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Unimpressed
Feb 13, 2013

Nah, it's going to be short. Bledisloe will be over after 15 minutes in the first two games. Unless something seismic happens, we're going to slowly slide down firmly into the second tier eventually relying more and more on overseas players who didn't even learn their rugby here. And that's assuming it's not too late already.
In the Australian sporting market, we'd need the best management in the world just to stay up there. Instead we have the worst.
We'll always have Shute shield though. Go woodies.

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Unimpressed
Feb 13, 2013

Vagabundo posted:

I guess the All Blacks have decided the Lions don't rate a Kapa O Pango.

Is that the watch selling one?

Unimpressed
Feb 13, 2013

How ardie savea is second to Sam cane I don't know. Must be the looking like ruchie thing.

Unimpressed
Feb 13, 2013

Brace yourselves for a national meltdown... Half the NZ herald writers are going to have a stroke midway through their piece.

Unimpressed
Feb 13, 2013

Lol, watching in Australia and our commentators are marvelling at how a team can play 80 minutes against the all Blacks.

Living vicariously, Aussie rugby TM

Unimpressed
Feb 13, 2013

Watch as garces never refs NZ again...

Unimpressed
Feb 13, 2013


I never let the facts ruin a good story.

Unimpressed
Feb 13, 2013

At best borderline red. Yellow for sure then depends on the ref. Wasn't anywhere near as bad as sonny bill's tackle. That was right to the head, entirely a shoulder charge and Watson was being held in a tackle at the same time. If vunipolla's tackle was a red every day, there would have been way more reds in the history of rugby.

Unimpressed fucked around with this message at 01:03 on Jul 2, 2017

Unimpressed
Feb 13, 2013

Don't get me wrong, had Vunipola received a red it would have been absolutely fair IMO. But there are some differences that made SBW's tackle a no-choice red and Vunipola's more ambiguous. Vunipola was attempting to use his arms, his left arm was wrapping around BB. The hit to the head was glancing compared to the absolute crunch of SBW's. As I said, Vunipola could have gotten a red easily and it would have been fair, but if SBW hadn't gotten a red, it would have made a travesty.

Unimpressed
Feb 13, 2013

Tyma posted:

I can't even remember what the Toxx was, but I found this nightmare fuel at a flea market last week :



"My Team Is Winning"

These days it can only be looked at ironically...

Unimpressed
Feb 13, 2013

Only marginally better than the wallabies... Sad...

Unimpressed
Feb 13, 2013

bigfoot again posted:

So bizarre but before the series everyone was saying 3-0 so I guess well done guys?

Mate, they were crowing about 10-0...

Unimpressed
Feb 13, 2013

Except it was the right call, even if his process in reaching it (i.e. first blowing a penalty and then taking it back) was crap.

Unimpressed
Feb 13, 2013

Vagabundo posted:

Jaco Peyper's riffing the final, after the controversy over his semifinal performance. How hard could it have been to give Angus Gardiner the nod?

Apparently it's based on the referee ratings throughout the season and peyper was the best ref. Gardiner was downrated after the crusaders v highlanders game. I guess they didn't want to change the system just before the final. Hopefully next year they'll pick an Aussie referee for the final.

Just thinking about it though, there aren't enough Aussies for both semis, so there can't be a neutral ref at that stage...

Unimpressed
Feb 13, 2013

Vagabundo posted:

The issue is that due to Peyper's nationality, any gently caress-up by him which, in any way shape or form, benefits the South Africans is going to be seen as the natural result of not appointing neutral refs. There have already been some questionable calls that have hurt touring teams over the years in South Africa, and Peyper's second half performance has been the source of some controversy this weekend.

SANZAR should never have put him in a position where every call he makes is going to come under the kind of scrutiny that could potentially affect his judgement and performance.

I completely agree. It's a dumb way of doing it and is unfair to all parties involved. But I can understand them not changing it just before the final. Hopefully they change it for next season. Still have to find two Aussie refs for the semis though.

Unimpressed
Feb 13, 2013

Troy Queef posted:

Tickets at Ellis Park sold out in 48 hours, and already jokes are going around that you have to respect the Crusaders fans who make the trip as flights from Cape Town aren't cheap.

Ha ha, over here it's really cheap for Kiwis to attend the Bledisloe, at least in Sydney. There's a free bus from Coogee Bay to the stadium for ticket holders.

Unimpressed
Feb 13, 2013

It's amazing how few lions are in the sa squad.

Unimpressed
Feb 13, 2013

SBW is being included for the sake of trolling Australia around his bullshit serving of suspension. There are probably 25 better NZ 12s than him, and NZ would easily beat the clinically depressed Wallabies with 14 men right now anyway.

Unimpressed
Feb 13, 2013

Schlesische posted:

The Australian XV was announced like a month ago:
who gives a poo poo it's not like these guys are getting within 20 anyway

Australian Rugby post the Force axing: Who Gives a poo poo Anyway.

Unimpressed
Feb 13, 2013

Boks bad at lineouts, Aus beating Argies in the scrum, it's an upside down world.

Unimpressed
Feb 13, 2013

NZ had a fair few 2nd stringers, and, as good as they are, they're a couple of percentage points behind the 1st stringers and it showed especially with some silly uncharacteristic mistakes. Ben Smith would've never coughed up that last minute ball.

But I'll take a win over NZ any way any time. If the Wallabies can actually start the season with intensity we might have a chance of winning a game that wasn't a dead rubber.

Unimpressed
Feb 13, 2013

I doubt there will be many Americans who get confused by this.

Unimpressed
Feb 13, 2013

This, it's what shits me to death. There are mountains of explanations how Jesus didn't really mean it when he said it's hard for rich people to get into heaven. Christians waved away the Jewish food laws with a very convenient dream Peter had, but only one thing is absolutely irrevocably true, that it's bad to be gay. gently caress Cherry picking Christians, aka pretty much all of them.

Unimpressed
Feb 13, 2013

Nermal posted:

Unless he starts preaching in work, what exactly is the issue? Exactly what jobs are evangelical Christians who spout their opinions on social media allowed to do?

Bullshit. When he posted that he respects gay people but was against same sex marriage no one made a fuss about it. It was a respectful reflection of his religious beliefs. When he posts that gay people are going to hell, it's not. Would you accept him posting that all Jews, Muslims and Hindus are going to burn in hell, or that women are to be subordinated to men? Would you accept a white supremacist Rugby player posting his "religious" beliefs that black people are subhuman?

Nermal posted:

In the meantime, if you think that it's wrong that someone might have to spend £500K in legal fees defending a paper-thin case, with no recourse against the prosecutor for costs, not be granted anonymity until the verdict, be the subject of a libellous and moronic Twitter lynch mob, and then finally run the risk of being fired at the end of it all:

https://www.change.org/p/ulster-rugby-get-paddy-jackson-and-stuart-olding-back-playing-for-ulster-rugby

Yes, because the prosecution doesn't need any threshold to prosecute someone. I hear people are being prosecuted for murder with their names simply being drawn out of a hat.

You're either a troll who's bad at trolling or an arse.

Unimpressed
Feb 13, 2013

Vagabundo posted:

Basically, when you look at several rugby competitions, it's not unusual to see certain naming conventions.

New Zealand Super Rugby sides tend to be named after people:
Chiefs, Crusaders, Highlanders

There are a couple of exceptions, like one team named after the weather, and another named for a colour.

The South African ones tend to be named after animals:
Bulls, Sharks, Lions, even the Jaguares. The Cheetahs also fit this quite nicely.

The exception is the Stormers, also named for the weather. The Kings were one as well, but they've hosed off.


In the English Premiership, 6 of the 12 teams are named after people:

London Irish, Saracens, Harlequins, Northampton Saints, Worcester Warriors, Exeter Chiefs.

4 are named after animals:
Wasps, Newcastle Falcons, Sale Sharks, Leicester Tigers

2 have no real name, other than where they happen to be based:
Gloucester, Bath


Of course, if London Irish are relegated, and it looks like they will be, then they'll bring the number of teams named after animals to 5, equal to the teams named after people.



You're probably wondering about the Australian teams. They have no real central theme to their team names. Instead, they're all over the place:
1 team named after an actual animal (Brumbies)
1 team named for some sort of fictional creature (Sunwolves)
1 team named after people (Rebels)
1 team named after a colour (Reds)
1 team named after a flower (Waratahs)

plus 1 former team that is named after a concept in physics (Force)

Sort yourselves out, Australia.

Have you just discovered the true source of Australia's current malaise?

Unimpressed
Feb 13, 2013

Some real home refereeing this Blues game. Not sure how many last chances they got there but it's certainly a new definition of the word last.

Unimpressed
Feb 13, 2013

Schlesische posted:

Oh wow.

So it's been over 18 months since the last time an Australian team beat a New Zealand team period, but here come the Jaguares.

Wow Australian Rugby is hosed.
I remember making a World Cup Final at some stage. Guess I'll have to keep that memory locked up tight.

Mate, Australian Rugby is hosed, but the Jaguares beating the Blues is hardly the symbol of that. The only surprise about the Jaguares is that they're not killing the comp given they're basically the Argentina Test team. The symbol of Australian Rugby being hosed is when the shambles of a team that is the Blues clean sweeps all our teams.

Unimpressed
Feb 13, 2013

Why does this sound eerily similar to the Waratahs?

Unimpressed
Feb 13, 2013

If the ARU had any balls, they'd do the same to show that they don't support Folau's views. Of course, they don't have any balls so there's that.

Unimpressed
Feb 13, 2013

He's not the team captain.

Unimpressed
Feb 13, 2013

So basically it takes a literal murder attempt and very early red for a kiwi side to lose to an Aussie one. And part of me is afraid that the tahs will still find a way to lose this.

Unimpressed
Feb 13, 2013

Pocock is a cancer on the game.

gently caress me, I support Australia, but how was that not a try?

Unimpressed fucked around with this message at 12:17 on Jun 16, 2018

Unimpressed
Feb 13, 2013

I think because it was pure cheating given he was on the ground.

Fair play Ireland, certainly deserved the win.

Unimpressed
Feb 13, 2013

Yeah, probably Phil Kearns, the man who makes idiots look clever by comparison.

Unimpressed
Feb 13, 2013

reac posted:

Was that really worth a card?

I don't know which one you're referring to but the answer is no.

Unimpressed
Feb 13, 2013

Smorgasbord posted:

The Australian commentators are possibly the sookiest whingers in the world.

It varies, Rod Kafer is reasonably balanced, Greg Clarke is I guess more or less the usual biased commentator. Phil Kearns on the other hand is the absolute worst commentator in the world. He has about as much perspective as a two year old throwing a tantrum. Sometimes I can't believe I'm paying for that poo poo.

Unimpressed
Feb 13, 2013

HappyCamperGL posted:

henry pyrgos is taking the long arduous journey down the m8 to edinburgh. sad to see him go but he's too good to be third choice scrum half tbf, and should fit in with the gunners style of play.

he is being replaced at glasgow by some aussie called nick frisby who used to play for the reds. is he any good?

Not particularly.

Unimpressed
Feb 13, 2013

loving Waratahs can't even stay consistent between two halves let alone two games. The lions are gonna gently caress us up bad.

Unimpressed
Feb 13, 2013

Crusaders have an uncanny ability to make the opposition look, well, not good.

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Unimpressed
Feb 13, 2013

Hard to believe watching this game that Australia and South Africa are 5 and 7 in the rankings. Looks more like 15 and 17. Two bad teams.

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