Official Rugby Thread

[Perm]

I think thats evidence of their chances in the match, pretty defeatist decision to me.

Do you expect anything else from the French?

 

[Somerset]

Reckon there is any merit in not showing the game on Sky in the city it's being played in? For example tonight nobody in Wellington would have been able to watch the Test on TV, if they wanted to see it they would have to go to the ground. I think I've heard something similar to this happening in the USA with NFL games and I was thinking about it a bit more today, what are everybody's thoughts on that? Far too many empty seats tonight, even with the miserable weather.

I think New Zealand is too small a country to do something like that, with the US I presume its blocked for the entire state? Joe Bloggs in Wellington could drive up to Levin or Palmerston North for instance if they wanted to see the match and not have to attend.

 

[Somerset]

Schalk Burger was immense, what a tough bloke. Deadset reckon you could whack him with a steel bar and he wouldn't feel it. I can't beleive that Brad Thorn wasn't given 10 minutes for that 'spear-tackle' early on though, if it had happened when the game was live he almost definitely would've received a yellow card so I was perplexed as to why he didn't after Dickinson had blown his whistle.

Hes always impressed me with his workrate and efforts at the breakdown. So long as his discipline is ok, hes a tremendous force.

As for Thorn, absolutely agree. Was as surprised as anything to see just a penalty awarded, which SA would've received anyway.

 

[Somerset]

Lachlan Turner not having the best of debuts so far. 2nd time he's knocked a ball on iirc, to go with the 'mare of a bomb he put up earlier that went nowhere.

Yeh it hasn't been a great night for him so far, I rate him quite highly though and wouldn't be surprised if made more of an impact in the second spell.

Whilst on the topic, why is Drew Mitchell not in the Australian 22?

 

[Somerset]

He's good, very solid ball-carrier & will go toe-to-toe (literally on occasions) with the oppo, but is technically quite limited. Not the greatest line-out operator (bit short for a lock where he's played on occasion) and gets turned over in the tackle a bit too often.

If he had short back-and-sides & was clean shaven he wouldn't have half the rep he does.

Yup its the whole "Caveman" image he portrays thats brought about most of the attention, rather than the actual rugby skills. In saying that, I remember one tackle he made on Chris Masoe when France C came to NZ last year - immense, so his rugby skills are certainly not non-existant. Personally would prefer to see him used as an impact player though, coming on after 55 minutes or so. Agree with your analysis BB.

 

[Perm]

I think New Zealand is too small a country to do something like that, with the US I presume its blocked for the entire state? Joe Bloggs in Wellington could drive up to Levin or Palmerston North for instance if they wanted to see the match and not have to attend.

Not sure whether it's a state or city wide thing in the USA, but I reckon it's a decent idea. Certainly has some merits, particularly with attendance being poor during the past few seasons. It would probably be cheaper to buy tickets to the game than drive to another city wouldn't it? I just don't understand rugby supporters in this country, supposedly our national sport yet we barely manage to scrape together decent crowds for the Air New Zealand Cup and Super 14. Extremely poor form that a Springboks Test in Wellington wasn't completely sold out too.

 

[Johnners]

Question for those in the know (and are watching the Wallabies match). The past 2 scrums that have been wheeled, is that a good/bad thing for the wallabies scrum? How do you tell who is wheeling the scrum, and why do they do it?

 

[Perm]

Question for those in the know (and are watching the Wallabies match). The past 2 scrums that have been wheeled, is that a good/bad thing for the wallabies scrum? How do you tell who is wheeling the scrum, and why do they do it?

It's usually a bad thing when your own scrum is wheeled, means that your props and locks aren't strong enough to hold against the other forward pack. There are occasions when the side in possesion will wheel their own scrum to gain an advantage if they plan to attack down the blind side. It is quite hard to tell unless you have studied front-row play, or have played in the front row, but generally it is the opposition who will be wheeling your scrum. They do it to disrupt your ball and make it easier for their flankers and number 8 to rush up and make the tackles against the attacking side's backs.

Not sure if that made sense.

 

[Johnners]

Haha, ridiculous tackle from Boyet, tbf he may not have known that Turner no longer had the ball, but that didn't make it an less dangerous. Awesome work again from Giteau to put Cross in the hole for the last try, and then for Cross to finish it.

 

[Johnners]

It's usually a bad thing when your own scrum is wheeled, means that your props and locks aren't strong enough to hold against the other forward pack. There are occasions when the side in possesion will wheel their own scrum to gain an advantage if they plan to attack down the blind side. It is quite hard to tell unless you have studied front-row play, or have played in the front row, but generally it is the opposition who will be wheeling your scrum. They do it to disrupt your ball and make it easier for their flankers and number 8 to rush up and make the tackles against the attacking side's backs.

Not sure if that made sense.

Yeah, makes sense thanks. So seeing as it was a French scrum, the fact that the Wallabies wheeled was a good thing, yeah?

French have got nothing atm, disappointed they didn't bring their A side though.

 

[Somerset]

Pretty average first 20 minutes of the second half, a few decent tries towards the end of the match though. Typical France scoring a counter-attacking try with the Wallabies well on the offensive.

I guess its hard to tell just where Australia are at, with such a makeshift French team. Their injury list will also be interesting with potentially Shepherd to be added, not sure on the extent of his injury but it looked reasonably serious.

 

[Somerset]

Yeah, makes sense thanks. So seeing as it was a French scrum, the fact that the Wallabies wheeled was a good thing, yeah?

French have got nothing atm, disappointed they didn't bring their A side though.

Yeh mate, as long as its legally wheeled.

 

[Perm]

Yeah, makes sense thanks. So seeing as it was a French scrum, the fact that the Wallabies wheeled was a good thing, yeah?

French have got nothing atm, disappointed they didn't bring their A side though.

Yeah, that was a good thing. The aim of wheeling is basically just to disrupt the ball and make it sloppy, same as the opposition jumping in the line-out (kind of, as the potential for gaining posession is higher in a line-out than a scrum).

 

[Somerset]

Not sure whether it's a state or city wide thing in the USA, but I reckon it's a decent idea. Certainly has some merits, particularly with attendance being poor during the past few seasons. It would probably be cheaper to buy tickets to the game than drive to another city wouldn't it? I just don't understand rugby supporters in this country, supposedly our national sport yet we barely manage to scrape together decent crowds for the Air New Zealand Cup and Super 14. Extremely poor form that a Springboks Test in Wellington wasn't completely sold out too.

Actually I think it was nearly sold out in the end, that was the word I heard this evening anyway. I presume it was the weather that kept some who had tickets from attending. I'd imagine that if the weather had been better, we wouldn't have seen nearly as many yellow dots in the crowd. I can't see it being an issue for the remaining tests in the season, expecting a big crowd in Dunedin next week, and the Deans v Henry clash will certainly yield a large ground attendance.

 

[Somerset]

Haha, ridiculous tackle from Boyet, tbf he may not have known that Turner no longer had the ball, but that didn't make it an less dangerous. Awesome work again from Giteau to put Cross in the hole for the last try, and then for Cross to finish it.

Can't really see much difference between Boyet's spear tackle on Turner to Thorn's on Smit. Deserved yellow, at least Honiss got that call correct IMO.

Not a great second half for Turner either as it turned out, making it a rather average prediction I made at half time.

 

[Smudge]

Ha, Perm's railing against anything going in favour of NZ is bordering on the ****ing boring.

Frankly, I thought to myself after 30 minutes "this is a ****ing great test match" and after that, I really didn't care who won. However, in the second half, the ABs made most of the play, and really piled on the pressure. Nonu is maturing into one hell of a footballer, while Kaino started to press claims for the 8 jersey. Massive game from the Saffa locks, as per usual but I think the ABs fitness told in the end.

And I'm over our little argument Francis - you haven't added anything that's worth replying to. Get back to me when you get some sense of perspective.

 

[ohtani's jacket]

The Boks really played into our hands. Their defence was good, but they didn't play like world champs at all.

 

[Magrat Garlick]

Went into a pub here in Zürich to check for food. Saw Aus lead 40-3. Think there must be a valid argument for abolishing these tours tbh.

 

[BoyBrumby]

Went into a pub here in Zürich to check for food. Saw Aus lead 40-3. Think there must be a valid argument for abolishing these tours tbh.

Something needs to be done, yes. There needs to be more co-ordination between the hemispheres. France's championship finished on June 28th, the same day as les bleus were playing a test in Australia, which obviously means that anyone taking part is unavailable.

Aside from the money they earn, I don't think the Tri-nations carving up knackered and half-interested northern hemisphere teams serves much purpose.

 

[James]

How much do people take these international games into account outside of the World Cup?

In 50 years, will All Black rugby be remembered in this period with no World Cups having been won by the men in black?

It appears to be by the media at least that more or less nothing matters outside of the World Cup. The same you could say be applied to cricket and football too.