Rugby 2018 Discussion

I'm still dumbfounded that Michael Hooper jumped against Eben Etzebeth in a line out during the Port Elizabeth test. This happened against New Zealand in Sydney as well. It's monumentally stupid and a good way to ensure you won't win your own line out ball.

If you look at some highlights from the game, South Africa's 1st try, which came inside the first 30 seconds of the match, was criminal from a Wallaby perspective. Who throws a risky cut out pass begging to be intercepted 5 metres or so from their own try line? Kurtley Beale, that's who.
 
In terms f quality, I think the Aussies are up there with anyone, they just need a new coach. Cheika's time is surely up.
 
TEAMS

South Africa: Willie le Roux, Cheslin Kolbe, Jesse Kriel, Damian de Allende, Aphiwe Dyantyi, Handre Pollard, Faf de Klerk, Francois Louw, Pieter-Steph du Toit, Siya Kolisi (captain), Franco Mostert, Eben Etzebeth, Frans Malherbe, Malcolm Marx, Steven Kitshoff. Replacements: Bongi Mbonambi, Tendai Mtawarira, Vincent Koch, RG Snyman, Sikhumbuzo Notshe, Embrose Papier, Elton Jantjies, Damian Willemse.

New Zealand: Ben Smith, Waisake Naholo, Jack Goodhue, Sonny Bill Williams, Rieko Ioane, Beuaden Barrett, Aaron Smith, Kieran Read (captain), Sam Cane, Shannon Frizell, Scott Barrett, Samuel Whitelock, Owen Franks, Codie Taylor, Karl Tu’inukuafe. Replacements: Nathan Harris, Tim Perry, Ofa Tuunfafasi, Patrick Tuipulotu, Adie Savea, TJ Perenara, Richie Mo’unga, Ryan Crotty.

NZ have secured the trophy but a lot of pride at stake in this match tomorrow. Will be a good indicator of how far the Boks have come.
 
Whatever happens at Loftus Versfeld, i won't be surprised. The All Blacks do have a phenomenal record at the home Northern Transvaal rugby winning 4 from 5 including 4 wins in a row. Their only loss to SA there was in 1970.

If South Africa are to win, they'll need much more possession and territory than they got in Wellington. You might win a game 25% possession and about 30% territory once, good luck doing it twice.

I wonder if we'll see a slightly more pragmatic performance from New Zealand in Pretoria. Their idealism and phobia of a drop goal cost them in Wellington, i highly doubt the same thing will happen if it's close late in the game.

I suspect the All Blacks will win but i think it'll go down to the wire just like the last two meeting between South Africa and New Zealand. @freeurmind, i hope the Boks win not just for your sake but it'd hopefully stop the mythlogising about the All Blacks in Australia if New Zealand lose two in a row against the same opponent.

The game between Argentina and Australia is huge. Huge for the Wallabies that. Lose, and they finish bottom of the Rugby Championship for the 1st time and last in a Southern Hemisphere tournament for the 4th time if we count their last place finishes in the 1995, 2005 and 2009 Tri Nations Tournaments.

Defeat by 16 points or more will see the Wallabies drop to 8th in the world. That represents crisis point if they haven't reached that yet. Speaking of the number 16, the Wallabies this year have averaged 16.75 points per test this year. Those numbers don't paint attack coach Stephen Larkham in a positive light.
 
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It's such a pity this game is a dead rubber as far as the championship goes. It'd be all set up for great tension. Plus it's on at an actually reasonable time for me :D

Munster Leinster today too, that should be very interesting.
 
The fact that the All Black are the only team in history you genuinely can't beat before the final whistle is what makes them consistently so special. Especially given how much everyone ups their game just for them.

Doubt they'll ever either of those things.
 
Harlequins v Saracens live on US network Tv now. Bit unusual this, in the midst of the college football season.
 
Michael Cheika was a sacked man coaching at half time when Argentina was leading 31-7. He delivered an almighty spray which saw the Wallabies outscore Argentina 38-3 in the 2nd half to win 45-34. It is a concern that an almighty spray was required for Australia to turn things around in Salta.

As for the match in Pretoria, you can only praise both sides for producing a third cliff hanger in a row. The last three games have been 25-24 to NZ, 36-34 to SA and 32-30 to NZ. By the way, i loved the SA crowd trying to drown out the haka and wish Aussie crowds would do the same thing.

SA will rue either not scoring a 4th try or not taking a drop goal to go from 30-18 to 33-18. Either scenario playing out would have seen them home and hosed. SA didn't make the most of their possession and territorial dominance in the 1st half either.

The All Blacks were a beaten team until Richie Mo'Unga came on, Ben Smith moved to the win and Beauden Barrett played fullback. Their 2nd half comeback was amazing considering they were 17 points down twice.
 
Xaviesta said:
Michael Cheika was a sacked man coaching at half time when Argentina was leading 31-7. He delivered an almighty spray which saw the Wallabies outscore Argentina 38-3 in the 2nd half to win 45-34. It is a concern that an almighty spray was required for Australia to turn things around in Salta.

As for the match in Pretoria, you can only praise both sides for producing a third cliff hanger in a row. The last three games have been 25-24 to NZ, 36-34 to SA and 32-30 to NZ. By the way, i loved the SA crowd trying to drown out the haka and wish Aussie crowds would do the same thing.

SA will rue either not scoring a 4th try or not taking a drop goal to go from 30-18 to 33-18. Either scenario playing out would have seen them home and hosed. SA didn't make the most of their possession and territorial dominance in the 1st half either.

The All Blacks were a beaten team until Richie Mo'Unga came on, Ben Smith moved to the win and Beauden Barrett played fullback. Their 2nd half comeback was amazing considering they were 17 points down twice.
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ABs were a beaten team til they got that try off the forward pass. I wonder how the match would have ended up if the ref had sent it to the TMO.
 
unchanged_lineup said:
ABs were a beaten team til they got that try off the forward pass. I wonder how the match would have ended up if the ref had sent it to the TMO.
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NZ's 1st try should have gone to the TMO. SA's 1st try could have been looked at too for some possible obstruction from Francois Louw, paving the way Willie Le Rous's line break that set up Jessie Kriel's try.
 
Beirne is a beast for Munster, they should be delighted with the draw against Exeter but it was an excellent chance to snatch the win
 
Gloucester melting down against Munster here. Whatever your feelings about the new laws, there's not really any excuse for a pro player not to be aware of the laws and react in the necessary way to a ref who's obviously going to enforce them. Shocking lack of discipline and sense from them.
 
New Zealand and Australia have named their teams for Bledisloe 3 in Japan this Saturday.

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Strong Ireland squad with a few who'll be disappointed to be left out but that's to be expected at this stage. Picking a 31 man squad for the world cup is going to be a horrible job for Joe! Myself and a buddy were counting out names last night and easily came up with 45 fellas who'll legitimately feel they deserve a place on that plane.

From this far out, I reckon we'll be looking at something like:

World Cup Squad:
Healy, McGrath, Furlong, Porter, Ryan
Best, Scannell, Cronin
Ryan, Beirne, Henderson, Toner
O'Mahony, Ruddock, Leavy, VdFlier, O'Brien, Stander
Murray, Cooney, Sexton, Carberry
Henshaw, Aki, Ringrose, Farrell
Earls, Stockdale, Conway, Kearney, Larmour

Standby: Kilcoyne, Herring, J.Ryan, Dillane, Murphy, Conan, Marmian, Byrne, McCloskey, Arnold, Sweetnam, Addison

Disappointed: Cronin, Tracy, Bealham, Roux, O'Donnell, McGrath, Keatley, Scannell, T.Farrell, Wooton, A.Byrne, Gilroy, O'Halloran, Addison

Not Considered: Moore, Casey, D.Ryan, Jackson, Madigan, Olding, Whitten, Zebo

Hell of a lot of rugby to be played first. If 75% of the names in that squad get through the six nations, club season and the warmups in one piece, we'll be in great shape come next September!
 
diarm said:
Strong Ireland squad with a few who'll be disappointed to be left out but that's to be expected at this stage. Picking a 31 man squad for the world cup is going to be a horrible job for Joe! Myself and a buddy were counting out names last night and easily came up with 45 fellas who'll legitimately feel they deserve a place on that plane.

From this far out, I reckon we'll be looking at something like:

World Cup Squad:
Healy, McGrath, Furlong, Porter, Ryan
Best, Scannell, Cronin
Ryan, Beirne, Henderson, Toner
O'Mahony, Ruddock, Leavy, VdFlier, O'Brien, Stander
Murray, Cooney, Sexton, Carberry
Henshaw, Aki, Ringrose, Farrell
Earls, Stockdale, Conway, Kearney, Larmour

Standby: Kilcoyne, Herring, J.Ryan, Dillane, Murphy, Conan, Marmian, Byrne, McCloskey, Arnold, Sweetnam, Addison

Disappointed: Cronin, Tracy, Bealham, Roux, O'Donnell, McGrath, Keatley, Scannell, T.Farrell, Wooton, A.Byrne, Gilroy, O'Halloran, Addison

Not Considered: Moore, Casey, D.Ryan, Jackson, Madigan, Olding, Whitten, Zebo

Hell of a lot of rugby to be played first. If 75% of the names in that squad get through the six nations, club season and the warmups in one piece, we'll be in great shape come next September!
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I see a lot of people bigging up Farrell from Connacht.
 
unchanged_lineup said:
I see a lot of people bigging up Farrell from Connacht.
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Yeah I have him there in the disappointed section. He looks a talent but he's been playing well for a long while now and Joe is yet to call him up for a look. If he was going to make a world cup squad you'd think he'd have been called up this November, maybe in place of McCloskey.
 
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