2025 Bledisloe Cup Series

[Yoda]

I don't really see the issue with it. Potter enters the contest and immediately isn't supporting his bodyweight (hands in front of the ball).

Then a ruck forms, and his hands are still on the ground. He can't touch the ball at this point.

Then it's just one of the fundamentals of rugby, "no hands in the ruck". He causes the ABs to lose possession, so forces the ref to blow the whistle, and it's 5m out while ABs are red hot on attack - that's a cynical penalty, and a yellow card.

The majority of pilfers like this are not supporting their own body weight. It's such a crap part of the game. Such a subjective call by the referee in every game that totally ruins the result. Bring back rucking and with all the cameras now it would obviously police any old school head stomping. It would be a better game.

 

[stillmissit]

Well last 3 games our starting 10’s have been shit

RugbyAU, we have been in this loop for nearly 20 years. Seems amazing that we turn out plenty of talented youngsters, but can't find a high quality 10. Carter Gordon's going to league was a loss.

 

[Sword of Justice]

Yeah with the current rules around where to place hands I think Pocock would have had about 50% fewer turnovers across his career for not supporting.

It’s not realistic to stay on the ball if three 120kg dudes blast you straight offf their feet whilst you’re expected to balance your own weight whilst not leaning on the ball or the ground with some hand arm contact.

 

[Yoda]

Yeah with the current rules around where to place hands I think Pocock would have had about 50% fewer turnovers across his career for not supporting.

It’s not realistic to stay on the ball if three 120kg dudes blast you straight offf their feet whilst you’re expected to balance your own weight whilst not leaning on the ball or the ground with some hand arm contact.

The whole product of rugby as a competition and spectacle is often ruined due to pedantic stupid interpretations of ridiculous laws. Game needs to flow more because that is when rugby is truly great.

 

[stillmissit]

I know Phil socially, good guy, great family man and rugby through and through.
While not solely his call, the hiring of Joe is the best thing for Australian rugby in a decade.
But, he is not a CEO, at least not yet. Strategy and execution is a key requirement and what Australian rugby desperately needs. We’re no longer amateur, we need top tier talent to nail a strategy, ignore the old school tie and embedded state biases, and smash home execution of the strategy over the next five years. No I don’t want a Joyce or Private equity, but we’ve got to move away from ex players running the show, both at board and management level. ( board is much improved from a decade ago).
League was on its knees in the mid 90s yet we his the premium product behind a paywall, gutted the rugby development officer fraternity, and walked away from grass roots footy.
with Joe and the injection of Lions and RWC funding Phil has the perfect opportunity to reestablish our sport to where it belongs. I hope he has the strategic and execution smarts to get us there which remains my concern and the establishment self interest at the state level in our game.

There's a lot in there I agree with BUT, a pro CEO running the show is something I'm not comfortable with, unless they have been involved with the game. The days of Australia having many great CEO's is gone, most of them come in to look at what they can cut to up their stock options or increase their $$$'s. They are generally very risk averse, and look for someone to hang a poor decision on. If we could find another John O'Neil then maybe. BTW the reason for this is their short life expectancy, it's more like a smash and grab.

At this time, I am very happy with the efforts of the ARU, and we can concentrate on the talent we have and not the politics.

 

[stillmissit]

Agree...the penalty seemed like a 50/50 call in real time. Upon replay i reckon even a penalty would be tough call but at least arguable . Squinting as hard as possibl l cant see how the ref justified a yellow. Even the warning he gave shortly prior that seemed completely unwarranted. We were penalised twice in the last 30 mins effecting a pilfer; both went against us, both could havd, arguably should have, been penalties in our favour., both gave the all blacks cheap points,when they were clearly struggling to get much traction. i can only assume those penalties were part of the refs justfication for a team warning prior to yellow, which makes it even harder to swallow

In that same period NZ were given 2 penaties for steals at the ruck both of which were borderline. It didnt seemed like we were getting the same benefit of the doubt our oppoents were. Sure that's part and parcel of having home ground advantage (you tend to win most of the 50/50 calls) but its still disappointing and from my perspective fairly glaring in this instance. And all those calls are particularly egregious considering the all blacks seemed largely on the backfoot and we appeared to be the team in ascendancy

Ulimately we made too many silly mistakes to allow us to take ref out of the game (thats on us) and they were clinical enough to take advantage of those opportunities.

I would love to think we'll get the same luxuries afforded to us on home ground next week but i wouldnt bet of it

Maybe the only solution is, assuming World Rugby don't deal with him, is for the ARU to say NO! to appointing him, and see what happens.

 

[stillmissit]

Yeah with the current rules around where to place hands I think Pocock would have had about 50% fewer turnovers across his career for not supporting.

It’s not realistic to stay on the ball if three 120kg dudes blast you straight offf their feet whilst you’re expected to balance your own weight whilst not leaning on the ball or the ground with some hand arm contact.

Was the penalty based on him supporting his weight by his hands on the ball? If that is how it is now, we can forget any pilfering, as a pilfer depends on having hands on the ball for balance. The ref's association has been slowly affecting the breakdown and ruining the competition for the ball.

 

[stillmissit]

The whole product of rugby as a competition and spectacle is often ruined due to pedantic stupid interpretations of ridiculous laws. Game needs to flow more because that is when rugby is truly great.

Unfortunately, reffing does attract pedantic people. Angus is a great ref, but even he has a running commentary to ensure everyone knows how detailed his decisions are.

 

[Strewthcobber]

Was the penalty based on him supporting his weight by his hands on the ball? If that is how it is now, we can forget any pilfering, as a pilfer depends on having hands on the ball for balance. The ref's association has been slowly affecting the breakdown and ruining the competition for the ball.

The penalty was for hands in the ruck. The All Blacks formed a ruck before Potter had taken his hands off the ground so it was a) blatantly obvious, and b) breaking two laws at the same time.

Refs don't want to blow their whistle in that situation , but given he swiped the ball off the ground back to the Australian side during a ruck meant the ref couldn't manage it, and had to penalise

 

[Homer]

The ABs earned a few penalties in milliseconds of putting their hands on the ball and were then cleaned out. It is the inequality of them putting hands on deck, or even just passing a shadow over the ball and getting the penalty, when our guys got no reward for the same things.
We made too many dumb errors again but the ref didnt help. Also didnt stop the ABs using a blocker on the outside of the ball player who stopped the sliding defence from getting across in the first half. Potter and JAS topped several times, creating plenty of space for the ABs.

 

[Pfitzy]

But, he is not a CEO, at least not yet. Strategy and execution is a key requirement and what Australian rugby desperately needs. We’re no longer amateur, we need top tier talent to nail a strategy, ignore the old school tie and embedded state biases, and smash home execution of the strategy over the next five years.

I agree, but I would also say: good luck with that.

Rugby is inherently reliant on the old boys network and "good rugby men" with the right tie and blazer to make sure we don't become godless heathens like rugby league or AFL.

To break those chains, you're going to need to make sure everyone gets what they think is their fair share of money* and credit**, including but not limited to Sydney Premier Rugby (and by extension QPR, ACT, and Perth) and the schools system in NSW.

I'm greatly interested in reform, so those two areas are going to need a truckload of consideration beforehand.

* Money: The godless heathens in NRL and AFL get a lot of their money from pokies and clubs, which we don't have and are unlikely to ever possess.

** Credit: every one of them will take money over kudos.

No I don’t want a Joyce or Private equity, but we’ve got to move away from ex players running the show, both at board and management level. ( board is much improved from a decade ago).

Counter point: in RA HQ right now you've got a lot of non-rugby people who are there to punch their ticket and move onto the next job with higher pay outside the organisation. Corporate appointments don't always have the best interests of the organisation at heart.

 

[Pfitzy]

grass roots footy.

There is still a lot of confusion about what this phrase means in rugby circles.

 

[Strewthcobber]

There is still a lot of confusion about what this phrase means in rugby circles.

It means whatever level I'm interested in that needs more money, doesn't it?

 

[TSR]

Yeah Edmed over Donaldson was a strange one, and pretty disappointed that not a single journo actually asked Schmidt as to why because it would be good to understand

I recall reading a report that the Wallabies wanted better game management from him. It was some time ago so I can’t remember how realisable the source was - only that it is the only thing I recall reading that was some sort of explainatjon.

 

[Backintheolddays]

There is still a lot of confusion about what this phrase means in rugby circles.

True. To me it means juniors predominantly but also includes everything up to and including Shute Shield.
Without the under 10s we won’t have a product in a generation.
I’ve a NW Sydney bias and the number of junior clubs disappearing is heartbreaking. Even bigger north shore clubs like Wahroongah and Linfield are beginning to merge teams.
Sure you need to support the Wobs from a corporate perspective but we continue to stagger towards the cliff edge down the food chain. It requires cash, pure and simple.
Using Shute Shield as the example (and yes there are a lot of underlying factors) but NSW rugby should have Penrith and Parramatta (Souths?) as power houses, not either defunct or struggling. And yes I’m crossing the line from ARU to NSW but that is also part of the problem, a lack of support towards a common goal (ie the Wobs) and self interest in the (Shute Shield) establishment being detrimental towards the broader game.
Sorry went a great 50th on the weekend and got fired up, will get off my soap box now.

 

[Spamnoodle]

I think Donaldson should be higher up the ranks, can't understand why Edmed is in the 23

Outplayed by HMP yesterday...

 

[dru]

I don't really see the issue with it. Potter enters the contest and immediately isn't supporting his bodyweight (hands in front of the ball).

Then a ruck forms, and his hands are still on the ground. He can't touch the ball at this point.

Then it's just one of the fundamentals of rugby, "no hands in the ruck". He causes the ABs to lose possession, so forces the ref to blow the whistle, and it's 5m out while ABs are red hot on attack - that's a cynical penalty, and a yellow card.

Did the ref predictably and consistently adjudicate the transgression in this manner? No doubt I have a WB bias, but it did not seem the way to me.

 

[HogansHeros]

The ABs earned a few penalties in milliseconds of putting their hands on the ball and were then cleaned out. It is the inequality of them putting hands on deck, or even just passing a shadow over the ball and getting the penalty, when our guys got no reward for the same things.
We made too many dumb errors again but the ref didnt help.

Savea being rewarded for that "pilfer" later in the second half was outrageous, there was certainly no clear "lift" as required when pilfering in the 0.5 seconds he was near the ball before being cleaned out.

 

[Strewthcobber]

Did the ref predictably and consistently adjudicate the transgression in this manner? No doubt I have a WB bias, but it did not seem the way to me.

How many other times did the player enter a tackle off their feet, play the ball with their hands in the ruck and take the ball from the opposition's possession illegally, in the 5m zone while hot on attack?

 

[HogansHeros]

no one is expecting no mistakes. But I don’t think it’s too much to ask a 70 test veteran to kick a ball over a sideline or kick off inbounds

O’Connor should be held to a higher standard than these young guys

I agree he should have kicked it out, crazy that he made that mistake more than once. I think all Wallabies 10s should be held to the same standard, however I understand people do have off games, and I'd rather just see 10s get consistent game time with the rest of the team, than being dropped every time they have have a bad game (as some on here seem to suggest), that's just not how you build a good team.