Geekzone Rugby (Union) Discussion Thread

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Networkn
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#1347367 19-Jul-2015 21:07

Well unsurprisingly to me, newspapers talking about Dagg all seemed pretty happy with his performance, SH seems pretty happy. I'm guessing he's getting a ticket to England, made even more simple by the poor fortune of Naholo. I did have to agree with one reporter in one of the articles mentioned that no matter how good Dagg was, for some it would never be enough.

Jokerz, I was fairly surprised by how well Australia played all things considered, and how much better SA played, and then lost. They would have every reason to be gutted I think. They bought back some really old guys, one of them went onto the field in a walker. Hooper and Pocock are going to be serious problems I think.

Handre Pollard is going to be massive for SA in the RWC based on what I have seen of him in recent months.

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#1347424 20-Jul-2015 05:31

There was one player in the NZ Barbarians that really surprised me with how well he played: Andrew Horrell at fullback. He was very consistent and reliable for the whole game both attacking and defending well.

In the recent games I've watched, more than half of the contested high balls have been dropped. Whatever the new wings might be good at, catching the high balls doesn't appear to be one of their strengths. That bothers me because high punts played a big part in the Wallabies vs Springboks game. That's why it was was such a relief when Cory Jane caught them so cleanly.

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#1347475 20-Jul-2015 09:23

Hammerer: There was one player in the NZ Barbarians that really surprised me with how well he played: Andrew Horrell at fullback. He was very consistent and reliable for the whole game both attacking and defending well.

I agree actually. There was another, but I can't mention his name because he is a Crusader :)

In the recent games I've watched, more than half of the contested high balls have been dropped. Whatever the new wings might be good at, catching the high balls doesn't appear to be one of their strengths. That bothers me because high punts played a big part in the Wallabies vs Springboks game. That's why it was was such a relief when Cory Jane caught them so cleanly.

Also agree, he did show some good signs of the class of old, before going off with injury. Not sure I'd include him in the RWC Squad without reservation though, because he seems to get injured almost every game now. I think he needs a long lead in as DC has had, to build up again perhaps. Not sure if that's entirely how it works, but seems to be from my own
injuries playing sport. I think if you are injured, or have been recently recovered, you tend to hesitate in ways you didn't before, or favour the injured body part, putting extra load on the other parts perhaps.

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#1347757 20-Jul-2015 13:19

The Fiji Tonga game was interesting, lots of leaderboard changes. Looked for a good while that Tonga's pressure was going to tell on Fiji, but at the end of the day pace and quick ball really helped Fiji out. There was a massive right cross thrown which if it had connected would have probably put someone in hospital, missed entirely by 3 refs and a TMO, despite being played back 3 times during the game!

Interesting for me, I got to see Fijian Ben Volavola play, the new recruit 10 for the Crusaders, he looks pretty good!

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#1347795 20-Jul-2015 15:21

networkn:
Hammerer: There was one player in the NZ Barbarians that really surprised me with how well he played: Andrew Horrell at fullback. He was very consistent and reliable for the whole game both attacking and defending well.

I agree actually. There was another, but I can't mention his name because he is a Crusader :)

:) At least that Crusader back got a couple of mentions in news articles for playing as well as he usually does. I mentioned Horrell because I haven't seen his name in any of the articles despite playing just as well. :(

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#1347799 20-Jul-2015 15:31

Hammerer:
networkn:
Hammerer: There was one player in the NZ Barbarians that really surprised me with how well he played: Andrew Horrell at fullback. He was very consistent and reliable for the whole game both attacking and defending well.

I agree actually. There was another, but I can't mention his name because he is a Crusader :)

:) At least that Crusader back got a couple of mentions in news articles for playing as well as he usually does. I mentioned Horrell because I haven't seen his name in any of the articles despite playing just as well. :(

I wasn't a big fan of Mitchell when he first turned up on the scene but I have to say he looks very sharp now. Horrell got moved around a fair bit at the Chiefs if I recall, I don't think he looked very settled there, but hopefully better for next season for them.

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#1351794 26-Jul-2015 08:02

Interesting game over night. Our defence wasn't good early on but the Springboks ran at us a lot more than they have historically. Fekitoa and Vito made a real defensive impact when they came on and cleaned up a lot of the missed tackles that Messam an Nonu had early on.

I thought Sopoaga had a good debut, with the Ben Smith try standout moment for him. Carter wouldn't have been able to setup that try, he probably didn't control the game quite as well as he could have, but it was a frenetic, scrappy game.

Charles Piatau had what I thought was his best game for the All Blacks, his try saving tackle from the opposite wing was great.

The golden oldies scrum though - what an absolute farce. It probably saved our bacon while Whitelock was in the bin but it ruined the last quarter for me.

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itxtme

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#1351799 26-Jul-2015 08:30

Yep, scrums cost them big time in the end. As far as a farce goes, I guess it comes down to the rules, and having enough cover. Can only assume both props on that side injured.

Victor & Fekitoa were awesome off the bench, agreed. I was really hoping Dagg would have a great game today, but he spilt the high ball (not the only offender), and was out of position when they scored. Certainly not a terrible game, but not a great game as a fullback.

itxtme: A good start but offloads wont be like that next week.

What do you know, there might have been 2 or 3, it really puts that game last week in perspective and illustrates the divide between the big 3 in the Rugby Championship.

EDIT: McCaws discipline was significantly better this week.

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#1351801 26-Jul-2015 08:40

I thought it was an outstanding game, played in a great spirit by both teams.
If Whitelock was yellow carded for a ruck infringement in the red zone (with no prior warnings) then why didn't Habana suffer a similar fate near the end of the game?
Until the yellow card I was thinking to myself what a clean free flowing game, and I really thought the All Blacks might get through 80 minutes with 15 players. Silly me.
Probably what annoyed me most about the game was the South African broadcaster trying to influence the game by repeatedly showing perceived foul play by the All Blacks and not doing the same to the Springboks. But I guess it worked last year, so why not give it a crack again this year?

Edit: I thought Dagg had a good game.

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#1351912 26-Jul-2015 12:32

We showed a lot of heart in that game. We were put under huge pressure. Ben Smith demonstrated for me how he should be on the Wing for my money. We were pretty fortunate to end up with uncontested scrums I thought.

I also thought Dagg had a decent but unspectacular game. Soponga did pretty well.

How much speed does Dane Coles have, that was quite a spectacular try, and I was happy for RM to get one as well. I really don't know how we will go without him. It's impossible to measure his contributions. We are pretty fortunate to have Read to take over the captaincy.

Broadhurst was far to upright I thought, put himself under pressure, relatively easily fixed. Could just be nerves. Messam still not the guy for me in that position. I suspect he may be fortunate if he ends up in England.

Australia v AB's for the final and equal points for the Bledisloe, though I'd have to say we should really win that game.

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#1351916 26-Jul-2015 12:44

So how well did Carter play?

A.

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#1351922 26-Jul-2015 12:47

afe66: So how well did Carter play?

A.

Umm?

riahon

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#1351942 26-Jul-2015 13:14

networkn:
afe66: So how well did Carter play?

A.

Umm?

He played as well as SBW

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#1351943 26-Jul-2015 13:16

Slightly better than Colin Meads

itxtme

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#1352030 26-Jul-2015 15:53

Dingbatt: Edit: I thought Dagg had a good game.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hiwa-7TMrU4

Really? Had some good touches, but he also made some bad decisions. Great catch under the highball then throws a hospital pass to Kerian Reid which immediately results in a try (1.33)

5.45 in he comes up to the line, and misses his man = try. Better view at 6.22, he is so far off reading the game. Thats 14 points.. Sorry he isnt up to scratch. Like I said last week, with so much space against the Argies he looked good, when the games tighter, not so much.

Cant say I even remember his kicking, which is apparently amazing. The public is tough on him because we can all remember what he was like in 2010

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