Mannering will be a big lose for the Kiwis.
11 days later
Kiwis get home 17 -16 , a bit scratchy, but the good news was Shaun Johnson was good , man of the match ,
We all know he is hot and cold ,but any chance the kiwis have in this tournament involves him hitting form
Sure it was 17-16 but I was impressed that the Kiwis took the one point lead with about 15 mins to go and shut down England the rest of the way (who have some top NRL talent, some whom I didn't know were Poms).
Good that SJ has found some form again, love it when he intercepts for the run away try.
Btw, is England fullback Jonny Lomax the son of former Kiwis prop John Lomax?
@Sneakdefreak Is he? He looks pretty white..... Good game, SJ had a great kicking game and picked Widdop's pocket for the try. I was impressed by our 1 and 5 who I'm not familiar with. Big hard running boys
No relation.
Lomax's son was actually an U20 Australian rugby rep last year.
Of course it did. That's why the Pommie players and crowd started losing their shit ... oh hang on ...
@mariner4life No way did it miss. That's like saying Beaver's kick missed 
the way the people around SJ reacted seemed to be consistant with the TJ's raising their flags....but that doesn't suit a good old conspiracy.
I reckon the Kiwis get favourable treatment cos they wear black and as such are confused with the ABs by the all mighty beings that determine who gets favourable calls in sport.
@taniwharugby Then why don't the black caps get mistaken for the ABs?
@taniwharugby I just thought it was because we are a bit shit. Or it could be your explanation
I see that Kidwell has gone the conservative route once again by selecting Beale to cover Nightingale. What's with this guy? Does he despise players with X factor? Surely players such as Fuss or DWZ would have been better selections. How can we even dream of beating Australia if we select a backline that is incapable of scoring tries. Total plum this Kidwell.
Aussie win 14-8 in a tough test match. Kiwis did alright and in terms of the tournament, appear to be setting themselves up a good run down the home straight.
Of course none of this will matter in NZ because they just lost to Ireland for the first time in about 110 years.
the good thing about this tournament for us , like in the past, we only need one big performance to win it ,
and I think it suits us even more now for the hopeful ambush , now that Australia have moved into firm favorites
@booboo said in The NRL Season of 2016:
Say the Poms beat Aus what's the tie breaker?
Points diff?
i think so , what is in our favor there , Mal and Bennet are in a public feud , Bennet tried to undermine Mal and pinch his job as Aussie coach ,
Mal will have them fired up, its personal
@kiwiinmelb said in The NRL Season of 2016:
@booboo said in The NRL Season of 2016:
Say the Poms beat Aus what's the tie breaker?
Points diff?
i think so , what is in our favor there , Mal and Bennet are in a public feud , Bennet tried to undermine Mal and pinch his job as Aussie coach ,
Mal will have them fired up, its personal
Which could possibly throw the Kangaroos off their game.
@ACT-Crusader said in The NRL Season of 2016:
@kiwiinmelb said in The NRL Season of 2016:
@booboo said in The NRL Season of 2016:
Say the Poms beat Aus what's the tie breaker?
Points diff?
i think so , what is in our favor there , Mal and Bennet are in a public feud , Bennet tried to undermine Mal and pinch his job as Aussie coach ,
Mal will have them fired up, its personal
Which could possibly throw the Kangaroos off their game.
possibly , i was just thinking what wouldve been a dead rubber game for them, now has some spice
surprised no chat around the "rugby league player banned and sacked after acting like rugby league player who just won a GF"
Ben Barba tested positive for cocaine after the GF. The NRL of course suspended him for 12 games, and the Sharks released him.
And the response-by-numbers clicked in to gear
Barba fucked off to Thailand to go to "rehab"
The whole thing was blamed on "personal issues" ex-team mates came out and said they saw no visible signs of his "problems"
Rival clubs immediately started circling to sign him up.
Seriously, i wish, just once, they would all cut the crap. Admit you got caught; you did it because it's fun, not because you are battling demons; not have your team mates come out and pretend it could have been any one of them unlucky enough to get tested at the wrong time; not fuck off to some overseas "rehab" joint. And have the club keep you, and say we would rather have him than play against him next year.
"Yea mate, look, i was in to the marching powder pretty hard after the granny, the Sharks hadn't won in like a hundred years mate, so the shire was going off, and it was just getting thrown at us. I mean, who is turning down free rails? But i pushed it a bit hard, and the fucking testers got me before i could get it all out. My PR guy reckons i need to get out of the spotlight for a bit, so i am off to Thailand to drink cocktails on the beach for a couple of weeks until someone else takes the heat off me. I'll be turning out for the Sharkies again next year because the thought of me playing for St George is worse than the heat from the sponsors' missus apparently".
@mariner4life no doubt the tell all in a slightly dimmed room with hard hitting questions from the Footy Show will be on the cards for the week before round 1....
@kiwiinmelb said in The NRL Season of 2016:
And the kiwis draw with that super power of rugby league , Scotland .
I didnt watch but was following online, it sounded like they were lucky to nab a draw (Kiwis, not Scotland/England B )
David Kidwell won't be coach of the Kiwis for the RLWC next year and his two assistants shouldn't be there right now.
@Sneakdefreak said in The NRL Season of 2016:
David Kidwell won't be coach of the Kiwis for the RLWC next year and his two assistants shouldn't be there right now.
@Sneakdefreak said in The NRL Season of 2016:
David Kidwell won't be coach of the Kiwis for the RLWC next year and his two assistants shouldn't be there right now.
Aren't these the same assistants 'let go' by the Warriors just a few weeks ago?
apparently Kearney offered kidwell his assistance and he knocked it back .
Can't help but think kidwell needed experienced people around him to ease him in , like Kearney had with Bennett .
Looking a bit out of his depth ATM.
It was a poor performance and against a better side we would've got 40 put on us. Kicking game still a massive concern.
@Virgil said in The NRL Season of 2016:
@Sneakdefreak said in The NRL Season of 2016:
David Kidwell won't be coach of the Kiwis for the RLWC next year and his two assistants shouldn't be there right now.
@Sneakdefreak said in The NRL Season of 2016:
David Kidwell won't be coach of the Kiwis for the RLWC next year and his two assistants shouldn't be there right now.
Aren't these the same assistants 'let go' by the Warriors just a few weeks ago?
One of them was - Justin Murphy aka the worst defensive skills coach known to mankind. Shame the NZRL couldn't maybe get Ivan Cleary or even someone like Tim Sheens to take on an advisor role for this tour.
As long as the other game goes to plan we will limp into the final where we only need to play 80 minutes of champagne footy
I watched that scotland (the only one I have watched of the 3.5N) game and thought it was hilarious.
So badly played was that game by us that I will probably not bother wirh the final.
Thurston will run a muck and theyll score at will.
@raznomore not saying it's going to happen but these are the times when the Kiwis and the Warriors pull an effort out of thier arse and surprise everyone. That's what I am telling myself anyway.