Union

Chat here lads.

We got pummelled.

Not much chat here, will share my thoughts on what I saw though:

Watched the ABs Wales game and thought Wales were quite impressive. Sadly for them though the gap is too big and despite us playing pretty badly at times Wales still couldn't quite put enough points on the board to really put us under pressure. The main difference between Wales and the ABs is the bench. When the ABs brought on their reserves they are bringin on guys who are world class, all could easily be starting for the ABs, while Wales persisted with their starters who all got quite tired, presumably because they (like pretty much all other international sides) have quite a big gap between their starters and their bench. In the end the ABs were +20 or so in that last 20 minutes.

The scoreline in the end flattered the ABs but I fear for Wales in the next two test as the ABs will improve by around 10 points in each test match! ABs to win the next two tests by ~30 points on average.

I watched parts of the OZ England game. The bit I watched most of was when the Ozzies were on top and it looked like England didn't really have answers then all of a sudden the score was England ahead by 15+ and from that point OZ seemed on top again (despite being down to 14 for 10min). So not sure what happened in the middle part but obviously England got well on top. I suspect OZ will improve a lot given this was their first test of the year and England were coming off the 6 nations and a build up match or two so one would think this could be an interesting series. I understand Pocock is out though which is a big loss! Eddie Jones does seemed to have sorted out the disaster that was England during the WC though!!! Love watching him hobble around getting stuck into the warm ups with his team. He's a really good coach and barring any major disasters I reckon he will have England right up there come next world cup!!

I also hear Ireland beat SA, in SA and were down to 14 for an hour?? If so congrats to Ireland but that strikes me as absolutely terrible news for SA. They really have gone down hill fast in the last few years!!

Watched all 3 games on the weekend. Best 2 teams were NZ and Wales. SA and AUS had a lot of cobwebs and just werent up for a game against teams who have played (and played well) already this year.

England destroyed our ruck. Saw a lot of rabbiting on social media out terrible reffing with the 8-1 penalty count in the first half. It should have been 9-0 and thats what happens when your getting belted off your feet. Australia looked pretty good in the backline for the most part but just couldnt give them enough ball. England forced too many turnovers or penalties in the ruck to give Foley decent ball.

We can't compete throwing the ball around for 80 minutes like NZ and Aus can, tired after the first 60 and NZ opened us up with the subs like R & T mentioned, we needed to slow the game down and stop kicking it into the middle and let Naholo and Smith run the ball back! stupid tactics

same again when we were 5-10 metres out and losing scrums and line outs, have to take your chances against the big guns!

@Welsy

Lol. Just saw the Chiefs beat Wales.

Finch wrote:@Welsy

Lol. Just saw the Chiefs beat Wales.

fucking abysmal

You could tell from the haka that the Chiefs were there to play.
Looked like a shaky start but powered on.

How good is beaver?!?!

In terms of the ABs match, we always play our best in the last 15mins of games.
New Zealand are the kings of finishing strongly - our fitness has won us numerous games over the years that looked like they were all but gone and more often than not, these games were against South Africa and Australia.

filthridden wrote:You could tell from the haka that the Chiefs were there to play.
Looked like a shaky start but powered on.

How good is beaver?!?!

In terms of the ABs match, we always play our best in the last 15mins of games.
New Zealand are the kings of finishing strongly - our fitness has won us numerous games over the years that looked like they were all but gone and more often than not, these games were against South Africa and Australia.

I don't think its fitness so much anymore that is the reason the ABs run over teams now. It's the class of the bench guys relative to other teams and perhaps just as importantly the type of guys they have on the bench too. Guys like Barrett and Savea for example are near impossible to contain once 60min has been played by the majority of the opposition. Barrett is incredibly quick and up against guys who have been running hard for 60 min he is like a hot knife through butter. Savea is another good example. Very quick for a forward and incredibly powerful. He is a massive handful for opposition teams who are tiring.

Remember when Izzy used to be a good role model? That was fun while it lasted.