Former Super W Player of the Year to debut during Force’s Japan tour

Can't see Perth as being interested in what happened there Steve.

Teams are liked or disliked according to their own behaviour. Being one of the top teams hardly means that you're going to be disliked more than the other top teams.

Going that direction could have knock on effects of raising the current standard of Super, increasing interest, making it more marketable, resulting in star players wanting to stay, and then finally, possibly, even making Australia more successful (if with less depth). The comp and teams will no longer be 'for Australians', they will simply be like most other privately owned clubs. If that became successful then investment can be put into that bunch of players underneath who have been missing out, and therefor raise more Super quality locals as a result in time (taking the squads back to being largely Australian players).

Because I agree, there is plenty of talent out there. NZ would be the first place to attempt this, even paying them back that 8 or 9 million loan they got from them might be enough compensation to allow NZR to release their players to Aussie SR sides (individuals still paid by NZR). When there's only 4 teams, just a small number of quality signings will make a big difference, then see how success the sport is locally once they're winning the majority of their home games.

Which blows apart the argument that the All Blacks can't take a team rising to challenge them. Behaviour is taken on its own merits.

Fun fact: New Zealand have progressed further than Ireland in every single Rugby World Cup.

But enough of that. Ireland have done a fantastic job to build their pathways to become the best run rugby country in Europe, maybe the world.

Sititi is more a 7 than a 6, and I would have liked Lakai and him to be behind DP (though not playing). Razor suggested Sotutu would have been the next call up but I wonder if Lakai shouldn't have actually been. A lot of criticisms of Razors selections, Ethan, Bell, Fihaki, even Havili.

Isn't this also Farrell's first gig? I don't know if I'd classify counter mauling as a specific/anti SA trick, or a very reasonable and calculated player selection. But I take your point. I still think next season will define him a lot more and give him the chance to put him on the pedestal you already think he's good enough for.

You shouldn't have need Sexton to admit it in his book to agree with that.

Also Retallick is the biggest shit stirrer of the lot, take what he says with a grain of salt. Norm Hewitt on the other hand, he wouldn't be anywhere near as nice.

FTFY

The way it's said here implies that they were doing something other than what they'd trained, like saying Ireland were mentally weak not to adjust in that quarter and fixed a mental weakness in order to overcome the pressure in Durban. Complete cods wallop, those players didn't choke. Should they have done something different? Yes, and obviously they had been better prepared for it as shown in result of their last game.

Those same practices will still be around today (far more wide ranging than just dealing with pressure).

Did you read the comments in that article you linked (you're not going to get any value out of what a writer puts in his sotry)? They are real grievances, which create animosity over time, stuff like 'success' is just made up garbage (no idea if that's what JDs examples are) to hype things up.

I would have thought the real grievances against Leinster would be from within and nothing to do their own perceived success but actually how that success was achieved over time, that's what I have felt in the year I've been on this site at least (no real exposure to northern domestic footys fans before that). So everything to do with circumstances like Carlos Spencer sticking it up the Crusaders crowd (don't think Reiko's version would do anything like that) or Quade's 'arrogant' reaction to animosity shown towards him after the McCaw incident, as well has Gregan cheating to strike the ball Wilson's hands.

Who... drunk all the kool-aid? Not a bit sheepish now Nick? 😜

It was hilarious how other teams weren't even aware that NZ turned a corner a year or two back. Those two things aside would have generated the most discrepancies in perspectives ("heat") imo. Irelands results here got huge respect, especially when they did eventually back it up. So much so that I blamed Ireland on NZ's 19' WC exit, we did the same thing then, in not concentrating on the next game against England, that Ireland did this WC.