Nations Championship

Regardless of whether or not Lucu is better than Roigard I think Roigard is our most important player and probably our best player.

He's our most important player because the gap between him and his back up is larger than any other position.

In the relatively low win % era's of Foster and Robertson, Roigard has won 88% of All Black games. Two losses. Last year against England when the game was evenly scored just after halftime and Roigard went off.

The other game against South Africa when Scott Barrett got a red and Cane got a yellow in London. He comes off the bench and scores a stunning 60m solo try.

He took so much pressure off our flakey 10s.

@Kevin-Strydom its going to be hard to judge on Sat as the French are not at full strength so I suspect Roigard and Love will look a bit better than them. Personally I don't think Lucu and Jalibert are much better but I will be watching with care come Saturday.

@brodean said in Nations Championship:

Regardless of whether or not Lucu is better than Roigard I think Roigard is our most important player and probably our best player.

He's our most important player because the gap between him and his back up is larger than any other position.

In the relatively low win % era's of Foster and Robertson, Roigard has won 88% of All Black games. Two losses. Last year against England when the game was evenly scored just after halftime and Roigard went off.

The other game against South Africa when Scott Barrett got a red and Cane got a yellow in London. He comes off the bench and scores a stunning 60m solo try.

He took so much pressure off our flakey 10s.

Flakey 10 singular. Roigard was injured for the first half of 2024 and has not played with McKenzie much at all.

edit, fuck it I'll quantify it, cause it's another of the conflating BB and DM issue which irritates me.
2024: McKenzie started at 10 in one game with Roigard at 9, against Japan. He had 30m of Roigard from the bench in one game (Ireland, BB injury). McKenzie's halfbacks were Perenara, Christie, Ratima.
2025: McKenzie had Roigard in the 2nd Aussie game when BB was injured.

So one start with Roigard against Australia last year + 30m against Ireland the year before.

Who’s everyone picking over the weekend?

I’m going

• ABs by 20 over France.
• Italy by 10 over Japan
• Wallabies by 7 over Ireland
• Springboks by 13 over England
• Scotland by 3 over Argentina
• Fiji by 3 over Wales

Weekend predections, since apparently the tournament needed a spreadsheet and a concussion protocol: NZ 31 France 19; Italy 27 Japan 20; Australia 24 Ireland 21; South Africa 29 England 15; Scotland 26 Argentina 23; Fiji 30 Wales 22. Wales away in Cardiff is peak rugby administration, naturally.

@mikedogz said in Nations Championship:

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Well earned

He was excellent for Japan A vs Maori ABs last week

@TSF-Bot said in Nations Championship:

Weekend predections, since apparently the tournament needed a spreadsheet and a concussion protocol: NZ 31 France 19; Italy 27 Japan 20; Australia 24 Ireland 21; South Africa 29 England 15; Scotland 26 Argentina 23; Fiji 30 Wales 22. Wales away in Cardiff is peak rugby administration, naturally.

More money and easier travel schedule

NZ
Italy
Ireland
England
Argentina
Wales

I'm backing a Southern (plus Japan) clean sweep this weekend. Japan v Italy might the tightest.

@Mr-Fish I only just realised Japan are considered SH.

@Mr-Fish said in Nations Championship:

I'm backing a Southern (plus Japan) clean sweep this weekend. Japan v Italy might the tightest.

Japan thumping the Italians.

@Bones said in Nations Championship:

@Mr-Fish I only just realised Japan are considered SH.

It's really Europe v ROW but that doesn't sound as good.

Japan looking good so far while Italy look out of sorts but still only two tries in it. Japan had a bigger lead last week.

Zimbabwe playing a great brand of rugby against Tonga. Up 24 - 19 with 15 minutes to go. Patrick Pellegrini currently in the bin.

Tonga have butchered three easy tries.

@SouthernMann I can't remember seeing someone get a card for back chat. Are there any other notable examples of this happening?

@fale009 said in Nations Championship:

@SouthernMann I can't remember seeing someone get a card for back chat. Are there any other notable examples of this happening?

Didn't James Small get one back in the day?

@nostrildamus Of course it happened with Wayne Barnes as ref

@Fale009 said in Nations Championship:

@nostrildamus Of course it happened with Wayne Barnes as ref

Tolu Latu has serious form in terms of doing stupid shit

@SouthernMann said in Nations Championship:

Zimbabwe playing a great brand of rugby against Tonga. Up 24 - 19 with 15 minutes to go. Patrick Pellegrini currently in the bin.

Tonga have butchered three easy tries.

And Tonga scores two quick tries shortly after your post SM, to steal the win.

That second try by Zimbabwe was sweet. The left wing had the low centre of gravity was tough to get down.

@Canes4life said in Nations Championship:

Who’s everyone picking over the weekend?

I’m going

• ABs by 20 over France.
• Italy by 10 over Japan
• Wallabies by 7 over Ireland
• Springboks by 13 over England
• Scotland by 3 over Argentina
• Fiji by 3 over Wales

Hmmm, you are not very good at picking scores, aren't you ?

I was working in Cardiff Central train station last night

Lots of Fijian supporters heading back to England and to a man and woman happy, huge humans

@cgrant said in Nations Championship:

@Canes4life said in Nations Championship:

Who’s everyone picking over the weekend?

I’m going

• ABs by 20 over France.
• Italy by 10 over Japan
• Wallabies by 7 over Ireland
• Springboks by 13 over England
• Scotland by 3 over Argentina
• Fiji by 3 over Wales

Hmmm, you are not very good at picking scores, aren't you ?

Way to rub it in mate.

Samoa are a frustrating team to watch. Georgia had a well-deserved win but Samoa created enough chances to beat them. Mistakes and poor options.

@Bovidae said in Nations Championship:

Samoa are a frustrating team to watch. Georgia had a well-deserved win but Samoa created enough chances to beat them. Mistakes and poor options.

Yeah, they have talent, but make silly decisions in the game.

What did Umaga-Jensen say to get penalised?

I wonder what sort of team Samoa will put together for the RWC? They might pick up Akira?

@Nepia Ioane would be a good pick-up. Might be a few more. Is AJ Lam Samoa qualified?

A Latin lions would be way better than the B&I Lions.

@Bovidae said in Nations Championship:

Samoa are a frustrating team to watch. Georgia had a well-deserved win but Samoa created enough chances to beat them. Mistakes and poor options.

I watched the first half of the Romania game last night and thought they attacked far better in this one, but still lack pace/ overall game control.

Just looked at the score to see they lost it at the death with a try and conversion to Romania after the siren had gone off.

I think there's a problem with how this tournament is set up, but I can't quite put my finger on it.

@ACT-Crusader Didn't watch today's game but watched the previous two games. They have regressed a fair bit since getting rid of Seilala Mapusua as coach. They didn't look all that good under him but they were light years ahead of this Tusi Pisi-coached group.

As a Samoan, it is sad to see how pathetic Samoa and Tonga look today but at the same time it is quite deserved. Corruption and mismanagement has been the over overarching theme since the 90s and will never be fixed. The only difference now is that more countries are playing and while they progress, we regress.

@Tim said in Nations Championship:

@Nepia Ioane would be a good pick-up. Might be a few more. Is AJ Lam Samoa qualified?

The guys who said they will play are Akira, Shaun Stevenson and Josh Ioane. I think Manu Tuilagi wants to play too if he is healthy. That is all well and good but this is the same situation every cup. These guys come in at the end of the cycle, play the world cup and then piss off and rarely play again.

@Fale009 said in Nations Championship:

@Tim said in Nations Championship:

@Nepia Ioane would be a good pick-up. Might be a few more. Is AJ Lam Samoa qualified?

The guys who said they will play are Akira, Shaun Stevenson and Josh Ioane. I think Manu Tuilagi wants to play too if he is healthy. That is all well and good but this is the same situation every cup. These guys come in at the end of the cycle, play the world cup and then piss off and rarely play again.

Yeah, goes from a bunch of 30 something ex ABs/Wallabies players for the major tournaments, then back down to Auckland Club Rugby/NPC bench players inbetween times.

@sparky

Australian bias on the official site.

@Fale009 said in Nations Championship:

@Tim said in Nations Championship:

@Nepia Ioane would be a good pick-up. Might be a few more. Is AJ Lam Samoa qualified?

The guys who said they will play are Akira, Shaun Stevenson and Josh Ioane. I think Manu Tuilagi wants to play too if he is healthy. That is all well and good but this is the same situation every cup. These guys come in at the end of the cycle, play the world cup and then piss off and rarely play again.

Sadly that is the nature of the beast at the moment, and until the NH dominated WR decide to value all levels of international rugby and penalise unions who allow their clubs to engage in restrictive contracts then this will keep happening.

I think Samoa always has to put out the best team possible for the RWC (and those three Maori players and the English overstayer definitely help that) to keep putting pressure on the powers that be.

Both Samoa and Tonga end with two losses. HKC beating Uruguay in the upset.

@Bovidae said in Nations Championship:

Both Samoa and Tonga end with two losses. HKC beating Uruguay in the upset.

As someone with Portuguese ancestry and a distinct hatred of Tonga (only in a sporting sense) I'm very pleased with that result in the minor scheme of things, but it is troubling in the wider scheme.

@Nepia said in Nations Championship:

@Fale009 said in Nations Championship:

@Tim said in Nations Championship:

@Nepia Ioane would be a good pick-up. Might be a few more. Is AJ Lam Samoa qualified?

The guys who said they will play are Akira, Shaun Stevenson and Josh Ioane. I think Manu Tuilagi wants to play too if he is healthy. That is all well and good but this is the same situation every cup. These guys come in at the end of the cycle, play the world cup and then piss off and rarely play again.

Sadly that is the nature of the beast at the moment, and until the NH dominated WR decide to value all levels of international rugby and penalise unions who allow their clubs to engage in restrictive contracts then this will keep happening.

I think Samoa always has to put out the best team possible for the RWC (and those three Maori players and the English overstayer definitely help that) to keep putting pressure on the powers that be.

How do you think they would do that? Currently clubs can't prevent players from playing international rugby (during the appropriate windows). There's nothing in their contracts that prevent them from linking up with their international sides, it's by choice they stay with their clubs. Even last year a whole bunch of Pacific players chose to play NPC over PNC.