That Barbarians squad looks good.
Rugby 2017 Discussion
- Thread starter unchanged_lineup
- Start date
That Barbarians squad looks good.
World Rugby release their recommendations for the 2023 world cup host today.
I reckon it's between ourselves and South Africa. Hopefully they award the next two tournaments like they did England and Japan.
I reckon it's between ourselves and South Africa. Hopefully they award the next two tournaments like they did England and Japan.
How is Savea playing for Barbarians and not NZ
His performances since the World Cup are supposed to have been quite poor by in large, plus his technical skills are worse than the other NZ wingers.
What @Rawls said and the emergence of Rieko Ioane. Ioane's been very, very good this year and has an excellent combination of power, pace, and ball skills.
Iaone is ridiculous.
Has anyone seen the picture of Sonny Bill training in the gym in a United top?
What a beautiful man he is
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/ru...ill-Williams-Man-United-kit-Blacks-train.html
What a beautiful man he is
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/ru...ill-Williams-Man-United-kit-Blacks-train.html
Good English team, looking forward to these internationals.
Bundee Aki to make his debut for Ireland this Saturday against the Boks. I'm a bit disappointed that Rob Kearney is starting at FB, considering he will be 33 by the time the 2019 RWC comes around; I'd be shocked if he were to both start and perform well in Japan. Also, seems like Carbery is covering Out-Half on the bench; a bit surprising considering he's only played at FB this season for Leinster, although there doesn't seem to be a great amount of possible contenders around for the jersey TBF.
https://www.rte.ie/sport/rugby/2017/1109/918595-ireland-team-to-play-south-africa/
https://www.rte.ie/sport/rugby/2017/1109/918595-ireland-team-to-play-south-africa/
I won't hold it against Tiernan O'Halloran if he moves on next season. Scandalous for him not to be in the squad when Zebo has been excluded.
For as disappointed as I am with the selection, I'll still admit that Schmidt is a great HC. The problem here though is that even though he's a great HC, why does he remain so unnecessarily conservative in his team-selection? You'd think that someone of his competence and ability would do better.
As for O'Halloran, it would make more sense for him to be in the squad right now than Rob Kearney. The question here we have to ask here though is Schmidt not picking Connacht players as he is biased against them, or is he not picking them individually because of what he perceives to be a poor start to the season by the province?
I don't think it's a bias against Connacht, I think Schmidt has his hard and fast favourites and he's not for moving on them. The Kearney brothers and McFadden are examples. It's very, very disheartening though.
Disappointing selections in the Bok squad for this Autumn tour and the Ireland game. The backs especially are a concern.
Wallabies team to play Wales going for 13 consecutive wins vs Wales:
Wallabies 15-1: Kurtley Beale, Reece Hodge, Tevita Kuridrani, Samu Kerevi, Marika Koribete, Bernard Foley, Will Genia, Sean McMahon, Michael Hooper (c), Ned Hanigan, Adam Coleman, Rob Simmons, Sekope Kepu, Tatafu Polota-Nau, Scott Sio.
Reserves 16-23: Stephen Moore, Tom Robertson, Allan Alaalatoa, Matt Philip, Ben McCalman, Nick Phipps, Henry Speight, Karmichael Hunt.
Wallabies 15-1: Kurtley Beale, Reece Hodge, Tevita Kuridrani, Samu Kerevi, Marika Koribete, Bernard Foley, Will Genia, Sean McMahon, Michael Hooper (c), Ned Hanigan, Adam Coleman, Rob Simmons, Sekope Kepu, Tatafu Polota-Nau, Scott Sio.
Reserves 16-23: Stephen Moore, Tom Robertson, Allan Alaalatoa, Matt Philip, Ben McCalman, Nick Phipps, Henry Speight, Karmichael Hunt.
Where do you stand on the 9&10 combo? Cronje and Jantjies are pretty good at super rugby level yet i don't feel either of them are test standard. If i was Coetzee i would have seriously considered Paige and Pollard at 9 & 10. Coetzee seems to have finally run out of patience with liability that is Ruan Dreyer which means the Bok scrum will benefit.
Some good games in prospect today, winners in bold.
England vs Argentina
Scotland vs Samoa
Wales vs Australia
Ireland vs South Africa
France vs New Zealand
England vs Argentina
Scotland vs Samoa
Wales vs Australia
Ireland vs South Africa
France vs New Zealand
I should have put the word 'predicted'.Spoiler alert!
Cronje and Janties could be more consistent but they are the best pairing we have. Pollard is perhaps a more traditional Bok 10 but he gets injured when you look at him and Paige while a solid player struggles to deliver quick ball. More concerning is midfield especially now with Serfontein not available. Francois Venter should have been given the opportunity today. Also you know the back 3 are going to get murdered under the high ball today.
Why are there always a million and one links to stable streams for every football match in the world these days but ask for a stream for Rugby and, if you manage to find one, it's either crap quality or buffers every 30 seconds
Hmmmmmm, that was rusty England!
Farrell and Maro will make a difference next week but need to pick it up a bit against the Aussies!
Farrell and Maro will make a difference next week but need to pick it up a bit against the Aussies!
Belleau and Dupont against the All Blacks, that's one really young pairing to lead France.
Bit of a kit clash in the Irish game
Who picked the colour of Ireland’s jersies for today’s match?
Our jersey clashes with one country in world rugby - South Africa. So the brains trust decide on an alternate jersey which looks more like their home kit than our own does!
In other news, we've been good. Conway, Aki, Henderson, POM, CJ and Murray have been excellent. Our discipline aside from Sexton has been superb and we've mixed a couple of attacking sparks with some good solid play and great defence.
Only real negative has been the scrum where we've been absolutely minced!
If it's the Lions's front line, it's normal. They do that to pretty much everyone in Super Rugby at the exception of the Crusaders.
There's not a single player in this South African backline who normally would be considered good enough for Test level.
Surely Coetzee is done after this tour. I don't care that there are no apparent replacements, this can't go on.
Not pretty from a SA point of view.
They already have, Rassie just joined up with them
Last edited:
We need to play New Zealand in Football and Handball. Those humiliations have to be avenged.
Not too sure about football success given some of the recent results.
It's time for SA rugby to relent and start picking overseas players. The number of SA players who turn out on a weekly basis in Europe is staggering. Also it's pointless investing money and infrastructure into a strong youth development system that produces a large number of players if they are going to be targeted for residency by NH countries. Sadly this will probably only be addressed if and when it starts to affect NZ significantly.
Biathlon then?
La pétanque is probably a safer bet.
Very average refereeing in this France-NZ game.
Happy enough with Australia's win over Wales but there's room for improvement. I would have preferred to see them keep the ball more instead of kicking it. I think they can give England a real good run for their money next weekend. Ireland were pretty good against a South African team that was dreadful and never looked like scoring a try or getting close on the scoreboard. In the France game it was funny seeing Sonny Bill Williams unaware that he's playing rugby instead of league. Not for the first time i might add.
After yesterday's game I read a lot of comments saying that SAs race based selections are a major reason for their overall shittyness.
Race based selections?