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[2019 Super Rugby] Round 5 (15 & 16 March 2019)

Damian McKenzie is a freaking joy to watch... Why did they switch him to 10 last week, any idea? He's so much more natural and happy at 15!

The fact that that trademark smile is part of his kicking routine is just so endearing - I wonder if it's calculated to be so, or just came naturally?

D-Mac seems to be forced to play 10 to make him more adaptable if picked for the ABs. He is a sensational FB at Super Rugby level (still questionmarks internationally due to his size) and a pretty ordinary 10 and I dont see that changing.

I read here his smile is calculated in order to help him relax before kicking. He is a great kicker and I can see the ABs losing a key match at the RWC by insisting on having BB kick at a lower percentage rate while D-Mac is on the park.

Disappointed for the Sunwolves letting that one go. It's another long year for the Jaguares I think, although Quesada speaks realistically, which gives me some hope he can make improvements.
 
If you haven't started watching the Lions vs Rebels game do so now. Game is looking like it could be a very high scoring game
 
What a comeback winning it at the death well done Lions sticking to your principles
 
I only caught the last ten minutes when the Rebels were clearly infringing and deserved the penalties. But a penalty count of 20-1 does seem odd. Was anything questionable or did the Rebels just implode discipline wise and die out from altitude? I see the referee was Seconds, haven't been seeing good feedback about him in his previous matches.
 
I only caught the last ten minutes when the Rebels were clearly infringing and deserved the penalties. But a penalty count of 20-1 does seem odd. Was anything questionable or did the Rebels just implode discipline wise and die out from altitude? I see the referee was Seconds, haven't been seeing good feedback about him in his previous matches.


It was a disgrace. Rebels went in just after HT to lead 33-5. From there the referee took control of the game and proceeded to deny them posession for the remainder of the game.

I have seen a lot of dubious home team come from behind wins in the time off the back of a glut of penalties in South Africa but nothing like this!

Put it this way. You are up 33 to 5 and in control of the game and you just decide it is a good plan to infringe for the rest of the game cynically, give away penalties and have guys in the bin cause that is your best chance of maintaining your 28 point lead? Fmd!

Also, Lions had 3 chances in the last 10 from easy positions to kick for goal to take the lead but went to the line every time incl with 3 mins to play. They knew something.

Check the spread betting. The fix was in....
 
The only reason I thought seconds had a bad game was because he didn't give the serial offender rebels more yellow cards. They repeatedly broke the rules and seconds just continuously gave them warnings. Too much imo so I feel he helped keep the rebels in the game as they were allowed to disrupt the ball the whole time.

Alltitude was a factor. The Lions knew this and they played with that game plan it seems.
 
Lions had a good 2h and the rebels had a meh one, but the ref killed them. Genia had the patience of a saint with him
 
The only reason I thought seconds had a bad game was because he didn't give the serial offender rebels more yellow cards. They repeatedly broke the rules and seconds just continuously gave them warnings. Too much imo so I feel he helped keep the rebels in the game as they were allowed to disrupt the ball the whole time.

Alltitude was a factor. The Lions knew this and they played with that game plan it seems.

Yeah he helped keep them 33 to 5 in the game! Why is it that this type of **** only goes down in Sth Africa.

Not even a Rebels fan, they dont have any! But that was pathetic and the game is worse for it...
 
Yeah he helped keep them 33 to 5 in the game! Why is it that this type of **** only goes down in Sth Africa.

Not even a Rebels fan, they dont have any! But that was pathetic and the game is worse for it...
It was a great game
 
I don't necessarily think the ref made any "wrong" calls but it did seem like he was reffing the teams to a slightly different standard, he was extremely strict on the Rebels in the breakdown area with regards to the "daylight" rule but didn't apply it so harshly with the Lions, likewise with off sides.

Rebels displine was bad though, I don't think that's a controversial statement, two weeks in a row where there primary defensive strategy is to infringe in the red zone.

Scrums were an absolute dog show, for a relatively high scoring game there was waaaay to much dead time in this game.

Do feel like the Rebels took their foot off the gas and went into their shell in the second half, a little more killer instinct would have served them well, just because you are 20+ points up doesn't mean you should try and slow down the game to a crawl and stop trying to score points.

From a player perspective I really liked the look of Tyrone Green (Lombard had some good touches too), Mapoe and Coetzee did really well off the bench which shows maybe they needed a little time on the bench to keep them humble. Simelane continues to impress and the relatively new Lions props look good (specifically Sitole and Sadie).
 

Nothing wrong with the name per se. Replicating the appalling crusades by having folk dress up as armed knights on horseback pre-game is a little more questionable. I dont think artistic recreations of Holy Wars are a good thing as a general rule, but it doesn't hurt in terms of accidentally reminding people that appalling atrocities can easily be carried out by devout white Christians as readily as any other race or creed. Such is the potential mania of picking "faith" over reason.

Personally, I'd be surprised if there were many objections to the name, or any sense that it in any way contributed to a bigoted environment in New Zealand. Clearly 23 years ago the name will have been selected with the utmost innocence, so I dont put this on the same bracket as something like Washington Redskins. Plus, cruucially, the Crusades didn't happen in New Zealand. The owner of the Crusaders provided a sensible answer and the article smacks of some creative writing to artificially conflate TJ's opinion with any possible discussin about the team name.
 
It was a disgrace. Rebels went in just after HT to lead 33-5. From there the referee took control of the game and proceeded to deny them posession for the remainder of the game.

I have seen a lot of dubious home team come from behind wins in the time off the back of a glut of penalties in South Africa but nothing like this!

Put it this way. You are up 33 to 5 and in control of the game and you just decide it is a good plan to infringe for the rest of the game cynically, give away penalties and have guys in the bin cause that is your best chance of maintaining your 28 point lead? Fmd!

Also, Lions had 3 chances in the last 10 from easy positions to kick for goal to take the lead but went to the line every time incl with 3 mins to play. They knew something.

Check the spread betting. The fix was in....

What rubbish about match fixing, you high or what?
Feel the same about the Scotland comeback against England??

Go look up the rebels penalty and yellow card count up to this game, it is their tactic, they should have had 3 yellow cards at the same time mid way through second half
 
Tonight's Highlanders v Crusaders match has been cancelled due to the terror attacks in Christchurch.

Very poorly thought out decision IMO, not because of any sporting reasons, but because when you change aspects of your life because of what terrorists have done, the terrorists win.
yeah i fully agree but tbh just dont give a **** about rugby this weekend. just too much pain
 
To be fair I don't think right wing racists consider the cancelling of the rugby match to be a victory. They aren't terrorists in the traditional sense of their goal being generalized terror, so much as very specifically aiming at Muslim people. I don't think in this context the terrorist "won".
 

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