[Closed] 2015-16 rugby, world cup year

Miles forwards

Went forwards out of his hands too...

Having spent this evening hearing a NZ friend describing, in all seriousness, how SA "threw" the game against Japan and took a big pay packet for doing so, my limited sympathy for New Zealand rugby is stretched to breaking point.

The pass was forward, no TMO.
That McCheat "elbow"? I really don't know, it's very close to either way. If it was any other team, I'd have some leeway. It isn't.

Looks like there could be trouble ahead?

[url= http://www.punditarena.com/rugby/adrumm/richie-mccaw-could-be-cited-for-elbowing-francois-louw/ ]Mccaw to be cited?[/url]

And no, it's not because I'm a Saffa..

That McCaw elbow looks deliberate as hell. Very cheap shot.

Fwd pass - yes. Deliberate elbow - not so sure.

Doesn't look deliberate to me.

Elbow look deliberate to me. What's he doing taking that route round the ruck if not to smakc someone in the face?

Heading towards the player ripping the ball,follows the ball as it's gone when he gets there surely?

Didn't look like a big deal to me, but mccaw is due a karma bill for the trip (Georgia?)
Not that it matters to the ABs too much, sam cane is already a better player IMHO.

Elbow look deliberate to me. What's he doing taking that route round the ruck if not to smakc someone in the face?

The ball is coming out. Mcaw goes after it but its gone before he gets there. His elbow doesnt move out. Nothing to see move on, put the sour grapes away.

Why do the English rugby press and public hate the AB's so much more than you do the Aussies? The link above,which was w-lungs second posting of supposed cheating Kiwis,is a Brian Moore retweet. We also had the bollocks on here earlier about them targeting Courtney Lawes.Just curious why the red rose is so green in respect to the Kiwis when the tradition SH rivalry is with the Aussies. Or is it just jealousy? If it is,take heart stout English heart,for you have the Archbishop of Banterbury!

None from me, I hope they win it.

That's the most pathetic attempt to claim foul play that I've ever seen. No wonder I didn't see it during the match.

Or is it the most subtle bit of McCheating to date 😉 🙂

Whatever happened Louw is a tough dude to have 20 stitches (from 2 different incidents iirc) over the course of the game and carry on as though you'd never know it

That's the most pathetic attempt to claim foul play that I've ever seen.

This. He runs in to get the ball which is out, the ball then goes before he gets there so he carries on running round. It looks like he actually tucks his right elbow into his body to go round him cleanly, and that contact is just one of those things. I'm not the greatest fan of McCaw but that was not foul play.

Just catching up on the Ospreys v Connacht game from yesterday. 17 minutes into the game a Connacht player slaps the ball out of the Ospreys 9's hands and it bounces into an Ospreys player who is on the ground from the preceding ruck. He grabs it. The ref has awarded a scrum to Connacht (incorrectly, because there was no knock-on, the ball was basically stripped), now changes it to a penalty to Connacht for offside. Very similar to the Scottish controversy, and as I said, something that happens every single weekend. (The city of Swansea start writing indignant letters to the press claiming that their team 'woz robbed', the ref was paid, blah blah)

Btw the Ospreys' defence is appalling.

Dan Carter cited this morning for 'smirking in a sarcastic way' at Victor Matfield.

😉

😆

My wife suggested that the SA 5 needed a telling off for falling over, but McCaw was only guilty of being too handsome, with broad shoulders like that, and a manly trot. She's got the hots for him.

Even though he's had the same bog brush haircut since he was five?

No one else spotted that the pass for second abs try was also very much forward? Why no tmo request for surety by the ref anyway?? I was saying at the time that Carter had better take the conversion quick....

How many more times... "New Zealand flat" 😆

thegreatape - Member

Even though he's had the same bog brush haircut since he was five?

Hey, it's not me saying it! (I look more like Dan Carter apparently. 😆 )

Something occurred to me as I was watching the Pro12 games (Scarlets and Ulster) on Friday. Both TV schedules allowed two hours, and the games started 5 minutes or so into the programme. Both games over-ran the schedules. Basically the games are taking so long now - almost two hours in most cases and I've seen one game this season which reached about 2hrs 5mins - that TV schedules probably need to add 5 or 10 minutes to their schedule.

Now, I'm getting a little bored with the constant stop-start nature of rugby at the moment. The actual game takes 80 minutes, plus 10 half time. That means that almost a full 30 minutes is stoppage time, time where the viewer is watching replays while a player is injured, or a TMO makes a decision. This is boring. While I understand that player safety is a priority, the game shouldn't be stopping for players with cramp, or lost contact lenses, or whatever.

Anyway, rambling over, it occurred to me that the drive behind speeding up the game may actually come from TV who won't want to constantly add a few minutes over-run coverage to the game, or push their schedules back by another 15 minutes to accommodate rugby.

It's a good point.

We'd all like to see free flowing games but on the other hand I am not a fan of the anything goes breakdowns this RWC or dominant scrums not receiving penalties if the ball is at the back- it takes away from some of the pretty unique aspects of the game.

For me, the clock seems to stop more nowadays than it used to. As above, no-one really wants to watch constant penalties and scrums but at the same time they don't need to be adding to the overall time if the clock isn't stopped so frequently. The lack of the hit in the scrum at least seems to have cut down the number of resets so that is a positive. It would also be interesting to see the 60 second for a conversion or kick at goal rule enforced as some seem to take forever!

Very similar to the Scottish controversy, and as I said, something that happens every single weekend. (The city of Swansea start writing indignant letters to the press claiming that their team 'woz robbed', the ref was paid, blah blah)

Very similar yes. Except for the fact it's a single Pro12 game and the Scotland Australia game comes around once every four years.

Indecently, the penalty try and Yellow card in the Leinster Glasgow game was not a penalty try and yellow and the other yellow was also not a yellow.

Guess what, I'm not as upset about that as I was about the Scotland Australia game because it's a ****ing Pro12 game.

Maybe you should get a grip and let us be a bit annoyed for a while. If it had happened to England we would be hearing about how it cost them the World Cup. Probably until the end of time.

(I look more like Dan Carter apparently)

Aye course you do 😀

Nigel Owens handed the whistle for the final.

Something occurred to me as I was watching the Pro12 games (Scarlets and Ulster) on Friday. Both TV schedules allowed two hours, and the games started 5 minutes or so into the programme. Both games over-ran the schedules.

I know my recording stopped just as McShingler started his run up to the final kick!

ITV analysis has just pretty clearly shown that McCaw's elbow didn't touch Louw's head at all. His knee caught his shoulder......Louw got an elbow in a lineout (looked accidental) that was to blame for his head wound.

thegreatape - Member
(I look more like Dan Carter apparently)
Aye course you do

That's what she said. 'Except fatter.'

Funny, I've never noticed Carter being fat. 😆

Maybe you should get a grip and let us be a bit annoyed for a while.

I should get a grip? 😆

[img] [/img]

😀

loose start 😯

I have a feeling this might not be like the other semi, or Australia's last match...

[quote=Tom B ]ITV analysis has just pretty clearly shown that McCaw's elbow didn't touch Louw's head at all. His knee caught his shoulder......Louw got an elbow in a lineout (looked accidental) that was to blame for his head wound.

dang - I nearly posted yesterday that it didn't look to me like his elbow made contact, but thought I must be missing something

Where'd the Argentina that played Ireland go?

Hell of a start from Aus

Pocock looking good after being rested v scotland

I have a feeling this might not be like the other semi, or Australia's last match...

Technically will it be Argentina's last match in this world cup either....

There's no way the WRU will prevent the AB's probably most famous captain - I remind you it's the ABs we are talking about - not play in the final of the RWC.

[quote=alpin ]Technically will it be Argentina's last match in this world cup either....

You misunderstand me...

Don't worry IdleJon, it's better than the recent appraisal I received, which was 'If your eyebrows were bushier you'd look just like Susan Boyle'.

There's no way the WRU will prevent the AB's probably most famous captain - I remind you it's the ABs we are talking about - not play in the final of the RWC.

Is there any reason to, that you know of?

There's no way the WRU will prevent the AB's probably most famous captain - I remind you it's the ABs we are talking about - not play in the final of the RWC.

What have the WRU got to do with it? And more to the point what has Mcaw done?

This is starting to look somewhat one sided.

That's better from the Pumas.

Is Barnes ever going to stop aussie going in off their feet?

I take my last comment back.

I reckon that Barnes is oblivious to 57% of what happens on the pitch. A dodgy yellow, not penalising the Aus scrum at the end of the first half, allowing the last try without consulting the TMO. He is such a poor ref. (Not counting the really obvious ones like the Puma playing the ball on the floor when he penalised Kuridrani.)

Australia should be deducted 7 points for every occasion that Cheika wears a hoodie underneath his blazer.

That's not a hoodie, it's body hair.

Sir Clive showing what a **** he is jibbering on about lines on the pitch

Body hair? Who is he? Sully from Monsters Inc. perhaps

Inverdale STILL harping on about England.

STFU.

So, very early on, I claimed an Aus v NZ final with Aus just pipping them. I'm going to stick to my guns......

What a prospect though! NZ is imo the best xv ever assembled, over 1000 caps could start the final, several all time greats of the game in theirteam. Then Aus......well, their backline on paper is a thing of envy, but they've been immense at the breakdown too this WC. Their 6,7 and 8 combination is unreal (as is NZ's!) Should be an awesome game!

Given the way Owens like to ref the breakdown and the way NZ and Aus like to 'compete' the breakdown I predict some sort of world ending paradox occurring.

The rugby world cup has been cracking. I know it's each to their own, but I think the rugby world cup makes the football world cup look a little mediocre!

The players looked rather battered after today's game.

Should be an awesome game!

Hope that both teams go for it, and it doesn't turn into a cagey penalty swap.

As for the SA game, they were lucky to get away with the score they did. Forward pass or not, de Jager should have made the tackle.

Argentina paid for being too slow/naive at the breakdown. You can't get turned over that much expect to win at this level.
NZ to win, and I reckon they'll do it convincingly.

Having looked at Elbowgate again, absolutely nothing in it.

However, is the TMO banned from reviewing forward passes for tries in semi finals?
😉

Two excellent games I thought. After all the controversy over the "can you, can't you" TMO in the Scots Australia QF we have two blatant forward passes on tries in the semis, neither referred. I thought the NZ win was pretty shakey really, All the swagger of the French win was a distant memory, the NZ plague of nerves seemed to be back again. Argentina didn't quite have the cutting edge in the latter stages to get the try they needed but their performance in the tournament has been outstanding. The Toulon two have made a difference, I wonder if we'll see similar changes from the other nations now. It could be MC's master stroke to get the rules changed to allow him to pick Australia's best side.

Nothing in the McCaw incident, if he did mean to elbow the Bokker it was very well done. I doubt Pocock will be cited for the early late tackle either.

Roll on next week, it's going to be a cracker.

Did anyone else see the thing at the beginning of that game WRT the McCaw thing? It's complete bollocks; an interwebz thing. No suggestion of a citing, and Louw got the cut in a line out later in the game.

Yep. Interesting how things look worse in slow motion (not that this incident looked bad even in slow mo) compared to normal speed like they played on ITV this afternoon.

It's complete bollocks; an interwebz thing

Yup, it was all started by Brian Moore..

Yup, it was all started by Brian Moore..

Bit unfair, he tweeted a Vine, someone else produced - he also said in the ensuing Twitter storm that the NZ Herald were leading on it - haven't checked the veracity of this claim.

Reports from Channel Nine in 'Straya that The Chosen One is scampering back to Run and Wriggle straight away. That went well, then.

....reported by Fox sports and the old STW favorite; the daily mail.

I hope so for the reason that I never want to see a repeat of this fiasco again. As a rugby fan I would like to see him develop in Union as I think he could be an excellent player.

CaptainFlashheart - Member
Reports from Channel Nine in 'Straya that The Chosen One is scampering back to Run and Wriggle straight away. That went well, then.

Got to be honest, I thought more of him than to think he'd go running back to league with his tail between his legs, rather than stick it out and develop. I wonder if this has anything to do with the fact that Bath [i]definitely[/i] didn't breach salary cap? If so, send him to bristol. We have more than enough money!

Roberts reported to be "taking a short break from professional rugby" to concentrate on his Masters at Cambridge. How does that work for Harlequins I wonder? EDIT: Mid December he'll be back, then study part time

Ok time for a one or two word answer, who is going to win the final? My choice

New Zealand

Rugby will be the winner 😉

New Zealand. Don't particularly want them to but it's hard to see past them winning.

I said the Aussies early on and am sticking with it. For me they are better at the scrum, on a par at the breakdown, more disciplined, massive defence, and more creative in the backline. NZ do have some awesome wingers if they can get it wide, but I think the Aussie defence will blitz / scramble to good effect.

EDIT: Mid December he'll be back, then study part time

So he can play in the Varsity Match in early December?

That does seem to be his wish

Bit of a shame for whoever's position he takes.

Bowe out for 6N...Ulster saying 6 months. 😐