Babbling 'brook

From the NZ Herald:

All Blacks v Ireland: Andy Farrell is taking Ireland down a road to greatness - Warren Gatland

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/sport/all-bl ... 5IQZWV5ZA/

Anyone watching this? Final game just kicked off on Sky Sports Arena. Two players knocked out within first 1min 56secs. Very hard to watch. Every tackle is upper chest height. Brutal. So good to see Union move away from this. Eddie Jones compared that match positively to the 2nd NZ vs IRL Test, say...

Joe Molloy asked BOD if he had choice between WC semi or series win in NZ. BOD went for latter saying that just getting to semi should never be an aim but winning WC should be. I agree. Winning the series in NZ wd be a tangible achievement of real merit, one that has eluded so many touring teams, n...

'We're angry': Sam Cane demands All Blacks backlash He's welcoming the chance to unleash fury and make amends for the Disaster in Dunedin. 12 July, 2022 - 08:10 AM New Zealand Herald I didn't post the link, as the article itself is behind a paywall. The headlines say it all, though. No doubt Team Ir...

I have to say I thought the sin binning of the Maori wing for the 'deliberate' knock on seemed incredibly harsh, though I was delighted to get it. The touch judge wasn't convinced by it and nor was I. I couldn't really understand the question about 'could he regather the ball'. The player made an a...

I'm happy the MAB's got that try at the death, so that IRL don't lose the run of themselves before the BIG ONE on Saturday. Reminds everyone in camp just how dangerous NZ can be, if you give them a sniff or even blink at the wrong moment. Very professional performance by Ireland. Clinical and impres...

WR's no. one priority should be to stop treating NZ's Test players' physically dangerous lawbreaking more leniently than those of other nations, cos this very phenomenon, which has been going on for decades, stands in total contradiction the the goal of improved player welfare. Let the Kiwis sink to...

The Irish rugby team - and by extension the fans - have got to stop looking backwards to measure forward progress. I'm so sick of the "making history" narratives and the team should be too. It's limiting. It's defining what you are capable of by what's gone on before. It's not setting obj...

To add to RTB’s comment about NFL, whooping and hollering after winning penalties etc seems to be becoming more and more prevalent. I used to think it was just people being w&%kers until I saw a documentary a few years ago where Bill Belichick was encouraging his players to do it because it sho...

Last weekend we produced about 55 mins of highly competent football. Unfortunately, we also displayed 15 minutes of lost focus and mistake ridden dross. Of our 55 mins decent content, about 15 was excellent and definitely dis-commoded our hosts and we scored two superb tries. Can we eradicate the p...

Barnsey owes us one after Marseille.....

Sure, NZ are gonna come at us like a ton of bricks, as there's always a backlash whenever they lose a fixture in a Test series. This might however be a game NZ don't 100% absolutely, definitely "have to win", if it means losing allows them to dump Ian Foster and bring in Scott Robertson as...

FT: RSA 12-13 WAL. Try at the death followed by a fabulous sideline conversion by Gareth Anscombe secures Wales the first ever win vs the Boks in South Africa. Turgid match though.

HT: Oz 7-19 ENG. England look like they've the winning of this. Itoje went off just before half time for a HIA, while the Aussies were unlucky in the cards dept.. Genge should have seen yellow or even red for an elbow to the head of Nick White on the ground, but he was merely penalised; while their ...

Cheeses of Nazareth wrote: ↑July 9th, 2022, 12:03 pm

Made Of Ale wrote: ↑July 9th, 2022, 11:53 am NZ need to find some big farmers.

Classic. Tell Keith Wood while you're at it!!!

It's a massive result for Ireland but also for Leinster. Most of those lads out there today in Dunedin were on a losing streak since Marseille. A first ever win in NZ is a vindication of the current style of play in blue and green. Imagine if they'd come home having lost the series 0-3, after blowin...

Man. All the talk the last week about not compounding mistakes, and after the Lowe knock-on it was just one after another. I don't understand why Ireland with a man advantage underressourced those two line out mauls. The threat was the maul not the NZ back line. Yet you've Doris and vdF just looking...

He only got nine minutes against Japan this time last year, and the game against the USA was a washout – Zebre would have put 40 or 50 points on the Eagles. I was happy that the fixture was organised and went ahead, but from an Irish perspective its value as a test match was next to worthless. Ever...

paddyor wrote: ↑July 7th, 2022, 11:23 pm ROC on OTB really jumped the shark, should have stopped when he said maybe larmour at 15. Gets on to birches article….

That's crazy. Maybe he'd like to give Robbie a run at 15 in green too, seeing as it went so well the last time? Hand slapping forehead in disbelief emoji.....

I too would have liked to see Coombes at eight as I also thought he was the best Irish player in the Maori match. The guy is stand-out Test-level material. Get him out there asap would be my take.