Happy Thursday, Comrades. This week the final’s upon us with the Crusaders (Double Dongers) playing the Chiefs for all of the chocolates. It should be a cracker.
I’ll touch on a few topics this week and then am going to step away for a while as I have a few other things on my plate. As always ladies and gents this is a fan site so if you feel like you have something to say have a crack, I’ve certainly enjoyed it.
Good Rugby Players Are Not Necessarily Great Athletes – Opinion
Great Piece From RugbyPass
A very good coach that I know once said to me good athletes get to where the ball is and a good rugby player goes to where the ball is going to be. This article touches on the Blues and how they have individually great players who fail to operate effectively as a collective. Watching the Saders ruthlessly expose the Blues centres and outside backs was a bit like watching a cat play with a mouse.
What this should mean for the Australian smash and grab mission for the RWC is that we require a group of men who have a clarity of thought and know how to play the game doing the little things and perhaps use their brains a bit.
On a personal level I’m sick of hearing coaches, particularly of young players, say he’s a great athlete. Usually for me that means he’s as dumb as wood and when the moment gets big his performance gets small.
Super Rugby Pacific: Fans fume as Chiefs’ website crashes during presale for final tickets
The final is a sell out. (I could say the Chiefs can fill a phone booth).
Rugby fans desperate to attend the Super Rugby Pacific final will now have to wait for general public tickets after the Chiefs’ website crashed during pre-sale. Several took to social media to voice their outrage, after the website went down as they were selecting their seats, causing them to miss out entirely. Others were even more unlucky, with many failing to receive a link to tickets as part of the pre-sale registration process.
Instead, fans who have missed out are now holding their breath they will have more success with the public sale as demand only grows.
The Chiefs have since disabled comments on their Facebook post about the pre-sale allocation being sold out after an influx of negative feedback. “While we completely understand the frustration of those trying to get tickets, the demand is so high this allocation has sold out,” the post read. “We will be back online at 10am for public sale, looking forward to a sold out FMG Stadium Waikato! The Chiefs are looking to end a 10-year championship wait, when they host the Crusaders in Saturday’s Super Rugby final.”
Congrats to Stan
I have always maintained and will continue to do so that Stan has been the saving of rugby in Australia. They are continuing their fine coverage by showing the under 20 RWC. (Mostly)
Link Here
As rugby fans many seem to relish in the bloodsport of being negative, but I, for one, love what I get out of Stan. I just wish they had kept the Japanese league this year.
Japan Aiming to Secure Tier 1 Status and a place in The Rugby Championship
From Pravda
Watch out world, here come the Brave Blossoms.
The Brave Blossoms reached the quarter-finals for the first time on home soil four years ago, beating Ireland and Scotland before losing to eventual champions South Africa.
Former captain, Michael Leitch, believes they can go all the way at this year’s tournament in France, asking reporters: “If not now, when? That’s the goal,” the New Zealand-born loose forward said after a training session with Japan’s preliminary World Cup squad. “I know it sounds silly but it is a possibility and we believe in possibilities. We’re the best team that Japan has ever produced, so we’re going to go for it.”
Japan have been drawn in Pool D with England, Argentina, Samoa and Chile at the World Cup, which kicks off in September.
Leitch is aiming to appear at his fourth World Cup, having made his tournament debut in 2011. The 34 year old captained the Japan team that stunned South Africa at the 2015 World Cup in England, a game that became known as the “Miracle of Brighton”. He also played in every game of Japan’s 2019 campaign. “I think the players we have now compared to 2019 are much more professional,” he said. “We’ve got much better talent, the whole squad. I think this squad can go all the way.”
Leitch said Japan are “where we want to be”, despite not having beaten any of the world’s top sides since 2019. They ran France and New Zealand close in home Tests last year but also suffered a heavy loss against England at Twickenham. “We’ve got a lot of experience compared to 2019 in terms of World Cup experience,” said Leitch. “It’s a very exciting time.”
The issue for the Japanese is that no one will take them lightly anymore so upsets will be harder to come by.
Australia v New Zealand Women’s Test
The first test of the calendar year is being held next week when Australia v New Zealand at Redcliffe, get around it. Tickets Here I’ll be up there cheering the girls on.
