2014 America's Rugby Championship

[LittleGuy]

20-9 for the Jags as another soft try is conceded, now two Canadians in the bin so down to 13 for a few minutes, this one starting to slip away.

Edit: This one's over Jags getting two more tries, up 32-9 now. They are havign a great 2nd half while Canada have had none of the breaks and fatigue starting to settle in.

 

[poopiepeople]

Yeah I stopped watching a little after the second half

 

[LittleGuy]

Well a promising first half is undone by a disastrous 2nd half with soft tries conceded, yellow cards, fatigue and poor bench appearances, and this one ends 39-9 and Canada's ARC campaign for the 2nd straight year is a flop and mericfully ends. I'll do a review of some players tommorow but can't say more than 4-5 guys raised their stock in this year's event.

 

[Beerfalo]

This last year has really got me question Crowley and Rugby Canada as a whole. If this is the best we can send out domestically then we should be ashamed. Especially of the Backs who seem lost out there more often than not. If Canada doesn't beat Romania, the Championship XV and Namibia while playing Samoa hard then maybe Canada should start to explore other options and if they fall on their face at the RWC then maybe Crowley should go. Just a frustrated Canadians opinion.

 

[LittleGuy]

There has been a bizarre feeling to most of the moves Rugby Canada on the XV's side have done since we qualified for the RWC, this last year has been a flop and their have been questionable decisions made concerning lineups, captaincies etc. I'm not sure why more 7's reinforcments weren't brought in for this game in particular.

I have to agree on the objectives of the tour 2-2 is a bare minimum and 3-1 is realistially what we should be aiming at, barring us not getting pro's for the RFU game.

 

[psychic duck]

There has been a bizarre feeling to most of the moves Rugby Canada on the XV's side have done since we qualified for the RWC, this last year has been a flop and their have been questionable decisions made concerning lineups, captaincies etc. I'm not sure why more 7's reinforcments weren't brought in for this game in particular.

I have to agree on the objectives of the tour 2-2 is a bare minimum and 3-1 is realistially what we should be aiming at, barring us not getting pro's for the RFU game.

The RFU Champ game will be to experiment rather than the result being all important. Tbh I don't buy the pressure on Crowley though, let's not forget his side thrashed the USA to qualify and he but for a highly debatable referee call could have brought Canada their first Tier 1 win for over a decade, and that was from inheriting a side so bad it was losing that game 41-0 a few years back. When you look at some of the high profile expensive appointments your Northern neighbours have made which turned out to be a waste of money, I wouldn't be in a rush to get rid of Crowley. Romania have surely used all their luck up and two massive fluke wins last November, if they have their best team Canada should be a cut above both them and Namibia.

 

[LittleGuy]

If you thought we were being harsh on Crowley PD(and maybe we are, this could be a bit of a rough patch in an otherwise good tenure), here's BC Rugby News BEFORE the Argentina game. Some of the following is very OTT.


http://www.bcrugbynews.com/show_news.cfm?ID=1363



"We sit at an all time low in the iRB rankings, our U20 team almost came last in Tier 2 last year and may not make Tier 2 this year if they don't beat the USA, we've just lost to the Americans twice at the ARC, our home tournament. What does it take to admit something is wrong?

Before looking at the players you have to look at management, from the top right down to the coaches and selectors. There's this stubborn arrogance that permeates their decision making which includes continuing to flog the CRC as the saviour of Canadian rugby. This all-star CRC team proves that it's not working, yet they refuse to consider alternatives. The use of McRorie again at #10 is another example of stubbornness winning out over common sense, even the guy sweeping the aisles at the stadium knew this was a bad idea after the first game, yet rather than look at alternatives they dove right back in. Someone is getting paid good money to make these decisions.

The current kiwi management team of Chu, Lancaster and Crowley would rather see players who show promise go over and play 3rd division in Ubakistan than play in the BC Premier. On the other hand Seattle placed 6 players on team USA and they can't get enough BC Rugby.

Changes are needed. It won't come from management, they've had time to show their colours and they're going backwards. It's up to the Directors to shake things up before they get out of hand. I don't want Canada referred to as a 3rd Tier nation."

 

[psychic duck]

If you thought we were being harsh on Crowley PD(and maybe we are, this could be a bit of a rough patch in an otherwise good tenure), here's BC Rugby News BEFORE the Argentina game. Some of the following is very OTT.


http://www.bcrugbynews.com/show_news.cfm?ID=1363



"We sit at an all time low in the iRB rankings, our U20 team almost came last in Tier 2 last year and may not make Tier 2 this year if they don't beat the USA, we've just lost to the Americans twice at the ARC, our home tournament. What does it take to admit something is wrong?

Before looking at the players you have to look at management, from the top right down to the coaches and selectors. There's this stubborn arrogance that permeates their decision making which includes continuing to flog the CRC as the saviour of Canadian rugby. This all-star CRC team proves that it's not working, yet they refuse to consider alternatives. The use of McRorie again at #10 is another example of stubbornness winning out over common sense, even the guy sweeping the aisles at the stadium knew this was a bad idea after the first game, yet rather than look at alternatives they dove right back in. Someone is getting paid good money to make these decisions.

The current kiwi management team of Chu, Lancaster and Crowley would rather see players who show promise go over and play 3rd division in Ubakistan than play in the BC Premier. On the other hand Seattle placed 6 players on team USA and they can't get enough BC Rugby.

Changes are needed. It won't come from management, they've had time to show their colours and they're going backwards. It's up to the Directors to shake things up before they get out of hand. I don't want Canada referred to as a 3rd Tier nation."

I simply don't buy this at all. Huge overreaction to what is just an experimental trial tournament. The point of it was to trial things out for the proper matches, rather than discovering what does or doesn't work, who is or isn't up to scratch in a match that actually means something. I will wait until Canada are falling over to USA in proper games regularly, or struggling to beat sides like Russia or Uruguay before pressing panic buttons.

As an aside I wish people would stop citing the IRB rankings as some sort of highly accurate gauge. This is a recent phenomenon, but they are a complete and utter pile of crap. Canada were technically ranked higher in the IRB rankings when they were losing 41-0 to Scotland, does that mean they are a worse side now than they were in 2008? When someone cites the IRB rankings as some sort of great indicator to back up their point, then you can just about guarantee they are talking ******.

 

[Kempistry]

If you thought we were being harsh on Crowley PD(and maybe we are, this could be a bit of a rough patch in an otherwise good tenure), here's BC Rugby News BEFORE the Argentina game. Some of the following is very OTT.


http://www.bcrugbynews.com/show_news.cfm?ID=1363



"We sit at an all time low in the iRB rankings, our U20 team almost came last in Tier 2 last year and may not make Tier 2 this year if they don't beat the USA, we've just lost to the Americans twice at the ARC, our home tournament. What does it take to admit something is wrong?

Before looking at the players you have to look at management, from the top right down to the coaches and selectors. There's this stubborn arrogance that permeates their decision making which includes continuing to flog the CRC as the saviour of Canadian rugby. This all-star CRC team proves that it's not working, yet they refuse to consider alternatives. The use of McRorie again at #10 is another example of stubbornness winning out over common sense, even the guy sweeping the aisles at the stadium knew this was a bad idea after the first game, yet rather than look at alternatives they dove right back in. Someone is getting paid good money to make these decisions.

The current kiwi management team of Chu, Lancaster and Crowley would rather see players who show promise go over and play 3rd division in Ubakistan than play in the BC Premier. On the other hand Seattle placed 6 players on team USA and they can't get enough BC Rugby.

Changes are needed. It won't come from management, they've had time to show their colours and they're going backwards. It's up to the Directors to shake things up before they get out of hand. I don't want Canada referred to as a 3rd Tier nation."

I don't know that you can hold the coach responsible, these players simply aren't that great in my opinion. Unless there are better players somewhere that aren't being chosen, what can you do? Some of the decisions have seemed a bit odd, but nothing that would make a huge difference. What I find puzzling in Canada, where rugby is thoroughly amateur and a niche sport, is that there is very little discussion in the media or on this forum about growing the game at the grassroots or what issues are at play at the grassroots level. The CRC or the National team will not succeed without a strong feeder system. Does Canada have that system in place? Let's debate that.

 

[jonny24]

Well the CRC is supposed to be the pathway. But below that is basically up to clubs to do their own recruiting. Mostly through high schools. I haven't really thought about it, but I don't really know how much the provincial unions campaign/advertise or anything. I just joined the school team after hearing about it from a friend.

Edit: Maybe it would better if this discussion was in the Canadian Rugby thread.