Doesn't seem to be a thread for it but Ireland vs England was quite some game.
A game that leaves me really quite nervous about NZ rugby. We're an excellent team, but the pace and power of the North seem to be a level beyond us. Most of all, there is an intensity to the North and to SA - big personalities with such desire and passion to influence and impose themselves on the game.
In contrast, the ABs are comparatively placid, calm, understated. Not that one is better than the other - but it's about a balance
Every team benefits from having some orc-like beast or nuisance-maker - an Eztebeth or Kolisi or Matera or Willemse or Itoje or Genge or Sinckler or Furlong or Porter, who just messes up the opponents and rattles them.
I loved the old days when the Crusaders would just not yield on defence, and when the Chiefs had nigglers like Taumalolo and Schwalger. NZ rugby needs some personalities again, and surely with 5 x 40+ men squads, we can find a big bruiser who hurts people and bends the line - none of that soft hands shit, just runs straight and through people.
