Tri Nations 2010

mentally shot imo

a bit like france in the 2002 world cup (soccer)

This is probably tantamount to sacriledge, but why is it that I never notice Matfield anymore unless theres a lineout?

I thought the Wallabies moved the ball about really well last night

Time to start supporting some other team mate, who can make it into finals next year, like Samoa or Russia.

Vadz, I fully agree.

Maestro, they did, but their forwards will get smashed next week by the All Blacks. Boks didn't turn up, pure and simple.

Three weeks in a row blaming the officials gummi? Ever thought maybe the Boks are the problem?

go back to the soccer threads where you belong and can pretend you know something jono.

i don't blame ref often for fuckups because one ruling here and there should not really make a game but fuck me we got shafted last night.

fucken 2nd rated kiwis thats cant ref a game so the only way they can make their mark on the game is by calling some horrible calls. funny how its against the boks however, NZ obviously trying to break the boks before next years WC.

The boks played like shit ref calls aside. Now you guys are down Fourie due to another spear tackle. The Aussies played like shit 17 handling errors to SA's 9 and they still won and dominated you guys :/

SA needs to change tactics, I was cheering for SA yesterday cause I support anyone playing Aussie but they did some stupid shit. Their attack looks awful.

lol Re -Action. Obviously Jono knows more about rugby than you do.

obvioudly .... you fucken top.

so the two yellow cards for spear tackles the Aussie gets 2 weeks, the bok gets 4 ... its for the same offence/grade.

thank fuck for League.

If you have a look at why Fourie has priors, including being banned for spear tackling the previous series. The aussie didnt have that

I have a fair bit of sympathy for *Re-Action* and gummis views. It isnt the difference between the teams, but they are getting shafted. You can see it on the faces of the green jerseys. They look bewildered. I guess its a fairly natural byproduct of a thuggish attitude to the game, but that doesnt make the decisions accurate

Oh I forgot to mention my favoutrite part of the test match At some random maul Spies reaches over and totally manhandles one of the Wallabies new PI forwards who responded by dancing around in that acting tough manner like only PI boys do, so Spies just reaches over and does it again! Much lol BEAST!

Oh I totally understand their frustration etc. However calling someone out on their rugby knowledge just because they have a valid opinion is childish.

Oh fuckup it was a tongue-in-cheek comment.

Dude sit down, this is not rugby league where you have a point system that decides how you get banned. You grade the tackle and the player gets punished accordingly. Using the excuse of "ahh he did the same LAST YEAR" to ban him twice as long as the Aussie is fucken laughable. Funny however its NZ QC that handed out the bans.

No it isn't - there is precedent for extended bans for repeat offenders. If there wasn't there would be even less incentive to clean up one's game. History and credibility are definitely part of the judiciary process.

Don't be so blind Q.



gc.

Its part yes but the obvious part where being a bok means you get a bigger longer punishment is pretty obvious and you can't deny this.

BTW: "Entry point for a low grade lifting tackle offence is three weeks. " so why 2 weeks for Quade? Bet if he wasn't picked up in the game he would not have been banned at all.

In other good news, Jake White is on the brink of being reinstated as the boks couch. SA is looking at how they can kick PdV out of his postion and its about fucken time ...

WC 2010 here we come if this pans out.

Well perhaps if your filthy team wasn't riddled with dirty thugs there wouldn't be such a problem.

:>

gc.

John de Villiers onlygot 2 weeks though didn't he? Becuase the Aussie's are using his sentence to try and appeal claiming that as one of the games will be served in the Currie Cup Quaid's should only be 1 game since de Villier's will only miss one international game. Only the Aussies would use that sort of technicality though, they're whole argument seems to be based around it being unfair for him to miss two internationals when de Villiers only missed one... Two matches = two matches.

Link?

Fkn mean if it's true

heh i have no problem admitting the boks have been pretty mud the last 3 weeks, but that's entirely independent of how utterly shit the officials have been

awesome news if your rumour is true *Re-Action*

:musicman:

Really have no idea why you'd be cheering the ABs losing the world cup AGAIN next year :>

He is looking forward to saying that regardless who your coach might be, your team still sux.

heh, tbh, i had a brain fart and thought you were the one who posted that for some reason and just wanted to give you a hard time :p

im not sure SA are going to disrupt their WC plans so close out with their coaching. But i guess it depends on the rest of your Tri Nations. Having a whinge about the refs doesnt put aside the fact SA has been too busy playing stupid, thuggish rugby. Its pretty embarrassing to watch to be fair

Almost as embarrassing as the AB's team that lost 2 home games to the boks last year. Things turn around pretty quickly but PdV's couching style won't and you can't disrupt a team more than what it currently is. They are pretty much going to have to address every aspect of their game, why not do it with a new couch.

Couch surfing anyone? Burning couches? Couch potato?

Yep. Or slightly more accurately....I dont want the safas to be able to blame PvD. It also gives me no pleasure whatsoever to see a great sporting side be nobbled by a ridiculous situation. The qouta situation is bad enough.....

Is couch how the Saffas pronounce coach? Does the team arrive at the game in a couch as well?

That would explain why they so shit, cause instead of playing rugby, they just couching around.

Shit jokes. Shit.



gc.

They lost 2 in SA and 1 in NZ. They only play 3 times.

(This year is the other way around, 2 matches in NZ, 1 in SA)

Take a sit on the couch and chill, smf.

FWIW *Re-Action* has been posting coach as couch since day dot on here. Think he knows just doesnt care.

I guess you are a Dad though. Jokes tend to get well shit when you pop out sprogs.



gc.

! Sad but true.

ahem

Alright, teams for the weekend are:

All Blacks: 15 Mils Muliaina, 14 Cory Jane, 13 Conrad Smith, 12 Ma'a Nonu, 11 Joe Rokocoko, 10 Dan Carter, 9 Jimmy Cowan; 8 Kieran Read, 7 Richie McCaw, 6 Jerome Kaino, 5 Tom Donnelly, 4 Brad Thorn, 3 Owen Franks, 2 Keven Mealamu, 1 Tony Woodcock.

Reserves: 16 Corey Flynn, 17 Ben Franks, 18 Sam Whitelock, 19 Victor Vito, 20 Piri Weepu, 21 Aaron Cruden, 22 Israel Dagg.



Wallabies: 15 Adam Ashley Cooper, 14 James O'Connor, 13 Rob Horne, 12 Berrick Barnes, 11 Drew Mitchell, 10 Matt Giteau, 9 Will Genia; 8 Richard Brown, 7 David Pocock, 6 Rocky Elsom (capt), 5 Nathan Sharpe, 4 Dean Mumm, 3 Salesi Ma'afu, 2 Stephen Moore, 1 Benn Robinson.

Reserves: 16 Saia Faingaa, 17 James Slipper, 18 Rob Simmons, 19 Matt Hodgson, 20 Luke Burgess, 21 Anthony Faingaa, 22 Kurtley Beale.

Suprised that Weepu is not starting.

Wouldn't read too much into 10 - 12 combination Aussies have named. They'll be switching and changing right through the game, an element I wish we could have.

Weepu has been awaiting the birth of a child. So I guess they haven't been able to make firm plans around him playing, as they have given him leave from the team for the birth.

You heard me.

:>

gc.

We have the best 10 in the world though, why throw him out to 12 from time to time when the guy who moves into 10 will not be as good as him? Especially with the rugby we're playing right now, having two first fives on the field would be wasteful when we could have a 12 that improves the running game. The reason Aussie are constantly changing their combinations is they can't find their best one, and rather than letting Giteau do his thing from 1st 5 as he should be they move him around based on which position they have a better prospect in.

Plus the Donald - Carter thing was good for one half of rugby two years ago, subsequent attempts fell flat because Donald is barely an internatonal class 1st 5 and miles from being an international class 2nd.

I was talking about the depth of their fly halfs Jono and how easy they find a replacement for banned Cooper. We don't have that luxury. Besides, Giteau is best suited for 2nd 5/8 role.

Quade Cooper scares me to be honest, but the Aussie forwards are a big bunch of girls who will be eaten alive and then raped by the ABs pack.. he'll struggle.

We only really actually have the one genuine 5/8th in Carter, outside him at 12 the best options are more like inside-centres / bruisers (Nonu) than tactical & play-making 5/8ths. Basically we're sweet unless he gets injured - then we'll be fucked.

What the hell are they doing with Cruden exactly????

He has had bugger all game time, you think they would've played the shit out of him to see if he can 'actually' cut it

Cruden needs to spend an off season in the gym bulking up, so I think he's been used sparingly to give him a taste and once he's gotten bigger and stronger he'll be in line for more game time.

Skill is not something he can pick up at the gym. hehe... I don't rate him at all Lazydog. I'd rather have Brett there, and that says a lot.

What is going on with refs? I thought the red card to Mitchell was over the top.

Aussies showed a good heart when he was sent off tho.

It wasn't over the top. He warned both teams that the next person who threw the ball away when the opposition was trying to do something quick was going to get a yellow ...bugger for Mitchell that his team neglected to tell him that when he came back on after getting his first yellow.

About time refs in rugby start acting on shit rather than just repeatedly giving warnings.

I noticed that when they got the warning McCaw walked back and was telling/shouting out to the team (just assuming he was passing on the warning) while Elsom just walked back saying nothing (unless he did it out of shot closer to the team).

That aside, despite being a thrashing it's a little concerning how soft a couple Aussie's tries were imo.

I noticed the same thing Rob, Elsoms captaincy was generally poor, he got the refs bad side at the start when the ref told him not to shout at him. That said the coverage was appalling, there were almost no replays of anything controversial... Mils' first try when even the NZ team thought he was offside - all the replays were from head on rather than showing where Mils was when it was kicked. No replays at at all of whatever Mitchell did for his first yellow, only a very brief look at Owen Franks tackle for his yellow. Then the replays they did have were generally from really poor angles. Maybe it was a Mebourne team who didn't know what they were meant to be showing, although I would've thought whoever showed itin Aussie would've made sure they had a team experienced with rugby covering the match.

Yeah what the hell was going on with that coverage? Shocking. We were constantly barking at the TV for replays and different angles.

Australian muppetry at play.



gc.

Team to face Wallabies on Saturday night:

15 Mils Muliaina, 14 Cory Jane, 13 Conrad Smith, 12 Ma'a Nonu, 11 Joe Rokocoko, 10 Dan Carter, 9 Piri Weepu; 8 Kieran Read, 7 Richie McCaw, 6 Jerome Kaino, 5 Tom Donnelly, 4 Brad Thorn, 3 Owen Franks, 2 Keven Mealamu, 1 Tony Woodcock. Reserves: 16 Corey Flynn, 17 Ben Franks, 18 Sam Whitelock, 19 Victor Vito, 20 Alby Mathewson, 21 Aaron Cruden, 22 Benson Stanley.

I don't think we let them score soft tries btw. Sure there is always room for improvement, but I think All Blacks are starting to pick up the momentum and most importantly they're playing the type of rugby they want to play, not having to adjust to SA kicking game etc, like they did in past season. So basically they force their style of the game on the opponents, who struggle to keep up with the pace. It's so pleasing to see them run the ball back instead of kicking it away. Bring in Gear imo. :>

Yeah and it's also quite awesome to see the conservative, kicking style plays often go punished - regardless of who employs them. I don't think I've ever seen b2b charge downs like that!



gc.

Anyone else hope Cowan is gone for the rest of the Tri Nations so Henry can't start him over Weepu? I know the last game was due to Weepu joining the squad late but halfback seems to be one those positions where Henry rotates from game to game. Cowan's form has been poor and Weepu has been godly so surely there's no suggestion that he is not our number one halfback right now.

Also Mealamu being back in top form is wonderful too, he's very much been number 2 to Hore prior to this season but in form he has so much more to his game that you couldn't seriously want to start with Hore in a big match. that said I'm hoping he doesn't have anymore injury problems because when Cory Flynn is in the squad that's an alarm bell for a serious lack of depth. He's not a terrible player but his line out throwing is so bad that he can't be trusted in tests. Look at Saturday, his first line out on the field and he's pinged for not throwing it straight, the man is either incapable of throwing or refuses to work on an obvious weakness. Either way we should be looking at other options for the number 3 hooker (number 3 assuming Hore is fit for the end of year tour) because when you can't retain your own line out ball a team like South Africa will murder you.

Piri is on fire at the moment... Cowan throws pies (even takes a step before he throws the pies) and has aimless box kick after aimless box kick.


Alby should hold up fine in the last 15/20 mins. He is quick behind the scrum and not an aggressive liability like Cowan.

I believe Mathewson would suit Carter a lot more than any other halfback we have. Very simple reason for this is that Mathewson has a pass. None of this bs pick up, run, then pass. Off the deck, clean, fast delivery is what a halfback should be about. Carter is our play maker. We have an awesome forward pack who should secure/protect the ball with no issues. So idea is to get ball out to Carter as quickly as possible, so he can do what he does best.

Don't get me wrong tho, speed around ruck/maul area is also an advantage. And Mathewson has tones more of that than Weepu.

Pretty boring game on the weekend. I think it's more to do with the fact that ABs had to defend like hell for the most of it. The first try by Mils was one of the best tries ever, imo.

hmm surprise, surprise

they got rid of Lukey Mac and Stephen Donald and now the team is performing a hell of a lot better!

funny how Lukey-boy is trying to "force" his way back into the Blacks

Saw this posted on neil_a's facebook acc:

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/sport/news/article.cfm?c_id=4&objectid=10666870&fb_ref=fb_like&fb_source=home_oneline

Fkn disgusting imo

It's a bit of a nothing stat to be honest without loking at the types of penalties involved. You need to look at the number of instances of serious foul play and professional fouls and eliminate penaties conceded by the offence for things like not releasing (something the ABs got penalised for a lot against Aussie) and other penalties that aren't deemed to be yellow card worthy. So while the differences in numbers are extremely high to point to this stat as proof of anything is erroneous because in its raw form their are too many variables for it to be valid.

If it was like 2 or 3 times more than Aus/SA, I'd agree with you, but 7 times!?

That's just taking the piss mate

Yeah but if you're talkiing about serious foul play then that will skew any ratio of penalties to cards.

that said I'd like to see tuch judges lose the power to recommend cards as they are generally responsible for the more ridiculous ones. If the touchy thinks it deserves a card then a it should be referred upstairs so it can actually be looked at properly rather than having someone recommend a card fr something they think they saw 40 metres away.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pdr-W775hk4

Exactly. lol @ South Africans complaining about Yellow Cards.. maybe you should try to avoid headbutting/eye-gouging opposition players?

*sigh*

This doesn't account for the huge discrepancy in yellow cards, at all

heh, that's pretty awesome

Kind of agree with the filthy safas on this one on account of the fact the math is truly overwhelming

Having said that...the concept of the best team getting the rub of decisions is pretty standard across most sports ie its a natural byproduct of being awesome so more power to us imo

Half of that is either legal or at worst, open to interpretation.. couple of blatant offsides though and Richie did seem to get a few final warnings in that game! Still though, you could probably find as many "infringements" in any other test match if you studied the video footage like that.

Thanks for posting the link though, never get sick of watching the ABs dominate like that!

Your cheating is catching up with you, dirty saffas!

yeah, for sure. Happens to AUS in the cricket all the time

Teams for the weekend:

Best team in the world: Mils Muliaina,Cory Jane, Conrad Smith, Ma'a Nonu, Joe Rokocoko, Daniel Carter, Jimmy Cowan, Kieran Read, Richie McCaw (c)Jerome Kaino, Tom Donnelly, Brad Thorn, Ben Franks, Keven Mealamu, Tony Woodcock,
Reservesiri Weepu, Aaron Cruden, Israel Dagg, Corey Flynn, John Afoa, Samuel Whitelock, Victor Vito.

Dirty cheating sore losers: 15 Gio Aplon, 14 JP Pietersen, 13, Juan de Jongh, 12 Jean de Villiers, 11 Bryan Habana, 10 Morne Steyn, 9 Francois Hougaard, 8 Pierre Spies, 7 Juan Smith, 6 Schalk Burger, 5 Victor Matfield, 4 Flip van der Merwe, 3 Jannie du Plessis, 2 John Smit (capt), 1 Gurthro Steenkamp. Reserves: Chiliboy Ralepelle, CJ van der Linde, Danie Rossouw , Francois Louw, Ricky Januarie, Butch James, Wynard Olivier.

Fuck off Jimmy!

Saffas took cheating to a whole new level by bullying a ref!

But in all seriousness tho, Boks couldn't win with a home advantage (which apparently was the biggest in SA history) and their captain's 100th game on the line. They put up a good defensive effort imo. But again ABs seem that much fitter in the last 10 minutes of the game.

Cool stadium btw.

LukeyMac for back up 10!! He's been awesome for Harbour in tough conditions

Lukey Mac is a shit 1st 5! But I guess we don't have much choice.

Stephen Brett is miles better. And that's saying a lot about our depth of 1st 5/8s....

Would rather Weepu than those two useless shits!

Aussies should have won that game. Cheating saffas.

Aussies should not have won anything. And cheating just as good as the AB's ... only problem we don't have the refs onour side.

Was always going to play into South Africa's hands, there was 1 ruck turnover in the match (excluding knock ons and penalties) and South Africa scored the final try off it. The only thing the Aussie forwards are good at is winning turnovers so with that nullified it was a matter of time.

Wouldn't be surprised if Boks lose this weekend, just 'cause of all the PDV drama (wht a fkn idiot that man is )

Although, in saying that, the Wallabies are so fucking terribad at the moment that the Boks will probably win regardless of how shit the Boks play.

I hope Boks lose. This would give SARFU more of a reason to fire PDV, so you whinny bitches would not have anyone to blame for not making quarter finals in the next world cup.

I'm pretty sure he's gonna be gone by Monday regardless...

Also, loving the AB's confidence/cockiness a year out from the RWC -- seems vaguely familiar :>

You would say this, you dirty saffa.

In other news, lol at McAlister being left out of the squad.

Wallabies have shown glimpes of brilliance this year and aren't actually far off being a quality side. Certainly closer than you guys are anyway!

Wow! Robbie Deans about 20 seconds from losing his job there, how the hell did they nearly throw that away? They might have deserved it given that they responded when SA took the lead instead of capitulating but anytime a time throws away a lead that big you're hard pressed to say they deserved to win. Bad news for SA might be that the comeback and almost win might be enough to keep PDV in the job.

How good was that Falcon though? Definitely in the running with Tupou's for Falcon of the Year.

Can't say I agree with this... generally the team with the most points at the end of any match deserves to win. The only times they don't is due to an incorrect ruling or lots of blatant bad luck..

Yeah, I'm not sure what you mean Jono. When a team loses the lead it can mean several things, like the other team got their shit together/more desperate etc. I think winning in SA is hard for any team. Both ABs and Wallabies did very well imo winning those games.

If you throw away a lead that big then you don't deserve to win simple. It shows a complete loss of concentration and desire, they were fairly lucky with the decision that lead to their second half try as well. Where two teams are fairly evenly matched then there is no excuse whatsoever for throwing away a lead ike that. They should have to spend the week running up hills as punishment.

This is complete rubbish.. you could just as easily turn it around and say that the side playing catch-up wouldn't have deserved to win (if they had caught up and taken the lead) because they had "no concentration and desire" hence giving away a large lead to begin with. Which is again bullshit.

All Blacks for the weekend game:

15 Mils Muliaina, 14 Cory Jane, 13 Conrad Smith, 12 Ma'a Nonu, 11 Israel Dagg, 10 Aaron Cruden, 9 Piri Weepu; 8 Kieran Read, 7 Richie McCaw (capt), 6 Victor Vito, 5 Tom Donnelly, 4 Brad Thorn, 3 Owen Franks, 2 Keven Mealamu, 1 Tony Woodcock. Reserves: 16 Corey Flynn, 17 John Afoa, 18 Anthony Boric, 19 Jerome Kaino, 20 Jimmy Cowan, 21 Colin Slade, 22 Rene Ranger.

So two things. I think Cruden will get found out (I really hope not), because he hasn't had much game time. In fact I rate Slade over Cruden.

I'm also against playing Dagg on the wing. He plays his best rugby at full back. The experiment with Jane might have paid off in the past when they played him on the wing instead of his usual full back role. But if Dagg has a quiet game on the wing, he will never get game time again. I would have given Mils a break and started Dagg at full back. I just don't like this out of position experiments. Especially with guys like Sivivatu is due back from his injury etc. We have plenty of quality wings and I don't see why Gear still hasn't been picked .

Cruden is an excellent player, but I think he'll be found out as to small for this level. make no mistake - big loose forwards and locks and the like will head straight for him, and if he gets a painful smashing that will affect his general game.

These All Black selectors consistantly select two fullbacks and one winger. Effectively, New Zealand rugby has abandoned the idea of two wingers and now plays two fullbacks and an open side winger. We;ve being doing it for years now, we might as make it official and have left and right fullbacks...

It's a sound tactic against SAs up and under game, but probably not needed against Aussie. That said Corey Jane has been playing so well on the wing that there's no reason not to put him there now that Mils is back in great form. Plus I don't think they'll give up on Dagg if he has a quiet game, we've seen enough from him already for him to be assured a spot on the end of season tour.

They've deliberately chosen the best "counter-attacking" back 3, and counter-attack is the name of the game right now. Aussie will be playing with fire if they kick it deep!

One of the worst ABs performances I have ever seen
The backline defence made a bunch of journeyman look like Roff, Latham, Burke, Little, Horan, and Larkham.
Horrible patterns meant they had too many 1-on-1 tackles to make in space, and unsurprisingly, they got beaten
Letting that little faggot James O'Connor score was just embarrassing.

Oh, and I think Aaron Cruden sucks, but to say he played "gash" as per the Herald is absurd.
He wasn't world class - but it was his fucking debut! He didn't make any glaring mistakes, his passing was good, and his running actually made a couple metres here and there. Has a lot more potential than I thought.

OK, this is even worse
SMH rankings: ABs vs Wallabies.

Wallabies total score: 131.5 at an average of 6.26 per player
ABs total score: 118 at an average of 5.36 per player

Ridiculous. Fucking Aussies

OK, this is even worse
SMH rankings: ABs vs Wallabies.

Wallabies total score: 131.5 at an average of 6.26 per player
ABs total score: 118 at an average of 5.36 per player

Ridiculous. Fucking Aussies

Vadz, Cruden was horrible. Have you noticed how Nonu was making a lot of tackles? Do you know why that might be? Because Cruden was missing them. With Carter Nonu only had to worry about midfield coverage. Last night he also had to cover the inside channel also. In addition, how many chip kicks did he perform? Might as well have brought in McAlister. How many kicking metres did he gain for AB's? No territory kicking at all. McCaw had to clear once ffs.

They brought him in too soon. Pure and simple, he is not ready.