The Northern & Southern hemisphere Rugby union thread (6 Nations,Super Rugby,sevens)

[Kaleb]

English fans should still be proud of how their team performed during this world Cup, at times they were one of the last teams I wanted the Boks to face.

 

[Kaleb]

In 1995 Cheetahs won Currie Cup and Springboks won World Cup.

In 2007 Cheetahs won CurrieCup and Springboks won World Cup.

In 2019 Cheetahs won Currie Cup ans Springbok win the World Cup.

The diff is 12 years

 

[Batmannerism]

While the Boks completely deserved the win I feel compelled to criticize Jerome Garces' refereeing, something I rarely do- he managed to penalize England for pretty innocuous stuff but missed a couple of obvious fouls, and was pretty bad with the Boks as well, missing obvious fouls and penalizing them for almost no reason at all. The touch judges might have well not even been there.

In terms of refereeing it was the worst final I've ever seen. Craig Joubert did a great job in 2011 and Owens was terrific in 2015. I realise they have to share the love a bit but I'm thankful we'll never see a Jerome Garces final again.

Hope the Boks fans are still celebrating, cheers !

 

[Iceman]

Finally a try.

Right here, crying my eyes out I can't believe I just saw the Springboks win their 3rd Final

Congrats mate!! That’s as many wins as NZ now. You guys are out in front.

 

[Iceman]

Honestly didn’t look like we would manage it throughout the tournament at times - but all credit to the guys and to Rassie for making it happen.

Ah didn’t realise you were from SA! Congrats dude

 

[DeadPresident]

Ah didn’t realise you were from SA! Congrats dude

Thanks Ice - appreciate it! I know we definitely didn't expect, we played fairly average rugby against the challenging teams, so even making it to the final was a surprise, and after England dismantled NZ everyone thought we were highly unlikely to win it.

Credit to England, though, they played an exceptional tournament and seemed an exceptional side. Had South Africa played the knockout fixtures England had I doubt we would've won the cup. Seemed like a very well-hosted competition by the Japanese, too, and their fans were amazing.

 

[Kaleb]

Thanks Ice - appreciate it! I know we definitely didn't expect, we played fairly average rugby against the challenging teams, so even making it to the final was a surprise, and after England dismantled NZ everyone thought we were highly unlikely to win it.

Credit to England, though, they played an exceptional tournament and seemed an exceptional side. Had South Africa played the knockout fixtures England had I doubt we would've won the cup. Seemed like a very well-hosted competition by the Japanese, too, and their fans were amazing.

I think the best thing to happen to the Springboks was losing that first game against the All Blacks.

 

[Iceman]

Thanks Ice - appreciate it! I know we definitely didn't expect, we played fairly average rugby against the challenging teams, so even making it to the final was a surprise, and after England dismantled NZ everyone thought we were highly unlikely to win it.

Credit to England, though, they played an exceptional tournament and seemed an exceptional side. Had South Africa played the knockout fixtures England had I doubt we would've won the cup. Seemed like a very well-hosted competition by the Japanese, too, and their fans were amazing.

Yeah, that's the nature of cup competitions. You can get to the final with enough luck of the draw but to win the trophy you've either beaten the best teams or beaten the teams that beat the best teams. So outside of unfair red cards and the like, the overall winner deserves the world champion title. SA saved their best for the final and England saved their best for the semi. You totally dominated us from the first minute. Tactical brilliance and mental strength. It must be great to have won 3 titles and be up there with New Zealand now.

 

[Iceman]

Saracens appeal against 35-point deduction and £5.36m fine for breaching salary cap rules

 

[DeadPresident]

Saracens appeal against 35-point deduction and £5.36m fine for breaching salary cap rules

Football would benefit from this kind of no-nonsense discipline. It would probably also benefit from a wage cap, now that I think of it.

 

[Iceman]

Football would benefit from this kind of no-nonsense discipline. It would probably also benefit from a wage cap, now that I think of it.

Yeah, if you’re going to have rules like FFP you need to enforce them properly like this.

 

[jmc]

That's a bad place of a penalty. That like $9m Australia dollars.

 

[Batmannerism]

Bummer for Saracens - I have a cousin who works for them. Bad timing, especially after the RWC, given that a bunch of the national team were Saracens players.

In other rugby news Sonny Bill Williams is moving to.....Toronto ? Apparently he's going to play rugby league for the Toronto Wolfpack, Canada's only super league team.

None of my friends in Toronto even knew that there was such a thing as rugby league, much less that they had a team and even less who SBW is !

Guess he's just following the big bucks, because he's getting $10 million plus for it ( also shows how comparatively low rugby salaries are - if it was Football it would be 5x as much - if you equate SBW as holding the same status in rugby as someone like maybe Ronaldinho did in his later career ).

 

[Batmannerism]

@jmc and @Kaleb apparently there's much rejoicing as the new All Black coach is.....Ian Foster.

When faced with a choice between a coach who couldn't win a super rugby title in 8 years with the Chiefs ( Foster)against a guy who's won 3 back to back titles with the Crusaders ( Scott Robertson) the NZRFU have chosen ....Foster ??????

I hear that Springbok and Australian rugby commentators are very pleased. Rather than breathe new life into the ABs the NZRFU have played it safe and gone with more of the same.

Rassie Erasmus will be looking forward to the 2020 rugby championship even more now, I would think - as arguably the best rugby coach on the planet at the moment.

 

[Kaleb]

Haha, reading another forum board and it looks like most AB fans share your sentiment on Foster. The choice just seems very uninspiring.

 

[AverageMan]

@jmc and @Kaleb apparently there's much rejoicing as the new All Black coach is.....Ian Foster.

When faced with a choice between a coach who couldn't win a super rugby title in 8 years with the Chiefs ( Foster)against a guy who's won 3 back to back titles with the Crusaders ( Scott Robertson) the NZRFU have chosen ....Foster ??????

I hear that Springbok and Australian rugby commentators are very pleased. Rather than breathe new life into the ABs the NZRFU have played it safe and gone with more of the same.

Rassie Erasmus will be looking forward to the 2020 rugby championship even more now, I would think - as arguably the best rugby coach on the planet at the moment.

Interesting that new NZ coach Ian Foster wants Scarlets head coach Brad Mooar as part of his backroom staff.

No decision made yet but if he goes, he'd see out the rest of this season before leaving.

 

[Batmannerism]

Interesting that new NZ coach Ian Foster wants Scarlets head coach Brad Mooar as part of his backroom staff.

No decision made yet but if he goes, he'd see out the rest of this season before leaving.

Theres a proud tradition of NZ coaches working in Wales. Pivac coached Llanelli for quite a while didn't he ? I remember seeing a free to air game last year and thinking " They hit breakdowns a lot like a New Zealand Super Rugby side." We don't get a lot of Northern hemisphere rugby down here ( at least not free to air) and I remember seeing a couple of other games and thinking how ineffectual they were at rucks - until I saw the Scarlets game.

 

[AverageMan]

Theres a proud tradition of NZ coaches working in Wales. Pivac coached Llanelli for quite a while didn't he ? I remember seeing a free to air game last year and thinking " They hit breakdowns a lot like a New Zealand Super Rugby side." We don't get a lot of Northern hemisphere rugby down here ( at least not free to air) and I remember seeing a couple of other games and thinking how ineffectual they were at rucks - until I saw the Scarlets game.

Yeah, Pivac was there for 2-3 years I think before he was appointed Gatland's successor.
Got them playing really well too. Should be interesting for Wales to see how they cope with that transition.
On Gatland, I'm surprised he didn't get the All Blacks job. Would have thought he'd be a shoe in, but apparently he turned it down because he committed to one more Lions tour. He's joining the Chiefs, so I assume when his role with the Lions is done, he'd be a contender for the NZ job then?

 

[Batmannerism]

Yeah, Pivac was there for 2-3 years I think before he was appointed Gatland's successor.
Got them playing really well too. Should be interesting for Wales to see how they cope with that transition.
On Gatland, I'm surprised he didn't get the All Blacks job. Would have thought he'd be a shoe in, but apparently he turned it down because he committed to one more Lions tour. He's joining the Chiefs, so I assume when his role with the Lions is done, he'd be a contender for the NZ job then?

If history is an indicator he'll be in a very good position to take the ABs job after the Lions tour - Foster might be a caretaker, who knows.

The bigger issue is "what about Scott Robertson?" the breakdancing genius who has led the Crusaders to 3 back to back championships. Will he go overseas? I think he should, to get international level experience- but a lot of people here disagree. Kiwis can be a bit precious and short sighted about things , especially rugby. Will Robertson win a 4th consecutive title, hard to say - it's never been done.

I think a yearly match between the Super rugby champion and the whatever-heineken-cup-is-called-now champion would be great for the game.

Pob hwyl !

 

[Batmannerism]

Watching the Hamilton 7s tournament. Lots of great games - Fiji v Samoa was great, and Scotland looked strong against USA ( in the first half). Referees appear to be much more involved in the game ( a lot more penalties and yellow cards). I still suspect 7s will one day become the dominant code ( based on its inclusion in the Olympics).
The women's game has come a long way too, it's just as skillful and tough as the men's and nearly as fast.

At present Wales is getting a pounding from the All Black 7s. Would love them just to score a try - didn't happen.

Looking forward to the 6 Nations starting up. The Welsh Pub is showing all the games ( at 3:00 am) so I'm excited about being able to catch a few games there - including Wales v Italy next weekend.

Expecting England to really want to make a statement after the way RWC 2019 ended.

 

[Iceman]

I don’t see 7s becoming the dominant code although it may catch up to parity one day. The best rugby playing nations have too long a tradition with the 15 a side game.

 

[Batmannerism]

I don’t see 7s becoming the dominant code although it may catch up to parity one day. The best rugby playing nations have too long a tradition with the 15 a side game.

I think the landscape will change a bit when the USA starts winning 7s gold medals at the Olympics - I say "when" not "if"

 

[AverageMan]

6 Nations this week @Batmannerism

 

[Batmannerism]

6 Nations this week @Batmannerism

Ydw ! Dw i'n mynd i wylio 'r gem yn y dafarn Cymraeg yn Wellington.....provided I can wake up and get out of bed, as the game is on at 3:00 am NZ time . Should be a good warm up ( vs Italy) for the new players in the squad to start the competition. Edrych ymlaen y gem Cheers.

 

[Iceman]

I think the landscape will change a bit when the USA starts winning 7s gold medals at the Olympics - I say "when" not "if"

Maybe they’ll start putting more effort into 15s too when that happens.