Geekzone Rugby (Union) Discussion Thread

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#1399676 4-Oct-2015 13:44

tdgeek: They all seemed down the middle, no hook, no slice. I consider that awesome.

I think his kicks travel straighter because he gets it just over. Unlike guys who whack it 65m into the crowd no matter from what distance, those with power tend to have less accuracy due to wind resistance? Just a theory ...

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tdgeek

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#1399678 4-Oct-2015 13:47

joker97: Well Colin Slade better practice. He's the most accurate kicker out of the 31 in our squad. Problem is ... he hasn't played much since then end of the regular super 15 season. I think he played one test as kicker. That's it. One test. But I bet he'd still kick better than the other 2 if he gets some practice. I dare not think what would happen if DC misses the first 3 penalties and Slade is brought in at the 30th minute to start kicking to chase the scoreboard ...

Yep

SH wants tries to get more point I agree. Silly penalties need to be punished but id ate to see a game based on living than running.

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#1399680 4-Oct-2015 13:48

joker97:
tdgeek: They all seemed down the middle, no hook, no slice. I consider that awesome.

I think his kicks travel straighter because he gets it just over. Unlike guys who whack it 65m into the crowd no matter from what distance, those with power tend to have less accuracy due to wind resistance? Just a theory ...

Makes sense.

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#1399681 4-Oct-2015 13:50

SH hasn't revealed his game plans yet. That's his "reason" for why the ABs played how they played. He's been through enough RWCs to know how important kicking penalties is.

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#1399683 4-Oct-2015 13:59

tdgeek:
joker97:
tdgeek: They all seemed down the middle, no hook, no slice. I consider that awesome.

I think his kicks travel straighter because he gets it just over. Unlike guys who whack it 65m into the crowd no matter from what distance, those with power tend to have less accuracy due to wind resistance? Just a theory ...

Makes sense.

Thinking again, what makes Foley awesome (today anyway, as the England defensive line left gaps bigger than the Twickenham gates when the crowd left early) was he knew when to run at the line. At one stage it was I think Bernard Foley 23 England 13 or something like that. Not sure if DC can still run at the line. Or if our game plan involves him running at the line. Who, as a Dunedinite, am questioning the risk of leaving Sopoaga behind, the best 10 in the whole of the Super 15, all season long, all of 2015.

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#1399804 4-Oct-2015 20:17

Wow just watched 3 games today 2 of them back to back!

Firstly, anyone not concerned about facing Australia, hasn't been paying attention. They look the best I've seen them in my memory which stretches back 10+ years pretty clearly. Foleys kicking WAS awesome. His taking of the line though, was made possible by Hooper and especially Pocock. Hooper is a thug. Lancaster should go for failing to provide a specialist #7 backup to his primary who was rubbish before he went off. Unbelievable they didn't have any way to compete at the breakdown.

I can't believe the number of high tackles in the SA/Scotland game that were considered "fine". A week ago people were in the bin for those same tackles. Having watched SA all tournament, I am not worried about them, except for kicking, which is where I am most concerned we are exposed.

Japan/Samoa, what an outstanding team Japan is. Every team should be made to watch how they go into tackles, or into contact, and the cleanout was probably the best I've seen. Samoa looked terrible for 75 minutes and got three (*3*) yellow cards. Eddie Jones is an outstanding hands on coach. He should be commended. Ball handling of the Minnows has put the big 5 (Including the AB's) to shame.

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#1399810 4-Oct-2015 20:30

Don't get me wrong, credits to Foley, who has won the Super 15 for the Tahs with his kicking. But that's what a kicker's job is, kick goals! If you can kick goals, great, your team has a chance at the WC. If you can kick 55m goals, then you are Awesome :)

Ok if i have to choose awesome and inaccurate vs limited distance and very accurate i will cost the latter. But i only call awesome if you can do both :)

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#1399812 4-Oct-2015 20:33

Oh by the way, this is thuggery. Not when a 7 doing what a 7 normally does

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#1399892 4-Oct-2015 22:39

A thug is an excellent way to describe him. He is joing a ruck, which requires binding and staying on your feet. He didnt even enter straight through the gate, and shoulder charged straight into the English players head. 2 week ban is what he deserves.

Sorry cant get the youtube tag to work??? Video here https://youtu.be/0Aeq2lJlu64

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#1400019 5-Oct-2015 10:08

itxtme: A thug is an excellent way to describe him. He is joing a ruck, which requires binding and staying on your feet. He didnt even enter straight through the gate, and shoulder charged straight into the English players head. 2 week ban is what he deserves.

Sorry cant get the youtube tag to work??? Video here https://youtu.be/0Aeq2lJlu64

100% agree. It's pretty obvious to me, he intended to hurt the player. He has a temper, make no mistake about it, and I think if he isn't cited, that its just a matter of time.

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#1400082 5-Oct-2015 10:48

Wallabies played very well.
England helped them to do that by not having a loose forward trio worth the name.

I believe (hope) that in the same situations, Foley would not have had the space around the rucks as he had if they were playing NZ with Read, Kaino and McCaw ready to smash him. It is not a given that Australia will beat Wales either - Wales loosies are a lot better than Englands, and Hooper should have a week or two off.

Agree that Kicking is an issue. Hopefully that is Dan's bad game for the tournament.

On this mornings game, looks like Ireland may be the ABs QF opponent (although France is due their bad game, and it could be v Ireland). I don't think NZ and Ireland have ever played at a World Cup have they?

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#1400217 5-Oct-2015 12:27

Hooper is not a thug, although it may have been an act of thuggery. Intending to "hurt" a player doesn't make you a thug unless it's done intentionally through illegal means or you intend to seriously hurt them (e.g. by making contact with their head or diving in at their lower legs). Any rugby player worth his salt is going to be making tackles with the intention of it hurting the opponent! They want the opponent to think twice before running that line next time or go into their shell or get winded/ get a sore muscle and underperform, etc. It's part of the territory. The biggest problem with the Hooper clean out is that I think it was shoulder on head, that's a no-no and is why he may/should get a rest.

But there are literally dozens of incidents in every game of players leaving their feet at a ruck and leading with the shoulder going into a ruck. If you penalized each instance when this happened in a game, in the short term it would make the game unwatchably boring. In the medium term it would mean players could not go into rucks with any intensity as if they hit the ruck and got over the advantage line they'd be likely to lose their feet and get penalised.

Like many things in rugby, you just can't be so obvious about it and there is a balance to be found. Most players now lead with the shoulder at some point but often have the arm out a little bit so it's not as obvious.

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#1400222 5-Oct-2015 12:38

Thank you!

Anyway, there's one more pool game that excites me. Wales Wallabies. Whoever wins doesn't have to face SA or ABs till the final. I'm guessing Cheiks will play team Quade. Could be fun!

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#1400224 5-Oct-2015 12:41

joker97: Thank you!

Anyway, there's one more pool game that excites me. Wales Wallabies. Whoever wins doesn't have to face SA or ABs till the final. I'm guessing Cheiks will play team Quade. Could be fun!

I don't get what coaches see in Quade. How many chances has he had? When was the last time he performed to the standard he was in 2007?

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#1400227 5-Oct-2015 12:46

blair003: Hooper is not a thug, although it may have been an act of thuggery. Intending to "hurt" a player doesn't make you a thug unless it's done intentionally through illegal means or you intend to seriously hurt them (e.g. by making contact with their head or diving in at their lower legs). Any rugby player worth his salt is going to be making tackles with the intention of it hurting the opponent! They want the opponent to think twice before running that line next time or go into their shell or get winded/ get a sore muscle and underperform, etc. It's part of the territory. The biggest problem with the Hooper clean out is that I think it was shoulder on head, that's a no-no and is why he may/should get a rest.

But there are literally dozens of incidents in every game of players leaving their feet at a ruck and leading with the shoulder going into a ruck. If you penalized each instance when this happened in a game, in the short term it would make the game unwatchably boring. In the medium term it would mean players could not go into rucks with any intensity as if they hit the ruck and got over the advantage line they'd be likely to lose their feet and get penalised.

Like many things in rugby, you just can't be so obvious about it and there is a balance to be found. Most players now lead with the shoulder at some point but often have the arm out a little bit so it's not as obvious.

The biggest problem with the Hooper clean out is that it does not comply with 16.2(b), 16.3(a), 16.3(b), 16.3(c). So it was done intentionally, through illegal means, by making contact with his head (your definitions of a thug). The last angle on the youtube video is my favourite, really shows the no arm, head involvement.

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