Cup final - and the 'vision' that led him to the All Blacks
They did this in the early 00’s with the ELVs. Personally I liked it, it sped up the game massively for a while, but poor scrumming teams just started to collapse the scrum when under pressure as the defensive line could reset with all 15 players lined up.
My foggy memory recalls a rule of 2 free kicks then turned into a penalty. But teams then just got judicious about when they were happy to concede the free kick.
I do like In From The Side’s suggestion of once the ball is at the back milking a penalty is not an option.
Five things: World Cup final represents good and evil as All Blacks and Springboks face off
All Black side that is resting players, not what is considered at full strength team and certainly not one in this form.
That is simply not true
The ABs team that lost last years test in NZ
Ethan de Groot
Samisoni Taukei’aho
Tyrel Lomax
Samuel Whitelock
Scott Barrett
Shannon Frizell
Sam Cane
Ardie Savea
Aaron Smith
Richie Mo’unga
Caleb Clarke
David Havili
Rieko Ioane
Will Jordan
Jordie Barrett
Substitutes
Codie Taylor
George Bower
Fletcher Newell
Tupou Vaa’i
Akira Ioane
Finlay Christie
Stephen Perofeta
Quinn Tupaea
That is not a second-string side, with ony a handful of changes to this weekend’s test and most because of injuries now not then
COMPLETE RWC SF teams: Poms make three changes as Boks name most capped XV, ABs' QF hero starts for Cheika's Pumas
Might not have done anything wrong, other than being back after curfew
'It happens': All Blacks defend star centre after spray as Cheika heaps pressure on 'favourites' New Zealand
You can’t attribute every fan video to the team.
Rassies effort was disgusting as it came from a team Official.
If you want to see some true one eyed referee trolling watch some of TASanalytics efforts over the years
RWC News: World Rugby's epic troll in semis ref call, legend snipes at 'bandwagon' Kiwi fans, Bok great roasts Poms
Kolbe charge down. Outstanding effort but he started early. My understanding is you can only start your challenge once the kicker moves off his mark. So a player can run 28m in the time it takes another player to cover 7 steps. That is something worth checking Mr TMO
World Rugby in their infinite wisdom have managed to write this law ambiguously.
All players retire to their goal line and do not overstep that line until the kicker moves in any direction to begin their approach to kick. When the kicker does this, they may charge or jump to prevent a goal but must not be physically supported by other players in these actions.
The shuffle almost all kickers do could be interpretated as “moves” The correct wording should have been steps
RWC News: World Rugby's epic troll in semis ref call, legend snipes at 'bandwagon' Kiwi fans, Bok great roasts Poms
I like the new Cheika, I wonder if the self-interests and finger pointing in RA rubs off on the coaches.
Both Cheika and Jones have looked blame everyone other than themselves, Refs, Structures, Press and so on.
Even a far more sanguine Eddie hasn’t admitted to any errors in his short tenure. Other than platitudes about being fully responsible and giving himself an uppercut.
'I’ve taken a different persona': The changing face of Cheika - and why Los Pumas needed him to 'evolve'
I’d be bloody stoked to be compared to Sir Richie even if I was a sh!t version.
Not so s--t now, Peter: All Blacks skipper's sweet revenge after Irish great's brutal sledge backfires
I would love to think you are right but even in the hidings of Italy and Uruguay, there were signs of the answer being no.
There is no question on attack this team is starting to hum in space.
But there are 2 things that clearly showed up during the Italy game in particular.
When Italy’s frankly appalling defense grew a backbone the AB’s struggled to make the gain line.
And they made the AB’s defense look very passive with ball in hand.
Take an Irish team that close down space better than anyone and Sexton ability to exploit space and I think the AB’s are in trouble. Italy only did this for 10 minutes Ireland will do it for 80+ if needed.
Has Fozzie been foxing? Ireland beware, the All Blacks could be about to reignite
“follow the lead New Zealand Rugby made in 2007 when, after more World Cup disappointment, they chose not to throw the toys out of the cot but rather reform and improve their pathway system.”
Not even close to an equivalent situation.
in 2007 the AB’s lost one match to France by 2 points and one to Australia in Melbourne.
Henry and Co had a 4 year record of 42 and 6 or 87%
Eddie and Rennie are just a bit shy of that sort of record.
The changes made we almost exclusively at the the AB’s level
They bought in phycologists and worked far harder the mental aspects of the game.
The coaches reduced their emphasis on conditioning programs.
Pathways and provincial rugby remained mostly unchanged after 2007, the report recommending continuation and minor tweaks to the framework already in place.
That is not the situation Australian Rugby finds itself in at all.
The Wallabies' World Cup campaign was a disaster from start to finish - but sacking Eddie Jones isn't the answer
Eddie if you are going to take full responsibility you can’t get so defensive when the press and commentators criticize you.
His antagonistic approach to the press is embarrassing. Eddie you are 1 and 7 as a coach. Eat some humble pie and cop it on the chin.
'We're going to go through some pain': Eddie bristles at SBW criticism but takes 'full responsibility' after historic loss
I found the Rob Penny appointment an interesting one too Geoff.
He helped out a bit, coaching my team as a junior. An absolute legend of the Burnside club.
His approach even then was very old school and hard-nosed. Not exactly how the Crusaders back room portray itself.
The Wrap: Group C fast becoming everyone’s favourite - except for the Wallabies as early flight home looms large
The Ab’s managed Kapo O’Pango which is an attempt to honour all the Pacifica and Pakeha who play for the AB’s.
Surely worth an effort and done well is something to be proud of
Greatest XV: When Ben Tune, who 'embodied everything Aussies admire in a winger,' delivered a perfect, brutal moment
Tonga, Fiji, Samoa, Cook Island, Nuie, PNG & Madagascar all have a pre-match challenge that no one ever complains about.
It has been done by the AB’s since 1901 and just because it was poorly done by undereducated players until Buck reformed it isn’t an argument to get rid of it.
Perhaps Australia could embrace their indigenous culture a bit more and come up with a similar celebration, something like Kapo O Pango that celebrates the diversity of cultures would make sense.
Greatest XV: When Ben Tune, who 'embodied everything Aussies admire in a winger,' delivered a perfect, brutal moment
Facts: As a coach…
In 2005, the Wallabies lost seven games straight. At the end of their European tour they lost eight of the last nine matches,
Jones endured a torrid season with the Reds in 2007, who finished bottom of the Super 14 table
Joining Scarecens in the 2008/09 season.[26] However, he announced in February that he would be stepping down at the end of the season due to personal reasons,[27] but he then quit early in March 2009 after disagreements with the board.
Japan suffered three consecutive losses in the 2015 World Rugby Pacific Nations Cup. After beating Canada 20–6, they lost to the United States, Fiji and Tonga to finish fourth with just one win.
On 6 December 2022, Jones was sacked as England head coach by the RFU following a poor run of results in which England had won just 5 of 12 tests in 2022.[50
2023 0-4 with Australia
There is no doubt he has had some major success in his career but there have also been some abject failures.
Weakest links, not superstars, often decide World Cups: So where are the fatal flaws in the top 10 contenders?
On the balance of things the AB’s made more mistakes that could have won them the match than the match officials did. No one who whines about the refs seems to ever be able to acknowledge that.
Rugby News: World Rugby warns Kiwis' over 'robbery' whine, Barnes hits back at ABs, damning report into 'toxic' culture