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Seven Things We Learned From The Weekend's Internationals
Gather round everyone. Hayden Donnell is about to reveal the insights the gleaned from a torrid night of rugby watching.
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1. People really want the Springboks to fire Allister Coetzee
The Springboks lost to Wales this morning, in what will go down as one of the more unremarkable steps on their road to rugby oblivion. Fans aren’t taking the loss well. Some blame their suffering on South African rugby’s dysfunctional internal politics. Others on the annual exodus of the country’s best players to Northern Hemisphere. But many, many more of them blame one man, and one man only: the demon coach Allister Coetzee.
These are pulled from a selection of roughly 18,327 similar tweets. All of them show South African fans renting their robes and screaming in the general direction of Coetzee, and anyone who has ever collaborated with Coetzee.
South African rugby has announced it will undergo a governance overhaul in the wake of its “profoundly disappointing” season. The picture that accompanies the announcement is of Coetzee, for whatever that’s worth (quite possibly nothing). The problem is that Coetzee is under contract until 2019, and the cash-strapped South African Rugby Union probably don’t to pay him to do nothing for the next three years. It’s going to be an interesting few weeks for South African rugby.
2. Dan Carter did not enjoy his time with the French fans
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He may have been enduring a horrifying flashback to the 2007 Rugby World Cup quarter-final.
3. This is what a real red card looks like
Forget Malakai Fekitoa’s head-high tackle against Ireland; this is how you get sent off in a test match.
Elliot Daly sent off for England after just 4 minutes 34 – a deserved red card? #ENGvARG https://t.co/2et7t1bnpJ
— Sporting Index (@sportingindex) November 26, 2016
Congrats Elliot Daly on a truly terrible decision.
4. Waisake Naholo will hurt you with his mid-air butt attack
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Watch out.
5. Beauden Barrett’s cross-field kicks are incredible
For the second week in a row, Barrett was the only reason the All Blacks won. Most of the credit will go to his intercept try, which was probably worth 14 points given how close the French were to scoring. But spare a thought for the beautiful, lovely, perfect cross-field kick that set up the All Blacks’ first try. It was the second week in a row that the All Blacks had opened the scoring off a cross-field Barrett bomb. Last week, Fekitoa took the reception. This week, Savea reeled it in on the sidelines and delivered an assist to Dagg.
6. Apparently possession means nothing
The All Blacks had about 4% of the total possession against France. Most the time, they treated the ball like a live grenade, lobbing it as far behind the French line as possible. They still won.
New Zealand also lost the possession battle against Ireland last week. It didn’t matter. The All Blacks win by seizing their opportunities better than any other side in rugby.
7. Will Genia is the saddest man in rugby right now
The Wallabies lost to Ireland in a highly entertaining, back-and-forth test match. It put an end to the team’s hopes of recording a Grand Slam on their end-of-year tour, and that fact appears to have cut Will Genia to his core. These are just two of the incredibly grim portraits photographers took of the Wallabies halfback in the minutes after the game.
Someone needs to ask Will if he’s okay. And while you’re at it, check on Michael Cheika. He’s probably still smashing things in the coaching box right now.
Comments on RugbyPass
Thanks Brett, love your articles which are alway pertinent. It’s a difficult topic trying to have a panel adjudicating consistently penalties for red card issues. Many of the mitigating reasons raised are judged subjectively, hence the different outcomes. How to take away subjective opinions?
4 Go to commentsYes Sir! Surprising, just like Fraser would also have escaped sanction if he was a few inches lower, even if it was by accident that he missed! Has there really been talk about those sanctions or is this just sensational journalism? I stopped reading, so might have missed any notations.
4 Go to commentsAI is only as good as the information put in, the nuances of the sport, what you see out the corner of the eye, how you sum up in a split second the situation, yes the AI is a tool but will not help win games, more likely contribute to a loss, Rugby Players are not robots, all AI can do if offer a solution not the solution. AI will effect many sports, help train better golfers etc.
45 Go to commentsIt couldn’t have been Ryan Crotty. He wasn’t selected in either World Cup side - they chose Money Bill instead. And Money Bill only cared about himself, and that manager he had, not the team.
26 Go to commentsYawn 🥱 nobody would give a hoot about this new trophy. End of the day we just have to beat Ireland and NZ this year then they can finally shut up 🤐
13 Go to commentsTalking bout Ryan Crotty? Heard Crotty say in a interview once that SBW doesen't care about the team . He went on to say that whenever they lost a big game, SBW would be happy as if nothing happened, according to him someone who cares would look down.. Personally I think Crotty is in the wrong, not for feeling gutted but for expecting others 2 be like him… I have been a bad loser forever as it matters so much to me but good on you SBW for being able to see the bigger picture….
26 Go to commentsThis sounds like a WWE idea so Americans can also get excited about rugby, RUGBY NEEDS A INTERNATIONAL CALENDER .. The rugby Championship and Six Nations can be held at same time, top 3 of six nations and top 3 of Rugby championship (6 nations should include Georgia AND another qualifying country while Fiji, Japan and Samoa/Tonga qualifier should make out 6 Southern teams).. Scrap June internationals and year end tours. Have a Elite top six Cup and the Bottom 6 in a secondary comp….
13 Go to commentsThe rugby championship would be even stronger with Fiji in it… I know it doesen’t fit the long term plans of NZ or Aus but you are robbing a whole nation of being able to see their best players play for Fiji…. Every second player in NZ and AUS teams has Fijian surnames… shame on you!!! World rugby won’t step in either as France and England has now also joined in…. I guess where money is involved it will always be the poor countries missing out….
84 Go to commentsNo surprise there. How hard can it be to pick a ball off the ground and chuck it to a mate? 😂
2 Go to commentsSometimes people just like a moan mate!
4 Go to commentsexcellent idea ! rugby needs this 💪
13 Go to comments9 Brumbies! What a joke! The best performing team in Oz! Ditch Skelton for Swain or Neville. Ryan Lonergan ahead of McDermott any day! Best selection bolter is Toole … amazing player
12 Go to commentsI like this, but ultimately rugby already has enough trophies. Trying to make more games “consequential" might prove to be a fools errand, although this is a less bad idea than some others. Minor quibble with the title of the article; it isn’t very meaningful to say the boks are the unofficial world champions when it would be functionally impossible for the Raeburn trophy not to be held by the world champions. There’s a period of a few months every 4 years when there is no “unofficial” world champion, and the Raeburn trophy is held by the actual world champions.
13 Go to commentsIts a great idea but one that I dont think will have a lot of traction. It will depend on the prestige that they each hold but if you can do that it would be great. When Japan beat the Boks (my team) I was absolutely devestated but I wont deny the great game they played that day. We were outclassed and it was one of the best games of rugby I have seen. Using an idea like this you might just give the the underdog teams more of an opportunity to beat the big teams and I can absolutely see it being a brilliant display of rugby. They beat us because they planned for that game. It was a great moment for Japan. This way we can remove the 4 year wait and give teams something to aim for outside of World Cup years.
13 Go to commentsHi, Dave here. Happy to answer questions 🥰
13 Go to commentsDon’t think that headline is accurate. It’s great to see Aus doing better but I’m not sure they’ve shown much threat to the top of the table. They shouldn’t be inflating wins against the lousy Highlanders and Crusaders either.
3 Go to commentsSuch a shame Roigard and Aumua picked up long term injuries, probably the two form players in the comp. Also, pretty sure Clarke Dermody isn’t their coach. Got it half right though.
3 Go to commentsOh the Aussie media, they never learn. At least Andrew Kellaway is like “Woah, yeah it’s great, but settle down there guys” having endured years of the Aussie media, fans, and often their players getting ahead of themselves only to fall flat on their faces. Have the “We'll win the Bledisloe for sure this year!” headlines started yet? It’s simple to see what’s going on. The Aussie teams are settled, they didn't lose any of their major players overseas. The Crusaders and Chiefs lost key experienced All Blacks, and Razor in the Crusaders case, and clearly neither are anywhere near as strong as last year (The Canes and Blues would probably be 3rd & 4th if they were). The Highlanders are annually average, even more so post-Aaron Smith and a big squad clean out. The two teams at the top? The two nz sides with largely the same settled roster as last year, except Ardie Savea for the Canes. They’ve both got far better coaches now too. If the Aussies are going to win the title, this is the year the kiwi sides will be weakest, so they better take their chance.
3 Go to commentsThe World Cup has to be the gold standard, line in the sand. 113 teams compete for what is the opportunity to make the pool stages, and then the knockout games for the trophy. The concept is sound. This must have been the rationale when the World Cup was created, surely? But I’m all for Looking forward and finding new ways for the SH to dominate the NH into the future. The autumn series needs a change up. Let’s start by having the NH teams come south every odd year for the Autumn/Spring series games?
13 Go to commentsWhat’ll happen when the AI models of the future go back in time and try to destroy the AI models of the past standing in their way of certain victory?
45 Go to comments