New Adidas Ball

[shiznit]

New adidas balls get airborne
Monday October 04 2004
Gilbert faces competition

All Black goal-kicker Daniel Carter has been involved in secret testing with sporting giants adidas to develop a new rugby ball that flies 15 metres further than the current Gilbert ball ... or so they claim.

"I started from halfway and they were definitely flying a long way - so I went back to about 60 or 70m and they were still going over," said Carter.

The German sports company, who are the main sponsors of the All Blacks, have been developing a new ball since they lost the rights as ball suppliers to the New Zealand Rugby Union (NZRU) in 2002 to rivals Gilbert, when All Black fly-half Andrew Mehrtens described the ball as a "pig and a lemon".

New Zealander Andrew Gaze, head of rugby at adidas, confirmed the ball prototype was in the latter stages of testing.

"We said at that time that we would go away and work on the ball with the benchmark being that the new model would be at least as good, but ideally better than the Gilbert ball," Gaze told the Sunday Star-Times from the Adidas Amsterdam base.

England's goal-kicking machine Johnny Wilkinson and former Wales and Lions fly-half Neil Jenkins will also be involved in testing the new ball.

"The key driver has been England kicking guru Dave Alred who is recognised as one of the best kicking coaches in international rugby," said Gaze.

from www.planet-rugby.com

 

[Wally]

Who wants a ball that encourages goal kicking even more? If the game gets to the stage where we are slotting it over from everywhere inside the 60m zone I think I'll go off it.

 

[Canadian_Rugby_Guy]

Honestly. There's really no point, players are getting the ball through fine.

 

[Ripper]

Fark imagine how far you could kick them in Sth Africa, Ive seen kickers get 60m+ Penalties up in the mountains with the ordinary balls

 

[Canadian_Rugby_Guy]

I wonder if this means they'll eventually make the field a little bigger. Because this is going to get ridiculous.

 

[Canadian_Rugger]

lmao why don't we stop calling it rugby and just clal it kicks

 

[spacemanspiff]

thats what the english call it

 

[SaintsFan_Webby]

Originally posted by spacemanspiff@Oct 24 2004, 04:32 AM
thats what the english call it

Hahahahahahahahahaaaaaaaaaaaaa....................

Original AND funny

 

[wigan_rlfc]

Originally posted by Canadian_Rugger@Oct 24 2004, 04:09 AM
lmao why don't we stop calling it rugby and just clal it kicks

Its already called 'kick and clap'

 

[captainamerica]

Bring back the old leather Gilbert MATCH balls.

Remove lifting from the lineout.

No more shoulder protectors or head gear.

Old time rugby! Old time rugby!

The way grandad used to play.

The way grandma used to watch.

"When does a dream begin . . .

 

[Canadian_Rugby_Guy]

But now there are the overprotective mothers who would rant and rave without equipment. Shoulder gear is good too. One of my teammates had shoulder problems (born that way). He was able to play with those.

 

[Canadian_Rugger]

Originally posted by Canadian_Rugby_Guy@Oct 26 2004, 01:27 PM
But now there are the overprotective mothers who would rant and rave without equipment. Shoulder gear is good too. One of my teammates had shoulder problems (born that way). He was able to play with those.

or why not do like my league did and ban equipment all together. Your not allowed to play with any sort of padding in my school league. Only thingm you can ear is gloves, and tape

 

[Canadian_Rugby_Guy]

Hey rugby shoulder pads don't hurt anyone and protected someone who otherwise couldn't have played otherwise, he was quite good too.

 

[Canadian_Rugger]

lol how is it protecting anything its like 1cm of padding lol

Its just a security issue thats all.

 

[Canadian_Rugby_Guy]

Who knows? Whatever it did, it was enough to allow him to play, so I think the state that rugby equipment is at is fine. Perhaps some more development for mouthguards and scrumcaps to better protect the head as it is one of the most vulnerable parts.