RL End of Season Tour

Ahhh, didn't realise the game against Ireland was so early. What the hell happened in the first half?

A bit of everything. Ireland playing to their strengths. Naholo conceding stupid penalties. Lineout malfunctioning. Moody sin binned, the ref allowing everything to the Irish at the maul...

God damn Moody. Again?

So.... 4 tries in 30 minutes? Possible but looks very unlikely.

Do not worry. There is one guy from Otago playing in black.

Well, they managed 3 tries in 15 minutes... Me of little faith...

Fuck. Well done to those Irish bastards. Certainly deserve it.

Well done to Ireland they were the best team on the day.

1st half was hard to watch but the second half was pretty epic. Could hear my Irish neighbour celebrating like mad after they elected not to attempt the push over try and it came off.

Bad points, moody needed to be pulled earlier, both starting locks were shit (Scott Barrett made a huge difference) Aaron smith was poor and some tough luck with injuries.

Good things, the bench was effective, Kieran read, TJ perenara, Locks Leinartbrown and Dagg (hopefully Matt Todd also) will be back next week.

Ireland deserved the win, was well played

And Naholo was a liability. And Savea was poor.

Some interesting choices ahead for the Italy game.

Some thoughts

1) Crockett (drop Moody for his various offenses)
2) Coles
3) Franks
4) Rettalick (if healthy, Tuipulotu if not)
5) Whitelock (if healthy, S Barrett if not)
6) Dixon (drop Kaino for some rest though maybe keep Kaino if Retallick/Whitelock still injured
7) Cane (captain?)
Squire (if they stick with the plan for Read to set this one out)
9) Perenara (Perenara in much better form, make Aaron Smith work for it)
10) Barrett
11) Naholo (wanted to drop both him and Savea but think at least one needs to stay. Lack of actual wingers in this team)
12) Liernert-Brown
13) Fekitoa (or other way round with ALB)
14) Dagg
15) Smith

Gone too far? Not far enough? I'd expect the selectors to not want to go too far here with new players.

Cruden
Mackenzie

Time to give them some game time

I think there'll be lots of changes. New guys need game time. Rest B Smith and Read. No need to rush back Whitelock or Rettalick if they are not fully ready yet. Couldn't find room for Mackenzie or Dixon.

1) Crockett (should have been on the bench last game)
2) Coles
3) Franks
4) Tuipulotu
5) S Barrett
6) Kaino
7) Cane
8] Squire
9) Perenara
10) Cruden
11) Naholo
12) Lienert-Brown
13) Fekitoa
14) Dagg
15) B Barrett

16) Taylor
17) Tu'ungafasi (would prefer a proper loosehead like Hames)
18) Faumuina
19) Luatua
20) J Savea
21) A Smith
22) Sopoaga
23) Ioane

REST BEN SMITH? ARE YOU MAD?

....Probably a good idea considering I think he's started every single game for the AB's this season.

Bender tends to play the whole 80 too without getting hooked. I would like to rest Barrett too and start Mackenzie but is that too much of a risk? Similar story with Kaino & Dixon.

Let's be honest - despite the humbling over the weekend, Italy are legitimately no danger and we can make some wholesale changes. Guys like Bender, Coles & Barrett have played a helluva lot of Rugby this year and may well be tired by the last game or two...

Some people are finding this as hard to digest as I am

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/rugby/news/article.cfm?c_id=80&objectid=11743884

He starts his speech quoting Chris Rattue... he lost me there

From the article I linked above.

Prime Minister John Key, who starts his week grappling with one of the only All Blacks losses to happen on his watch, shared that sentiment, saying he was confident that rugby would remain a “thoroughly uncompetitive” sport taken seriously “by only a few countries in the world.”

For fun, under John Key's National government the All Blacks have had a 88% win rate compared to Helen Clark's Labour government who only managed 83%... No wonder Labour can't gain any traction in the polls.

I would rather say that in 2007 George W Bush was president whereas in 2011 and 2015 it was Obama at the WhiteHouse. Those are the stats that really matters and the reason I will follow tomorrow's voting real close...

Us losing to Irelsnd was not a good start, though.

tryasta wrote:Us losing to Irelsnd was not a good start, though.

In Obama's home town too! He must have been so embarrassed!

It's the year of upsets. Trump to win

For maximum chaos, I'm totally expecting an electoral college tie like this:



The House of Representatives get to decide who becomes president at that point and that's stacked in favour of the Republicans -- so I'd assume they'd elect Trump.

Trump is £4.33 at paddypower. Ireland were paying somewhere about $13 which is £8. Pretty scary stuff.

Nebraska to decide.

Hell, Clinton must be about the worst candidate ever if she cannot capitalize on Trump's continuous mistakes.

Recently I saw two writers I like to read actively showing their political preferences

Rothfuss
and
GRRM