Wallabies vs England, Perth

[Reddy!]

To me, it sounds like Kearns honestly has no idea about what is happening in the scrum. When he is asked to give his opinion on the scrum he just fluffs some words, and says "it's too early at this stage to tell".

 

[cyclopath]

Kearns also refuses to criticise any Aust front rower at all - must be some sort of secret society deal they all have. It became patently ridiculous on Saturday. I still prefer them to the FTA guys on 7 though.

 

[liquor box]

Mate you're forgetting possibly the biggest factors - the ridiculously inhibitive cost of attendance, and the piss-poor marketing from the ARU.

Ruggo mentioned Saints v Freo taking patrons away - no bloody wonder when top category tickets are $56.20, or as little as $27.05. Not sure how much Perth tickets were, but Wobs vs Eng this Saturday $115/59. Wobs vs Ireland in Brissie $104/49. God help anyone wanting to introduce their kids to rugby or go with mates to the Bledisloe, at $164/89, and no concession pricing if you actually want to SEE the game (Gold/Platinum). Then the ARU and Grumbles bitch and moan that the Australian public don't support them! Aiesh!

add to that the cost of food and drinks, I was at Lang Park yesterday for some Mungoball and paid $13.50 for a beer and a rum, so $41.50 for drinks for the afternoon, add on food at rediculous prices to that. I am glad I did not have to pay for kids food and drinks too.

Cost is a huge factor in crowd numbers, for the cost of great tickets and food and drinks at one test I could get foxtel for the season and watch hundreds of games at home.

 

[Ruggo]

To me, it sounds like Kearns honestly has no idea about what is happening in the scrum. When he is asked to give his opinion on the scrum he just fluffs some words, and says "it's too early at this stage to tell".

Maybe he did not want hang shit on his country men on national TV. I would say Kearns knows a hell of a lot about scrums.

 

[Ruggo]

add to that the cost of food and drinks, I was at Lang Park yesterday for some Mungoball and paid $13.50 for a beer and a rum, so $41.50 for drinks for the afternoon, add on food at rediculous prices to that. I am glad I did not have to pay for kids food and drinks too.

Cost is a huge factor in crowd numbers, for the cost of great tickets and food and drinks at one test I could get foxtel for the season and watch hundreds of games at home.

I am also amaized that the quallity of the venue does not reflect ticket prices. Kissing your sister would most likely be a less numbing experience than watching live rugby from an oval. Top rate price for a second rate view, well done ARU.

 

[daz]

Look on the bright side guys, even with all these issues at least our team is winning. I bet the lads on the Aussie soccer forums are having a far worse (and more rabidly vocal) time than us today....

 

[MajorlyRagerly]

Kearns lets his bias get in the way of his judgement sometimes - it's the price listeners have to pay for having somebody so passionate about their team in the commentary box.

I enjoy listening to Clarke, Kearns and Marto on the whole, although their orgasmic shrieks and comments on Quade Cooper got on my nerves. Not denying he's a great player, but he's not the second coming of Nazareth, which is what Kearns & co would have you believe.

 

[daz]

Maybe he did not want hang shit on his country men on national TV. I would say Kearns knows a hell of a lot about scrums.

+1. There is no way Kearns is going to slam any Wobs front rower in public. In fact, I recall on the Foxsports replay he might have even called them courageous several times. (Which they were. The fact they were also out of their depth is not their fault).

And to suggest Kearns knows little about scrummaging is like saying Neil Armstrong knows little about the moon, or Growden knows little about moaning.

 

[daz]

Not denying he's a great player, but he's not the second coming of Nazareth.

No, but he IS a very naughty boy.....

 

[cyclopath]

No, but he IS a very naughty boy.....

Nice, Daz, I have to pay that one!

 

[Scotty]

Bit drunk, but what irked me about the second penalty try were the two stable scrums before it. The poms pushed and got nowhere for long periods of time and thus the scrum collapsed. They never tried to use the ball. Third time sure they got a shunt on, but they should have lost the ball previously for not even trying to get it out when they knew they were going nowhere.

I agree with you here Ash. The first penalty try was fair enough, although you would normally expect it to be on the third time the defending team is penalised, not the first.

The second penalty try was just a joke. We were penalised once fairly, then Slipper switched to TH after Ma'afu was binned. Poms elected for a scrum and didn't move Slipper one bit. They kept pushing and the Pommy prop ended up boring in on Slipper to try and disrupt our scrum. I was pretty clear even to this ex-back. How the ref didn't see it is beyond me, and it should have been a penalty to the Wallabies.

It happens quite often that once one scrum gets on top, the referee just assumes that one side is at fault all the time, instead of using their eyes and judging each on merit. It is paramount to assuming one side only infringes at the breakdown whenever there is a problem.