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Thorn: I don't know if that's enjoyable for anyone

Reds head coach Brad Thorn joined the chorus of criticism levelled at officials this year.

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With the help from the TMO, the Reds had Jordan Petaia and Taniela Tupou sent to the sin-bin for dangerous tackles midway through the first half of their match against the Blues at Eden Park.

It resulted in a momentum change with the Blues going from 8-6 ahead to eventually securing a 21-6 lead at the break. The Blues eventually went on to win the match 39-16.

The home side also had to players yellow-carded by referee Egon Seconds in the second half.

Thorn believes the impact of refereeing decisions during games is concerning.

“The game is in an interesting place isn’t it,” said Thorn. “I don’t know if that’s enjoyable for anyone.

“Everyone is talking about that at the moment, both sides of the Tasman. It’s interesting.”

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He added: “Probably the No.1 thing, like for a lot of fans, coaches and players everywhere, it’s hurting the game. The game is getting hurt,” he said.

“If that’s what rugby is where you slow things down …. a lifting tackle where he didn’t drive him into the ground. And Taniela came up, his hands from what I saw were in front of him, and he went in hard and low … if you want to penalise, but then yellow card as well?

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“There’s a lot of things in rugby that are interesting. Even the knock-down rules, it’s often a yellow card. In league you just get on with it. Bad pass, pack a scrum, get on with it.

“It’s an interesting place that the game is in. If that’s where we want to go … for me it’s hard. I was a physical player, I enjoyed hitting rucks hard, and played my league in the ’90s.

“As a 12-year-old I remember my coach pulling me aside at half-time, ‘when you pick a guy up drive him into the dirt’. I’m not saying we do that, but for me it’s an interesting place. Referees are trying their best.”

In other news:

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J
JW 14 hours ago
The Fergus Burke test and rugby's free market

I can guarantee that none of the three would have got a chance with Ireland in the state they arrived from NZ.

Why would you think they would?

Two of them were at Leinster and were bench-warmers when they arrived

Sometimes you can be beyond stupid JW.

Haha look who's talking! Hello? Can you just read what you wrote about Leinster to yourself again please lol

It took prob four seasons to get James Lowe's defence up to the required standard to play international footy. If Jacob Stockdale had not experienced a big slump in form he might not have gotten the chance at all.

I'm really not sure why you're making this point. Do you think Ireland are a better team than the All Blacks, where those players would have been straight in? This is like ground hog day the movie with you. Can you not remember much of the discussions, having so many readers/commentors? Yup, 26/7/8 would have been the perfect age for them to have been capped by NZ as well.


Actually, they would obviously have been capped given an opportunity earlier (where they were ineligible to for Ireland).


TTT, who was behind JGP at the Hurricanes, got three AB caps after a couple of further seasons acting as a backup SR player, once JGP left of course. In case you didn't see yourself contradicting your own comments above, JGP was just another player who became first choice for Ireland while 2nd (or even 3rd/outside the 23 in recent cases) for Leinster. And fair enough, no one is suggesting JGP would have surpassed TJP in three or four years either. He would have been an All Black though, and unlike in your Leinster example, similar performances from him would have seen TJP move on earlier to make way for him. Not limited him like he was in Ireland. That's just the advantage of the way they can only afford so many. Hell, one hit wonders like Seta Tamanivalu and Malakai Fekitoa got rocketed into the jersey at the time.


So not just him. Aki and Lowe both would have had opportunities, as you must know has been pointed out by now. It's true that the adversity of having to move to Ireland added a nice bit of mongrel to their game though, along with their typical development.


Aki looked comfortable as the main 12 in his first two seasons, he was fortunate SBW went back to league for a season you could say, but as a similar specialist he ultimate had to give the spot back again on his return. There's certainly no doubt he would have returned and flourished with coachs like Rennie, Wayne Smith, and Andrew Strawbridge, even Tom Coventry. All fair for him to take up an immediate contract instead of wait a year of course though.


It's just whatever the point of your comments are meant to make, your idea that these players wouldn't have achieved high honors in NZ is simply very shortsighted and simplistic. I can only think you are making incorrect conclusions about this topic because of this mistake. As a fan, Aki was looking to be the Nonu replacement for me, but instead the country had the likes of Laumape trying to fill those boots with him available. Ditto with Lowe once Rieko moved to center.

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