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That will be a disastrous policy if Beale, Robinson and Guilford are told to run it back because if Folau drops back to support you have the ultimate nightmare of Folau/Beale running back at you with Guilford/Robinson supporting. To avoid this the ball has to be kicked out to get at the crappy...

Gibson is under scoreboard pressure. The Reds game was supposed to be a gimme and a guaranteed bonus point. Current standings have us 10th and with the bye and the Brumbies in the next three weeks the chances are we will be lower than that at the halfway point and we then have our bogey team...

This year the Stormers play NO NZ teams until the finals. If they don't top their group and the SA conference this year then the stewards should be called in!

Some of the Blues are playing well. Tu'ungafasi has come from nowhere, Gibson looks to be AB material already, West is better than 60% of our franchise 10's despite being the fifth ranked NZ 10. The Blues (apart from the dreadful game at the Reds) are doing reasonably well and will finish higher...

The Tahs only just won, so it is probably gratuitous of me to be giving the Reds' selectors advice, but it seems to me that the Reds problems are twofold: 9 & 10 are not working for them. While Frisby seems to be retrievable - he needs some good coaching and getting subbed after 55 because he...

Yes, but he didn't come on when there was a scrum, he came on because there was a lineout and the Reds obviously thought they needed a trained thrower. But I didn't think this was allowed under the protocols, I thought you had to wait till a scrum occurred. Could be wrong though.

I still took the Tahs in the picking comp. I think they'll get up in a close one; but I am resigned to losing three or four scrum penalties and probably one penalty try in the process.

Given that Dennis and Mumm will now be pushing the second worst scrum in Super Rugby against one of the best, I am not filled with any optimism this weekend whatsoever.

Resting him because the quality of the opposition allows it.

You would have to say that over the last five years the Stormers' defensive patterns have been streets ahead of everyone else. They seem to be able to get two tacklers and two pilferers/cleanout men to every tackle without opening holes around them.They do this to almost everyone. Fortunately...

We bought a specialist back-up for 10, he did his AC and is out for the season. People have such short memories.

No doubt it was better than the first two weeks. We only got badly shunted once. But we will never be a threat at scrum time with the cattle/fwds coach we've got. Next week we are away to the Reds, another very strong scrum, so we are going to get some more good practice. I hope Fat Cat is back...

So far the Kings have not looked good...

The Australian group (C) could be an absolute banana-skin. Although Argentina haven't been going that well on their day they can beat anybody. USA will be tough. If the wheel is going to fall off our impressive recent form this could be the week.

Rene Ranger has been dropped completely for Rieko Ioane. Akira Ioane has been sent back to the bench. The Reds would kill to get starting players of the quality of Ranger and Akira. It starts up front and I don't think the Reds scrum will dominate as they have done in previous weeks - Faumuina...

This match should be an absolute ball-tearer. The Highlanders play a gameplan for which the Waratahs have not yet found an antidote. Yet they will be looking for revenge no matter what the PR flacks have told them to say. There is also the need to not fall too far behind the Brumbies. Last...

Nobody beats the Stormers by 59. Their defensive systems are too good. But if you can score 20 points you are very likely to get the win because the Stormers probably won't.

Technically, its five hours time difference as opposed to eight, which is not hugely significant. Until there is an American conference, we should have three conferences of six teams. This minimises the travel in total and makes for a simpler-in-concept system. Why they didn't do this I have no...

I don't think so, they are playing the Kings.