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Official Rugby Thread

James

Cricket Web Owner
Unbelievable how the Crusaders get absolutely smashed by the Force.... pasting the standings in to remember how dreadful they've been all season.

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Heboric

International Debutant
I stopped watching Super Rugby when the SA teams got booted out, but I remember the Western Force being one of the whipping boys so to speak. To see them put over the Crusaders is a surprise to me.
 

James

Cricket Web Owner
I stopped watching Super Rugby when the SA teams got booted out, but I remember the Western Force being one of the whipping boys so to speak. To see them put over the Crusaders is a surprise to me.
They've had a bunch of their senior players retire, go to Japan, or are injuried, but even so, they shouldn't be as bad as they are.
The depth in NZ rugby is certainly reducing.
 

Molehill

Cricketer Of The Year
I watched some of England v Ireland Women's game......a one sided monstrosity. Will be interesting to see how they fare in France on Saturday, at the moment they just look like thrashing everyone. They've taken a talented and professional team and added a highly qualified Kiwi coach, hard to see how they get beaten over the next few years. The professional game and the level of investment is so far ahead of competitors, and we've seen in other sports (eg Aus in cricket) how long it takes to catch up.

Ellie Kildunne, with a mop of hair that grabs your attention, looks an absolute star at full back.
 

Molehill

Cricketer Of The Year
England gave France a thrashing in the 6 Nations decider in Bordeaux, despite being rather average in the second half when the game was won.
That's 29 consecutive 6 Nations wins now. Giving this side John Mitchell has just taken them to a new level. Can see them having a level of domination similar to the Aussie Women's Cricket Team.
 

Howe_zat

Audio File
England gave France a thrashing in the 6 Nations decider in Bordeaux, despite being rather average in the second half when the game was won.
That's 29 consecutive 6 Nations wins now. Giving this side John Mitchell has just taken them to a new level. Can see them having a level of domination similar to the Aussie Women's Cricket Team.
They were pretty unstoppable going into the world cup as well but got, well, stopped. The 6N has never really been the barrier for them, beating NZ is.
 

Molehill

Cricketer Of The Year
They were pretty unstoppable going into the world cup as well but got, well, stopped. The 6N has never really been the barrier for them, beating NZ is.
I think that was a one off freak game where England played most of it with 14 (a sending off which I'm not sure would be more than a yellow now). It was in NZ and they still should have won. In last year's inaugural WXV, NZ lost to France by a point before getting well beaten by England (in NZ).

Next World Cup is in England, they've upgraded the Coach, found some better players and are clearly significantly better now than the last tournament. It'll take more than a questionable red to stop them this time.

There is a huge gulf in the current rankings between 1st and 2nd. A lot has changed since 2022.

Women's and Men's Rankings | World Rugby
 

Howe_zat

Audio File
I think that was a one off freak game where England played most of it with 14 (a sending off which I'm not sure would be more than a yellow now). It was in NZ and they still should have won. In last year's inaugural WXV, NZ lost to France by a point before getting well beaten by England (in NZ).

Next World Cup is in England, they've upgraded the Coach, found some better players and are clearly significantly better now than the last tournament. It'll take more than a questionable red to stop them this time.

There is a huge gulf in the current rankings between 1st and 2nd. A lot has changed since 2022.

Women's and Men's Rankings | World Rugby
I mean they're favourites sure, and it's not that close, but I really think winning one cup is the minimum starting point before you can compare them to a side that's won four in a row.
 

Molehill

Cricketer Of The Year
Hard to argue with though tbh. Don't think we'll see a properly competitive Wallabies again before 2050
Could easily change Wallabies to Wales there - both nations have huge issues at the mo that run deep in their game.

It's not exactly rosey for England/Scotland either, but their concerns pale into insignificance by comparison.
 

social

Cricket Web: All-Time Legend
Could easily change Wallabies to Wales there - both nations have huge issues at the mo that run deep in their game.

It's not exactly rosey for England/Scotland either, but their concerns pale into insignificance by comparison.
Rugby has massive competition in Australia from far better managed/more popular sports so the situation is somewhat understandable

Those other countries don’t face anything like that so there comes a time when you have to question the game itself

Personally think it requires a massive overhaul
 

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