Rugby Thread

[Whereditgo]

Thoughts on the matches so far, NZ looked very ordinary.

Curry's offence should never have been turned into a Red. The Argentinian challenge was more deserving of a red imo, it was late, high and out of control!

Wales vs Fiji was cracking entertainment, but how can the ref finally warn the Welsh after 5 or 6 successive penalty infringements on their 5 yard line, play moves down the other end, first Fiji penalty and a yellow card. The game moves back to the Welsh 22 and repeated penalty infringements again only for the ref to give another general warning.

I absolutely hate where the game that I loved and played for over 30 years is right now.

 

[SwingsitlikeHogan]

If France beating All Blacks in match 1 wasn't enough to raise the profile of the tournament, then the excitement of the last 10 mins of Wales v Fiji should surely ensure the tournament is a huge success.

Even my Mrs, sitting in the room with me and not watching the game, found herself engrossed from 75mins to the end.

 

[Hobbit]

Totally agree with the comments about the ref in last night’s Wales v Fiji match, and I dare say many people picked up on the leniency shown towards the Welsh team for persistent infringing. And if we saw it, hopefully the ref’s association picked up on it too and will issue guidance to the refs.

 

[fundy]

Thoughts on the matches so far, NZ looked very ordinary.

Curry's offence should never have been turned into a Red. The Argentinian challenge was more deserving of a red imo, it was late, high and out of control!

Wales vs Fiji was cracking entertainment, but how can the ref finally warn the Welsh after 5 or 6 successive penalty infringements on their 5 yard line, play moves down the other end, first Fiji penalty and a yellow card. The game moves back to the Welsh 22 and repeated penalty infringements again only for the ref to give another general warning.

I absolutely hate where the game that I loved and played for over 30 years is right now.

Far far too much about the refs so far, its like the law changes have turned it into a football sigh. Yes decisions are better communicated but the level of inconsistency is damaging and personally not a fan of the bunker and the delayed decisions.

So far 2 yellow/red incidents in England game, lack of red decision in Saffer game (for near on same offense as Currys) and an utter refusal to properly deal with persistent infringement in the Wales game and together are creating far far too many headlines rather than the rugby, one of rugbys great strengths is people rarely talk about the ref, or at least thats how it used to be!

 

[2blue]

Except it's not people talking about the Ref... well not for me who has never played the game but was PE trained in the 70's at one of our Nation's Premier PE Colleges. It's about how, at, long last the RU are trying to address players who are still applying 'out of date's reckless tactics wherever they can. Compared to football RU has been so out of date with their responsibility for protecting players. The game, & its ethos has a lot going for it but let's not keep comparing it to a grass roots game such as football that has made mega strides in removing reckless behaviour. RU is still in the early days of doing this & yes. .. we are already seeing signs of players trying to deceive the officials.... such is the nature of sport when a lot is at stake..... football, as a world game, hasn't found it easy.

 

[HeftyHacker]

Except it's not people talking about the Ref... well not for me who has never played the game but was PE trained in the 70's at one of our Nation's Premier PE Colleges. It's about how, at, long last the RU are trying to address players who are still applying 'out of date's reckless tactics wherever they can. Compared to football RU has been so out of date with their responsibility for protecting players. The game, & its ethos has a lot going for it but let's not keep comparing it to a grass roots game such as football that has made mega strides in removing reckless behaviour. RU is still in the early days of doing this & yes. .. we are already seeing signs of players trying to deceive the officials.... such is the nature of sport when a lot is at stake..... football, as a world game, hasn't found it easy.

Ultimately the fundamental nature of rugby is that of a collision sport (no matter how much the governing bodies try and dispel that) and as such these types of incidents - head on head clashes - are going to occur. What is sorely lacking currently though is the lack of consistency in how they are officiated. On the biggest stage you have one game where a player is red carded, and another where it isn't even reviewed. It's making a mockery of the sport.

With regards to the recklessness of the sport - by nature you have to have a fairly reckless streak in you to even want to play the game. The only thing the governing bodies should be doing is making people aware of the risks involved and leaving it up to the individuals to decide whether or not they deem it worthwhile. This watering down of the game isn't going to drive up participation levels.

 

[2blue]

Ultimately the fundamental nature of rugby is that of a collision sport (no matter how much the governing bodies try and dispel that) and as such these types of incidents - head on head clashes - are going to occur. What is sorely lacking currently though is the lack of consistency in how they are officiated. On the biggest stage you have one game where a player is red carded, and another where it isn't even reviewed. It's making a mockery of the sport.

With regards to the recklessness of the sport - by nature you have to have a fairly reckless streak in you to even want to play the game. The only thing the governing bodies should be doing is making people aware of the risks involved and leaving it up to the individuals to decide whether or not they deem it worthwhile. This watering down of the game isn't going to drive up participation levels.

Can't see that this would be a sustainable model for the future of Rugby.... all sport has to evolve to survive..... if NZ are finding it necessary to do so then it's clear why Eng are having to do so. Time will tell.

 

[WGCRider]

That’s a shocking decision- purely accidental

Thing is - with these kind of comments re: the Curry red or "It's a rugby incident". That may be true but they are the type of incidents and accidents that need to be eliminated from the game. If there is no punishment how do you stop it? By asking nicely? For me this is 100% a red card. The second I saw it I knew it was a red card. He's made direct contact with the head first and he's upright. You cannot do that. For the contact to Ford - the first contact is his arse to Ford's shoulder - then his head - so yellow.
Would anyone be saying "It's just a gun incident" after I've shot my neighbour? No! I should not have been waving a firearm around in the first place!

 

[RichA]

Ultimately the fundamental nature of rugby is that of a collision sport (no matter how much the governing bodies try and dispel that) and as such these types of incidents - head on head clashes - are going to occur. What is sorely lacking currently though is the lack of consistency in how they are officiated. On the biggest stage you have one game where a player is red carded, and another where it isn't even reviewed. It's making a mockery of the sport.

With regards to the recklessness of the sport - by nature you have to have a fairly reckless streak in you to even want to play the game. The only thing the governing bodies should be doing is making people aware of the risks involved and leaving it up to the individuals to decide whether or not they deem it worthwhile. This watering down of the game isn't going to drive up participation levels.

Clearly accidental collisions bother me less than the lack of action for cynical defending. In the last 5 minutes, Welsh shoulders blatantly took out Fijian legs without any attempt to wrap about a dozen times. I don't think they were punished for it once.

 

[Deleted member 1147]

Thing is - with these kind of comments re: the Curry red or "It's a rugby incident". That may be true but they are the type of incidents and accidents that need to be eliminated from the game. If there is no punishment how do you stop it? By asking nicely? For me this is 100% a red card. The second I saw it I knew it was a red card. He's made direct contact with the head first and he's upright. You cannot do that. For the contact to Ford - the first contact is his arse to Ford's shoulder - then his head - so yellow.
Would anyone be saying "It's just a gun incident" after I've shot my neighbour? No! I should not have been waving a firearm around in the first place!

One of my issues with rugby now is that there is too much look/bad luck involved.
If you tackle someone in the air and they land on their head it's a sending off, but if them are lucky enough to avoid landing on their head it's a yellow.
The tackle in the air should just be a red. That would take out the ref/TMO decision being a personal judgement.

Same goes for upright tackles - ignore where they hit exactly.

The action in both incidents were high challenges, both potentially out of control/dangerous, therefore both red

 

[WGCRider]

The action in both incidents were high challenges, both potentially out of control/dangerous, therefore both red

Personally I don't disagree with you - all head contact is bad. However the way the laws are now written apparently some head contact is okay.

 

[GB72]

Good interview with Aled Walters in the Telegraph. He explains how he had to put together a crash course to bring the players up to the fitness levels he wanted for the tournament as he did not have the luxury of coaching them for several years. He knew they would do into the warm up matches tired and leggy, apparently England did the equivalent of playing a full match only a matter of days before the Ireland game, and he would have been disappointed if they were not. The whole aim was to peak in the later rounds of the tournament and the fitness levels shown against Argentina seem to support that.

Having seen his work with the Tigers, I could have understood England being bad is all number of ways but did not expect the fitness to be an issue. Lets now see what we can do.

it is the hope that kills you.

 

[HeftyHacker]

Good interview with Aled Walters in the Telegraph. He explains how he had to put together a crash course to bring the players up to the fitness levels he wanted for the tournament as he did not have the luxury of coaching them for several years. He knew they would do into the warm up matches tired and leggy, apparently England did the equivalent of playing a full match only a matter of days before the Ireland game, and he would have been disappointed if they were not. The whole aim was to peak in the later rounds of the tournament and the fitness levels shown against Argentina seem to support that.

Having seen his work with the Tigers, I could have understood England being bad is all number of ways but did not expect the fitness to be an issue. Lets now see what we can do.

it is the hope that kills you.

Eddie Jones often said the same about the players when they came into camp to be fair that why he used to beast them in camp. It's clear the Premiership is several tiers below international level in terms of intensity.

See Gatland with Wales and their fitness camps prior to a world Cup for another example.

 

[GB72]

Eddie Jones often said the same about the players when they came into camp to be fair that why he used to beast them in camp. It's clear the Premiership is several tiers below international level in terms of intensity.

See Gatland with Wales and their fitness camps prior to a world Cup for another example.

I think it depends on the club. The Tigers players would have been training with Aled all season and so should have been closer to where he wanted. Saw what he did to the Tigers team in a short period and so no doubt that the England players will be fit for a full 80 minutes and it will be interesting to see how they perform having unofficially written off the results in the warm up matches (not that the RFU can say that having marketed them, very wrongly in my opinion, as full blown tests but that makes them money)

 

[Captainron]

BALLS!! Malcolm Marx is out of the RWC with a knee injury he got in training. Best hooker on the planet for me! Big blow to the team

 

[GB72]

BALLS!! Malcolm Marx is out of the RWC with a knee injury he got in training. Best hooker on the planet for me! Big blow to the team

If you ever end up needing him, Pollard is back on the bench for Tigers tomorrow night though

 

[Captainron]

Uruguay put up a decent performance against an admittedly lacklustre France which was good to see.

 

[Captainron]

Aussies go down to Fiji! Awesome. Now let’s hope Japan can do something against England

 

[Piece]

England back to their recent form on that first half performance. Reluctant to do any running from the back, and kicking and hoofing more than Vinnie Jones's Wimbledon in the 80s. Japan look enterprising, much like Fiji did earlier.

 

[Lord Tyrion]

We seem unable to break lines, devoid of creativity