Bruce Ross
Ken Catchpole (46)
I agree with you, Scotty, that there now seems to be a greater emphasis on muscular Christianity, i.e., aggression and grunt, in our team selection. We certainly need it given the task at hand.
Tri Nations Game 6 - Wallabies vs All Blacks - Saturday 27 August 2011 - 3N2011
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Arguably, we've spent a decade trying to find someone with as much mongrel and grunt as Owen Finegan.
tigerland12
John Thornett (49)
Rocky used to have it, I'd say Vickerman and Horwill are the hardmen of the side now. Moore is a tough bastard but doesn't have that mongrel about him that our locks do.
I still don't think anyone has reached the level of mongrelness that Finegan had.
Maybe we just need to get The Rock to say Duck a l'orange 10 times really fast before running onto the field.
Maybe we just need to get The Rock to say Duck a l'orange 10 times really fast before running onto the field.
tigerland12
John Thornett (49)
Was watching the classic match vs France in 1990 last night.....maybe we need Fitzsimmons to have a word to him? haha
It's good to see Samo starting just to see how he goes. If he does as well in his stint in Durban he could get the 8 job for the money games in the RWC. Palu was an odd choice in the squad as Deans knows how long it takes him to come back from injury. Cliffy will have to play in just about every game to come right for the crunch matches - not that Ireland isn't a big match either.
The thing is: Deans has to know if Samo can play in a big test match like this one and to be tidy enough to pick up ball from the back of the scrum that won't be gift wrapped sometimes. He will have to watch his discipline which can go awry - and thinking of Durban - the whole lot of them will have to improve in that department, including the skipper.
It's a big test for Anthony at 13, not his natural poisition, but he played there a lot for the Reds so let's see. He will be itching to redeem himself after his last starting game, also against the All Blacks. AAC (Adam Ashley-Cooper) has been marginalised again, being moved to the wing. I don't like the feel of the shape of this back line at all, but I hope that thought is ill-founded.
I have to grin about folks rabbiting on about the weight of the Oz pack. The Crusaders had one of the smaller packs in the S15 at about 873kgs average but had the best scrum and were seldom bettered in the physical exchanges. So long as the Wobs, any time, play up to their weight, and are technically proficient in the set pieces, I will be happier than having gross tonnage.
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The thing is: Deans has to know if Samo can play in a big test match like this one and to be tidy enough to pick up ball from the back of the scrum that won't be gift wrapped sometimes. He will have to watch his discipline which can go awry - and thinking of Durban - the whole lot of them will have to improve in that department, including the skipper.
It's a big test for Anthony at 13, not his natural poisition, but he played there a lot for the Reds so let's see. He will be itching to redeem himself after his last starting game, also against the All Blacks. AAC (Adam Ashley-Cooper) has been marginalised again, being moved to the wing. I don't like the feel of the shape of this back line at all, but I hope that thought is ill-founded.
I have to grin about folks rabbiting on about the weight of the Oz pack. The Crusaders had one of the smaller packs in the S15 at about 873kgs average but had the best scrum and were seldom bettered in the physical exchanges. So long as the Wobs, any time, play up to their weight, and are technically proficient in the set pieces, I will be happier than having gross tonnage.
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J
jaydee
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I read this morning in the Courier Mail that the IRB have issued an edict to the referees to start policing the "grapple cleanout" and "cleaning out past the ball". Can any ref out there confirm?? It staggers me that they wait until the very eve of the world cup to start tinkering with the interpretations. There is one team that will be disadvantaged more than most if the refs execute the second part of this directive ( hint :and it is not the wallabies) Also what is Wayne Barnes likely to bring to the contest on Saturday. Has he been in good form etc .. does anyone know ??. And finally, most learned of rugby bloggers, can anyone out there tell me if there is going to be TV coverage of the Canada v Australia A game ?? thanks 
tigerland12
John Thornett (49)
And finally, most learned of rugby bloggers, can anyone out there tell me if there is going to be TV coverage of the Canada v Australia A game ?? thanks
You can watch it on Foxsports website from 7:30 im pretty sure.
Scotty
David Codey (61)
Mongrelness is not enough alone. Finnegan didn't exactly have the highest workrate, and wasn't always a first choice player.
I read this morning in the Courier Mail that the IRB have issued an edict to the referees to start policing the "grapple cleanout" and "cleaning out past the ball". Can any ref out there confirm?? It staggers me that they wait until the very eve of the world cup to start tinkering with the interpretations. There is one team that will be disadvantaged more than most if the refs execute the second part of this directive ( hint :and it is not the wallabies) Also what is Wayne Barnes likely to bring to the contest on Saturday. Has he been in good form etc .. does anyone know ??. And finally, most learned of rugby bloggers, can anyone out there tell me if there is going to be TV coverage of the Canada v Australia A game ?? thanks
There is another thread that links to it. http://www.greenandgoldrugby.com/forum/threads/9095-Orders-from-Paddy-O-B.
Here's a direct link to the IRB Memo http://www.scrrs.net/updates/irb-memo-areas-of-emphasis-for-the-2011-rugby-world-cup-referees/
J
jaydee
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thanks
And finally, most learned of rugby bloggers, can anyone out there tell me if there is going to be TV coverage of the Canada v Australia A game ?? thanks
I am going to be there and will attempt to tweet everything relevant as well.
@mrtimms for updates.
FrankLind
Colin Windon (37)
I think you are wrong about Weepu. He is the form halfback. He will not just be used for 20 minutes for the sake of impact.
Agree with you about Ali Williams. I prefer Boric if he can get up to speed in the pool games.
I wouldn't get to excited about it. These directives, guidelines, memos - whatever - are issued from time to time and why not before a RWC?
Some interesting things from the memo:
• A trend has developed where players are clearing out ahead of the ball and then intentionally holding the cleared out player preventing him from defending. Referees and ARs are asked to be particularly vigilant in this area of the game
The RWC referees have obviously been privy to this for a while. There have been more "taking up space" penalties from them lately.
• Loose heads to be hitting up and tight heads to be square on engagement. Let's see how THP Castrogiovanni observes this in Rd. 1 against Oz. On our last EOYT he was boring in to the Oz hooker all the time and young Slipper as LHP that day had nothing to push against and fell down. Guess who got penalised?
• Loose heads who end up putting a hand on the ground to prevent a collapse at engagement occasionally may be able to rebind. This should be an exception rather than a norm and a loose head who continually puts a hand on ground needs to be sanctioned.
Common sense and good referees do this now. The point that it should not be the norm is a good one as otherwise some LHPs would go low supported by their hand and explode up on the rebound lifting the THP up. I'm looking at you Olo Brown though how you got away with it as THP, I have no clue to this day.
• Foul Play ... A trend is also developing across all competitions where cleanouts at the breakdown involving a player being grabbed around the neck/head region and his neck/head being twisted as part of the clearout. This trend needs to be stopped immediately as it is extremely dangerous play.
The trend started when Bakkies Botha started to play pro rugby. He did it mostly at maul time at first but he developed it in the rest of his game also. Since then he has added such things as head butting to his repertoire. How sweet it was to see Rocky turning the tables on him in Durban.
Sweet, I say.
Being a renaissance man, Rocky could cook it, and serve it up with a cheeky Burgundy and a nice cheese souffle before he ran on.
biggsy
Chilla Wilson (44)
SBW been dropped from the squad this weekend....Only news out of the AB side of things, that will make the Brother in law very happy and few other close kiwi mates....
NIce to see the rain hold off for the game as well, but really looking forward to the game and the Reds in the team will get a great welcome back to.
NIce to see the rain hold off for the game as well, but really looking forward to the game and the Reds in the team will get a great welcome back to.
D
densamer
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If anyone missed out, you can still get tickets to the 3Nations in Brisbane. Go to the ticketek website - gold and platinum still available
Just posted in smh: http://news.smh.com.au/breaking-news-sport/barnes-keen-for-trinations-callup-20110825-1jc2q.html
So it looks like the bench spot will remain TBA until Saturday and they will pick someone who has played for the Baa Baas.
I had assumed that they'd withdraw someone from the Baa Baas game to sit on the bench for the Wallabies but that doesn't seem to be the case.
So it looks like the bench spot will remain TBA until Saturday and they will pick someone who has played for the Baa Baas.
I had assumed that they'd withdraw someone from the Baa Baas game to sit on the bench for the Wallabies but that doesn't seem to be the case.
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