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On behalf of New Zealand, I apologise for Ben Smith.

David Campese takes back his Joe Schmidt coaching Australia criticism

Mitch 46 minutes ago

No doubt they liked Rennie but a 38% win record is hard to defend.

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Red and White Dynamight 48 minutes ago

Pablo Matera returns from ban as Argentina change 3 for Ireland

Incorrect. Matera plays mostly on blindside incl for Crusaders when they won title in 2022. Pumas tend to play their flankers left and right rather than 6/7 but Matera is involved in set pieces mostly on blindside channel.

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Cantab 57 minutes ago

It is true that some of the ABs losses were unlucky but it must also be conceded that some of their wins were equally fortuitous and even out overall. I firmly believe that provided the team takes stock of their shortcomings and remedy them while building on the positive, they will return to being the juggernaut of past glories. They are not that far off and Razor has largely developed a side which is capable of not only winning a world cup but returning to the top of world rankings. Boks beware as uneasy the head that wears the crown.

Sadness pervades as Gatland stands on the brink of Welsh exit

DrinkAwayTheConcussion 1 hour ago

As if we’d let such an obvious double agent ploy work on us lol.

Tell me, who was just appointed head coach of Australia’s Men’s 7s…???

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PA 1 hour ago

David Campese takes back his Joe Schmidt coaching Australia criticism

Campo , why don't you try Coaching?

Give Schmidt a chance to prove himself. Schmidt is a professional Coach who has done the hard yards. Give him the opportunity to prove himself. At present he's on the right track and getting better all the time. Don't bring the fact that he's a Kiwi, that's irrelevant. What's relevant is getting the best performance and results for rugby and Australia.

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DrinkAwayTheConcussion 1 hour ago

David Campese takes back his Joe Schmidt coaching Australia criticism

None. Aussie coaches suck. But who are the 6 Australians better than Schmidtoh?

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Jen 1 hour ago

You Bok fans must get sick of reading this stuff, honestly. They're a great team. Our ABs just need to play better and take the ref out of the equation.

Jen 1 hour ago

Our rivalry with the Boks is special. I can live with getting smashed by an excellent SA side. NOONE ELSE THOUGH. Losing to Engerland is not okay.

'Passionate reunion of France and New Zealand shows Fabien Galthie is wrong to rest his stars'

JW 1 hour ago

PS, the only thing I could find on SA contractual changes was a while ago. I'm sure I was reading something more recent that was saying SARU are only involved with their PONI players. And as per above, 'private' doesn't mean billionaire owners in my book, just independant.

'Passionate reunion of France and New Zealand shows Fabien Galthie is wrong to rest his stars'

JW 1 hour ago

Ok, managed to read the full article..

... New Zealand’s has only 14 and the professional season is all over within four months. In France, club governance is the responsibility of an independent organisation [the Ligue Nationale de Rugby or LNR] which is entirely separate from the host union [the Fédération Française de Rugby or FFR]. Down south New Zealand Rugby runs the provincial and the national game.

That is the National Provincial Championship, a competition of 14 representative union based teams run through the SH international window and only semi professional (paid only during it's running). It is run by NZR and goes for two and a half months.

Super Rugby is a competition involving 12 fully professional teams, of which 5 are of New Zealand eligibility, and another joint administered team of Pacific Island eligibility, with NZR involvement. It was a 18 week competition this year, so involved (randomly chosen I believe) extra return fixtures (2 or 3 home and away derbys), and is run by Super Rugby Pacific's own independent Board (or organisation). The teams may or may not be independently run and owned (note, this does not necessarily mean what you think of as 'privately owned').

LNR was setup by FFR and the French Government to administer the professional game in France. In New Zealand, the Players Association and Super Rugby franchises agreed last month to not setup their own governance structure for professional rugby and re-aligned themselves with New Zealand Rugby. They had been proposing to do something like the English model, I'm not sure how closely that would have been aligned to the French system but it did not sound like it would have French union executive representation on it like the LNR does.

In the shaky isles the professional pyramid tapers to a point with the almighty All Blacks. In France the feeling for country is no more important than the sense of fierce local identity spawned at myriad clubs concentrated in the southwest. Progress is achieved by a nonchalant shrug and the wide sweep of nuanced negotiation, rather than driven from the top by a single intense focus.

Yes, it is pretty much a 'representative' selection system at every level, but these union's are having to fight for their existence against the regime that is NZR, and are currently going through their own battle, just as France has recently as I understand it. A single focus, ala the French game, might not be the best outcome for rugby as a whole.

For pure theatre, it is a wonderful article so far. I prefer 'Ntamack New Zealand 2022' though.

The young Crusader still struggles to solve the puzzle posed by the shorter, more compact tight-heads at this level but he had no problem at all with Colombe.

It was interesting to listen to Manny during an interview on Maul or Nothing, he citied that after a bit of banter with the All Black's he no longer wanted one of their jersey's after the game. One of those talks was an eye to eye chat with Tamaiti Williams, there appear to be nothing between the lock and prop, just a lot of give and take. I thought TW angled in and caused Taylor to pop a few times, and that NZ were lucky to be rewarded.

f you have a forward of 6ft 8ins and 145kg, and he is not at all disturbed by a dysfunctional set-piece, you are in business.

He talked about the clarity of the leadership that helped alleviate any need for anxiety at the predicaments unfolding before him. The same cannot be said for New Zealand when they had 5 minutes left to retrieve a match winning penalty, I don't believe. Did the team in black have much of a plan at any point in the game? I don't really call an autonomous 10 vehicle they had as innovative. I think Razor needs to go back to the dealer and get a new game driver on that one.

Vaa’i is no match for his power on the ground. Even in reverse, Meafou is like a tractor motoring backwards in low gear, trampling all in its path.

Vaa'i actually stops him in his tracks. He gets what could have been a dubious 'tackle' on him?

A high-level offence will often try to identify and exploit big forwards who can be slower to reload, and therefore vulnerable to two quick plays run at them consecutively.

Yes he was just standing on his haunches wasn't he? He mentioned that in the interview, saying that not only did you just get up and back into the line to find the opposition was already set and running at you they also hit harder than anything he'd experienced in the Top 14. He was referring to New Zealands ultra-physical, burst-based Super style of course, which he was more than a bit surprised about. I don't blame him for being caught out.

He still sent the obstruction back to the repair yard though!

What wouldn’t the New Zealand rugby public give to see the likes of Mauvaka and Meafou up front..

Common now Nick, don't go there! Meafou showed his Toulouse shirt and promptly got his citizenship, New Zealand can't have him, surely?!?

As I have said before with these subjects, really enjoy your enthusiasm for their contribution on the field and I'd love to see more of their shapes running out for Vern Cotter and the like styled teams.

The Wallabies have a serious problem

Longshanks 1 hour ago

No love for Ollie Hoskins? Decent Aussie tighthead playing for Saracens

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DrinkAwayTheConcussion 1 hour ago

Despite defeat in Paris, the real reason the All Blacks are feeling upbeat

I don’t agree with everything there, but I fear you may be right about Ardie.

Moana Pasifika are not a New Zealand franchise officially, which means they can play Ardie for 80 minutes each week if they want to.

And they’ll want to.

And it is rare to see players come back from Japan in equal or better form when they left.

Jerome Kaino and Michael Hooper are the only two I can think of.

I got pretty frustrated with these old out of form dogs still getting picked.

My wish list for next year is for

all these young tackle bag holders to dominate super rugby so completely that Razor just can’t keep them out anymore.

I’ll give Surf Jesus the benefit of the doubt for one season only.

And to just pick the best.

The best in super rugby.

Not those who will be the best one day, but at the moment throw lineout ball like Stevie Wonder with Parkinson’s.

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NB 1 hour ago

'Passionate reunion of France and New Zealand shows Fabien Galthie is wrong to rest his stars'

Meafou was a part of the Aussie rugby scene at NRC/Super level, never NZ. As soon as he moved to France he never wanted to play for anyone else, so rejected Eddie Jones overtures and stuck with Les Bleus. ABs were never a part of the equation, small or large. They prob did not see his value in any case😁

LB 2 hours ago

Poor Ben, coping after the All Blacks have only barely scraped by 3 times against England while we got a comfortable win and have the best record of the year.

'Passionate reunion of France and New Zealand shows Fabien Galthie is wrong to rest his stars'

NB 2 hours ago

LNR is a creation of the national body to do it's role in conjunction with the FFR and the game.

This is completely incorrect statement in all aspects.

Jordon 2 hours ago

If there's one team ABs fans don't mind losing to, it's the boks. We all respect them immensly. But the fact is we just hate anyone who beats the all blacks.

'Passionate reunion of France and New Zealand shows Fabien Galthie is wrong to rest his stars'

NB 2 hours ago

I'd like to say I cannot always keep pace with his speed of thought, but I don't think that is really the truth of it!

'Passionate reunion of France and New Zealand shows Fabien Galthie is wrong to rest his stars'

NB 2 hours ago

No, Vaai only called when Barrett was out, though he has been an essential part of the lineout performance since then.