FWIW I think tournament rugby and the setup for it should be seen in a completely different space to our other routine tours/championships. SAF seem to be more prepared to innovate/trial to enhance their strengths more than us which is hard to think let alone suggest! Following their experiments, for tournament rugby, could 7/1 become the norm/fashionable? If we went 1 back on the bench how would we feel? Personally would love to see it given a go, Dave Havili, Beauden or Dmac as the 1. Plenty of options in our forward mix for both skill and brutality to match anyone on a given day. Like 14/15 October!
Hi Dylan, as a kiwi loving in London love your work, great independent insight that goes against the grain and asks the difficult questions. I thought you and my fellow subscribers might enjoy this from Matt dawsons BBC pod - the top 10 teams at RWC finals
Yeah that was pretty abject. And spot on about the TMO, it’s bad that everytime a try is scored you feel the dread of the TMO picking up a minor indiscretion, similar to the no try just before the half which might have made things a bit more respectable.
Can I also say I felt far more pride watching the Tall Blacks staying competitive with the USA. Sure the States do struggle a bit more with the FIBA rules, but the Tall Blacks gave them a good run at least in the first half. The competition in international basketball has improved so much it’s proving to be a good competition
I haven’t seen it, but am very interested in the question you put Dylan about whether this performance is instructive at any level. I note too that Oz got blown away by France. My worry about whether we can foot it with the big forward packs when things get serious. I’ve not been convinced we can but I guess time will tell. Not good signs though.
FWIW I think tournament rugby and the setup for it should be seen in a completely different space to our other routine tours/championships. SAF seem to be more prepared to innovate/trial to enhance their strengths more than us which is hard to think let alone suggest! Following their experiments, for tournament rugby, could 7/1 become the norm/fashionable? If we went 1 back on the bench how would we feel? Personally would love to see it given a go, Dave Havili, Beauden or Dmac as the 1. Plenty of options in our forward mix for both skill and brutality to match anyone on a given day. Like 14/15 October!
Hi Dylan, as a kiwi loving in London love your work, great independent insight that goes against the grain and asks the difficult questions. I thought you and my fellow subscribers might enjoy this from Matt dawsons BBC pod - the top 10 teams at RWC finals
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/series/p04q5p2n?partner=uk.co.bbc&origin=share-mobile
Thanks Mark, I'll have a listen.
Yeah that was pretty abject. And spot on about the TMO, it’s bad that everytime a try is scored you feel the dread of the TMO picking up a minor indiscretion, similar to the no try just before the half which might have made things a bit more respectable.
At least we aren’t going in with high hopes!
Can I also say I felt far more pride watching the Tall Blacks staying competitive with the USA. Sure the States do struggle a bit more with the FIBA rules, but the Tall Blacks gave them a good run at least in the first half. The competition in international basketball has improved so much it’s proving to be a good competition
I haven’t seen it, but am very interested in the question you put Dylan about whether this performance is instructive at any level. I note too that Oz got blown away by France. My worry about whether we can foot it with the big forward packs when things get serious. I’ve not been convinced we can but I guess time will tell. Not good signs though.
Great summation of an inept performance. One little error - France 2011 lost twice in pool play and lost the final by a point.
Quite right. Silly error 🥹