Geekzone Rugby (Union) Discussion Thread

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#2344369 28-Oct-2019 11:53

We will know in less than 7 days.

Meanwhile I'm expecting crotty sbw and Ben Smith to start at fullback, with different wingers. Not sure who will play 10. Though Most likely they will keep the same 10 and 15 and ben in wing which is not my preference. Yes I'm coaching for one night only. And if the rules allow Hansen to come on at 89 mins.

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#2344442 28-Oct-2019 16:00

The only upside of the end of the world cup is that Scott Stevenson won't be on my TV for a bit. Man, he is grating.

Hansen can come on if he is on the team sheet of the 23 players.

It would be sort of awesome. Put him on the wing and throw the ball wide every time we get it :)

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#2344443 28-Oct-2019 16:09

networkn:
The only upside of the end of the world cup is that Scott Stevenson won't be on my TV for a bit. Man, he is grating.

Hansen can come on if he is on the team sheet of the 23 players.

It would be sort of awesome. Put him on the wing and throw the ball wide every time we get it :)

I like how there's a team of 5-6 commentators but one decent main voice with cameos.

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#2344501 28-Oct-2019 18:12

I'm fairly convinced at this point that we should be looking for a younger captain next year, or a caretaker for a year until we can find one.

I can't see how Whitelock gets through to the next world cup. He's no longer an impact player. He's still a good international lock but not heads and shoulders above Barrett or Tuipolotu.

Even with a ton of rest this year he hasn't really been able to string really strong games together. He'll be 35 at the next world cup and it's hard to see his form improving.

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#2344510 28-Oct-2019 18:52

tdgeek:

Just read Stuff comments, the usual. Just read player ratings. ENG had good ratings, NZ has very poor ratings. As usual, little credit is given to the team that won, its more about why we lost, we had a bad day, we didn't play well. However anything anyone feels about any AB's last night, they didnt have a bad game or play poorly, the opposition shut them down. Game of stategy, they they need have a plan for that the next time it happens.

England rattled them from the start, and NZ were playing catch up the entire time. The NZ team kept kicking the ball away in the first half, trying to get England to make mistake. I remember 1995 when NZ literally ran straight over England, but we don't seem to have players like that anymore. England were the better team, but they did also have luck go their way. But NZ could also have lost by more. But I am somewhat annoyed how they are saying the the 3-4 playoff game is the game that noone wants to play. A game is a game, and it gives the opportunity to show they can win I think Wales will be quite happy to play it, as it gives them the opportunity to beat NZ, and coming 3rd, you still get a medal. 3rd is still a good performance overall, as NZ has learnt from the cricket world cup, the difference between winning and losing can come down to luck.

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#2344511 28-Oct-2019 18:56

Handle9:

50:50 odds of regathering and gaining 20 metres is much easier than getting bashed for 10 phases to gain the same distance.

That is probably why rugby IMO has become so boring and predicable in the way it is played. The expansive game there were often breaks on the wing, but very little of that in the semis. IMO, the current game has become very much like rugby league, with advantage played for far too long and often milked by teams.

tdgeek

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#2344518 28-Oct-2019 19:27

mattwnz:

tdgeek:

Just read Stuff comments, the usual. Just read player ratings. ENG had good ratings, NZ has very poor ratings. As usual, little credit is given to the team that won, its more about why we lost, we had a bad day, we didn't play well. However anything anyone feels about any AB's last night, they didnt have a bad game or play poorly, the opposition shut them down. Game of stategy, they they need have a plan for that the next time it happens.

England rattled them from the start, and NZ were playing catch up the entire time. The NZ team kept kicking the ball away in the first half, trying to get England to make mistake. I remember 1995 when NZ literally ran straight over England, but we don't seem to have players like that anymore. England were the better team, but they did also have luck go their way. But NZ could also have lost by more. But I am somewhat annoyed how they are saying the the 3-4 playoff game is the game that noone wants to play. A game is a game, and it gives the opportunity to show they can win I think Wales will be quite happy to play it, as it gives them the opportunity to beat NZ, and coming 3rd, you still get a medal. 3rd is still a good performance overall, as NZ has learnt from the cricket world cup, the difference between winning and losing can come down to luck.

Yes, I get that, but a game is a game. Are the AB's the best team in the world still? Yes. The players are a part of it, a big part, but not the only part. The rest is gelling, is adapting. Strategy, creating it or adapting to it. We dont do the latter. We used to gel where we pass the ball blind as we gell, you can't beat a fast game like that. We lost that. NZ vs AUS we were smashed. We smashed them back, The difference is there was another game, knockout there isnt. We need to adapt.

While its a cliche to say we will be better for it, IMHO the ABs since last RWC were good but not great. The other top tier sides the same. RSA used to be awesome, AUS the same. Not now. I blame the money from Europe and Japan, but we will lose top, but older players again. But I feel we have a lot more potential to gain. Now that we have a reality check, Im looking forward from here.

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#2344580 28-Oct-2019 20:18

networkn:

The only upside of the end of the world cup is that Scott Stevenson won't be on my TV for a bit. Man, he is grating.

Hansen can come on if he is on the team sheet of the 23 players.

It would be sort of awesome. Put him on the wing and throw the ball wide every time we get it :)

In the tour de france, the final stage is neutralised, nobody attacks the leaderboard.

Perhaps the coaches can register themselves as a replacement for an injured player each, and at 78 mins have a gentlemen's agreement not to score, and put the coaches on for the fun of it.

tdgeek

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#2344582 28-Oct-2019 20:23

Batman:

networkn:

The only upside of the end of the world cup is that Scott Stevenson won't be on my TV for a bit. Man, he is grating.

Hansen can come on if he is on the team sheet of the 23 players.

It would be sort of awesome. Put him on the wing and throw the ball wide every time we get it :)

In the tour de france, the final stage is neutralised, nobody attacks the leaderboard.

Perhaps the coaches can register themselves as a replacement for an injured player each, and at 78 mins have a gentlemen's agreement not to score, and put the coaches on for the fun of it.

I cant recall ever seeing or hearing Scotty Stevenson. Enjoyed the pre game chat in the studio, commentators, didnt notice them.

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#2344585 28-Oct-2019 20:32

tdgeek:

Batman:

networkn:

The only upside of the end of the world cup is that Scott Stevenson won't be on my TV for a bit. Man, he is grating.

Hansen can come on if he is on the team sheet of the 23 players.

It would be sort of awesome. Put him on the wing and throw the ball wide every time we get it :)

In the tour de france, the final stage is neutralised, nobody attacks the leaderboard.

Perhaps the coaches can register themselves as a replacement for an injured player each, and at 78 mins have a gentlemen's agreement not to score, and put the coaches on for the fun of it.

I cant recall ever seeing or hearing Scotty Stevenson. Enjoyed the pre game chat in the studio, commentators, didnt notice them.

Scotty Stevenson gives 99.9% of the commentary during the games doesn't he? Stephen Donald barks a few one liners every now and then. Kimberly Downs and Conrad Smith has a chin wag about twice on either side of half time. Sorry I don't watch the pre match and during half time.

tdgeek

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#2344645 29-Oct-2019 07:18

Batman:

tdgeek:

Batman:

networkn:

The only upside of the end of the world cup is that Scott Stevenson won't be on my TV for a bit. Man, he is grating.

Hansen can come on if he is on the team sheet of the 23 players.

It would be sort of awesome. Put him on the wing and throw the ball wide every time we get it :)

In the tour de france, the final stage is neutralised, nobody attacks the leaderboard.

Perhaps the coaches can register themselves as a replacement for an injured player each, and at 78 mins have a gentlemen's agreement not to score, and put the coaches on for the fun of it.

I cant recall ever seeing or hearing Scotty Stevenson. Enjoyed the pre game chat in the studio, commentators, didnt notice them.

Scotty Stevenson gives 99.9% of the commentary during the games doesn't he? Stephen Donald barks a few one liners every now and then. Kimberly Downs and Conrad Smith has a chin wag about twice on either side of half time. Sorry I don't watch the pre match and during half time.

Yep, exactly that when I watched RSA vs WAL last night. I never noticed him. All I heard was commentary that wasn't yelling and screaming, it was factual and calling the game as it was being played. Much like the panel at the start, half time and end, they analyse the game, rather than be the AB's fan club. I find some of the usual commentary OTT, especially JM

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#2344677 29-Oct-2019 08:39

After being away for the weekend, I managed to catch the ABs game live in (someone else's) campervan at the top of the Coromandel.

Reading through the comments here, I agree with them. The All Blacks were behind from the Haka. After 2 minutes of game time I knew in my bones it was over.

The English were too well prepared, too fast, too fit and seemed like they wanted it more (pretty sure both teams wanted it pretty badly, but the English just seemed that little bit faster/hungrier).

Well done to England. I am not gutted the ABs lost (like i was in 2007, the last time they lost a WC game), it is OK when you are beaten by an obviously better team. I've felt the ABs have not been the force they were for about 18 months now. They've been a great team, but not a 2015 great team.

If England didn't play their final on Saturday night, and can play like that again, I can't see the Bokke coming close this Saturday. The ABs were lucky to get 7 points, and the English unlucky not to get (at least) 7 points more (I'd feel pretty hard done by if that forward pass in the maul was called against the ABs).

Good Luck to both teams, and to Wales and NZ - sucks that you have to play that game on Friday when you really just want to kick back, but I hope it's a good game.

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#2344681 29-Oct-2019 08:52

trig42:

After being away for the weekend, I managed to catch the ABs game live in (someone else's) campervan at the top of the Coromandel.

Reading through the comments here, I agree with them. The All Blacks were behind from the Haka. After 2 minutes of game time I knew in my bones it was over.

The English were too well prepared, too fast, too fit and seemed like they wanted it more (pretty sure both teams wanted it pretty badly, but the English just seemed that little bit faster/hungrier).

Well done to England. I am not gutted the ABs lost (like i was in 2007, the last time they lost a WC game), it is OK when you are beaten by an obviously better team. I've felt the ABs have not been the force they were for about 18 months now. They've been a great team, but not a 2015 great team.

If England didn't play their final on Saturday night, and can play like that again, I can't see the Bokke coming close this Saturday. The ABs were lucky to get 7 points, and the English unlucky not to get (at least) 7 points more (I'd feel pretty hard done by if that forward pass in the maul was called against the ABs).

Good Luck to both teams, and to Wales and NZ - sucks that you have to play that game on Friday when you really just want to kick back, but I hope it's a good game.

Agree fully re AB's. They will rebuild. I feel ENG will do the same again. The semi wasn't a war or a grind, they just had the better strategy, and executed it, the score looked after itself. RSA arguably had more of a war, although even then it was mainly kicking, and a day less rest/recovery. I feel they will both be fine and ENG will blow them away

AB's should blow WAL away. Due to disdain over the loss, but they need to be careful, WAL has probably already watched that semi 20 times, there are no secrets. Article today talked about ENG, they played North Hemisphere rugby, and they also played AB's rugby. They may be No.1 for a good while

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#2345854 29-Oct-2019 14:59

I see a few articles suggesting that NZ fans have grown up around our earlier than expected exit from Cup contention. I don't think Kiwi fans have too much of an issue being beaten by a better team, which isn't what happened in 2007 which was the last time it happened. I don't think anyone who knows Rugby thinks it was unfair we exited when we did when England played so well, but I believe it would have been a different story, if they had won because of a shocking referee call.

I really hope the boys get up for Friday. It's hard enough to not have them in a Final as it is, but to lose to Wales for the first time in many years on the back of it, would be an entirely different story. I don't feel that this match isn't of any consequence, to me the difference between 3rd and 4th is big. I'd really like to head into summer off the back of a really strong performance. Knowing we already beat SA and believing we would have again had it of been required, makes me feel a little bit better.

In terms of SH's replacement I am not sure who I want it to be. Foster is still a very good attacking coach. I want the AB's to continue to play the Rugby that made them the envy of the world, and I worry that the coaches coming back from the Northern Hemisphere would take the AB's backward in many ways.

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#2345881 29-Oct-2019 16:10

Why would coaches be worse for having coached overseas? Henry, Hansen and Smith certain only werent worse for the experience. Most coaches will adapt their planning to the team they have rather than go in with a fixed plan. Eddie Jones is a great example.

We can learn a lot from the northern hemisphere.

There is more than one way to win. One of the reasons for winning the world cup in 2011 was the team wasn't focussed on winning "their way" just on winning.

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