2021 Rugby Championship Round 1 (Bledisloe 2) - New Zealand v Australia (14/8/2021)

[Derpus]

I dunno why i torture myself by still watching Rugby. It's just one kick in the teeth to the next with the odd patch of respite.

 

[Umaga's Witness]

There were good skills in the rain there from both teams.

wallabies just need to be sharper on d. They've fixed the one on one tackles problem, but now it's their sharpness, accuracy, connectedness, on defence. Give the all blacks an extra second or two on 5 occasions, that could be 5 tries. Hard for the wallabies when their super teams are so bad on defence, these players just simply aren't used to to maintaining discipline on defence.

All blacks played more in the fringes this week, with loosies out wide allowing them to go wide without getting caught isolated behind the gainline.

I'm still a bit worried with the all blacks d.

 

[Al Bangor]

 

[Mrs. Peter Quinn]

Now is this the advertisement we want for rugby, compared to the Lions Series?

Quality match so far, so surprised no Yellow Cards issued yet

Is it? Not with that scoreline.

 

[Bada-Bing!]

.

 

[Oliver Madden]

I dunno why i torture myself by still watching Rugby. It's just one kick in the teeth to the next with the odd patch of respite.

It's not the fact that the All Blacks have held the Bledisloe for 19 years, it's the fact that the Wallabies are probably further away from winning it now than they've ever been. Hopefully the atrocious crowd at the game today will wake a few administrators up. People are getting bored of the same tired routine year after year. I've said it before and I'll say it again, do away with the 3 game series and make it a one-off match every year. Or even better, bin it for a few years. When the Wallabies are just not good enough to be competitive over 3 games, what is the point anymore?.

 

[Ferrari333SP]

After watching an absolutely atrocious quality of rugby from both sides during the Lions series, seeing the All Blacks play is soooo refreshing; actually putting plays together, and attack, attack, attack. Especially with the 2nd Lions game being pretty much the worst game I've seen in my life, I'm excited to watch the rest of the games the AB's play this Rugby Championship. All Blacks vs South Africa can't come soon enough

 

[Bada-Bing!]

Stuff

www.stuff.co.nz

 

[mania]

dear kelleway...much aura now?

 

[mania]

hate to say it but hooper was outstanding. a real leader in this game and never say die attitude

 

[mania]

aus need to get the fk over it. they arent as bad as they think. another team and they'd be doing all right with their performances. just because u play the ABs most often doesn't automatically mean you'll reach parity without work.
keep in mind that they played the World #2 ranked team that is desperate to get back their #1 spot back. as good as the WBs were theyre really just appetisers till ABs can get stuck into the Boks.

 

[The_Wol]

My annual "time to fire the whole team except for the Reds" post.

 

[TRF_stormer2010]

Aussie did well vs France didn't they? And despite the loss the 1st Bledisloe as well. In my view its a young team and a team that needs time together. She'll be alright I think. It depends what the goals are though. I do remember the days where Aus were consistently ranked #3 in the world with minor blips and sometimes swapping with us into #2. I think they are still in that #3 bracket its just that there are so many teams in the top brackets now and the margins are sooo slim.

After watching an absolutely atrocious quality of rugby from both sides during the Lions series, seeing the All Blacks play is soooo refreshing; actually putting plays together, and attack, attack, attack. Especially with the 2nd Lions game being pretty much the worst game I've seen in my life, I'm excited to watch the rest of the games the AB's play this Rugby Championship. All Blacks vs South Africa can't come soon enough

By your logic the NZ v SA fixture should be snooze fest compared to NZ v Aus though. I mean you can be sure SA will bring our "absolutely atrocious quality of rugby".

 

[Kiwiwomble]

Aussie did well vs France didn't they? And despite the loss the 1st Bledisloe as well. In my view its a young team and a team that needs time together. She'll be alright I think. It depends what the goals are though. I do remember the days where Aus were consistently ranked #3 in the world with minor blips and sometimes swapping with us into #2. I think they are still in that #3 bracket its just that there are so many teams in the top brackets now and the margins are sooo slim.

By your logic the NZ v SA fixture should be snooze fest compared to NZ v Aus though. I mean you can be sure SA will bring our "absolutely atrocious quality of rugby".

They scraped past what some have referred too as France C, so something is definitely missing

I think this is where rugby is at a disadvantage to football for example

even though Aussie are rebuilding etc…they still have to play the ABs and SA Multiple times a year, not good for their confidence

footbal team would play mostly teams of similar level (outside competitions)

 

[Ferrari333SP]

Aussie did well vs France didn't they? And despite the loss the 1st Bledisloe as well. In my view its a young team and a team that needs time together. She'll be alright I think. It depends what the goals are though. I do remember the days where Aus were consistently ranked #3 in the world with minor blips and sometimes swapping with us into #2. I think they are still in that #3 bracket its just that there are so many teams in the top brackets now and the margins are sooo slim.

By your logic the NZ v SA fixture should be snooze fest compared to NZ v Aus though. I mean you can be sure SA will bring our "absolutely atrocious quality of rugby".

NZ v SA won't be a snooze fest, as NZ will actually try to play entertaining rugby

 

[TRF_stormer2010]

NZ v SA won't be a snooze fest, as NZ will actually try to play entertaining rugby

I don't think they try to play entertaining rugby at all. I think they play to win with what resources and strengths they have- IE attempt to leverage their point of difference. Like Japan that happens to be easy on the eye of the casual rugby fan.

The way SA play won't fundamentally alter how say France, NZ, Aus, Japan or whatever other country approach their games as we all have different strengths to leverage. The more complete approach and accurate execution will under most circumstances win through. I'm a bit tired of the SA are boring band wagon. People are very quick to forget we scored the 2nd most tries in 2019's RWC an the most tries in that year's RC. We are also coming back from 2 years of no test rugby. If you ask me its all sour grapes but its actually good for us even if it grates the nerves specifically because it does grate the nerves. ITO our rugby culture that type of external input is good for us as we play our best rugby agitated with our backs up against the wall.

For me the fact that there is more than one way to approach a game of rugby makes it that much more appealing as a sport to me. And there are more than enough sports that provide what I think you are looking for. Rugby League for example.

 

[Alex Anghel]

So Ian Foster has been reappointed through 2023…shocking decision by the NZRU, they should have waited at least until after the RC, if not the EOTY tour…

 

[Umaga's Witness]

So Ian Foster has been reappointed through 2023…shocking decision by the NZRU, they should have waited at least until after the RC, if not the EOTY tour…

I think they were just waiting til the british and Irish lions finished . Gatlands decision not to go for the all blacks job because he was going to coach the lions was the reason foster only got two years initially.

 

[Alex Anghel]

I think they were just waiting til the british and Irish lions finished . Gatlands decision not to go for the all blacks job because he was going to coach the lions was the reason foster only got two years initially.

One would have thought that he was handed only 2 years in order to prove himself at the helm of the ABs…what exactly has he proved so far? Last year was abysmal and this year he won against either second tier nation or a highly inexperienced Aussie side. Not to mention that in the first game against Australia only Lolesio's night off the boot prevented the visitors winning the game.

What if the ABs lose both tests against the SA? Or the EOTY tour will reveal losses to France or Wales?

Appointing Foster through that farce of a process was a mistake, after the RWC 2019 failure, NZRU needed to start afresh. Foster is a continuation of the Hansen declining regime that started more or less with the Lions tour in 2017.

If I were a Kiwi, my blood would boil!

 

[Kiwiwomble]

One would have thought that he was handed only 2 years in order to prove himself at the helm of the ABs…what exactly has he proved so far? Last year was abysmal and this year he won against either second tier nation or a highly inexperienced Aussie side. Not to mention that in the first game against Australia only Lolesio's night off the boot prevented the visitors winning the game.

What if the ABs lose both tests against the SA? Or the EOTY tour will reveal losses to France or Wales?

Appointing Foster through that farce of a process was a mistake, after the RWC 2019 failure, NZRU needed to start afresh. Foster is a continuation of the Hansen declining regime that started more or less with the Lions tour in 2017.

If I were a Kiwi, my blood would boil!

and most people i talk too are pretty annoyed for exactly the reason you mention, i dont think people could actually name his prefered XV....and lots would disagree with the few names that seem to be carved in stone like savea at 8