waiopehu oldboy
Rocky Elsom (76)
Yeah, Tribe should've dropped to fourth & Brums host Loss Bleus.
Yeah getting a second chance as the top placed loser is enough of a good bonus. Shouldn’t receive another home game too. Hope they rethink this next year.Not as bad as losing and a home semi.. highest placed loser should get the hardest run. The Chiefs got there advantage by being able to lose and stay in the finals.
BR. When the Brumbies played in the early years, under different rules I realise, they played to big crowds regularly. A fantastic exciting side with obviously some amazing players. Cold didn’t stop people coming to see a team that played attractive attacking rugby. The rules now diminish the spectacle and the constant box kicking and rolling mauls are hardly exciting. That’s probably why people don’t fill stadiums now. It’s boring. Only die hards go. The Lions series will be well patronised but will mask over the rugby problems. Bring back rucking and get rid of the famous jackaling which is always adjudicated on like a lottery. More forwards will commit to the ruck which will see backs have more space to attack. Multiple camera angles now obviously will eliminate head stomping and illegal play. Which is my understanding why the rules changed? Box kicking would be reduced and we would be back to free flowing’old days’ rugby. More play like Valetini to Wright, for a fantastic try is what I love to see.Maybe the Fed Govt could reassign the money earmarked for a stadium in Hobart that the Taswegians don't want to provide a proper winter-proof stadium in Canberra?
Isn't that just par for the course when middle of the road type players come to the Brumbies, after a season in the organisation they are getting close to the conversation for Wallabies spots?For all the yapping about Brumbies not getting any Rebels, two of your best were Feliuai and Tualima (with your third being Melburnian Valetini).
anyway, good win. Stellar kicking, how come Lolesio can’t clear like that for the Wallabies? Loved Slipper and Ala'alatoa getting meat pies, an auspicious game.
Yeah getting a second chance as the top placed loser is enough of a good bonus. Shouldn’t receive another home game too. Hope they rethink this next year.
Looks like they are employing higher linespeed and deliberately leaving space at the edges, as the Kiwis have done to us for years, trusting themselves to cover if they are good enough to get around us. Pretty viable when Ikitau is the one making the key decisions, he cuts off a lot of threatening movements (e.g when Wright intercepted Love's pass in the 22 late in the first half). Some issues in the first half with Pollard and Feluai overcommitting to block runners leading to near identical tries (with one of the Canes centres offloading in Noah's tackles). Feluai also jammed in for the Kirifi linebreak, he and Len still aren't quite in sync. They did adjust well in the 2nd half though and the Canes lost a bit of belief in their ability to break us down (see Love kicking for the corner around 75 minutes). Made some good stops on their own line too.The Brumbies have some work-ons. There defensive system was leaving a lot of space on the fringes which a lot of NZ teams with their pace and ability to shift will try to exploit and Toole still leaves me nervous with some of his defensive reads. The bench also isn't as impactful as the starting 15, it felt like there was a drop off when the starters left the field. The remaining NZ teams have some real handy depth.
Yes, agree that would definitely help stop box kicking. The benefits of rucking v present rules?You want to quell box kicking then kill the caterpillar, simple as.
No alternative proposal from me honestly, I haven’t given it much thought to be fair. Not sure what else could be done. To be clear I definitely agree the reward needs to be there, but I think the second chance is enough.What would you propose though? Even if you bring in things like PD you'd still have a home semi-final for the Chiefs & Crusaders. I agree with @PhilClinton, there needs to be some reward for being Minor Premiers.
Seems a fair solution. Minor Premiers always progress to SF but the home game is the jeopardy in the QFs.What's the point of having the qualifying finals if a team's semi-final position/home or away isn't in jeopardy? To my mind the solution with a six team QF is top two placed winners get home SFs. As the Chiefs topped the table they are the highest loser and should've been ranked #4 for the SFs. So, the SFs should be Saders v Chiefs and Brumbies v Blues. For a QF loser, Chiefs, to get a home SF while a winner, Brumbies, travelling is out of whack.
Brumbies win their end of season game, and this might have all been mute. They've definitely gotten the raw end with this setup.