@Machpants said in Black Ferns v Wales RWC:

@Bones said in Black Ferns v Wales RWC:

@Machpants said in Black Ferns v Wales RWC:

@Bones said in Black Ferns v Wales RWC:

Blatant truck and trailer.

Fuck off black has not taken that into the in goal! It was clearly Wales trying to place it and having it stolen!

Really need to ditch refs officiating games with their own country involved...

Dude is nothing to do with country, it's just general incompetence of all these amateur refs. The non Welsh TMO agreed

It's a joke.

You should only tell a joke once.

Foster is fat

Ref is Scottish. I think? TMO is probably a Brit too...

Krystal Murray is folding like a deck of cards. Her form his terrible.

Refreshing to see penalties for not rolling away.

Hirini has been poor, by her abilities

I hope McLeod is watching the Ferns rush

@Machpants said in Black Ferns v Wales RWC:

I hope McLeod is watching the Ferns rush

If only the ABs opponents were Welsh women eh?

Am I right in thinking that's the first time the ref has put her arm out for red not rolling away?

@Bones said in Black Ferns v Wales RWC:

@Machpants said in Black Ferns v Wales RWC:

I hope McLeod is watching the Ferns rush

If only the ABs opponents were Welsh women eh?

Am I right in thinking that's the first time the ref has put her arm out for red not rolling away?

Dunno, wouldn't surprise

Has NZ rugby thought about raiding the netball/basketball ranks for some height at lock?

Ref trying to make a game of it, what was the yellow for?

@Joans-Town-Jones said in Black Ferns v Wales RWC:

Has NZ rugby thought about raiding the netball/basketball ranks for some height at lock?

Our locks seem tall enough.

@Machpants said in Black Ferns v Wales RWC:

Ref trying to make a game of it, what was the yellow for?

Deliberate knock down...booboo will be livid.

Great try for Tui made by Woodman to end the game.

Good but not great effort from the girls, some big work-ons and Smith is probably clearer now as to his top team.

@RoninWC yeah, he won't be selecting this week's Ruby Tui. Hopefully last week's Ruby Tui is available.

@Bones said in Black Ferns v Wales RWC:

@RoninWC yeah, he won't be selecting this week's Ruby Tui. Hopefully last week's Ruby Tui is available.

Agreed but when you compare Tui this week at fullback to last week's fullback, things get a little more murky.

From the first 2 games, I think that Stacey Flueler has to be in the starting side and Woodman is definitely locked in. 10, 12 and 15 are still question marks.

As a self confessed fan, Ayesha should be there too.

@RoninWC said in Black Ferns v Wales RWC:

@Bones said in Black Ferns v Wales RWC:

@RoninWC yeah, he won't be selecting this week's Ruby Tui. Hopefully last week's Ruby Tui is available.

Agreed but when you compare Tui this week at fullback to last week's fullback, things get a little more murky.

From the first 2 games, I think that Stacey Flueler has to be in the starting side and Woodman is definitely locked in. 10, 12 and 15 are still question marks.

As a self confessed fan, Ayesha should be there too.

Actually, based on today's game, at 10 I'd have Demant. She played really well, run the cutter well, cleaned up a lot and was pretty cool, calm and collected.

@RoninWC said in Black Ferns v Wales RWC:

@RoninWC said in Black Ferns v Wales RWC:

@Bones said in Black Ferns v Wales RWC:

@RoninWC yeah, he won't be selecting this week's Ruby Tui. Hopefully last week's Ruby Tui is available.

Agreed but when you compare Tui this week at fullback to last week's fullback, things get a little more murky.

From the first 2 games, I think that Stacey Flueler has to be in the starting side and Woodman is definitely locked in. 10, 12 and 15 are still question marks.

As a self confessed fan, Ayesha should be there too.

Actually, based on today's game, at 10 I'd have Demant. She played really well, run the cutter well, cleaned up a lot and was pretty cool, calm and collected.

Seems really onto it from the interview I just saw too, speaks really well.

Well. Not impressive but flush the dunny...

Not impressed with the scrum.

Bit too much too early too.

@booboo said in Black Ferns v Wales RWC:

Well. Not impressive but flush the dunny...

Not impressed with the scrum.

Bit too much too early too.

Scrum, yeah. The props don't set right. Too high. Backs not straight. They all run too high into contact.

France and England are just going to be too strong in that area.

@Joans-Town-Jones said in Black Ferns v Wales RWC:

@booboo said in Black Ferns v Wales RWC:

Well. Not impressive but flush the dunny...

Not impressed with the scrum.

Bit too much too early too.

Scrum, yeah. The props don't set right. Too high. Backs not straight. They all run too high into contact.

France and England are just going to be too strong in that area.

Wales were hugely strong in that area and where did it get them? A long way last.
We need a couple of seasons to catch up in that area but there’s still hope for beating the big guns.
We are very good at bending the line and turning half breaks into metres. If a team gets out of shape we can pounce.
England also thrash Wales on the scoreboard so it is still hard to tell if our strengths can beat theirs.
Key for us is avoiding France in the Semi.
France are very likely to go into the knockouts seeded 4th and if the top 4 seeds go through to the semis the top seed will play France.
We need to hold back on the scoreboard and let England take 1st seed on points diff. I think they are just ahead at the moment and they play SA while we play Scotland.

Edit: forgot England didn’t get a BP so we will likely be seeded 1 anyway and England 2 or 3. Basically to win the whole thing we will have to beat France and England in the knockouts.

Referee was excellent, no need for male refs just good ones.

NZ 10 was my WOTM. Controlled game very well and kicking out of hand very good (goal kicking meh).

NZ front five were very good except in the scrum where they were hopeless.

Don’t think we can beat England or France if we can’t sort the scrum.

Do we really think cocksedge is still the best 9?

@Billy-Tell said in Black Ferns v Wales RWC:

Referee was excellent, no need for male refs just good ones.

NZ 10 was my WOTM. Controlled game very well and kicking out of hand very good (goal kicking meh).

NZ front five were very good except in the scrum where they were hopeless.

Don’t think we can beat England or France if we can’t sort the scrum.

Do we really think cocksedge is still the best 9?

Pretty much don't agree with any of that, but your question is valid. Kendra was less than assured when she came on

@Machpants said in Black Ferns v Wales RWC:

@Billy-Tell said in Black Ferns v Wales RWC:

Referee was excellent, no need for male refs just good ones.

NZ 10 was my WOTM. Controlled game very well and kicking out of hand very good (goal kicking meh).

NZ front five were very good except in the scrum where they were hopeless.

Don’t think we can beat England or France if we can’t sort the scrum.

Do we really think cocksedge is still the best 9?

Pretty much don't agree with any of that, but your question is valid. Kendra was less than assured when she came on

So you think we can beat England or Frsnce without a scrum…

@Billy-Tell said in Black Ferns v Wales RWC:

Do we really think cocksedge is still the best 9?

I am glad you asked. Bayler's quick, flat passes were key to NZ's attack today. Cocksedge was TJP-like with her passing. Unfortunately the latter will start the big games despite having the worst pass of the 3 halfbacks in the squad.

It's hard to know what to make of the scrum. The props that started today are the best scrummagers and dominated Love and Rule in SR Aupiki. I think part of the problem is that Roos doesn't have the same power as Ngan-Woo at lock and the flankers needed to stay bound to support the front five. Connor is a better scrummaging hooker than Ponsonby.

A big work-on as England and France will definitely target the scrum.

Just as well Portia scored some of those tries by beating the last defender as the simple option was to pass to the supporting player.

Yip I thought her passing was awful - big loopy things. As well, she is not quick, so slow to breakaway breakdowns etc. What she brings is experience and game management, but she is a brake on quick attacking play.

@Billy-Tell said in Black Ferns v Wales RWC:

@Machpants said in Black Ferns v Wales RWC:

@Billy-Tell said in Black Ferns v Wales RWC:

Referee was excellent, no need for male refs just good ones.

NZ 10 was my WOTM. Controlled game very well and kicking out of hand very good (goal kicking meh).

NZ front five were very good except in the scrum where they were hopeless.

Don’t think we can beat England or France if we can’t sort the scrum.

Do we really think cocksedge is still the best 9?

Pretty much don't agree with any of that, but your question is valid. Kendra was less than assured when she came on

So you think we can beat England or Frsnce without a scrum…

They didn't lose every scrum, and won a few. If we have our best scrummagers, we won't dominate but will hopefully be enough to not give penalties every time

@Billy-Tell said in Black Ferns v Wales RWC:

Yip I thought her passing was awful - big loopy things. As well, she is not quick, so slow to breakaway breakdowns etc. What she brings is experience and game management, but she is a brake on quick attacking play.

Is, is that you TJ?

@Bones said in Black Ferns v Wales RWC:

Gee I wish we could get local commentators.

NZ starting the second half exactly how they started the first?

You not get Rikki Swannel and Karl Te Nana?

@Joans-Town-Jones said in Black Ferns v Wales RWC:

Why the feck did they play this test in the worst "stadium" in NZ?

There are worse. Orangetheory for example

@Joans-Town-Jones said in Black Ferns v Wales RWC:

Why the feck did they play this test in the worst "stadium" in NZ?

And how many people would turn up to a better stadium anyway?

@His-Bobness said in Black Ferns v Wales RWC:

Just as well goal/kicking is not making the difference

Just coming back to this. A couple of times try scorers might have tried a bit harder to get closer to the posts.

@Bones said in Black Ferns v Wales RWC:

@Machpants said in Black Ferns v Wales RWC:

Ref trying to make a game of it, what was the yellow for?

Deliberate knock down...booboo will be livid.

Umm ... yeah ... cough ... "forward" ...

@booboo said in Black Ferns v Wales RWC:

Well. Not impressive but flush the dunny...

Not impressed with the scrum.

Bit too much too early too.

Way too much use of "too".

Made sense at the time.

@booboo said in Black Ferns v Wales RWC:

@Bones said in Black Ferns v Wales RWC:

Gee I wish we could get local commentators.

NZ starting the second half exactly how they started the first?

You not get Rikki Swannel and Karl Te Nana?

Nah we've had Brits except for Ken for the Fiji game. They probably thought that was a step too far after mangling all the Maori/Poly/Fiji names up to then.

Our backline play and forwards interplay with ball in hand is looking sharp. We just need the forwards to hold their own at setpiece timeand get something close to parity to give us a chance

@canefan said in Black Ferns v Wales RWC:

Our backline play and forwards interplay with ball in hand is looking sharp. We just need the forwards to hold their own at setpiece timeand get something close to parity to give us a chance

Opposition know it is fairly simple: don't give NZ the ball for anything resembling a long period. Too much skill, and pace in support play.

@NTA said in Black Ferns v Wales RWC:

@canefan said in Black Ferns v Wales RWC:

Our backline play and forwards interplay with ball in hand is looking sharp. We just need the forwards to hold their own at setpiece timeand get something close to parity to give us a chance

Opposition know it is fairly simple: don't give NZ the ball for anything resembling a long period. Too much skill, and pace in support play.

England and France will try to choke the life out of us in the forwards

@Bovidae said in Black Ferns v Wales RWC:

@Billy-Tell said in Black Ferns v Wales RWC:

Do we really think cocksedge is still the best 9?

I am glad you asked. Bayler's quick, flat passes were key to NZ's attack today. Cocksedge was TJP-like with her passing. Unfortunately the latter will start the big games despite having the worst pass of the 3 halfbacks in the squad.

I agree her passing isn’t great and it put us under a bit of pressure but I do like her defending, communication and her support play. She does tend to be there when breaks are made. Whether or not that means she gets the start against tougher opposition I’m not sure.

@ACT-Crusader her form reminds me of BB pre Aus 2. You can see the nous and ability that's there, but she just seems to be that touch hamstrung and tentative, which really shows at the top level. Fingers crossed she gets over that small funk.

Thought Woodmans second try was Lomuesque

@Crucial said in Black Ferns v Wales RWC:

@Joans-Town-Jones said in Black Ferns v Wales RWC:

@booboo said in Black Ferns v Wales RWC:

Well. Not impressive but flush the dunny...

Not impressed with the scrum.

Bit too much too early too.

Scrum, yeah. The props don't set right. Too high. Backs not straight. They all run too high into contact.

France and England are just going to be too strong in that area.

Wales were hugely strong in that area and where did it get them? A long way last.
We need a couple of seasons to catch up in that area but there’s still hope for beating the big guns.
We are very good at bending the line and turning half breaks into metres. If a team gets out of shape we can pounce.
England also thrash Wales on the scoreboard so it is still hard to tell if our strengths can beat theirs.
Key for us is avoiding France in the Semi.
France are very likely to go into the knockouts seeded 4th and if the top 4 seeds go through to the semis the top seed will play France.
We need to hold back on the scoreboard and let England take 1st seed on points diff. I think they are just ahead at the moment and they play SA while we play Scotland.

Edit: forgot England didn’t get a BP so we will likely be seeded 1 anyway and England 2 or 3. Basically to win the whole thing we will have to beat France and England in the knockouts.

The scrums went each way. Our props were hunched over in the engagement. We're going to get mollered on the hit by the Poms and Frogs.