Official Rugby Thread

[_Ed_]

Obviously a bit of a mismatch against quite a weak opponent, but the Black Ferns are looking in good shape heading into a home World Cup. Great to see.

A shame there isn't more of a crowd in early for the first game of the double-header, but hopefully they'll get better turnouts for the tournament itself. Looking forward to going to some of the Whangarei games.

 

[ashley bach]

Eden park sold out for tonight's match, sun was out today when I left Auckland this afternoon so here's hoping the rain can stay away.

 

[ashley bach]

No brain, no pain, no Swain. He's a goneburger, and rightfully so imo

 

[ashley bach]

Wallabies giving away the first penalty, with the ball and hot on attack....mental.

 

[ashley bach]

Yellow card, what a dickhead.

 

[BoyBrumby]

That's just lolbad game management.

Wobblies opt to tap a penalty in the ABs' 22, and the play ends with an NZ pen at the other end of the paddock, which results in a penalty try for yer Kiwis.

I have no words. Michael Lynagh would be rolling in his grave were he not (happily) alive and kicking.

 

[ashley bach]

Wallies just don't have the smarts, 1986 will live forever it seems.

 

[ashley bach]

Springboks will need to beat the Pumas by 40 points tonight to take out the rugby championship.

 

[Heboric]

Dang it Australia, that was very Gamma type performace, not even Beta.
Didnt expect you to win but geez

 

[James]

Incredible to think at the end of the season the All Blacks have retained the Bledisloe and more than likely won the Rugby Championship.

Looking at the RWC 2023 pools, looks like the quarter finals will be:

France v Ireland
South Africa v New Zealand

Wales v Argentina
England v Australia

Wide open, but goes to show the groups shouldn't be set so far out.

 

[Heboric]

Incredible to think at the end of the season the All Blacks have retained the Bledisloe and more than likely won the Rugby Championship.

Looking at the RWC 2023 pools, looks like the quarter finals will be:

France v Ireland
South Africa v New Zealand

Wales v Argentina
England v Australia

Wide open, but goes to show the groups shouldn't be set so far out.

Poor Ireland then, could be eliminated in the quarters again...

 

[Flem274*]

Australia have a mental block against us despite some strong performances against teams above us so it's hard to tell, but to give some credit to Foster and NZR (since I give them **** all the time) Ryan and Schmidt have had a big impact.

We're seeing a lot more ideas in attack and Tyrel Lomax in particular has gone from an NPC standard prop to monstering scrums week after week.

We're playing with a lot more skill, so even if it doesn't translate into immediate results on the northern tour, for the first time in a while I think we're giving ourselves a proper opportunity to consistently win games against good teams.

As a final comment, I was/am very pro Jordie at 15, but much like how I see him at the Hurricanes and very wishful thinking full strength Taranaki, if he is our best 12 option and it allows us to fit the best players on the park, then I'm all for it. I've been a big Havili doubter and I think he's hard done by to be criticised this year when I think he's actually been decent for once, but I'm close to all aboard the triple playmaker train.

In fact trigger the Tasman and Saders scrum and dump Will Jordan to 23 for a meme selection of Damien/Perofeta at 14 and go with the quartet playmaker structure. It wouldn't be boring.

 

[ashley bach]

Incredible to think at the end of the season the All Blacks have retained the Bledisloe and more than likely won the Rugby Championship.

Looking at the RWC 2023 pools, looks like the quarter finals will be:

France v Ireland
South Africa v New Zealand

Wales v Argentina
England v Australia

Wide open, but goes to show the groups shouldn't be set so far out.

The 2 teams that have dominated the world cup over the years play each other in the quarters just doesn't feel right.

 

[weeman27bob]

The 2 teams that have dominated the world cup over the years play each other in the quarters just doesn't feel right.

It would be a shame if England and Australia have to play in that round, you're right.

 

[social]

Have no idea why some of you guys continue to overrate the Wallabies

Fully fit and we’re bog average

Factor in the spate of injuries & we’re very poor

Scoreboard never lies

 

[Fuller Pilch]

Yellow card, what a dickhead.

Should've been red

 

[Fuller Pilch]

It has been a terrible season, but at least that's another Rugby Championship. Credit to Schmidt and Ryan for the improvement.

 

[Fuller Pilch]

Looking at the RWC 2023 pools, looks like the quarter finals will be:

France v Ireland
South Africa v New Zealand

Wales v Argentina
England v Australia

Hard to know. Pool B really is a pool of death with Ireland, SA, Scotland, and Tonga (and Romania). If Tonga can get 40% of the ball theirar backline is awesome with Pulu, Fekitoa, Piutau, and Folau.

Also Fiji can beat either Wales or Australia in pool C, while Japan could easily knock over Argentina in pool D. Sadly England looks too physically big for them but the same was said about Japan in the last 2 tournaments.

Despite Italy's improvements they have little chance vs France and NZ in pool A.

 

[James]

Hard to know. Pool B really is a pool of death with Ireland, SA, Scotland, and Tonga (and Romania). If Tonga can get 40% of the ball theirar backline is awesome with Pulu, Fekitoa, Piutau, and Folau.

Also Fiji can beat either Wales or Australia in pool C, while Japan could easily knock over Argentina in pool D. Sadly England looks too physically big for them but the same was said about Japan in the last 2 tournaments.

Despite Italy's improvements they have little chance vs France and NZ in pool A.

100%. I was just going with what is "expected", but we all know with the state of international rugby right now that anything is possible. From our perspective, it's going to suck with the timing of all the games isn't it. No sleep for almost 2 months. Good practice I suppose with the football world cup coming up.

I was quite surprised by how poor Tonga were in the recent Pacific Nations Cup - hope they get plenty of games before the World Cup to improve. Maybe Samoa are more of a threat/dark-horse in the group stage?

 

[Fuller Pilch]

I was quite surprised by how poor Tonga were in the recent Pacific Nations Cup - hope they get plenty of games before the World Cup to improve. Maybe Samoa are more of a threat/dark-horse in the group stage?

Yeah, so was I. Yeah, if Samoa click they could possibly beat Argentina/Japan. That pool might be interesting for 2nd behind England.