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The Short Ball - s04e19 - The Blues have 9 + 10 problems

This week on The Short Ball: Why is The Blues’ season always next year? Are the Highlanders in with a chance at Super Rugby victory? And Ali dishes the yarns on Dan Carter’s ab committee.

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Listen in to the entire episode below or watch on RPTV plus subscribe on iTunes here so you never miss a thing.

Rugby Australia’s one man problem:

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Steve Borthwick gives explanation for move that left England XV struggling

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England XV player ratings vs France XV | June 2025

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Where to watch England XV vs France XV

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Where to Watch: Lions and England headline big weekend of rugby

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Henry Pollock again splits rugby fans with his Lions debut antics

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The real winners and losers in Lions defeat in Dublin - Andy Goode

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British & Irish Lions player ratings vs Argentina | 2025 Lions series

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‘We didn’t want to interrupt that’: Schmidt explains O’Connor's omission

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Comments on RugbyPass

f
fl 18 minutes ago
England XV player ratings vs France XV | June 2025

England haven’t had good front 5 players for a while, but things do seem to be improving rapidly.


At tighthead there’s Opoku-Fordjour, Fasogbon, & Sela. Plus Heyes is relatively young for a prop so could continue improving.

At loosehead Rodd, Baxter, & Iyogun could also all get better, while Genge is already world class.

At hooker Tuipulotu is going to be massive in a few years, although there could be depth issues.

At second row, bear in mind that Martin, Chessum, & Itoje are all unavailabe atm. England need a 4th option, but those 3 aren’t bad.

11 Go to comments
P
Peter Close 18 minutes ago
Henry Pollock again splits rugby fans with his Lions debut antics

He was (perhaps deliberately) twice ignored by Williams when he was in a position to make one of his runs…….was Williams told by Jac Morgan not to give the ball to Pollock?

7 Go to comments
f
fl 25 minutes ago
England XV player ratings vs France XV | June 2025

youtube - although it misses the first 20 mins

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D
DS 1 hour ago
Chiefs player ratings vs Crusaders | 2025 Super Rugby Pacific Grand Final

So, even though the Chiefs comfortably beat the Crusaders home and away this season, clearly outplaying their opponents; this game (a 4 point thrashing in miserable conditions) will render their AB chances gone? OK.

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D
DS 1 hour ago
Chiefs player ratings vs Crusaders | 2025 Super Rugby Pacific Grand Final

Like the Tahs game v Chiefs DMac was targeted and most players lose concentration or confidence if they get hit enough times. Chiefs could have done the same to Reihana but they seemed to lack a plan of offensive defense targets.

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S
Spud64 1 hour ago
Henry Pollock again splits rugby fans with his Lions debut antics

Your just a total negative Muppet, have you ever played the game

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H
Hammer Head 1 hour ago
How Leinster bullied the Bulls at Croke Park

As is usually the case with Durban - cliques take care of cliques. One would think that the financiers behind the Sharks would expect better.

296 Go to comments
H
Hammer Head 1 hour ago
The Bundee Aki admission about partnership with Sione Tuipulotu

That makes it sound even worse. Losing before they even got on the plane.


The Aussies are a very good bet to win this series.

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D
DJ 1 hour ago
Where to Watch: Lions and England headline big weekend of rugby

World Rugby should remove these posts/adverts as RugbyPass is currently not fit for purpose. If there is an issue with Accounts having been compromised then just shut the whole site down, delete everything, restore to a safe point, hoping like hell that you have Back-Ups, reset all Accounts & ask folk to re-Register with new Passwords.


At the same time, update your Firewalls, Security, issue a BIG BIG BIG Apology & if is an issue caused by a Third Party then name & shame them, sack them & get in a new team.


PS: I am available!

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D
DS 1 hour ago
Departing Chiefs coach reflects on three consecutive final defeats

Who are these better coaches? BA is right in that the Chiefs were maybe a bit too cautious but that’s all hindsight.


Biggest complaint: playing at night in bitter conditions with a dewy ball. The ball hardly got past the first runner. Overall it was a kickfest snore skill wise and hardly a model for entertainment in the premier Super game of the year.


By contrast; in Argentina a game played in mild afternoon conditions it sparkled with enterprise and skill.

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S
SadersMan 2 hours ago
Departing Chiefs coach reflects on three consecutive final defeats

An impressive coach, an impressive man. At age 50, the coaching world is now his oyster. I suspect he’ll be an international Head Coach up North in 3-5 years.

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PM 2 hours ago
Fissler Confidential: French club's failed coup for England star

If Montpellier want him, a £200k fee will not be the stumbling factor and I actually think Top 14 would suit his style of play - less structured defence, more open play, less box kicking aerial contests - this would be a good move for Joe.

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D
DJ 2 hours ago
The real winners and losers in Lions defeat in Dublin - Andy Goode

The even LOOSER this weekend was World Rugby’s RugbyPass with their coverage of the Eng v Fra XVs. How crap, how poor, how symbolic! It is almost as if they have been hacked, been compromised & have lost control of their IT Systems. The World of Rugby needs an explanation & a BIG BIG BIG apology.

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T
TG 2 hours ago
Where to watch England XV vs France XV

A shambles, couldl’t login, password reset took 4 attempts, then wouldn’t load. Tried to watch on Youtube but with the clock not working, no indication of the red card and rubbish commentary gave up after 10mins. If this is the level of commitment World Rugby has to showing games outside of normal broadcasts its gonna die a death.

47 Go to comments
E
Ed the Duck 2 hours ago
How Leinster bullied the Bulls at Croke Park

Nobody would want to dilute Leinster’s academy model, why would they? That Ulsters’ academy roster is almost half the size of Leinsters’ points to discrepancies in either player development success, funding provision, or perhaps even both! What I think would help is greater transparency around the funding of each province and how this connects to the IRFU strategic plan. It’s clear that each province is uniquely different in its own way and a ‘one size fits all’ approach would not be the way forward. However when there is a province that has gone from blazing a path 25 years ago to find itself languishing at the bottom end of the URC & EPCR comps, and showing few signs of improvement, questions can and should be asked. As I said, the IRFU are the controlling body and the buck stops with them.

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D
DJ 2 hours ago
Where to watch England XV vs France XV

Will World Rugby ever explain WTF went on during the (attempted) coverage of the Eng v Fra (XVs) game? I was thrown out of the coverage, tried to log back in only to be told that my Password didn’t match so I immediately applied for a Password Reset so expected an instantaneous email to get a 6 Digit Code to enable me to reset the password. Said email turned up circa 11 (eleven) hours later (03:39am). Sarcastically I still tried to use the code but it didn’t work. I asked for a new code to be emailed almost 2 hours ago & I’m still waiting for that email.


No wonder it takes 5 years to make a decision about what World Rugby should or should not do!!!!! Just poor.

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GrahamVF 3 hours ago
Has Quade Cooper solved a Lions riddle for Australia?

Agreed JS. The English have a similar attitude towards rough diamonds. In Oz it’s part of the tall poppy syndrome in England it’s part of their class system. He wasn’t taught the how to behave at the right school. It permeates rugby and cricket there - remember Kevin Petersen?

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GrahamVF 3 hours ago
How Leinster bullied the Bulls at Croke Park

“The Sharks have a lot of good players but they have no framework to show their skills.”

Meant to reply ages ago but for what it’s worth. The Sharks are obsessed with Plumtree because he will do anything to stay in Durban. His wife is from KZN and has a good job there. Also he played in the first Currie Cup win back in the Ian Mac era.

296 Go to comments
J
JW 3 hours ago
Crusaders player ratings vs Chiefs | 2025 Super Rugby Pacific Grand Final

Hes being left out apparently. No word that he’s signed on past this year that I’ve seen. Shame, that’s probably the most he’s ever played in a season and it would have been only half done otherwise.

46 Go to comments
J
JW 3 hours ago
Crusaders player ratings vs Chiefs | 2025 Super Rugby Pacific Grand Final

They do anything special for the last game? Take a seat home?

46 Go to comments
LONG READ
LONG READ A glut of Lions balances the less than rosy state of the Irish rugby garden A glut of Lions balances the less than rosy state of the Irish rugby garden
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