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There are lots of variations on the idea but if we want to compete at international U20s we have to do things differently—and cheaply. If we don't we will have to be content with sneaking into the finals as a realistic goal; our major competitors will not be standing still waiting for us to...

This assumes that out main competitors will stand still, but they won't. To use the NRC as a tool to help our U20 team the following year we should have an U/19 contest as curtain raisers to all our NRC games. It may sound pie-in-the-sky because of the travel and accommodation costs but...

^^^^ Good post HJ. Amongst other things you mentioned I also thought Goddard played well. It's hard to judge players at the schools level but it looks like Theo Strang and he will have a good shot at the U20s, if not next year, then the year after. Its hard to judge the other backs given...

HJN - Thanks for the photos above, which included some inserted in TheKings' match report here: http://www.greenandgoldrugby.com/nz-schools-give-aussies-a-masterclass/?preview=true&preview_id=87253&preview_nonce=c6c80bae3e Well done in that light mate. .

That was a limitation I had noticed in the past but he improved in the match I saw v Joeys at Stanmore. Maybe New fans can assess him better. .

Probably - he has everything else going for him. The NSW GPS writers voted him the Player of the Year based on play for his school, but selection for rep teams especially the national teams, is, and should be, based on upon the nature of their opponents. There is also a versatility factor of...

He's a smaller version of Jack Debreczini and probably about the same size as him at the same age. Plays a similar game as Jack did at school also. .

Wow that appears to be a huge "lose" for the Force but things aren't always what they seem. Hooper told me he went to the Brumbies after school to learn from George Smith. Jooste may be going to the Brumbies to learn from coach Steve Larkham—not the dumbest thing a young 10/15 could do...

TheKing will be doing a match report of the two days of the Aussie matches tomorrow and Friday. HJ Nelson will be supplying photos for next Friday's match at Ballymore. But King doesn't have a photographer for tomorrow's match at Terrace. So, if you are able to take a few snaps and send...

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Thanks for posting that QH. It's been a while since I visited the maul laws and indeed, it looks like those "Guidelines" got the blessing of the IRB and became full-blown law soon after. And you can see the rationale behind it - don't let opponents bail out of the...

^^^^^^^^ Regarding the penalty try in the England v Fiji match, the referee is the sole judge. A TMO can chirp if he sees something he thinks the referee has missed but most of the time he acts on request, except when he sees foul play. He has no power to over-rule. It looked dicey but about...

I think Harry is the one the pros will be looking at and an earlier post suggests he is already "engaged to be engaged" by the Tahs. What surprises me is that commentators haven't picked up on his ability to kick the ball a long way with either foot - which is part of the reason why you see...

Not necessarily because he is playing there in the NRC with Tilse going to lock - he played prop in his first year in the U20s then hooker in his second. It's good to see him signed up but his propensity to get penalised for bonehead play is a bad attribute to have and should be slapped out of...

^^^^^^ I'm a bit more old-fashioned as you would expect. I think the carding of a player who can't be replaced for ten minutes is a deterrent and that the current practice should not be changed. Yeah I know some cards have been issued which shouldn't have been and a player and his team...

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Nobody wants mungo ball but if there is there a will by the minders of referees to enforce referees to make players stay on their feet at the ruck, the game will improve. Many people whinged about the power hit in the scrums being outlawed, in effect, because it was always...

Thanks for posting that. There's a lot of good stuff there including a few things tried in the ARC but did not go further. I'm glad that the suggestions came from the Republic and not from Oz Land; they may get legs in the NH that way. The allowance of hands in the ruck is one from the ARC...

He would be a "good get". In the time when pro teams are looking for fast tanks on the wing, Northam is an artful dodger - and we can all name a heap of successful wingers of that type. Many of us here have been watching him since his school rep games and are glad he has come to notice. He...

Highlights always make a player look good but the try starting at 3:29 was one of the most amazing ones I have ever seen at a ground - though it doesn't look like much. Wright, the captain, called a scrum when Joeys got a penalty right in front of the posts. He directed the other backs, except...

There is no flaw really. I know they were like that because I played even before the time that video was made, and I have mentioned such things starting in the late 90's when the first rugby forums emerged. But we didn't have professional rugby in the days of that video nor fatties who could...

That was more or less the solution that rugby league used when their scrums were diabolically bad. The main purpose of the scrum in league now is to get six from each side together so that seven blokes from the non-offending team can have a go in the uncluttered space created by the absence of...