Rusty Nails
We remember
- Location
- Living in the slow lane
Not so much a small playing pool (has never harmed NZ) as a terrible rugby structure at national and regional level that doesn't make the most of that playing pool.
The rugby
- Thread starter swee'pea99
- Start date
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Not so much a small playing pool (has never harmed NZ) as a terrible rugby structure at national and regional level that doesn't make the most of that playing pool.
Alex321
Guru
- Location
- South Wales
And not helped by the 25 cap rule
Rusty Nails
We remember
- Location
- Living in the slow lane
Not a major issue in itself but just a small sign of the insular, self-protection mindset, of those in charge.
T4tomo
Legendary Member
Agree, i also don't think the "Well rugby is NZ's national sport" argument holds much water, whilst football/ soccer is popular in Wales, Wales still has massive rugby tradition.
Beebo
Firm and Fruity
- Location
- Hexleybeef
If Wales lose today they will have gone a full calendar year without a win!
And they play SA so the chance of winning is very low.
And they play SA so the chance of winning is very low.
Alex321
Guru
- Location
- South Wales
SA are awesome, in the true sense of that word. Jamie Roberts said they were the best ever team, which is hard to deny although impossible to prove.
Wales have fallen a long way and probably only have a couple of Lions candidates at the moment in Morgan and Tomas Williams. But the attitude was strong and the didn’t fold.
Wales have fallen a long way and probably only have a couple of Lions candidates at the moment in Morgan and Tomas Williams. But the attitude was strong and the didn’t fold.
AndyRM
XOXO
- Location
- North Shields
Great result today against Australia.
Our games are usually pretty lively, and this was no exception once we got going. To be honest I thought the scoreline flattered them, but I'm certainly not complaining!
Our games are usually pretty lively, and this was no exception once we got going. To be honest I thought the scoreline flattered them, but I'm certainly not complaining!
Rusty Nails
We remember
- Location
- Living in the slow lane
Never mind our predictable loss to SA yesterday, Ireland smashing Fiji yesterday and Scotland beating Australia today show just how hard it's going to be for Wales in the coming 6 nations.
With England and Ireland at home and the others away the team are going to have to show some rapid improvement to avoid another wooden spoon.
With England and Ireland at home and the others away the team are going to have to show some rapid improvement to avoid another wooden spoon.
Scotland looked good to me. Kinghorn, Russell and Jones very impressive. Defence was excellent . Ref was a bit fussy but enjoyed the watch.
AndyRM
XOXO
- Location
- North Shields
The ref was irritating. I was listening to the game on BBC Scotland and they were basically laughing about his incompetence. Still, a good game to end the autumn for us.
Unlike England putting out a full strength squad against a very inexperienced Japanese side. What they'll have learned from that won't amount to much.
V frustrated with England this autumn, they could, probably should have beaten Australia and NZ. Small margins and some poor leadership on and off the pitch. They were competitive against SA which is fine and it actually took some serious individual skills for the boks to win. They did what was needed today but again the defence is a mess. How many line breaks come past Genge, what is Slade doing? With Ireland and France first up in the 6 nations it’s going to have to improve PDQ.
Beebo
Firm and Fruity
- Location
- Hexleybeef
The RFU made a £40million loss. How did they do that?
Just imagine how much they would lose if there was relegation in 6N.
Just imagine how much they would lose if there was relegation in 6N.
Chap sur le velo
Über Member
- Location
- @acknee
I'm struck by the thought that SA keep winning by tiny margins and England keep losing by the same. Yet there's a wolrd of difference in quality between them. I get the narrative that SA may be amongst the greatest ever teams because today you need strength in depth and they certainly have that +. Does the coach make the difference in securing those 'small margins'? Hard to say but Schmidt has done a remarkable turnaound with the Aussies.
I have never seen a 'great' England team that wasn't built around a huge dominant pack and a kicking 10. If they can succeed with Marcus Smith it breaks the mould. Field kicking is not his strength and its an increasingly important tactic for winning teams. Still I enjoy watching him and as they're not my team I don't care if they keep losing in an entertaining fashion.
The new rules make for a faster more open game and not every scrum was penalised or reset. The autumn series was most entertaining and worth £33 to TNT. I don't watch much sport on TV apart from the 6 nations and a couple of Golf majors, but will sign up again next year. A welcome distraction in this season.
Dogtrousers
Kilometre nibbler
I think they need some kind of rule about how many phases the TMO can go back to find an infringement when reviewing whether to award a try or not. (Edit: they already do have this. See posts below)
In France v Argentina there was an Arg try that was not given because of a high tackle infringement earlier in the play. But it the ball had been turned over by both sides since then in a long passage of play since the tackle incident, ultimately leading to the Argentinian non-try. The offence was not really significant to the try at all. And I'm not sure whether the penalised player contributed at all to the final phases leading up to the non-try. So it would seem to me that a fairer outcome would have been to award the try, and then discipline the player (he was yellow carded I think) and restart with a penalty.
The TMO does seem to be taking a bigger and bigger role, searching further and further back in play and I'm not sure I like it. We used to be able to point to the TMO (and cricket's appeals system) as examples of where technology actually worked - when football fans were complaining about their VAR being rubbish. But now the TMO seems to be getting a bit too intrusive.
In France v Argentina there was an Arg try that was not given because of a high tackle infringement earlier in the play. But it the ball had been turned over by both sides since then in a long passage of play since the tackle incident, ultimately leading to the Argentinian non-try. The offence was not really significant to the try at all. And I'm not sure whether the penalised player contributed at all to the final phases leading up to the non-try. So it would seem to me that a fairer outcome would have been to award the try, and then discipline the player (he was yellow carded I think) and restart with a penalty.
The TMO does seem to be taking a bigger and bigger role, searching further and further back in play and I'm not sure I like it. We used to be able to point to the TMO (and cricket's appeals system) as examples of where technology actually worked - when football fans were complaining about their VAR being rubbish. But now the TMO seems to be getting a bit too intrusive.
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