Agree with the posts on here. Best game I have watched for ages!

Really had my fingers crossed for the Wallabies, but sadly it wasn’t meant to be.

The Kiwi scrum was on point today.

RWC Final time

finally got round to watching the 2nd bledisloe cup game between Aus and NZ. Astounding game. NZ look terrifying, and some of the gold play was great. But what disappointed me was Michael Hooper’s appalling contempt for the refereeing. Owens had a good game, (yes he didnt call the intentional offside namastebuzz refers to – but it was followed 30s later with a AB try in favour – and maybe the head-dump of cooper could have earned a short yellow) but the speed of play and the decision making in spite of it was pretty bloody impressive. And I dont see any of Owens decisions even if they were wrong have a substantial negative impact on the game. The kiwi commentators were embarrassing in how often the made the wrong call compared to Owens on the pitch and were second guessing his calls before the explanation. And if you start looking for administrative offences youve already lost the game on the pitch really.

Between the commentators (on the you tube feed I saw) and hooper it really left a bad taste in the mouth for what was a fantastic high quality game of rugby and it’s reffing.

yes he didnt call the intentional offside namastebuzz refers to – but it was followed 30s later with a AB try

Yeah but that doesn’t matter – what if the ABs hadn’t scored that try but had knocked on or something? Two wrongs don’t make a right – or, in this case, a wrong and a right don’t make a right.

I agree with much of what you say. Hooper’s attitude was poor but maybe Nige should have put him in his place? In general Owen’s reffing was good and it was still a great game.

Mind you, the Retallic non-try was a strange one too. Owens was on the spot and awarded the try. Then, as the kick was being lined up, he decided to go to the TMO. He started off asking “Is there any reason not to award…..” and then changed to “Try – yes or no?” This seemed a bit odd as he’d awarded the try so why wasn’t he asking if there was any reason he couldn’t? As it turned out the replay looked like the ball had to have been grounded at some point but seeing as you couldn’t see the actual grounding it wasn’t given.

Get rid of the TMO – IMHO

I thinks owens was getting peeved with the ref’s assistant on the TV camera side butting in with Foul Play calls hence why he later ignored both the deliberate offside (called by the RA) and the Cooper head drop (Called by the RA as well) because that RA had a track record of getting it wrong.

As you say the try/no-try call was the one spot where I think Owens let himself down. He blew and signalled what looked a try signal and then a short while later said that, no, he was blowing for a penalty from which no advantage had come. And so had not given a try on the pitch. Then he asks try no try? Inconsistent really.

I thinks owens was getting peeved with the ref’s assistant

Yeah, good spot. I think you’re right there.

I don’t get the “I gave a penalty” excuse. He blew for a try, Retallick and the rest of his team celebrated, then Barrett lines up the conversion. Surely Owens would have put them, and the rest of the stadium, straight at some point before all that?

Anyway, doesn’t detract from the fact that he’s still the best ref in the business and it was still a great game. It’s probably no coincidence that the two best games I’ve seen this year (Arg v Eng 1st test and Bledisloe 2) have both been reffed by Owens.

he’s still the best ref in the business and it was still a great game.

too right.

Cardiff 7 Edinburgh 10 at haltime. Cardiff still shit, Edinburgh showing more heart than last season, Clancy still a clown.

Wuss stuffed by newcastle. Not many positives to be taken from losing by that kind of margin to a team you hoped to compete with.
Glaws beat Exeter in the last minute (ex bristol player Woodward with the winner…..) The chiefs didn’t look like they could win unopposed tonight.

Wuss stuffed by newcastle

not got the enthusiasm to go to Wuss much this year.
Will probably spend more time at Hartpury College instead. It’s closer, easier, cheaper and the team have more promise and future about them than the Wuss 🙁

the frenchies appear to have been working on a new secret weapon:

L'essai de ouf de Gervais Cordin, 18ans, la pépite découverte par Franck Corrihons @FCGrugby #fcg #rugby #proD2 pic.twitter.com/VKsz3PsDga

— Hugo Galatioto (@Hugo_galatioto) September 2, 2017

Pah Matt Morgan can do that! 😆 Can he catch a high ball, pass or tackle because Morgan cant!! 😕

Cracking try!

I’m at Twickenham for the London double header…..safe to say that Sarries v Saints wasn’t the most competitive half! 5/7 conversions missed too to make it look slightly closer 😯

Northampton are terrible, watching it on catch up.

Just been watching the local cup Derby between Ledbury and Malvern. Caught some of the shoeing sarries were dishing out on the TV in the clubhouse. Nice to have the season underway though

Ospreys win opener.

Didn’t catch the Scarlets game yet but good win for them! Not such a great start for the SA sides

Didn’t catch the Scarlets game yet but good win for them! Not such a great start for the SA sides

It was never going to be easy for the SA teams. Very short time to get preparations in place for fixtures thousands of miles away, get used to NH reffing, strip-mined of players..

If they can work out how to move away from Super Rugby setpieces, or use them effectively in the Pro14, they could be good.

Will probably spend more time at Hartpury College instead. It’s closer, easier, cheaper and the team have more promise and future about them than the Wuss

I’d be worried that Glaws might not let them do too well.

Where is Hartpury btw? I thought I knew most of the sides in the UK worth knowing. 😳

It’s a college in gloucestershire. Obviously has a senior team, which is used as a feeder team by Glaws.

Ooh. grenoble may have found a new star 😯
[video]https://youtu.be/aCt03CryIhw[/video]

😛

http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/rugby-thread-201718/page/2#post-8689982

some players at Hartpury have dual contracts with Glos I think. Unbeaten to win the Nat 1 last year, they will enjoy the championship and Id expect them to stay up.

There isn’t much dross in the champ this year, should be a good competition from top to bottom.
Apologies for not spotting your earlier post!

agreed.
Good to see the LOirish do a number on quins despite Yard looking v v strong.

http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/rugby-thread-201718/page/2#post-8689982

some players at Hartpury have dual contracts with Glos I think. Unbeaten to win the Nat 1 last year, they will enjoy the championship and Id expect them to stay up

Are you suggesting that I should get off my arse and read the thread? 😳 😆

Ooh. grenoble may have found a new star

He’ll get picked by France. Play one game where he has a blinder then play a second where he doesn’t touch the ball/gets injured and then we’ll NEVER see him again. Ever.

According to the rugby paper; wuss are for sale. Hope it turns out ok.

Rather glad I shelled out the £20 a month on the Prem; what a weekend and 3/4 games every week as well.

Nonu tells the Ref “this is not soccer” 🙂

https://www.the10bestoff.com/single-post/2017/09/03/vid%25C3%25A9o-Quand-Maa-Nonu-dit-%25C3%25A0-larbitre-Ce-nest-pas-du-foot-apr%25C3%25A8s-un-plaquage-litigieux

BYW the site seems to be pretty good for clips and highlights esp of the Top 14

Enjoyed the opening weekend of the AP;

Wuss were poor – they really miss Hougaard when he’s away. They need to get a better fly half too. Can’t see them being put up for sale helping to galvanise players etc.

Gloucs appear to have a bit of backbone this season – didn’t see that result coming at all.

Sarries were very good, but Saints were massively poor. Mallinder and co have surely got to go this season; their time is done.

Irish gave a good account of themselves; Kennedy comes across as a very thoughtful, bright coach. Quinns looked poor and workmanlike at best and a shadow of the team that won the AP.

Wasps were bright; Cips had a very good game and Robson was brilliant – will he get any international recognition this season? Daly has signed a new contract with them too. Sale look to have a good attack but its hard to judge how they’ll far on that performance.

Bath did pretty well given the number of front row injuries but both they and Tigers were pretty error strewn. Tigers backline looks good this season, but the pack doesn’t look like it’ll provide the platform for the backs to work from.

Chris Ashton “humiliation” compilation 🙂

[video]https://youtu.be/L-fzRm4XGYE[/video]

I’m convinced Ashton is a 9 at heart 🙂

Nonu’s comment would have been funny had he not hit high, late, with no arms, in the back and sworn at the ref…. he really can be a tit

Biggar to Sinners next season confirmed

http://m.bbc.co.uk/sport/rugby-union/41173267

Ashton has never been able to tackle

Cheetahs have just announced pricing for their opening home game of the Pro14.

Free.

Yep, free tickets.

Now, this makes good sense to me. There are going to be approximately five Zebre supporters within a thousand miles of the stadium on match day, so why not see if you can get all sorts of folks who might not normally go to a game in to the stadium. The money is coming in from TV, so anything you can make on the bars is the take for the day!

Surprised that Biggar is joining the Saints. They’ve got some serious recruitment to do with regards to coaches let alone players!

Many is broken again; due to have surgery on minor knee ligament damage. Doesn’t look like he’ll get the chance to stake his claim for the AI’s.

I was surprised about Biggar too… I guess the time is right to chase the bigger bucks

Based on the way Saints played on Sat, Mallinder has lost the dressing room. I cannot see how he will still be in charge next year, they were terrible against Saracens.

Guess which tiger is going to miss the next 12 weeks through injury/surgery.

Eddie will have to wait until the 6 nations in order to give him the chance to make a fool of himself again.