Geekzone Rugby (Union) Discussion Thread

Forums › Sports › Geekzone Rugby (Union) Discussion Thread

1 | ... | 384 | 385 | 386 | 387 | 388 | 389 | 390 | 391 | 392 | 393 | 394 | ... | 642

11276 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#2603521 13-Nov-2020 19:28

Rugby really does continue to work against it's own self interest.

Squidge Rugby makes entertaining and insightful you tube videos analysing rugby. He's a well established journalist covering rugby and World rugby use him to make The Feed on Youtube.

The enlightened minds at Sanzaar refuse to allow him to use any video coverage of the rugby championship, even though he's providing media analysis not rebroadcasting. In the past Sky NZ have been the party pushing these takedown notices, in this case it's SANZAAR, presumably pushed by their broadcast partners.

Six Nations rugby have no problem with his coverage, presumably because they view it as a useful promotion tool and it doesn't take anything away from their broadcast partners.

Sanzaar and their broadcast partners are pushing people away who could end up being subscribers to their video services. Dumb, as usual.

Handle9

11276 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#2603584 14-Nov-2020 02:52

networkn:
Haha that loss in AU seems to have woken the selectors up, with close to the best available team selected this week.

I still cannot understand persisting with Jordie on the Wing (other than having another kicker), or ALB at 13 and JG at 12!

Jordie hasn't done much wrong on the right wing without being particularly compelling. Reece was really quite bad last week and I'm not sure if Jordan was even available after he was concussed.

It seems pretty clear that they want to be able to play crash ball at 12. ALB is a stepper rather than a crash ball guy. Goodhue can play that game reasonably well. I think they'd really like Laumape to win that spot, he's by far the most physical midfielder of the 4. He has a bit to go on his passing and kicking games though.

Handle9

11276 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#2603918 14-Nov-2020 20:57

What a great performance by Argentina. They were physical, had a plan and executed.

The All Black pack was inept. Weak, dumb and incompetent.

GV27

5885 posts

Uber Geek

#2603920 14-Nov-2020 21:01

That was a defensive effort on par with the Blues in recent seasons, who really set a high watermark.

Dreary, boring and unimaginative from the ABs, punctuated by poor discipline in the forwards, but more concerning is Cane being dragged into off the ball stuff for the second week in a row and losing his cool. Might be time to have some tough chats around the on-field leadership because that team was rudderless tonight.

It was actually also the first ABs game in a long time where I've been just bored by it? It's hard to explain, but there was no sweeping movement, it was just up the middle, take the first contact and go to breakdown - every. single. time.

It wasn't until McKenzie and Sotutu came on that we got some different angles on line-running. I just can't get my head around what the game plan was for this match, because whatever it was meant to be, it didn't get executed.

Handle9

11276 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#2603922 14-Nov-2020 21:06

When your scrum sucks, you can't win your lineouts and don't get quick front foot ball the game plan almost doesn't matter.

Kicking the ball dead into the in goal yet again doesn't help.

networkn

Networkn
32255 posts

Uber Geek

ID Verified

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#2604011 15-Nov-2020 10:22

Handle9: When your scrum sucks, you can't win your lineouts and don't get quick front foot ball the game plan almost doesn't matter.

Kicking the ball dead into the in goal yet again doesn't help.

or knocking the ball on in an almost certain scoring position :)

networkn

Networkn
32255 posts

Uber Geek

ID Verified

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#2604012 15-Nov-2020 10:28

It was so so grim. I had a really bad feeling around about the 50m mark that we just didn't have a clue how to get through what was an incredibly impressive defense. Massive credit to the Puma's who outplayed us in every part of the part pretty much after no test rugby for 13 months.

It's probably the worst performance by an AB's side in many years in my opinion. It felt like they were just waiting for Argentina to run out of steam, but they didn't really.

I need to stop making predictions. I thought we would absoloutely smoke Argentina last night, fielding our strongest team, our players having plenty of Rugby and coming off a loss..

Quic Broadband

Move to New Zealand's best fibre broadband service (affiliate link). Note that to use Quic Broadband you must be comfortable with configuring your own router.

Hammerer

2476 posts

Uber Geek

Lifetime subscriber

#2604199 15-Nov-2020 16:04

networkn:

It's probably the worst performance by an AB's side in many years in my opinion. It felt like they were just waiting for Argentina to run out of steam, but they didn't really.

I nearly didn't watch the game after reading this comment. Thankfully, I watched and enjoyed the game. I've seen worse performances this year but I haven't seen a better opponent.

As you say, the Pumas were impressive defenders. The All Blacks never stretched the Puma defensive line and never broke out. We were never dominant.

Perhaps, if we'd taken any points when we could get them then it might have been a different story. But I guess that nobody thought the Puma defense would hold until the end.

Handle9

11276 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#2604262 15-Nov-2020 17:24

The frightening thing at the moment is we've been playing relatively weak opposition. Prior to this game Australia were ranked 6 and Argentina 10. I wouldn't have any confidence in beating England, South Africa, France or even Ireland at the moment.

Any side with decent defense and a good scrum is going to have a decent chance against us. When we play against a side that makes mistakes we're fine but it's hard to see a game plan against sides that play well.

We've been on the decline since late 2016 but we really are a long way off too class at the moment. It really needs to be back to basics, get the front 5 right and win reliable first phase ball.

GV27

5885 posts

Uber Geek

#2604512 16-Nov-2020 07:17

Canterbury sneak in a win and magically avoid being dropped into the championship. Call me cynical, but I don't think anyone was ever going to let that happen.

tukapa1

725 posts

Ultimate Geek

#2604516 16-Nov-2020 08:02

GV27:
Canterbury sneak in a win and magically avoid being dropped into the championship. Call me cynical, but I don't think anyone was ever going to let that happen.

This was the most disappointing result of the weekend for me.

networkn

Networkn
32255 posts

Uber Geek

ID Verified

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#2604539 16-Nov-2020 08:54

tukapa1:
GV27:

Canterbury sneak in a win and magically avoid being dropped into the championship. Call me cynical, but I don't think anyone was ever going to let that happen.

This was the most disappointing result of the weekend for me.

You two sound unhinged.

networkn

Networkn
32255 posts

Uber Geek

ID Verified

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#2604566 16-Nov-2020 09:57

Handle9:

It seems pretty clear that they want to be able to play crash ball at 12. ALB is a stepper rather than a crash ball guy. Goodhue can play that game reasonably well. I think they'd really like Laumape to win that spot, he's by far the most physical midfielder of the 4. He has a bit to go on his passing and kicking games though.

Laumape whilst a strong athlete really has shown not a lot more than crash ball during his entire career. As you say his passing and kicking isn't to test standard. He was the disappointment of the Super Rugby to AB's transition for me.

One thing that seems consistent with AB's losses is when we play players out of position. Goodhue might be a decent crash ball player, but his distribution and Rugby nous is far better utilized in 13 in my view. He has a similar "rugby brain" as Conrad Smith in my opinion. Whilst he hasn't shone particularly strongly in defense for the AB's this season, he is usually very good in this area as well and teams seem to be looking to exploit the centers at this point in time I think.

Whilst Jordie Barrett hasn't been terrible on the wing, he certainly isn't a winger for my money. Reece had a pretty average first game this year, but so did almost everyone else game one of the season. I'd like to see him play a couple of times to get him back in his stride. He was excellent in 2018/2019.

The biggest frustration for me in the weekends loss, was our discipline let us down again. For all the criticism that Foster will get over this loss, I don't think for one second he told Coles to slap Matera (what a stupid thing to do, and it really wound him up for the entire rest of the game). Even Frizzel.

Our lack of discipline gave them at least 12 points.

Whilst Cane is a fantastic player and absolutely deserves his spot on the team, I don't really feel he has shown the composure, and ability to get the team together when they are under pressure, that McCaw did, and Read did to a lesser degree. Sam Whitelock would have been my choice, though even he has shown some pretty un-captain like behaviour in 2019 and 2020.

Our kicking game needs serious work. It has been ok at times, but under pressure, we don't kick smart.

It was quite interesting see Cheika in the coaches box at the Pumas.

MikeAqua

7769 posts

Uber Geek

#2604654 16-Nov-2020 12:14

Foster has to go. We have the same problem we had in the RWC semi-final. We are getting comprehensively outplayed in the tackle area.

We keep doing dumb things like letting the wrong guy crash the ball up. Why was Mo'unga crashing the ball up. Ditto McKenzie - literally the smallest man on the field. I can understand if there is bit of space, but those two running smack into a line of forwards. Dumb.

We kept kicking the ball to the opposition. If we want to tire out their big-fatties, fair enough - move the ball laterally. Even kicking to touch for position would be OK once in a while.

We can't run everything from everywhere, all of the time.

Mike

networkn

Networkn
32255 posts

Uber Geek

ID Verified

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#2604658 16-Nov-2020 12:19

MikeAqua:

We can't run everything from everywhere, all of the time.

I think the last few years, it almost feels like we are afraid of contact. We used to totally dominate in this area, and it paid dividends. I absoloutely think we need to try and keep the ball in play, but there is a time and place for crashing the ball up, recycling and going again, through the forwards. Pick and go so you can earn the right to go wide.

It's nice to play Champagne rugby, but not every game/team will allow it, and it's like we have forgotten that Set Piece and forwards working is how Rugby is played at it's most fundamental.

Also, we are no longer miles ahead in fitness, most teams can probably stay with us for 70 minutes now, even longer.

1 | ... | 384 | 385 | 386 | 387 | 388 | 389 | 390 | 391 | 392 | 393 | 394 | ... | 642