Forget the losing and trouble scoring as that’s been a problem all year. What the hell has happened to our defence in the last few weeks? If that’s one thing we could do it was not get 50+ points put on us week after week.
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Forget the losing and trouble scoring as that’s been a problem all year. What the hell has happened to our defence in the last few weeks? If that’s one thing we could do it was not get 50+ points put on us week after week.
sigh. that was. tough to watch. Kai'tuu "(sp?) couldn't get a ball in straight. should have been pulled earlier. Once ready came on we had an attacking platform to maintain continuity. At least we had a kicker, but couldn't retain the ball in the line out.
Shit loads of penalties in that game, with no warnings (either way).
Why turn down a gift 3 points? We are not a piercing team. kick penalties when right in front. keep the scores ticking over.
We only have one backline play. go deep. then the chiefs had a shooter on the second last player and shut down the move, and we lose 20m. maybe notice that and put in a chip over the back to the free space, or have a second runner with them. There was no dynamic change of play. like a book unfortunately...
Unfortunately, the chiefs looked like they were out for a training run.
The end to this season can’t come soon enough! I’m not even confident we will come close to beating Moana Pacifica on Tuesday. Sigh. I hope they do I think the players need something positive to finish the season on. It must be tough for them week in and week out.
I don't want to be a sad sack, but I'm not sure we can compete against the 5 NZ teams with 5 Aussie teams unless we start doing things differently. It saddens me a bit that a handful of the Kiwis players in the Chiefs outfit were U20s from the 2019 team that was destroyed by our guys. We just don't have the third tier to boost their development. God I wish we had the NRC back. I think we should also have a salary cap allowance to match the top ups that other teams get (e.g. if the Tahs had $850,000 in Wallaby top ups, we could spend that extra money on bringing players back from OS). It would come from our own pocket, but it would level the playing field.
I honestly shake my head at the lack of a second tier comp in Aus and it comes at the detriment of the non-heartland teams (Rebels and Force). There are so many players like Pugh, Callan, Masikeba etc.. that should have had the time to develop in such a comp before being thrown in against teams full of All Blacks.
Looking at the positives from the game the youngsters definitely looked hungry. Both Pugh and McDonald played well (although Pugh is definitely not an 8 as he did not know what to do at the back of the scrum). Funnily enough I also thought Anstee had his best game of the season, hopefully we will see more of that Anstee in the last couple of games and during the next season.
I think these NZ games have really shown our weaknesses. Top of the shopping list for next year needs to be
> THD prop (there is a reason why they pay big money for them in the Northen Hemisphere)
>Big No. 8
>Big 13
> A proper full back (McGregor and Straughn are ok but I think we need somone with a big boot)
One thing I picked up re those Chiefs u-20's was a comment that they were actually scheduled to play for the Chiefs u-20's this weekend. So it's not only NPC which develops Kiwi players but their whole grass roots to top level systems. Very hard to to come up with ways to get similar results.
No it isn't, just hard to find the money and the will. But easy to blame one for the other.
It's also easy to say that it isn't....and I only paid for a 5 minute argument. The profile and structures in NZ are
historically well entrenched and have, despite regional rivalry, transitioned to the pro era. Very different here; it is what it is. Not easy. Difficult but possible.
You didn't say it was difficult to do, you said it was difficult to work out what would get similar results. That isn't hard; we are agreed that what is hard is making it happen. But "It is what it is" is largely why it has never happened in 25 years of professionalism. And why I wouldn't be holding my breathe on 'Australian rugby' making any meaningful changes.
What’s the plan for the Force and Rebels? - Paul Cully
Another week, another 50-point loss for the Force, and further signs of the Rebels’ defensive issues in their 45-22 defeat against the Hurricanes. Neither result was a surprise, and the reality is that neither side is capable of being competitive on a weekly basis.
It’s an enormous challenge for Rugby Australia, because the existence of the Rebels and Force alone can’t be seen as a sign of success.
They certainly need help, whether that’s in the form of an Australian draft (which I don’t like), funding equalisation (more palatable, given RA’s top-ups are largely used at the Brumbies, Reds, and Waratahs) or a new post-Super Rugby competition that will give them a chance to bring their players up to speed (probably the best option).
https://www.watoday.com.au/sport/rug...22-p5anj4.html
Amazing that Cully didn't call for one team to be axed. He's done that before in this season. Possibly he's changed his tune because the Rebels are the easy target after trying to kill the Force backfired so spectacularly but the Force are the ones looking shite at the moment.
I think the biggest issue is that there are always calls that a strong Tahs is good for Australian Rugby, a Strong Reds is good for Australian Rugby
This needs to change to All Australian teams need to be strong, because that is also good for Australian Rugby, but we never ever hear anybody say, when the Force is getting 50 put on them week by week that a strong Force is good for Australian Rugby.
The calls for a funding balance to the non-heartland team are sensible, but in the partisan and parochial world of Aussie rugby governance, it doesn't stand a snowball's chance in hell of ever getting up.
The idea of a third tier comp is the most likely to succeed and this will do wonders for the Force and the Rebels, but it has to be generated at the whim of the ARU's masters (Shute Shield and Hospital Cup) or that will similarly never get off the ground.
I repeat my call for GRR to be reinvigorated with teams from the non-traditional provinces playing each other on a weekly basis, this could be run in conjunction with a Super Rugby reserves competition which would mean poor buggers like Grayson Makara would get more than 2 games of rugby in a year.
I completely agree with the comments around not enough depth and that there should be another tier but we shouldn't also ignore the fact that the Waratahs have turned things around very well in 1 year.
I know the Tahs get advantages that we don't get but from their side yesterday that beat the Highlanders, the only international quality players I would say are Hooper, Gordon, Angus Bell and maybe Foketi. So not a superstar team.
So why have they improved so much? Is it just the coach, attitude, etc? Hopefully we can do the same next year with a new coach
Attitude can do a lot in sporting teams.Most team sports require a level of cohesion with the players, everybody heading for the same goal and everybody trusting their teammates to do their part of the job.If the best player in the team doesn't rust the guy next to him to make a one on one tackle hell creep out of position to cover the gapLeaving an actual gap caused by a perceived gapIf the number of people who don't trust the system or their teammates reaches a certain percentage, the team can't function.If this is the issue, a coach can usually turn it around pretty quickly if the coach isn't the reason for the lack of trust.If tim had lost the confidence of the playing group, nothing he does from that moment on matters unless he can rebuild that feeling that the system and the selections aren't the problem
These discussions and Cully's ongoing comments totally ignore that we've got into this place due to gross mismanagement by Rugby Australia which totally wasted the $350 million war chest created after the 2003 RWC in Oz.
Development of the game from the grass roots will only happen if we address the problems at the top and especially the cabal/nepotism/vested interests that is all things rugby in NSW.
All else is just shuffling deck chairs.
There needs to be a co-ordinated effort to revitalise and grow the great game from the grass roots which has to include efforts to strengthen all of the current SR franchises and address the issues of just not enough game time for our up-and-coming players.
$350 million? Where did you pull that figure from?
This SMH Article says the War Chest was only $45 million
https://www.smh.com.au/national/leag...26-gdhurx.html
Dude, it's not just NSW, the same accusations are leveled pretty believably at Rugby WA, VicRugby were instumental in offing the Force, then mysteriously transferred the majority of the player base and coaching team to them, Qld are by no means innocent.
It's Australian rugby in general that is gridlocked by parochialism, nepotism, rivalry and bureaucracy.