The Rugby Thread, 2nd Tackle

[ohtani's jacket]

He should resign. That's what Wayne Smith did after Australia broke New Zealand fans' hearts in 2001, and he's a much better coach than Foster's ever been. 

EDIT: Forgot to congratulate Ireland. Been a better team than us since 2016. 

Edited July 16, 2022 by ohtani's jacket

[The Natural]

FT: Australia 17-21 England. HT: 10-11.

England win the series 2-1 in Australia.

[SirFozzie]

Fuuuuuuuuuck USA lose by 1 point over two legs (that they should've won easily), and go into the last chance qualifier

[SirFozzie]

So, looks like the Euro Champions Cup will.. just not finish and have no champion in 2024-25. Instead, the teams that would normally make the knockout rounds will advance to a proposed Rugby Club World Cup featuring 8 Northern (plus South African) teams, 7 Southern Hemisphere teams, and one international (believed to be Japan)

 

https://12ft.io/proxy?q=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.telegraph.co.uk%2Frugby-union%2F2022%2F07%2F20%2Fexclusive-club-world-cup-format-agreed-tournament-start-2025%2F%3Futm_content%3Dsport%26utm_medium%3DSocial%26utm_campaign%3DEchobox%26utm_source%3DTwitter%23Echobox%3D1658336542

[The Natural]

Gloucester lock Ed Slater has been diagnosed with motor neurone disease (MND) and has retired from rugby union with immediate effect. Horrible illness. MND, Cancer and Alzheimer's are the diseases I dread the most. Thoughts go out to Slater, his family and friends xxx.

Edited July 22, 2022 by The Natural

[ohtani's jacket]

Ian Foster survives for now. Two assistant coaches were thrown under the bus, and NZ Rugby pinched the forwards coach from the Crusaders, who ironically are coached by the man everyone wants to replace Foster, Scott Robertson. The All Blacks are flying to South Africa in a week or so for their first tests in the Republic since 2018. More losses on the way!

[ohtani's jacket]

The All Blacks play South Africa tonight in Mbombela. It's the first time New Zealand have played in South Africa since 2018. Ian Foster has allegedly been told the All Blacks need to win one of their two tests in South Africa for him to keep his job. It's rare that the All Blacks are this big of an undog against the Boks. Frankly, I think we're on a hiding to nothing. 

[The Natural]

12 hours ago, ohtani's jacket said:

The All Blacks play South Africa tonight in Mbombela. It's the first time New Zealand have played in South Africa since 2018. Ian Foster has allegedly been told the All Blacks need to win one of their two tests in South Africa for him to keep his job. It's rare that the All Blacks are this big of an undog against the Boks. Frankly, I think we're on a hiding to nothing. 

I do as well.

[ohtani's jacket]

This may be the worst All Blacks team of my lifetime. I've seen bad All Blacks side before, but they weren't losing by record margins. 

[ohtani's jacket]

Well, the All Blacks showed they have some fight left in them to win at Ellis Park, of all places. 

[The Natural]

Bloody hell. What a voice. RIP Eddie Butler.

[SirFozzie]

Crazy finish to tonight's game. Won't spoil it. But Vince McMahon would be CACKLING if he booked rugby.

[The Natural]

A sad loss. Eddie was a great.

[SirFozzie]

Women's World Cup (Union) starts soon, Peacock has the US TV rights. USA not favored, but hey, at least they're there, unlike the men (so far)

[SirFozzie]

Rugby League World Cup for men started, no USA (lost to Jamaica).. but England started well. Despite being an underdog to samoa (who had five NRL finalists), they romped 60-6. 0_o

[odessasteps]

This isn't my bag, but listening to 5 Live, it's funny to have the two styles both having a World Cup at the same time, even if one is men and the other is women. 

[SirFozzie]

So MLR announced next season will have 12 teams, welcoming a team in Chicago, and sadly waving GET THE FUCK OUT to Adam Gilchrist's two teams (Austin and LA). Well, to be accurate, waving Get the fuck out to Gilchrist, not his teams. Sad that two rugby areas will be without teams for the next season.

[DangerMark]

On 10/15/2022 at 10:59 PM, odessasteps said:

This isn't my bag, but listening to 5 Live, it's funny to have the two styles both having a World Cup at the same time, even if one is men and the other is women. 

Rugby League is having just about every world cup it possibly can right now; the Men have started already, with the group stages coming to an end this weekend. The Women start Tuesday, I think; there's Wheelchair and Physical Disability comps running, too.

No surprises in any of the results of the Men's competition so far, although Wales almost stole a draw from the Cook Islands.

[SirFozzie]

watching the England-Australia Women's World Cup QF: It's just absolutely BUCKETING DOWN non stop. Talking about waves of water coming up from every tackle bucketting

[SirFozzie]

Two absolutely wonderful matches, one from each code, as the Women's World Cup Final (New Zealand-England) and the Men's Rugby League World Cup Semi-Final (Australia-New Zealand) both were great games. Won't spoil them, but if you can get a hold of them, WATCH them.

 

[DangerMark]

The Other Men's RLWC Semi Final was a belting match, too.

[SirFozzie]

The Winner Take All match between Portugal and the USA is Friday at 10:30 AM, streaming free/live on https://www.therugbynetwork.com/

 

At least here in the USA.

[SirFozzie]

Turns out it was "Drawer-take-all", as a 16-16 draw sends Portugal through (as they won on tiebreakers)

 

Lost by 1 to chile, drew to Portugal. Fuck. No USA rugby at the World CUp.

[The Natural]

Doddie Weir, former Scotland rugby union player has passed at 52 after suffering from motor neurone disease. Horrible disease. Thoughts go out to his family and friends at this difficult time xxx.

Edited November 26, 2022 by The Natural

[The Natural]

Still hilarious.