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New Zealand v Australia - Auckland - 23 August 2014

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Hugh Jarse

Rocky Elsom (76)
Staff member
Don't know about Mr Rabbot. He played for Sydney Uni, but I wouldn't mind seeing our Governor General on the cover of Rugby News claiming to be pack leader and #1 Wallaby Supporter.

Difference being that he has lead the pack in East Timor and Queensland Cyclone Recovery, and reinstated Rugby goal posts on the oval at Victoria Barracks in Paddington.
 

Pfitzy

George Gregan (70)
I know this is going to sound weird but I'm hoping the Wallabies win tomorrow and go on to win the Bledisloe Cup in a few weeks time.

The reason is this.


This, the cover of the Rugby News RC2014 special edition, appeared a few weeks ago right in the middle of the most bitter general election campaign in NZ for 30 years.

How would ordinary, working, socially conscious G&G posters feel if Tony Abbott appeared on the cover of the leading rugby magazine in the country, claiming to be pack leader and the #1 Wallabies supporter?

Go the Wallabies. I mean it.


Mate, I feel your pain. But don't stop supporting your team just because some pencil-necked idiot got in the way.

At least John Howard, for all his tragedy as a cricket fan, didn't do more than follow them.

Unfortunately in NZ, you're starting to firm up the era of professional politics that we've had here for a bit over a decade, which has been growing since the 60s.
 

Wilson

David Codey (61)
How would ordinary, working, socially conscious G&G posters feel if Tony Abbott appeared on the cover of the leading rugby magazine in the country, claiming to be pack leader and the #1 Wallabies supporter?

I don't know, maybe ask a Rams supporter

 

The_Brown_Hornet

John Eales (66)
The Rams district covers Abbott's North Shore electorate, does it not?

EDIT: Scratch that, it would be the Rays that are nominally in his area.
 

Dismal Pillock

Simon Poidevin (60)
johnkeyroflbot_zps90f58015.jpg
 

BDA

Peter Johnson (47)
Yeah when the Wallabies were winning regularly against the ABs, it was never that we were fucking awesome, it was because your coach moved Cullen to the wrong position. Or Taine Randell should never have been selected (much less made captain), or a thousand other things were wrong with NZ rugby.

Fact is, your nearest rivals in the last 5 years have been hamstrung to a large degree by their shit setup (Australia without any decent inside backs or coaching ability), batshit insane coaches (Pete de Villiers), or just plain arse clownery (most of Europe).

At the same time, you've experienced a near unbroken run of success on the back of some very good players with a very high work ethic playing together for very long periods.

Similar to Wallabies 99-2001 I suppose. And look at how that fell apart when mass retirement hit us.

A coach isn't going to change that, obviously. You can't suddenly blood a pile of blokes and keep expecting success.

But I stand by my belief that I don't believe Hansen has improved them since he took over. After all, RWC2011 was right around the time guys like Read hit their peak just as McCaw plateaued due to injury.

It has been the regular injection of talent more than anything that keeps the ABs right at the top with daylight second. Brodie Retallick's ascension to one of the top class second rowers owes more to Dave Rennie than it does Hansen, for example. If you go into an environment where guys like McCaw and Read are doing the leading, the coach is not going to be a very big part of that, particularly considering the time he's been with the setup.

I think winning games is one thing - HOW you win them is entirely another if you want to look at coaching improvement.

The ABs are still playing a defense-oriented counterattack game, which they only varied to a kicking game on the weekend because of the wet in the first half, then realised they had no ball to work with in the second and tried to dig their way out. They came up against a defence equal to the task and were stymied.

The players are good enough to bounce back from that. Hansen understands that sometimes you need to lead, sometimes you need to follow. But when you've got a team like that its mostly about getting the fuck out of the way, and making sure the little things are taken care of. Like lunch orders.

Sing while you're winning I guess. You think Hansen is a great workman when he's using the same tools and templates as the last bloke, that's your right.


Interesting post. I always thought Graham Henry was a great coach. Could have easily won 2 world cups. I'm still not sure about Hansen. You cant argue with his record, but at the end of the day he will be judged on whether he wins the world cup.
 

boyo

Mark Ella (57)
We need to stoke up a bit of old fashioned hatred. You don't win games by fucking around, and all this nicey-nicey bullshit is boiling my piss, and I do that enough over at the Fern so that they don't all turn into a screaming gang of fishwives.


Lob in a grenade, stand back, and watch the fur fly.
 

Pfitzy

George Gregan (70)
Interesting post. I always thought Graham Henry was a great coach. Could have easily won 2 world cups. I'm still not sure about Hansen. You cant argue with his record, but at the end of the day he will be judged on whether he wins the world cup.
Henry and his team (which included Hansen of course) took the lessons of 2007 and moved upwards. He made sure no stone was left unturned and even then nearly had his shit undone with a horror run of injuries and a very tight final.

But by the time of the final his job was done and dusted, except for the media stuff and putting the varnish on. The previous four or five years was his legacy. There was nothing left for him to do but watch the players bring the ship home, hoping they didn't hit the rocks.
 

SaderCheif

Jimmy Flynn (14)
I know this is going to sound weird but I'm hoping the Wallabies win tomorrow and go on to win the Bledisloe Cup in a few weeks time.

The reason is this.

https://fbcdn-sphotos-f-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-AK (Andrew Kellaway)-xfp1/t31.0-8/p600x600/10541396_10152606072995429_4979096729614657622_o.jpg

This, the cover of the Rugby News RC2014 special edition, appeared a few weeks ago right in the middle of the most bitter general election campaign in NZ for 30 years.

How would ordinary, working, socially conscious G&G posters feel if Tony Abbott appeared on the cover of the leading rugby magazine in the country, claiming to be pack leader and the #1 Wallabies supporter?

Go the Wallabies. I mean it.
6cb3717a0eed93cc8aca46653df2d229.jpg
 

dcjhanson

Frank Row (1)
I know this is going to sound weird but I'm hoping the Wallabies win tomorrow and go on to win the Bledisloe Cup in a few weeks time.

The reason is this.

https://fbcdn-sphotos-f-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-AK (Andrew Kellaway)-xfp1/t31.0-8/p600x600/10541396_10152606072995429_4979096729614657622_o.jpg

This, the cover of the Rugby News RC2014 special edition, appeared a few weeks ago right in the middle of the most bitter general election campaign in NZ for 30 years.

How would ordinary, working, socially conscious G&G posters feel if Tony Abbott appeared on the cover of the leading rugby magazine in the country, claiming to be pack leader and the #1 Wallabies supporter?

Go the Wallabies. I mean it.

Might as well hand your passport in chap, you're off your head. Supporting the Wallabies just because you don't like the PM in a PR puff piece. Get a grip.
 
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