Another great night at Nib.
Not a bad result considering they beat the Rebels 55 to 10 earlier this year.
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Another great night at Nib.
Not a bad result considering they beat the Rebels 55 to 10 earlier this year.
I don't know why I even bother clicking onto RA crap. I did it again and realised once again what a one-eyed bunch of twats they are.
The Force breezed past Fijian and Tongan outfits in their first two starts but two straight losses to severely understrength Super Rugby sides have shown their true colours, set piece.....deficiencies
Severely understrength! Robertson himself said there were 17 players with Super Rugby experience in that side and as for the Rebels, well we know the answer to that. The Force pack held its own in the scrum as far as I saw, but then I had both eyes open.
Mr Sam Phillips, who ever you are, stop producing more propaganda than Goebbels and his Nazi ministry.
That really is it. No more clicks. It only adds to their self congratulatory imposed importance.
And while I'm on that topic, I saw on FB that another RA mouthpiece Ian Payten has left the Daily Telegraph to...join Rats Arse.
Why am I not surprised.
Exactly why I was against this fixture from the get-go. The only possible result was that the Crusaders would field a team full of name-players and attempt to smash the Force; there was never going to be any intention of "for the greater good" while Twiggy attempts to forge a competition without RA and SANZAAR.
(cue the folks who'll say "what? Did you expect them to play to lose???" Which is beside my point, but anyway...)
If anything, the fixture should have been against the NZ Heartland XV. They could have worn black, done a pre-match haka as a proper NZ rep team, and given us a more even contest; without providing fodder for the pro-SANZAAR press.
You know what? Fuck the east coast media tossers, they've proven over and over again how much on the rats arse payroll they are by pushing people like Hooper and hanigan as world class rugby players.
We'll never get any love from that quarter and I no longer care. I enjoyed watching a severe beating last night and no longer care what it means to anybody in Sydney.
My default answer to any small minded kiwi who tells me the force are shut is now going to be "without that shut team you'd never watch live professional rugby again"
It's time we open our eyes, Super rugby teams can continue to lose to new Zealand and I'll be happy to watch the force play even sided games regardless of the overall standard
The Crusaders showed up with the strongest team they could muster and thus showed the Force some respect. I thank them for that. If they put out a team full of Canterbury club players , i would have been well pissed off.
Totally agree.
The Crusaders squad showed the overall strength of their club.
2nd half of the main squad and their broader pool showed the strength and consistency of the Canterbury machine.
The size and ball carrying skills of the Crusaders backs showed that their future is in good hands.
Impressive.
But just as impressive was the tenacity of the Western Force squad - especially Keegan, Lacey and Alcock.
Always good to watch good rugby - even when we get soundly done.
(I'm choosing not to comment on Will Houston as he couldn't hear me from half way up the Eastern Stand.)
Iain Payton has joined RA? As what? Fully paid shill as opposed to sycophant shill? No wonder the organisation has no money to spend on keeping the actual game alive in Australia.
Finally got to to watch the game, so great it’s on 7 plus and not locked away on fox sports. Also liked the new commentator Tony someone, recogonise his voice but couldn’t pick where.
One thing kept coming to mind during the game, they looked unstructured. When I realized how many new names in the team for this week and the rebels game it makes sense. Fiji and Tonga the team was fairly settled but these games a lot of new guys getting a run and subsequently the loss of conhesion. On top of that the backs having butter fingers. Still was an exciting game to watch.
Under strength Super sides? Rebels and Crusaders were just minus their current Wallabies and current All Blacks.
What about the Force being under strength Mr Philips?
Force were stripped of all of their Wallabies last year and every other player the other teams fancied. Force started again from scratch 4 games ago.
Chieka did not invite a single current Force player to even the Wallaby squad training. Two of our Force starters from the first two games, were however away on international duty for the USA and Samoa, for the Rebels and Crusaders games.
I think the Force were great and will only get stronger
I noticed that, too; especially, I think, in the centres. The first couple of games had Iona and Brache who seemed to have hit on a great understanding. But with both on international duty we had (v Rebels) Alatimu and Taefu, and (v Crusaders) Alatimu and Lacey.
Now I like AJ, and I think he has the makings of a fine player, but Iona's already a great player. Lacey played well, but he's a winger trying to learn the centre position whilst up against the Crusaders.
The coaches might actually have a selection issue when Iona and Brache come back, because they'll be trying to fit Grant, Davies, Lacey, Dakuwaqa and Uyen into a back-line with 3 starting and 1 bench spot. I'm not sure I could say any deserve demotion from their position, so training might end up as a proper fight for places.
An issue for certain. You need to balance how slick the backs looked in the first couple of games against the competence of the opposition's defensive systems.
Anyone else think the way the kiwi lead runners loiter in front of the ball and then run straight at the defender is bordering on obstruction? I saw it quite a few times again on Friday. I think it's within the laws and they are so good at it that they can shield the runner without actually obstructing a defender - just. It's coached into all their teams by the looks. RL has some definite guidelines on that but even with the greater separation on the ad line officials still have difficulty with rulings.
Does seem like they are using every game to go through the combinations to make their selections. Personally would like to see Clay Uyen start at fullback, great vision and hard Defense.
Rod Davies has amazing speed, step and vision and is a great asset but his handling has been atrocious. It seems like he is thinking too far ahead instead of focused on catching the ball sometimes. With his experience don’t know if benching him would help but for the next game coaching the young wingers could be an idea.
weren't the AB's accused of that a few years ago and the refs started pinging them.
the AB's, and obviously then the NZ teams, will exploit anything if it's not picked up by the refs.
same in any sport i suppose, but the kiwis do seem to be pre-programmed.
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