Wales resort to the tried and tested

The odds of the Brumbies or Chiefs winning this tournament will balloon out if the Crusaders win on Friday so for once, this Queensland Maroons fan will say go the Blues!

As for the Reds, I want to see the men in red have a dominant set piece and some mongrel. I said to Nick yesterday that I would like to see them move to a more aggressive defensive system rather than the passive one that is currently being used. However the preference in Australia is to use a sliding defence that prioritises staying connected rather than applying intense pressure so I expect more of the same there

This is the kind of content that will drag RP into the mud. Give it up lads.

But I’d love to see Timoci Tavatavanawai at 12 and J Barrett at 13. It would be like Nonu/Smith but Smith on steroids and HGH :)

That’s why picking Foster was such a poor idea. Foster thought along the same likes as Hansen, but wasn’t as good a coach. Hansen’s ideas didn’t work in 2016-19. They needed an intellectual cleanout after the 2016-19 cycle. Glad Mark Robinson has left that was his poor calls, both to give Foster the role to start with, then to give him two more years after terrible performances. Madness.

The coach gets to pick their preferred players and the CEO finds a way to pay for them. That often leaves little for the next best players who go overseas to get paid what they are worth. Cruden go the short end of that stick. I guess Mo’unga wasn’t going to take the risk (albeit as small risk) that Robertson wasn’t going to get the coaching role.

It was the more the grit and decorum that McCaw showed: playing through injury, giving 100% while being assaulted most games (what he used to put up with was over the top, even for a 7), the not going overseas (he says he was too injured to go overseas it he off season - probably just him being humble), not getting married until after he retired - so he could focus properly on rugby, they way he used to ‘manage’ the referees and the media’s pointed questions (“So Richie how do you get away with cheating all the time” :) ).

It’s the stuff from an over the top Boys Own story. But in real life.

It’s more the way the New Zealand public views them. Carter is seen as a great player, while McCaw is seem as the archetype of an All Black. I think McCaw has surpassed the old greats in the New Zealand public’s eye.

Nick, any idea why R Ioane doesn’t seem to: Pass the ball when he should, or make breaks as he is defiantly at power runner. He just seems to truck it up.

Ioane seems to have been poor off the field behavior. Which possibly affected his on-field performance. With better management he could’ve been really good. Also getting the Sopoaga treatment in 2019 (one test as a RWC cover check) then off to the wilderness probably didn’t help him.

Burke wasn’t flashy. But a solid 10 would’ve been very useful last year for the All Blacks. But in saying that Plummer was a solid 10 and he barely got on the field. Robertson seemed hell bent on playing McKenzie into form.

Having the solid, yet unspectacular, 10s in New Zealand would raise the bar for the really good 10s who could be great All Blacks.

Love was at 10 on Round 11, on 26 April 2025. Cameron was injured.

Hurricanes lost both :(

So we will see