The Rugby Championship 2014 - Non-Wallaby Games

[Moono75]

I hear the Argies do a good BBQ....well done guys.

 

[terry j]

am I the only one worried that the wallabies will be their first scalp?

 

[Tordah]

Like when the decision to change the Dagg kick was reversed after the review on the Big screen? (Because, you know, that has a much bigger impact on the game than a try..)

Ref blew his whistle 5 seconds before the ARgentine grounded the ball, so he could never have given the try, even after seeing he was wrong. No such thing with the Dagg call. Doesn't make it right, but it is what it is.

 

[KOB1987]

the officials made bad calls both ways and the only one that had a quantitative impact on the game was the non-chargedown which was a fucking ridiculous call in favour of the AB's..

conspiracy theories aside, the standard of officiating in this comp has been beyond a joke..when there is no northern hemisphere test rugby occurring right now, how they can allocate the lowest order of refs to the (arguably) strongest international comp in the world is beyond me..

 

[Pfitzy]

Yeah good point - the ball for Dagg was out, was just a question of where to have the lineout.

It doesn't change how fucked the whole situation looks for the IRB reffing panel.

I realise they have to get some Froggies up to speed because neutral refs will be needed at the pointy end, but can they do it in the 6N or something?

 

[KOB1987]

over to the real game now

 

[waiopehu oldboy]

Have only seen it once, but he definitely didn't have the ball. Tackled on suspicion you might say, as Savea had lowered his eyes to line the guy up

Yep, should've just gone through with it as a proper tackle. Lucky to get away with it but par for the course on tonight's ref/AR/TMO performance.

 

[Bardon]

There's certainly enough variance in Australia's level of performance to make it a possibility.

That first win is becoming a real mental block for Argentina. They'll probably need a near flawless performance against either Aus or SA having an off day to get over the line.

Once they bag their first win they'll be more likely to turn positions like they had against SA 2 weeks ago into wins.

 

[gone]

My disappointment with the not-knock-on was that they saw fit to reverse Dagg's kick after seeing it on the big screen. That's a fucking joke.

Savea got held back earlier, so saying its all a Kiwi plot is bullshit

Was a shocking call. Unfortunately because the ref blew his whistle, play was over, the video ref couldn't have ruled the try anyway.

 

[Dan54]

My disappointment with the not-knock-on was that they saw fit to reverse Dagg's kick after seeing it on the big screen. That's a fucking joke.

Savea got held back earlier, so saying its all a Kiwi plot is bullshit

I actually have a rule not to get into refs, I perhaps am just a little confused with laws of game at times. We have noticed the Savea hold on, the charge down that should of been a try, noone seemed to comment on the player kicking the ball on the ground just after the Savea hold back, or 2 minutes later a kick to touch on full form a ball that was passed back in by a fellow team mate. Also surprised the touchie didn't notice that ball had come off AB when Argoes on attack. Perhaps I just need to stugy laws more
In all honesty thought it a not bad test in conditions, I was impressed with Argentina, they certainly play better than their ranking gives them credit for.
For ABs, I thought Dane Coles , Retallic and Thrush were 3 who really impressed me. All in all good test match.

 

[PiXeL_Ninja]

Do Arg ever get to field a full strength team vs NH teams aside from RWC games? Definitely punch above their 10th pos world ranking..

 

[Dismal Pillock]

6-18 down, 60 mins gone, and the Argies are still standing around trying to milk scrum penalties.

ANATHEMA.

Good riddance to them.

They can take their legendary "second shove" and piss off back to Buenos Aires with it.






ps, two more to go in the cargo hold:

Ian Smith
Justin Marshall.

YES!

psp that pulled back chargedown try should ensure that the very, very skittish French ref in question is never seen at this level again.

am I the only one worried that the wallabies will be their first scalp?

the Arg forwards might be the absolute business but their backs seem unable to manipulate space at this level. The Aus forwards may have question marks but their backs can work a gap.

 

[Bardon]

the officials made bad calls both ways and the only one that had a quantitative impact on the game was the non-chargedown which was a fucking ridiculous call in favour of the AB's..

conspiracy theories aside, the standard of officiating in this comp has been beyond a joke..when there is no northern hemisphere test rugby occurring right now, how they can allocate the lowest order of refs to the (arguably) strongest international comp in the world is beyond me..

Let me first say that the officiating was really poor today. However, just like new players, new referees have to developed and they have to tested at higher and higher levels of the game.

Just like players some bad performances are an indication that they're not good enough to cut it at that level, while others are just an aberration and once the guy finds his feet the performances pick up.

It's then up to the IRB to sort the wheat from the chaff before next year's RWC. There's certainly more work they can do in that regard.

 

[Ulrich]

Let me first say that the officiating was really poor today. However, just like new players, new referees have to developed and they have to tested at higher and higher levels of the game.

Just like players some bad performances are an indication that they're not good enough to cut it at that level, while others are just an aberration and once the guy finds his feet the performances pick up.

It's then up to the IRB to sort the wheat from the chaff before next year's RWC. There's certainly more work they can do in that regard.

Spot on!

Players also have variations in form and so do referees I'd imagine. Heck, I think most of us can say that doing our jobs are sometimes more satisfying and easy than other times.

I don't know exactly how the referee programme works from junior to senior level, but here in SA I'd imagine a referee develops a thick skin fairly quickly by refereeing very competitive school games with parents shouting at them.

 

[Ulrich]

Anyway,

I'm looking forward to our game with the All Blacks.

If we play like we did against Australia we're in real trouble. We simply can't afford to kick away possession aimlessly. Any kicking that we do must be to ensure field position or to exert pressure on the opposition indefinitely.

Unless our pack and our scrum improves I feel we're in for a bit of a rugby lesson. We'll be going backwards and that will force error-ridden kicks.

Our defense has been too inconsistent from game-to-game as well as within periods within a game. Huge improvement required for this weekend!

 

[waiopehu oldboy]

A few injury worries ahead of next weeks Bokke test:

https://nz.sports.yahoo.com/rugby/news/article/-/24917253/injuries-pose-headaches-for-all-blacks/

Assuming Messam doesn't recover in time I'd love to see McCaw tried at 6, for mine he's been playing more of a 6 role for a while now, time it was made official.

I'm not usually one to bag the ref/AR/TMO but fuck me they were poor in both games last night even if only the Habana YC affected either result. In saying that, how many points would the Pumas have shipped if down to 14 for the take out on Savea and/or the headbutt on McCaw.

IMO refs etc should only get 4/6N gigs after they've proven themselves at Super Rugby/Aviva/Top14 etc level. If the 4N comes down to a split-second call in the last minute of the last match I want officials who will get it right regardless of whether my team wins or loses as a result.

Gratuitous streaker photo:

 

[Pfitzy]

IMO refs etc should only get 4/6N gigs after they've proven themselves at Super Rugby/Aviva/Top14 etc level.

Here's the thing though: Clancy has been around for ages. He had benefit of a big screen replay and still "backed his instinct" despite the intervention of the guy who'd seen it live. I was cursing Mike Fraser for about ten seconds there as In-The-Moment-Pfitzy wanted a yellow card. But he was right. Clancy was utterly, hideously wrong.

"Back your instinct" for the IRB reffing panel equates roughly to "never admit you're wrong". There were worse tackles in that game that weren't even penalised.

But your point about making sure they can handle provincial/Euro club level footy is valid.

The question then is, if these French blokes are seen as good enough to advance, how fucking bad is the standard in T14?

And why can't they ref 6N "B" Tests to prove their worth? At least with the Georgia v Romania games, a lot of the players would speak French.

If that idiot in Napier last night can make a good show of himself for Scotland v Italy, then he can do bigger games after that.

 

[waiopehu oldboy]

Just to be clear, I thought your guys played more actual rugby than the Seths (gee, what a fucking surprise) & apart from the 10-odd minutes they went to sleep & conceded those 3 PG were the better team on the night.

 

[waiopehu oldboy]

This just in:

"Argentina's Tomas Lavanini has been cited for alleged foul play against Richie McCaw during last night's test against the All Blacks at Napier's McLean Park."

http://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/10469419/Argentina-lock-Tomas-Lavanini-cited

Gotta be the end of his 4N, surely.

 

[waiopehu oldboy]

No Whitelock or Messam for 3-4 weeks:

" ""He has got [a damaged] rib cartilage rather than a fracture so we will have to see over the next couple of days just how quickly that comes right,'' Hansen said in reference to Whitelock.

" "The worst case scenario is that he is out for probably four weeks. Best case scenario - probably three.''

"Blindside flanker Liam Messam injured a quadriceps muscle as he ran in his try at McLean Park and despite attempts to keep playing was replaced by Sam Cane.

" "He has done a quad - he is probably [out for] three or four weeks as well,'' Hansen confirmed."

http://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/rugby/10469921/All-Blacks-farewell-injured-Whitelock-and-Messam