That's definitely part of it; but she's still pretty green and AEW relies on a more work rate, and technical style of presentation which she wasn't really nailing. Whereas WWE has ways of hiding her weaknesses there while she improves plus the facilities and trainers that AEW just doesn't have the scope for.
I'm not convinced Jade leaving is so bad for AEW. She has a great look and aura, but in matches & promos wasn't all that good and wasn't going to get better there. She might not get much better in WWE either, but they have far more tools to deploy training her. I think she was pretty much already at her AEW ceiling and had to spend time elsewhere to improve.
World Cups are really expensive for the host nation though, even if WR make a bunch of money off of it. The Nations Championship thing could help with this if the self-interest of the weaker teams in the top 10 of the world hadn't locked out the 13th-24th placed teams for the next 5 years.
But the truth is most nations are struggling to fund the professional game - really only Japan & France are thriving and that's because of the private wealth that props up their competitions. Which has the unfortunate side effect of making the professional game everywhere else so much more expensive as every other nation & competition has to try to compete with their salaries.
Heh, that's typically how "consultation" works in NZ too. Every now and then a company or org doesn't make enough of a pretense and get caught out on it, but mostly its just what do you think of this proposal and ignore all feedback to do it anyway.
Has an ABs supporter that's a narrative I can get behind, but England were good - definitely not as one dimensional as they have been in the past.
Yeah and I guess all of Georgia's players are in Europe, and because of the Barbarian's game all of Fiji were over there so I guess for affordability it probably makes sense.
Its a real shame Georgia & Fiji aren't getting more matches against the bigger teams, and in particular aren't getting to host them at home.
Oh another game we missed was Georgia - Fiji; weirdly for compared to all the other games that one was played away for Fiji.
ABs classic wobbly first test hopefully, and next week with more training sessions to bed in systems will be better. Perofeta was really good, but Beauden's kicking game was a marked difference maker in terms of ensuring the ABs spent more time with ball in hand in the right part of the pitch.
DMac's passing was exceptional but other than that he did struggle against the rush D (every body does, even Mounga) and some of the missed kicks & the time out would have been frustrating. Definitely deserves another shot at 10 and I think keeping BB on the bench to sub in as a change of plan as needed is a good balance.
For mine, England's best player was their halfback Mitchell - he was possibly the best player on the pitch. Really great service from the base, great pass, managed to keep the defence guessing, a scary good performance. In a way a similar player to Roigaard so its a shame he is out injured to have a battle against a similar player. Perenara was great, but is definitely more of an old school style where Mitchell looks to me to be perhaps a change in style that will become more common in coming years.
I enjoyed the full game, even though both teams got the dropsies at times. Lolesio trying for a cross field kick instead of just passing into a 2-2 out wide 10m out from the line got him yanked by Schmidt but I think for the most part he was pretty good and is still building into a combination with Gordon. The latter box kicked well but it was a good call to sub when the game started to become a lot looser.
For the most part the Wallabies many rookies stood up & got the job done so they can rightly be proud of getting the win. Wales aren't a tip top team by any means and are rebuilding themselves - but have had more time in camp and more games played than Schmidt who basically prepped the team with 4 sessions so with more time the Wallabies should improve for game 2.
Thought Brousset was really good too, clear in his instructions throughout, not afraid to follow up on warnings and be decisive.
Aus v Wales has been a good watch so far; I'd say the Wallabies are looking the better team but struggling with a bit of dropped ball so haven't been able to take full advantage of the half-breaks they're generating.
Perhaps it's just a huge divergence between NH & SH on the breakdown. Down here you're not allowed to chuck your hands on the ground as much as he was allowing; and once the ball is lost the ref basically tells them to clean it up and get the game going again. Whereas in this game when the tackle area had definitely become a ruck he was still happy for newly arriving players to stick their hands on the ball to slow it down.
They're also a lot stricter on the direction they're coming in on the breakdown as well. So generally in SR it was a lot tidier than in this game; with less players off their feet even when the defending team counter-rucked and blew past the ball.
I was also pretty frustrated by his guesswork and inconsistency at scrum time. The very first scrum dropped with Marler not taking the hit & hinging as much as Lomax overreaching with the gap being set too far apart. He gave a straight arm for that, but then in the 2nd half was resetting scrums for basically the same thing. The use it call on the ABs scrum that took the feed, hooked the ball and then started moving forward was a bit much too I thought.
I have a counter-thought about SA's knockout rugby; it only looks good because they squeaky bummed it in those games. But they only won by 1 point and it could easily have been a result the other way & then people would have been asking questions about why they don't use their incredible backs more etc.
I just have a vibe about Argentina; they didn't have as good a year as they would have hoped in '23 but it was still pretty decent and they're playing at home against a French team that's only just finished their playoffs. So if they were ever going to get a win it would be now. We've seen more of Argentina at home thanks to the Rugby Championship and they're getting increasingly hard to beat there.
Nika Amashukeli just isn't up to standard; both teams have a lot to be frustrated about due to his rulings. Thankfully he was equally bad so overall it balanced out, but it made for an absolute shambles at ruck time (similar to the game vs Argentina a couple years ago). I think you could make an argument that the mess he allowed to happen at the rucks is what led to TJ Perenara's unfortunate injury.
I'll bite...
NZ by 12 OZ by 15 SA by 1 ARG by 3 SCO by 65
If SA revert to type I know folks love those really brutal tackle all day games but for me they get decided by the whistle too much so i'm kinda expecting the Wales v Aus game to be the more fun watch. NZ-ENG has Amushkavili in charge so it'll be an absolute crapshoot at rucks.
Samoa - Italy from yesterday too which is yet another example to why the new Nations Championship protecting the bottom of the 6 nations at the expense of the next tier that they're not consistently better than is a total joke.
#1 & #2 does feel like a bit of a gift to the folks who got in some years ago and banked land on the boundaries. Explains why an apple orchard down the road felled all the trees and just left them there - no new grafts or anything; the block got bought by a major property developer who must have seen the chances of either a zoning change or removal of the urban/rural zone coming.
Sprawl typically also means fewer 200+m2 houses on larger blocks of land when looking at opening up public spaces and building denser housing close to public transport is a better solution for long term transport emissions.
Sprawl has so many extra costs too particularly around transportation. Given council budgets are already severely pressured its hard not to pre-judge that there'll be at the least a decrease to overall public transport by dilution if not just no services in some areas. So more traffic on local roads which means more emissions and more cost on councils maintaining roads for more cars.
Just to add to that, im not much of an economist or anything but my understanding is there's 2 main levers that can be used - interest rates (monetary policy?) and tax rates (fiscal policy).
Its become orthodox to use the former & ignore the latter, partly because of voter backlash & it can be a bit complicated. But as far as I understand it given sovereign governments can print money & borrow when things are bad to generate economic activity the flipside would be to tax it back out and save it to reduce the supply of money chasing goods.
Some folks argue that would be a tidier way of doing things, who knows?!
https://www.slowboring.com/p/tax-increases-are-the-best-cure-for https://www.corporateknights.com/category-finance/seven-ways-to-tackle-inflation-without-raising-interest-rates/
If you go read up on the history of central banks using interest rate hikes to generate recessions to tame inflation its pretty damn consistent that they often end up overshooting and making things worse than they needed to be to achieve the same result.
Super Rugby Quarterfinals and End of Season Summaries!
Figured i'd write up a summary similar to the end of the round-robin.
The Losers:
8 - Rebels: Both a sad and successful way of ending the club. First time making the playoffs, last time playing a game. Some might argue that they spent a lot of money and didn't really get competitive - 8th place was earnt on 5 wins, 9 losses. But they actually played really well at times during the season. Maybe without all the off field stress the slump in the back half wouldn't have been so bad. A decent squad, coached fairly well - but trying to break the sporting market in Melbourne is tough. Even the NRL only has 1 team there in a city of 5 million, vs 9 in Sydney and (sortof) 2 in Brisbane. So small crowds probably leans into weaker home performances. Sad to see them go - the fans they did have were passionate, no idea who can replace them.
7 - Drua: From some of the smallest passionate crowds to some of the biggest. The Drua are near unbeatable at home in either Lautoka or Suva, and even in the quarter final against Auckland their fans were so loud it almost felt like a home game at times. 6-8 for the season, if they can find a way to consistently win away from home they will easily get a winning record and if they ever got a home quarter or semi, they would be hard not to back to go further. Everybody loves the Drua, and hopes that Moana Pasifika can replicate it!
6 - Highlanders: Like the Drua, a 6-8 season, the weakest kiwi squad struggled with injuries. When Rhys Patchell was playing they looked like a classic attacking NZ side. When he got injured out of the season up stepped Cam Millar and they went to a simple, old school game of slotting 3s and grinding teams out. I kinda loved it; especially de Groot's nonchalant one arm salute to the posts whenever the referee gave a penalty within 40m. Finally got a win against an NZ team after a long drought, and with a group of younger players maybe they're finally getting a development pathway that catches up with the rest of the clubs. If the playoffs are reduced to 6 next year and the Crusaders aren't having another shocker, they'll struggle to make it.
5 - Reds: The Reds are the only losing quarter finalist to have a winning round-robin record at 8-6; there's a lot to like about them and their young players will have a lot to draw from in future seasons but boy did they manage to crap the bed at times this season. Particularly away to teams they should have been beating. 31-40 away to the Force, 17-14 away to Moana Pasifika after a bye week. You can forgive the losses to the Drua and the Highlanders on the road but to be serious title contenders they'll need to find a way to win one of those and also win home games against teams like the Blues or Brumbies. Possibly their worst result and why I backed the Chiefs 20+ was only just beating the Waratahs who'd only managed wins against the Crusaders before that match. Les Kiss seems like a great coach though and I expect them to do pretty well next year.
The Semi-finals:
Well, given how dominant the top 3 teams were this season (all 12-2 records) its no surprise that with home field advantage the Hurricanes, Blues & Brumbies all made it through. The Chiefs went 9-5 but made light work of the Reds at home in what was in a way the least competitive of the 4 quarters. The Rebels really made the Hurricanes work in the first half, and the Drua and Highlanders competed for a time as well before succumbing to classier outfits.
None of the scores were close but they were decent matches; just fairly predictable results given the top 3 teams had double the wins of their opponents! Most of the crowds were on the low side, but the Aus-NZ games tend that way so maybe a bit of a disappointment but expected.
Blues - Brumbies: This should be a cracker; two great forward packs and direct teams going hammer & tongs. The Blues might be without Tuipolotu which will be a big loss he has been huge at lock for them this season; and Akira Ioane also picked up a niggle. Tricky to pick a winner so maybe just go with the home field advantage? Probably one of those games that needs the squad announcements before making a confident pick. Lolesio & Tom Wright have been great for the Brumbies this season so their backline is working well with a settled midfield combo too. Plus Rob Valetini's floor for performance is so high it's easily other player's ceiling. They have 1 Magpie in Ollie Sapsford so if they weren't Australian i'd be tempted to back them.
Hurricanes - Chiefs: The 'canes had 4 of my Magpies on the field at once in the quarter so I almost felt like supporting them. Don't know how many people they had at the stadium in Wellington - maybe only 9-10k, but i'd like to think if they'd made a bold call and held the quarter up at McLean park they'd have packed in 13,000 or so which would have looked & sounded cooler. Anyway, the Chiefs have under performed this season and failed in consecutive weeks against the Hurricanes at home, then the Blues away. But they only lost by 3 against the 'canes and can take a lot from how the Rebels used and abrasive defense and heavy work at the breakdown to limit the Hurricanes opportunities. I still think the Hurricanes have enough on defense to hold the Chiefs out, and more on attack to pick up points. If they get a roll on could even be a 13+ win, but I wouldn't be surprised if the Chiefs clinched a tight one.
Super Rugby Playoffs and End of Season Summaries
Figured i'd share my thoughts on how the season shook out and what's coming up in the playoffs. Indulge me!
The losers:
12 - Waratahs: Even more injuries than the Crusaders, they've sucked for a few years now and just didn't have the cattle to compete. Maybe next year if they can pick up some decent players from the Rebels.
11 - Moana Pasifika: Some people rate this year as a bit of a turnaround with a better coaching setup. I'm not sure I see it. They beat the Drua, Reds, Force & Waratahs at "home" but were pretty woeful on the road, including a big game playing in Tonga. They desperately need a real home base (or at least a couple of bases they visit regularly outside of Auckland) and I suspect if SR can't find a 12th team for 2026 they might get dropped for a 10 team comp.
10 - Force: Of the losers, the Force actually looked pretty good at times. It feels a bit weird due to the allegations which he was acquitted of, but when Kurtley Beale started playing for them, the combo with Donaldson at 10 looked really good. Still they only managed 4 wins - even if they looked hard to beat at home.
9 - Crusaders: an awful season which the last few rounds showed was more to do with personnel being unavailable than anything else. Take Whitelock, Mounga and Jordan out of a team and they'll lose some stars, but then ask them to do without Taylor, Barrett, Blackadder, Burke and Havili as well and decimate their coaching staff for Razor's benefit. It shouldn't have been a surprise they struggled to win, let alone dominate. On the bright side, their loss was Super Rugby's gain - I think the interest in the comp comes from the unpredictability and SR should strive to ensure no team can dominate like that again, for the benefit of the comp itself.
The Playoffs:
SR has been a season where the top 3 have been awesome - all with 12 wins, then there's been a logjam in the middle until the strugglers who've all had 4 wins except the 'tahs on 2. That makes most of the quarters a little uncompetitive, but still...
Chiefs - Reds: There's a lot to like from the Reds this year, but they've been really inconsistent and away from home its hard to see them tipping over the Chiefs who've looked good whenever they're not playing the Hurricanes & Blues. Actually to be fair, they've looked ok against them too, but those two are on another level. Hurricanes - Rebels: The Rebels form over the last half of the season was awful, I see them getting stomped here. Hurricanes have been too good on attack this seasons. Blues - Drua: Everybody knows the Drua are incredible at home, but away they kinda suck. The Blues play a very direct & physical game, they should have even more players coming back for the playoffs and should have a dominant win. Brumbies - Highlanders: For a while there it was a chance that the Brumbies could take 2nd, or maybe even 1st place. They are near unbeatable at home. The Highlanders have had huge injury disruptions and have been solid enough but are unlikely to get past this round.
Superb Rugby Pacific - End of Round 12
A lot of people mock the fact than in a 12 team competition a whole 8 teams make it into the playoffs. But with the top four teams secured with 2 rounds to go all of the drama is now in who will finish ranked 5th-12th.
None of the teams ranked 9-12 are playing each other in the next two rounds, in a way that should significantly change their fortunes (barring 1 game) so I think its mathematically possible for any of them to actually qualify in 8th if the Drua lose both of their next two games.
So in a way a generous qualification serves to deliver 4 matches in he first week of the playoffs and ensures there's something to play for all the way to the end of the round-robin.
So thinking of the bottom 6 teams...
- The Highlanders have the Drua at home, then the Hurricanes away so should bank at least another 4 points putting them on minimum 27.
- The Drua struggle away but have the Rebels at home in the last round so should pick up another 4 putting them up on 25.
- The Force go away to the Reds, and then have the Brumbies at home so ordinarily you'd think two losses, but they are a real force at home and Kurtley Beale has helped ignite their attack - its plausible they pick up two wins so land anywhere from 23-27 points.
- The Crusaders are highly unlikely to beat the Blues away this weekend, then have Moana Pasifika at home. MP were very competitive against the Hurricanes this weekend so I could see an upset but it really depends on if Scott Barrett is back or not. Maybe 19-20 points.
- Moana Pasifika are at "home" to the Waratahs and away to the Cru so are probable 19 points, possibly 23.
- The Waratahs injury rates are so high that even though Moana Pasifika's "home" game won't give them the edge a normal home game would they probably won't win, and then they're at home to the Reds who haven't travelled well this year. Its possibly they pick up a couple of wins and end up on 20, if they got bonus points their ceiling is 22; but they've had a horrible season and its more likely they'll only land on 12-14.
Based on what's likely the current top 8 are the top 8; the most likely change is The Force getting up and dropping either the Highlanders or Drua out depending on which one of them win that match.
The top 4 are confirmed, but they all still have plenty to play for if they're hoping to move through the playoffs and want to secure home advantage for more games. Games to watch are Chiefs-Hurricanes this weekend, and then Blues-Chiefs the following as that will decide who finishes where.
Also - the kiwi teams are going to be toughened / tired depending on how you look at it as Blues, Hurricanes, Chiefs all have some big games to play against other Kiwi teams heading into the playoffs.
Sam Cane retiring from International Rugby
Even more so than Foster, Sam Cane was very unfairly maligned by the NZ Rugby public during the trials of the '22 - '23 seasons.
It reflects what we value in our rugby players that being the guy on the field that cleaned up after other's mistakes, did all the hard graft, the heavy tackling, clean-outs that he was often mocked for a drive of only a couple metres when receiving the ball. Most folks missed that what he was doing was giving the ABs attack line a chance to reform while under huge duress from defensive pressure.
He hit top form in time for the World Cup and even after all the injuries he'd suffered over the years his defensive hits were huge. I'm a kiwi so of course I think it was unjust that he received a red, while Kolisi got only a yellow given the contrasting force in their two tackles. But even if the ABs had won the cup last year somehow he would still have his doubters back home.
He's 32, has had to suffer through some major injuries - deserves a few years making big money with his family close by before retiring from rugby altogether.
World Rugby announce law changes
The largest reimagination of rugby’s entertainment value continues to progress with the World Rugby Council approving a package of law amendments that will come into effect from 1 July, 2024.
New law changes confirmed by World Rugby and new law trials announced.
Super Rugby Table - End of Week 8
We're in the middle of the 3 bye weeks where each round 4 teams sit down and have a break. So the table looks a bit odd but because of the way the draw plays out at least teams in the top 5 are settled through to the end of Week 9.
At the end of next week the possible changes I see are:
- Fiji might get up over the Hurricanes playing at home, but the latter are playing so well and have such a strong squad it seems unlikely. The 'canes would still be top of the table on a loss I think, while Fiji would possibly sneak up to 6th depending on other results.
- The Blues play the Brumbies at home and while either could win you'd hope the home advantage means the Blues get a better hold on 2nd place. But with 6 rounds to go after next weekend there's still plenty of movement possible.
- Queensland are at home against the Highlanders, and were so woeful against Moana Pasifika that you'd expect some form of response so I don't see the Highlanders moving up the standings in round 9.
- The Crusaders managed to lose to The Waratahs who have been decidedly average, leaking a bunch of points in the process. Next they are up against the Force who have been mostly terrible but also managed to beat Queensland at home, so anything's possible here. Either result just shuffles teams around in the group currently outside the playoffs so doesn't impact the top 8.
- On the Crusaders, a bunch of their supporters have been holding on to their playoff pedigree and their more than mathematical chance of getting into the playoffs in 8th place, making them a real banana-skin game for whoever is 1st. Stuff like 'If you were in 1st place you wouldn't want to come up against the Crusaders in 8th'. Well, any other year's Crusaders sure, but so far nothing about this year's Cru with their horrid injury toll should cause the Hurricanes, Blues or Brumbies much concern. They will get Scott Barrett back soon, and probably Fergus Burke - though given he's heading off up north i'd just invest the time in Rivez Reihana & Riley Hohepa if I were the coaches. But the bigger loss for mine is Will Jordan not there to offer a spark on attack from 15, and none of their options at 9 offer what Bryn Hall did.
The Spinoff responding to the Landlords short $1.3m "story".
What landlords are owed is equivalent to about 0.061% of the rent they're being paid.
I love the work The Spinoff does.
Double Dipper Luxon Bravely Stayed in Unlivable Apartment
It has been revealed Luxon spent two nights at Premier House over Christmas last year and hosted his extended family for festive celebrations.
This story keeps on giving. He lives in Auckland, Parliament was not in session, but hosted a party for his extended family at this unlivable place, and then it turns out he's actually stayed there at least a couple of nights.
I wonder who paid for the private Christmas do at the place he doesn't live. Did he have it in the apartment or in the public reception areas. Some other articles suggest he's also stayed there other times as well.
So, very unlivable then. I wonder, was he even staying in the apartment he was claiming the $52k benefit on?
Utes and SUVs kill...
America’s car culture kills people and wrecks communities.
Saw this shared on Mastodon and it really made me think of National and their Atlas Network aligned astro-turf organisation the Taxpayer's Onion who campaigned against what they termed the 'ute tax'.
If the results of this 2004 study hold true 20 years later, and in New Zealand, then knowingly or not, they in effect have campaigned for and enacted legislation that will kill more New Zealanders.
"A 2004 study found that for every life saved by a motorist who switched from a car to a light truck (SUV or pickup), 4.3 other drivers, pedestrians and cyclists were killed. "
That statistic also suggests that the safety fears driving people to SUVs are completely overblown and over-egged.
Super Rugby Super Round Super Thread
Figured I'd start a thread in honour of the initiative nobody asked for, and seemingly hardly anybody wants. The Super Round!
All of this weekend's games are held at AAMI park in Melbourne; so yeah, of the 12 teams, 6 of them are missing a home game. But I believe they're compensated by the Victoria State government so they go along with it.
Last weekend the Melbourne Rebels had 4000 in the crowd for a home derby against the Brumbies. It'll be interesting to see if they get much of a crowd for any of these games which for the home fans are all bar 1 neutral games.
Streaming Services - MLR USA & Japan League One
Does anyone know what streaming options are available for watching MLR and Japan League One games that aren't geo restricted?
We're a week out from the Japan season starting, and despite increasing their fees twice in the last 12 months or so Sky in NZ haven't bought the rights this year. As far as I am aware they never bothered with the MLR rights.
There's so many kiwis playing in both comps that i'm pretty keen to watch a game from time to time so wondering if there's any globally available (and legit) streaming services that show either of these comps?
Interesting (and concerning) statistics from the World Cup
ANALYSIS: There are now fewer offloads per game than at any point in RWC history, while the number of phases per possession plummeted in France.
Article summarises statistics provided by Opta and some from Warren Gatland; with headline stats:
- This RWC saw fewer offloads per game than any other.
- The average number of phases per possession dropped to 1.8, compared to 3 in 2019.
- Ball in play time dropped marginally to 34.18 minutes / game - but excluding halftime breaks some games took over 100 minutes total to play out.
- Tackles per game have grown to 169, up from 129 in 2019 & 119 in 2015.
- Kicks per game (might) have grown, Gatland suggesting 57 per game, the highest since 1995.
- 25% of all kicks are box kicks.
RA Chairman sacked after refusing to resign.
McLennan rejected a call from six rebellious state unions to resign.
How he thought he could stay on after the fractious last couple of years, and disastrous time since sacking Rennie and hiring Eddie is baffling.
NZR and most of the Super Rugby clubs will probably be glad to see the back of him as he was constantly holding a sword over any progress and change for that competition.
Super Rugby Pacific: Squad Naming Day
I'm not sure if this is a new intiative to get folks fizzing for next year's season, but there's a gap in Rugby news coverage with the World Cup over and no November tours so today starting at 10 NZDT every hour two teams will announce their squads for next season.
10am: Chiefs and Fijian Drua 11am: Highlanders and Rebels 12pm: Moana Pasifika and Waratahs 1pm: Hurricanes and Brumbies 2pm: Blues and Reds 3pm: Crusaders and Force
I may be the only Southern Hemisphere rugby nerd here, but if I can spare some time amidst my work day i'll post links to the teams as they come out. Given its a World Cup year there'll be more churn than normal and there's already been a lot of moves pre-announced. Eg some of the big moves are Leigh Halfpenny coming down to the Crusaders, Angus Ta'avao returning to the Blues.
What's potentially more interesting off the back of another great NPC season is the wider squad players who will almost certainly be needed as injury cover. Given the departure of Mounga, and uncertain international future for Beauden Barrett, the Flyhalf stocks in NZ are a bit pressed, so one to watch is whether Josh Jacomb gets picked up by anyone.
Two new coaches signed for Moana Pasifika
Excited to see how Stephen Jones improves Lincoln McClutchie's game; and Tom Coventry is a well proven forwards coach.
8 All Blacks leaving international rugby now the World Cup is done
The Rugby World Cup often signifies the end of an era, where we bid farewell to distinguished players who have left an indelible mark on the sport.
Going to be some holes to fill; and while I don't watch a huge amount of Super Rugby I think in most places its apparent who the replacements already are. I think its interesting in a way that for some of these players the replacement is already neck & neck with them anyway.
Brodie / Sam is kinda a combo - I think Scott Barrett is already obviously our #1 lock so its really who comes in as more of a lineout operator I think. Josh Lord is probably first cab off the rank but there's a few other young locks in NZ that look the goods too.
Nepo Laulala - obvious replacement is already an All Black in Fletcher Newell, so we're probably looking at who would be the 6th prop in the squad and I have no idea.
Aaron Smith - Cam Roigaard will be there, Finley Christie probably in the squad and then there's lads like Cortez Ratima or Folau Fakatava as well. NZ is not short on decent half backs, we're just short on ones that have got some international rugger under their belts.
Dane Coles - another instance of replacing a squad member rather than a starting 15 player which is a position NZ isn't often in. Taukeiaho was the #2 #2 already. Of the players coming through, I think Asafo Aumua has been tried and found wanting - if I were NZR i'd be investing time into Tyrone Thompson and Brodie McAlister.
Richie Mo'unga - Interestingly neither Beaudie or Ardie are listed as departing, so they presumably are both eligible for more games. DMac is the first cab off the rank at 10 for mine. Behind him there's a bit of a gap, Perofeta doesn't even play 10 at NPC and didn't get much time at the Blues. I think Blues should go all in on Zarn Sullivan at 10 anyway. Fergus Burke being out injured next year doesn't help, and Reuben Love looks good but needs a campaign or two at 10 to be sure. Big hole for the ABs unless BB is there as cover.
Shannon Frizell - Had a great year but I wished he wasn't in the ABs after his off field stuff. Todd Blackadder, Samipeni Finau - younger dudes but just need time in the saddle.
Leicester Fainga'anuku - Probably should have got more game time, but didn't because you can't deny Telea & Jordan and he was off overseas too early. Jordan will probably play 15, which leaves Emoni Narawa, Shaun Stevenson or Telea.
Ardie/Beaudie - I dunno how ready for international rugby Ardie will be after playing so much rugby back to back. At 8 we've got the likes of Cullen Grace or Devan Flanders, plus Hoskins Sotutu might find some form too. BB gets replaced by Jordan at 15, but if he's still around as a backup 10 that'd be very much a nice to have; albeit Perofeta fills the same role.
The SA HIAs which in effect allowed for rolling Subs, were called by coaches?
‘We really care about our players,’ said the Boks’ director of rugby, adding that the coaches called for multiple head injury assessments against France
If true, then its no surprise that its Rassie coming up with the scheme.
RWC2023 Quarter Final Officials
Interesting selections for the match officials for the quarters.
Fra v SA has an all NZ quartet https://www.rugbyworldcup.com/2023/match/quarter-final-4-winner-pool-a-runner-up-pool-b#match_details
Ire v NZ has an all English quartet https://www.rugbyworldcup.com/2023/match/quarter-final-2-winner-pool-b-runner-up-pool-a#match_details
But the two lower ranked quarters (in terms of sides of the draw, and rankings coming into the tournament) both have mixed appointments.
Jaco Peyper heads up Wales v Arg https://www.rugbyworldcup.com/2023/match/quarter-final-1-winner-pool-c-runner-up-pool-d#match_details
And Mathieu Raynal has Eng v Fiji https://www.rugbyworldcup.com/2023/match/quarter-final-3-winner-pool-d-runner-up-pool-c#match_details
Its an interesting move, you could see the all English all NZ teams as looking to get a consistent view from the team, which sorta sounds like a good idea. Though depending on results either could be used exactly the same in the next matches, or be impossible depending on which teams go through.
The good news is there's no experimenting with giving the whistle to inexperienced ref's, probably the one the NH has seen the least is Ben O'Keefe, but he's taken the whistle in a bunch of finals footy down here and has a pretty good temperament for it.
He's also been pretty adaptable at refereeing to they style requested by the organisers too, say where Super Rugby is really clear on jackals supporting body weight and entry to rucks, but international rugby giving much more lee way - he seems to get the balance on point for whatever series he's in.
Property Industry Donations to Political Parties
The property industry gives more in political donations than any other, and its millions of dollars almost all go to two parties.
$2.5m in donations from the property industry to political parties since 2021. 97% of which has gone to National, Act & NZ First.