TRF_SelimNiai’s “International Rugby Review and Awards†Post

[SelimNiai]

http://www.therugbyforum.com/blog/r...s-international-rugby-review-and-awards-post/

Have a look, its a slightly light hearted post that I have had on the back burner for a week or so and decided to go through with it. Enjoy.

 

[Tony Manx]

. Enjoy.

I did and agree with most all of it.............would have to wonder only about Gatland v Hansen but it was going to be a close call and I would have gone with the latter!

 

[Leonormous Boozer]

I did and agree with most all of it.............would have to wonder only about Gatland v Hansen but it was going to be a close call and I would have gone with the latter!

This, Jon Davies and I think it was a little harsh on the Italians, they did beat Ireland and France. Spot on for the rest of it, depressing from an Irish point of view!!!

 

[SelimNiai]

I see the point of being harsh on Italy, they just are so infuriating as they never really seem to live up to their potential. Won those in the 6n only to regress in the AI's

Edit: And as soon as I say that I realise that could almost describe Wales.

 

[Leonormous Boozer]

I see the point of being harsh on Italy, they just are so infuriating as they never really seem to live up to their potential. Won those in the 6n only to regress in the AI's

Yeah, I didn't watch any of their games in the AI's but their results didn't look good. Overall maybe they were the worst but I'd have France and Ireland below them because of their underachievement, I think I'm right in saying that, excluding Ireland's summer tour, Ireland and France only beat Samoa and Wales and Scotland and Tonga respectively. That's where I see Italy as having a better year than France and Ireland, slightly different category to worst international team I'll admit.

 

[Aspry]

A bit harsh on Argentina too, don't you think??
I mean, I am not saying that this wasn't a bad year for us, in fact it was the worst Puma year since the pro era if we see the stats.. But I don't believe we were the worst team of this year. You should remember we're playing vs the three best teams of the world, twice each every year... And how is that different from Wales not being able to beat them in the past 5 years? (Having played 18 matches, four more than Argentina during that time and most of them in Cardiff)

If Wales were playing in TRC they will probably go 0-6, just like Argentina... But you wouldn't be saying they were the worst team of the year, right?

 

[Thingimubob]

A bit harsh on Argentina too, don't you think??
I mean, I am not saying that this wasn't a bad year for us, in fact it was the worst Puma year since the pro era if we see the stats.. But I don't believe we were the worst team of this year. You should remember we're playing vs the three best teams of the world, twice each every year... And how is that different from Wales not being able to beat them in the past 5 years? (Having played 18 matches, four more than Argentina during that time and most of them in Cardiff)

If Wales were playing in TRC they will probably go 0-6, just like Argentina... But you wouldn't be saying they were the worst team of the year, right?

You're forgetting Argentina also got trounced by Englands 2nds twice in their own back yard (admittedly with a 2nd string themselves), trounced by Wales in Cardiff and beaten again relatively easily by England at Twickenham. All this on top of shipping 73 points away to SA and 54 at home to Australia (scores that Wales haven't seen in a very long time I might add). Yes there were a few redeeming features in the narrow losses away to Aus and at home to SA, plus the decent performances shown vs the Kiwi's and the away win to Italy, but not really enough to detract from an awful season for the Pumas!

 

[Rhyer]

The World XV was hilarious. In my opinion it should be this:-

1) Alex Corbisiero (England)
2) Bismarck Du Plessis (South Africa)
3) Juan Figallo (Argentina)
4) Eben Etzebeth (South Africa)
5) Sam Whitelock (New Zealand)
6) Liam Messam (New Zealand)
7) Michael Hooper (Australia)
8) Kieran Read (New Zealand)
9) Aaron Smith (New Zealand)
10) Dan Carter (New Zealand)
11) Julian Savea (New Zealand)
12) Jean De Villiers (South Africa)
13) Conrad Smith (New Zealand)
14) Ben Smith (New Zealand)
15) Israel Folau (Australia)

Warren Gatland as coach of the year? If Beale got his kick it would have been 2-1 to Australia never mind the 6 kicks at goal O'Connor missed in the first game. That Lions win was nothing amazing. They had to win for the sake of the future of Lions tours. If four countries combined couldn't beat a poorly coached Australian team with a bunch of drunken divas then there's no point in having a tour. James O'Connor at 10? Says it all. Wasn't he absent for the Six Nations anyway? So you're really basing coach of the the year solely on the Lions series...

 

[TRF_Olyy]

So you're really basing coach of the the year solely on the Lions series...

and losing to Australia in November, for the 1800th time in a row.

 

[Aspry]

You're forgetting Argentina also got trounced by Englands 2nds twice in their own back yard (admittedly with a 2nd string themselves), trounced by Wales in Cardiff and beaten again relatively easily by England at Twickenham. All this on top of shipping 73 points away to SA and 54 at home to Australia (scores that Wales haven't seen in a very long time I might add). Yes there were a few redeeming features in the narrow losses away to Aus and at home to SA, plus the decent performances shown vs the Kiwi's and the away win to Italy, but not really enough to detract from an awful season for the Pumas!

I am not forgetting any of that, I totally agree with you.. this was an awful season for us, but calling Argentina the worst team of the year is a little bit harsh, having in count that teams like Scotland, Italy, Samoa and Wales (vs SANZAR) wouldn't had performed better if they had the same calendar.

The summer test for Argentina has become a joke, at least for me. We're forced to make two different teams, one with the good players for TRC and other with average and young players.. and we don't have such a big pool of players as other nations. England has a wider pool of decent players to choose than us, and for those two test some of the first team players actually made it to the squad. They were England minus the Lions and a couple of injured players. You should understand what I am talking about since Wales suffers from the same, they don't have a wide pool of players. Their start XV is an excellent team, but if one of the starters get injured is hard for them to replace. The lost of Wales vs Japan it's the same case of Argentina, the difference is that we suffer from that every year now.

The EOYT of Argentina was more awful than what it should have been due to key important players being injured. I know every team suffers from them, but seriously they were a lot. Let's take the missing players vs Wales, just to give you an example: Camacho, Imhoff (these two guys were the ones who scored in the last year win, remember?) Lobbe (our capitan), Figallo (our best player), JM Hernandez, Creevy, Tiesi. I am also forgetting that we had a new coach who only got two weeks to train this players, so having a bad tour was expected, we're under transition right now.. I even thought we were going to lose vs Italy tbh.

 

[UlsterRugby2012]

The World XV was hilarious. In my opinion it should be this:-

1) Alex Corbisiero (England)
2) Bismarck Du Plessis (South Africa)
3) Juan Figallo (Argentina)
4) Eben Etzebeth (South Africa)
5) Sam Whitelock (New Zealand)
6) Liam Messam (New Zealand)
7) Michael Hooper (Australia)
8) Kieran Read (New Zealand)
9) Aaron Smith (New Zealand)
10) Dan Carter (New Zealand)
11) Julian Savea (New Zealand)
12) Jean De Villiers (South Africa)
13) Conrad Smith (New Zealand)
14) Ben Smith (New Zealand)
15) Israel Folau (Australia)

Warren Gatland as coach of the year? If Beale got his kick it would have been 2-1 to Australia never mind the 6 kicks at goal O'Connor missed in the first game. That Lions win was nothing amazing. They had to win for the sake of the future of Lions tours. If four countries combined couldn't beat a poorly coached Australian team with a bunch of drunken divas then there's no point in having a tour. James O'Connor at 10? Says it all. Wasn't he absent for the Six Nations anyway? So you're really basing coach of the the year solely on the Lions series...

Have to agree with this and most of the team, but I don't see how Alex Corb gets in the world XV? He's been injured for most of it has he not?

 

[Jbobo]

I am not forgetting any of that, I totally agree with you.. this was an awful season for us, but calling Argentina the worst team of the year is a little bit harsh, having in count that teams like Scotland, Italy, Samoa and Wales (vs SANZAR) wouldn't had performed better if they had the same calendar.

The EOYT of Argentina was more awful than what it should have been due to key important players being injured. I know every team suffers from them, but seriously they were a lot. Let's take the missing players vs Wales, just to give you an example: Camacho, Imhoff (these two guys were the ones who scored in the last year win, remember?) Lobbe (our capitan), Figallo (our best player), JM Hernandez, Creevy, Tiesi. I am also forgetting that we had a new coach who only got two weeks to train this players, so having a bad tour was expected, we're under transition right now.. I even thought we were going to lose vs Italy tbh.

I disagree, i believe Wales would have fared significantly better than Argentina this year if they had the same calendar. Wales had a very injury ridden Autumn too, but Argentina were ran off the pitch hard. Plus you can't catagorise Wales with teams like Italy and Scotland (maybe Samoa)...Underrating them or what.