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'Tough week' after All Blacks loss forced Marcus Smith to fix problems

187 days ago

England's Marcus Smith lining up a conversion kick during the International Test Match between New Zealand All Blacks and England at Forsyth Barr Stadium on July 06, 2024 in Dunedin, New Zealand. (Photo by MB Media/Getty Images)

Marcus Smith is using a breathing technique to enhance his goalkicking in response to the yips that struck in the first Test against New Zealand in July.

Smith was off-target with two penalties and a conversion in Dunedin, two of them routine shots at goal and all of them costly misses given England were edged 16-15.

A week later and England lost for the second time, but on this occasion their first-choice fly-half was 100 per cent off the tee and he also engineered tries for Immanuel Feyi-Waboso and Tommy Freeman with laser-guided chips.

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Apart from changing his boots and the kicking tee, Smith learned to control his breathing – a skill he will be using when the All Blacks visit Allianz Stadium on November 2.

“Going into the first Test, I was probably overthinking it,” the Harlequins playmaker said.

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“I don’t think I kicked that well towards the back end of last season. I felt I was a bit rushed, a bit tight on the ball.

“Sometimes you can look at it and it feels like it’s going to be all good, then you get to a game and it’s suddenly all different.

“I have done a fair bit of breath work at the back of my run-up, especially if I’m in a longer passage of play, trying to regulate my emotions and breathing so I can stay calm in that moment.

“I just take a deep breath in, suck it up at the end, and then breathe out as slow as I can. It’s like an army technique to regulate.

“I do it as well if there’s big decisions or a long passage of play. I try and regulate myself so that I’m not as aggressive and as angry as I can be, especially in decision-making and the closed-skill stuff.

“I’m probably at my best in terms of kicking when I’m calm and relaxed and aiming down the middle and knocking it over.

“But in that specific moment, when the lads needed me most, I wasn’t there. That game in Dunedin was quite a tough game for me personally and it was also a difficult week.”

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fl 186 days ago

“I’m probably at my best in terms of kicking when I’m aiming down the middle and knocking it over."

incredible insight here.

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Sadly for you, Market forces will always win out, and the reality is that both NZ and Oz are small economies in a much larger Rugby ecosystem. I don’t like it, would love it to be changed. However, NZ and Oz can only generate a certain amount of $$$ to sustain our comps.

So unless you can somehow transform NZ and Oz’s ability to generate enough money to retain our players - well we come to where we are now at, where the Highlanders Squad has an average age of 22 and unless the likes of Timoci Tavatavanawai, Umaga-Jensen and Fokatava get picked in the ABs squad, they will head off-shore in the next year or two, to max out their remaining rugby playing years.

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What’s the alternative? Take away his passport and right to earn a living?

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History is littered with instances where the money has been used and abused to get advantage, and your silly statement of ‘just pay them more’ when Aus/NZ do not have access to a wide viewer market defies reason.

If it is only a reprieve in the current French club system, which has been going on since the 70’’s, then it is worth it. To open the gates to all countries to get whatever they can afford could be disastrous for the RWC in 20 years.

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Fiji don’t necessarily need another midfielder but I reckon he could be their best anyway.

The problem is CR New Zealand has been a destination for Islanders going back centuries, and it’s teams have built great rapport with them. So it’s automatically like a second home, and a lot of them simply don’t want to leave, and attaining All Black status is the only way you can achieve a reasonable income here.

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I was a bit disappointed reading the article and what they’re actually doing. I thought this was going to involve some advanced bloody analysis with DNA ancestry or something lol.

I’m not sure you’ve understood the change though (or the article has correctly educated me), as there is no change to the Japan team, this is really about participation (incentivizing growth through to the JRLO, and the rest will take care of itself ala SA’s reformation). I think they’re really happy with the fan base as Japan also has a big culture for overseas stars.

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JW 2 hours ago

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That’s natural though no? Was the same with Lydia Ko.

Sure you’re not just misjudge the effects of a large population?

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JW 2 hours ago

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Only if you’re a racist!

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JW 2 hours ago

Japan's proposed anti-diverse 'blood' eligibility law after foreign player influx

There is no confusion Fin, only a lack of understanding.

it isn’t like that at all. Japan aren’t saying you become japanese after 5 years of living there, they are saying that you only became japanese by having japanese “blood”.

Wrong on both counts. Read my post again. WR are saying you’re not Japanese until you’ve had 5 years there and JRFU are saying you can be after 30 tests. Don’t get too confused here, you raised two topics that I’m having to reply to, but theres absolutely no difference in either.

Not sure why you’re bringing up Fiji, a team no one has mentioned because they clearly bear no relation to the topic at hand.

The Drua are identical to Moana.

no it isn’t. A person can call themselves white, but you can’t have a whites only team.

Of course you can. You just can’t make it represent a whole country ala South Africa. I’m sure theres hundres of Scottish or Irish rep teams all over.

At least you got one thing right, a person can call themselves white if they want, or Maori, and be involved in any such like minded group. Just don’t be like the KKK and make it a racial group 😋

While I’m sure you realise you’re wrong about about the picture you tried to paint (and probably new before posting) in your OP, I don’t have faith that you were able to corelate the two examples. Happy to keep replying until you do, again.

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JW 2 hours ago

Japan's proposed anti-diverse 'blood' eligibility law after foreign player influx

They always would have, just not over a team that’s able to give the sport a spotlight in their country.

They think they’re in a position to do both now?

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