The Rugby Thread

[PeteC]

The Rugby Championship Round 3 [Last Round]

Round 3 (Local & Thai times)

Sat 10 August: Australia v New Zealand @ Optus Stadium, Perth (Bledisloe Cup #1) (17:45 - 16:45)
Sat 10 August: Argentina v South Africa @ Estadio Martearena, Salta (16:40 - 02:40 Sunday))

[PeteC]

Upcoming Pre-RWC Matches:

Sat Aug 17: New Zealand v Australia (Bledisloe Cup #2) @ Eden Park, Auckland
Sat Aug 17: South Africa v Argentina @ Loftus Versfeld, Pretoria

Fri Sept 6: Japan v South Africa @ Kumagaya, Japan
Sat Sept 7: New Zealand v Tonga @ FMG Stadium, Hamilton
Sat Sept 7: Australia v Samoa @ Bankwest Stadium, Sydney

Full pre-RWC fixtures & kick-off times: . https://www.world.rugby/fixtures

[PeteC]

Wales vs England coming up this Sunday in London. Will it be serious play, or simply a pre-RWC scrimmage trying many players in many positions? I sigh as it's a tough pick......

Don't forget your "RWC-Warm Up" picks.

[PeteC]

Bumping this one as at the moment it seems we have more people signed up for the RWC Warm-Up pool than the real RWC pool.

And now the World Cup Pool starts!! Now looks like way too many, but the RWC is the main one and actually a couple of months off...... Plenty of time for the Lillywhites to panic!!

The usual suspects will have had an invite by Email, for all others interested: -

https://www.superbru.com/worldcup_predi ... p=12085151

Code: golfbung

[pharvey]

^ Thanks Pete.

And as a reminder, Round 1 of "HHF- RWC 2019 'Warm Up'" is this coming weekend: -

Saturday Aug 10th: Ireland vs Italy - Kick off 2pm (local)
Sunday Aug 11th: England vs Wales - Kick off 2pm (local)

Best of luck!!

[PeteC]

This is the All Blacks team facing Australia on the weekend. I think, barring any injuries, what we're looking at will also be their RWC team.

phpYQPtMvAM.jpg (161.44 KiB) Viewed 560 times

[pharvey]

Well, it does have it's links to rugby....

Christian Wade makes a big impact for NFL team the Buffalo Bills - a 65m Touchdown with his first touch......

https://www.walesonline.co.uk/sport/rug ... s-16725814

Fair play to him, but there's a lot of work todo if he's going to make final selection for the NFL season proper.

[PeteC]

I think your "Here's Hoping" is quite justified. Agree completely that the All Blacks could indeed stumble. Will be an interesting tournament.

The All Blacks have gaps and not enough healthy replacement players in case of injury.

A few of us have said it before on here per the above. I don't expect them to win the RWC. Besides an aged team, there seems to be a problem with attitude and motivation. A lot of key players moving on to new things after the RWC and some of the disjointedness could be that realization. Wales is world #1 this morning and good for them and good luck today with England.

[PeteC]

South Africa demolished Argentina to win the Rugby Championship.

Congratulations to Pooley for winning our pool!

Next up is the RWC 'Warm Up' matches which are already in progress....

php3rapk2PM.jpg (13.19 KiB) Viewed 523 times

[pharvey]

^ Thanks for Captaining the Pool once again Pete And congrats to Pooley and South Africa for taking the respective titles!!

Now that I've (almost) stopped sobbing and banging my head against the wall...... England v Wales

Well, we topped the IRB World Rugby Rankings for around 27 hours.... AND that bl**dy result ended our 14 match unbeaten record!! As well as costing us the services of Gareth Anscombe for the RWC

As for the match, you certainly can't take it away from the Lillywhites, a powerful display and deserved victory. BUT Wales were their own worst enemies and it could have been oh such a different result (if Hadley Parkes could tackle for one!!). We didn't really turn up......

Wales' lineout failed on a number of occasions - this has never been our strongest part of the game, but the failure of the Alun-Wyn Jones/Ken Owens "connection" was huge and ultimately led to an English try as well as handing the Lillywhites several attacking opportunities.

At Scrumhalf, Gareth Davies scored a scintillating try, taking out numerous defenders, but ultimately was disappointing - poor/slow delivery, intercepted for a try.......

Worrying signs in the scrum, which England took full advantage of - fair play.

Hugely disappointing in defence - midfield/Hadley Parkes taking the brunt of the blame. I for one would not want to be on the receiving end of what Shaun Edwards (Defence Coach) has to say!!

We certainly have work to do in the remaining matches, but what side(s) Wales will put out considering the loss of Anscombe and the fear of further injuries, who knows?

[pharvey]

It's been announced that there will be five rule changes introduced (for trial), beginning the end of this month. I for one don't agree (with all), and can't see how they can be realistically implemented - especially waist high tackle limit.... How is this possible with a player charging at you from short range? I'm assuming it's a case of holding the player up?

Rule changes to be introduced: -

Last week it was announced new laws that could change the face of rugby will be rolled out from the end this month with a view to introducing them globally before the 2023 Rugby World Cup, if successful.

The most eye-popping of all is the trial that will see the height of a legal tackle reduced to the waist.

It is hoped that forcing players to tackle lower will reduce the risk of head injuries to both the tackler and the tackled player.

As well as the tackle height, there are five other laws that have been approved for closed trials.

Three new laws will be put to the test in Australia's National Rugby Championship kicking off at the end of this month.

One is the 50:22 kick rule, which means that if a team kicks the ball from their own half and it bounces into touch in the opponent's 22, they will get the throw-in to the lineout. [PH] An interesting one!!

A tackle infringement limit will also be introduced, which means that once a team reaches that limit, a mandatory yellow card will be show to the last offending player.

And a goal-line drop-out will be awarded to the defending team whenever an opposition player makes it over their try-line but is held up. [PH] Not too sure on this one - surely the advantage should be with the attacking team?

Also, the final trials will see yellow cards reviewed whilst the player is in the sin bin to ensure serious foul play does not go unpunished.

Full Article/Comment: - https://www.walesonline.co.uk/sport/rug ... n-16740584

[PeteC]

...."The most eye-popping of all is the trial that will see the height of a legal tackle reduced to the waist.

It is hoped that forcing players to tackle lower will reduce the risk of head injuries to both the tackler and the tackled player."........

Good luck with that one. Besides being impossible to manage, get ready for an avalanche of knee injuries.

[pharvey]

Don't mention knee injuries!!

However, the "Chop Tackle" has been used extensively in defence and one of the most potent "implementers of the art" has been Welsh Flanker/Wing-Forward Dan Lydiate...... Although there have been some issues!!

https://www.rugbydump.com/news/dangerou ... ks-debate/

"The Chop": -



Worth Reading/Watching: -

https://atroxrugby.com/rugby-tackle-rules-explained/

https://www.pitchero.com/coaching/rugby ... hop-tackle

https://www.rugbydump.com/news/dangerou ... ks-debate/

[PeteC]

The All Blacks looked like the All Blacks tonight. Let's hope it continues!

[PeteC]

All Blacks RWC squad:

Forwards:

Hookers

Dane Coles (32, Hurricanes / Wellington, 64)
Liam Coltman (29, Highlanders / Otago, 5)
Codie Taylor (28, Crusaders / Canterbury, 44)

Props

Nepo Laulala (27, Chiefs / Counties Manukau, 19)
Joe Moody (30, Crusaders /Canterbury, 40)
Atu Moli (24, Chiefs / Tasman, 2)
Angus Ta'avao (29, Chiefs / Taranaki, 7)
Ofa Tuungafasi (27, Blues / Auckland, 29)

Locks

Scott Barrett (25, Crusaders / Taranaki, 30)
Brodie Retallick (28, Chiefs / Hawke's Bay, 77)
Patrick Tuipulotu (26, Blues / Auckland, 24)
Samuel Whitelock (30, Crusaders / Canterbury, 111)

Loose forwards

Sam Cane (27, Chiefs / Bay of Plenty, 63)
Luke Jacobson (22, Chiefs / Waikato, 1)
Kieran Read (33, Crusaders / Counties Manukau, 121) - Captain
Ardie Savea (25, Hurricanes / Wellington, 38)
Matt Todd (31, Crusaders / Canterbury, 20)

Backs:

Halfbacks

TJ Perenara (27, Hurricanes / Wellington, 58)
Aaron Smith (30, Highlanders / Manawatu, 86)
Brad Weber (28, Chiefs / Hawke's Bay, 2)

First five-eighths

Beauden Barrett (28, Blues / Taranaki, 77)
Richie Mo'unga (25, Crusaders / Canterbury, 12)

Midfielders

Ryan Crotty (30, Crusaders / Canterbury, 44)
Jack Goodhue (24, Crusaders / Northland, 9)
Anton Lienert-Brown (24, Chiefs / Waikato, 37)
Sonny Bill Williams (33, Blues / Counties Manukau, 53)

Outside backs

Jordie Barrett (22, Hurricanes / Taranaki, 11)
George Bridge (24, Crusaders / Canterbury, 4)
Rieko Ioane (22, Blues / Auckland, 26)
Sevu Reece (22, Crusaders / Waikato, 2)
Ben Smith (33, Highlanders /Otago, 79)