2025 Bledisloe Cup Series

[Th0mo]

I'll have to watch it when I get home because at the game there was no neck roll. Nothing. It's just a clean out gone wrong for the bloke over the balll

It's not the neck roll but the hip drop onto limbs. It's a recent focus area so players would be well aware of expectations. Was concern it could have been red but yellow very fair.

 

[Strewthcobber]

I'll have to watch it when I get home because at the game there was no neck roll. Nothing. It's just a clean out gone wrong for the bloke over the balll

You can't drop your weight onto the lower leg of your opponent. Easy YC. Barrett is lucky still has a knee ligament in place

 

[KOB1987]

Disagree. We can win all the matches.

Yeah, I’m with you. Certainly calling them unwinnable is a bit tragic

 

[rugbyAU]

Disagree. We can win all the matches.

That was a pretty poor performance but the guys looked fatigued, and they probably are. We aren’t getting flogged, have beaten everyone we’ve played except the all blacks, and are literally a try a game away from being a top 3 team. I know the strike rate isn’t great but other teams haven’t played lions x 3, boks x 2, and all blacks x 2 this year. I’m staying on the bandwagon, our real measuring stick is the northern tour and the only kpi that mattters this year is finishing in the top 6 for the World Cup seedlings.

On the 10 issues, the simple fact is we don’t have a world class 10, in fact we probably don’t have an international standard 10. We have super rugby quality 10s being asked to play test rugby and I actually think all of them have held their own reasonably well. I saw today that Ben Volavola has signed with the Reds and is open to switching allegiances from Fiji to Australia..,..so let’s get behind a couple of these young guys

But we’re measuring the win/loss against the last decade and it’s the same on average, so hard to justify improvement
The BIL wern’t great and we had a Fiji test too

 

[Strewthcobber]

Pretty sure on top of the YC, Hooper did the final croc roll right at the end of the game too, which killed it off for the ABs. A game he won't want to remember

 

[Major Tom]

Dogshit performance. Slipper must think he wasted half his life.
I really can’t see how Tane will ever hack it at test level. He’ll play okay at SRP (Super Rugby Pacific) level but that’s about it.
Defensively, we’re missing far too many tackles and it’s absolutely costing us.
I also hate that we went for the points to start off. Would have much preferred to go to the lineout (which was shithouse) and gone for maximum pay. If it doesn’t come off at least you’re making them work from deep in their half. And every player in that kiwi team wants us to take the points so they can go back to halfway and put pressure on us at the restarts. It’s the same bloody story every year.

 

[Tomthumb]

That was a pretty poor performance but the guys looked fatigued, and they probably are. We aren’t getting flogged, have beaten everyone we’ve played except the all blacks, and are literally a try a game away from being a top 3 team. I know the strike rate isn’t great but other teams haven’t played lions x 3, boks x 2, and all blacks x 2 this year. I’m staying on the bandwagon, our real measuring stick is the northern tour and the only kpi that mattters this year is finishing in the top 6 for the World Cup seedings.

On the 10 issues, the simple fact is we don’t have a world class 10, in fact we probably don’t have an international standard 10. We have super rugby quality 10s being asked to play test rugby and I actually think all of them have held their own reasonably well. I saw today that Ben Volavola has signed with the Reds and is open to switching allegiances from Fiji to Australia..,..so let’s get behind a couple of these young guys

I get where you’re coming from, but at what point do wins and losses actually matter?

This weird fear we have of NZ needs to stop. We make them look so much better than what they are. 23 years without the Bledisloe is hard to take

 

[rugbyAU]

I get where you’re coming from, but at what point do wins and losses actually matter?

This weird fear we have of NZ needs to stop. We make them look so much better than what they are. 23 years without the Bledisloe is hard to take

only won 6 of our last 50 v them, Arg have won 4 of their last 12

 

[KOB1987]

I get where you’re coming from, but at what point do wins and losses actually matter?

This weird fear we have of NZ needs to stop. We make them look so much better than what they are. 23 years without the Bledisloe is hard to take

They matter all the time, but we’re coming from a pretty dark place and there are other ways to measure improvement. We sit 6/7 in the rankings and aside from Fiji haven’t played anyone ranked below us this year (you’d assume the Lions would be ranked higher), but have beaten all of them except the all blacks. I don’t think it’s a fear of the all blacks, they have been better than us for 23 years, and the way the bledisloe is structured means to win it we have to beat them twice in a row. We need a few stars to align to do that, and losing our star fullback and not having a stand out 10 aren’t amongst those stars aligning.

 

[rugbyAU]

I don’t think it’s a fear of the all blacks, they have been better than us for 23 years, and the way the bledisloe is structured means to win it we have to beat them twice in a row. We need a few stars to align to do that, and losing our star fullback and not having a stand out 10 aren’t amongst those stars aligning.

Yes it is - forget the Bledisloe, we can't seem to beat them at all - we've lost our last 11 to them and only won 6 of our last 50, while Arg have won 4 of their last 12 v them

 

[rugbyAU]

They matter all the time, but we’re coming from a pretty dark place and there are other ways to measure improvement. We sit 6/7 in the rankings and aside from Fiji haven’t played anyone ranked below us this year (you’d assume the Lions would be ranked higher)

We were above Arg when we played them

 

[KOB1987]

We were above Arg when we played them

Now that’s clutching at straws - we were above them the last time we played them because we beat them the weekend before. My point was we haven’t been playing shit teams in 40 degree heat like Ireland did.

 

[rugbyAU]

Now that’s clutching at straws - we were above them the last time we played them because we beat them the weekend before. My point was we haven’t been playing shit teams in 40 degree heat like Ireland did.

we were 6 coming into both games but we have Japan and italy soon, reality is given the results long term we're going to be coming in lower ranked against most Tier 1 teams we play

Ireland without 15-20 BIL players will obviously play Tier 2

 

[Shiggins]

For those saying the ref was great. First penalty of the game. Reversing the penalty for skelton doing nothing. Please. It's not 3 points. Dreaming. It's a stupid call

The yellow card to hooper is a proper joke. You could argue in the side clean out penalty but it's not dangerous play. Happens often. No neck roll. It's not a penalty or a card. Absolute joke of a call. We have had players miss 6 months of rugby due to injury from things like that and its not even a penalty. Joke
The fact it remains a yellow card as it didn't dangerous gives this away.

No penalty advantage at 15 min. Gives us one ruck.

29 min clear knock on from dmac pass and called back

34 min. Clear forward pass by NZ and then an offside call that completely wrong. This was right in front of me at the stadium and watching at home after proved it. NZ score.

No such thing as a home ground ref for australia. Second half was much better by the ref. We kicked away too much ball
Tane was average and so was Gordan.

 

[Shiggins]

You can't drop your weight onto the lower leg of your opponent. Easy YC. Barrett is lucky still has a knee ligament in place

He is cleaning out. He falls. He isn't trying to drop himself on barrets leg. What a joke. It's a rugby incident and Barret wasn't even injured.

 

[Shiggins]

It's not the neck roll but the hip drop onto limbs. It's a recent focus area so players would be well aware of expectations. Was concern it could have been red but yellow very fair.

He isn't trying to drop his weight onto the legs. He is just cleaning out. It's rugby. It's a nothing penalty let alone a card. I've seen the same thing happen multiple times this year. How about when Noah got his neck cooked? It's a rugby incident.

 

[Dan54]

He is cleaning out. He falls. He isn't trying to drop himself on barrets leg. What a joke. It's a rugby incident and Barret wasn't even injured.

I wasn't real sure it was a YC either, but could see a penalty for the fact as he went through he grabbed neck of Barret's jersey and dragged him back over, Though lol I can understand why it was if that sounds confusing.
Anyway Ikatau's could easily of been a RC , as he made absolutely no attempt to lower himself at tackle, so on balance probably fair enough.

 

[Pfitzy]

The yellow card to hooper is a proper joke. You could argue in the side clean out penalty but it's not dangerous play. Happens often. No neck roll. It's not a penalty or a card. Absolute joke of a call.

Not penalised for a neck roll.

Entirely accurate in line with the recent update about croc roll onto lower limb and the protection of the lower limb at ruck time in general.

Hooper started the cleanout OK but ended up bad. That's why it was yellow and not red.

 

[Tomthumb]

only won 6 of our last 50 v them, Arg have won 4 of their last 12

This is an absolutely wild stat

They matter all the time, but we’re coming from a pretty dark place and there are other ways to measure improvement. We sit 6/7 in the rankings and aside from Fiji haven’t played anyone ranked below us this year (you’d assume the Lions would be ranked higher), but have beaten all of them except the all blacks. I don’t think it’s a fear of the all blacks, they have been better than us for 23 years, and the way the bledisloe is structured means to win it we have to beat them twice in a row. We need a few stars to align to do that, and losing our star fullback and not having a stand out 10 aren’t amongst those stars aligning.

There is definitely a fear or a severe lack of confidence because they don’t crumble like this against anyone else. The Springboks are clearly better than the AB’s right now but we had no problem beating them

 

[Ignoto]

On the 10 issues, the simple fact is we don’t have a world class 10, in fact we probably don’t have an international standard 10.

Havinf Dan Carter out there would not have stopped the stupid penalties, the poor line outs, the missed tackles and bad kicks by other backs.

Tane had some poor plays but the dropped ball by frost leading to Alans penalty was 7 points. Hooper's poor clean out was a reversal of 7 points and Pollards under throw was another 7 points.

That's a 21 point swing by controlable actions.