Autumn Internationals Team Announcement/Talk

Buer wrote: »

The lack of consistency in an area deemed extremely high priority of late is bewildering. I don't have the slow motion replays available but, if he connects with the head, it's a clear cut red card.

Buer wrote: »

The two incidents can be seen here:

https://twitter.com/theblitzdefence/status/1061954700281561089

Faf de Klerk took out the kicker late. It wasn't a high hit, chest/shoulder into the kicker's chest. The slow motion replay makes the contact look worse than it was. I believe the French player milked it but FdK was lucky not to go to the bin. I don't think he was ever blocking that.

Webbs wrote: »

For the halfpenny incident Martin Johnson was adamant that kerevi knew exactly what he was doing in leading with his shoulder and not making any attempt to protect halfpenny.
Its an unnatural movement for just a kick block attempt and surely should have been worthy of a penalty at least.

croket wrote: »

Here are some highlights from Italy-Georgia, obviously from a georgian fan.

Watched full game and IMO Georgia was not so far away. They faced a full Tier1 who really played 100% and Italy showed that the gap between Tier1 and Georgia is still not closed.

If Italy missed few first choice team because of injuries, Georgia too. The second row duo Mikautadze (Montpellier) and Nemsadze (Ospreys) missed a lot to Georgia, considering how difficult were lineouts without them. Also, they are two very powerfull locks, I think any prop would love to have these locks behind them. Both of them, alongside Clermont's flanker Kolelishvili are also strong ball carrier and very usefull to destroy mauls (especially Mikautadze - just check "Mikautadze maul" on YT) . I don't mention Toulon talisman Gorgodze who is retired from international rugby, despite that he is younger than Parisse. Unlike Tier1 teams like Italy, were an injured Pro14 player is replaced by another Pro14 player, Georgia suffers from a lack of depth, as almost every Tier2 team, except for the props. So, these three top level players were replaced by 3 players from french ProD2 and English Championship and this is a proof that Georgia is still a Tier2 team. Georgia also missed these 2 most experienced backs, centre Kacharava and fullback Kvirikashvili, both 100+ caps, and both out of injury.

Despite that, I think that Georgia showed some good display, and made progress from an all-forward oriented game plan to a moste complete style.

Italy played a decent game, and could have scored an 5th try, when Castello just had to run to the corner but made the wrong choice. In another hand, Allan's try (5:06) were scored after Lobzhanidze was hurted with a borderline tackle, then Mchedlidze loss the ball and Allan just had to run where Lobzhanidze is lying down, instead of being able to defend, but well played by Italy. Georgia also had an opportunity to close the gap to 4 points (7:00 on the video) with a great break by Gorgadze, unfortunately followed by a knock on from Aprasidze.

I think that Georgia suffered a lot from the yellow card at min 30., with 10 points conceded during this time and the whole team looked very tired after that. Obviously, most of the players are not used to playing at such intensity, some of them are even amateurs and I think Georgia needs a Pro14 franchise or at least more Tier1 tests like this one to made progress. Also obvious that there is a gap between Italy and Georgia but not so big at all...

Still, Georgia fielded a very young side, with the entire backrow born 1996, as the starting scrumhalf and the right winger while only 3 players in the starting XV are 30 or more. On the bench, Aprasidze born 1998 and Kveseladze born 1997. All these players are already decent and can still progress a lot. Also Georgia can compete with Tier1 teams at U20 level, especially this year, with 2 small loss against France (champions) and South Africa (3d) followed by 3 won against Ireland, Japan and Scotland. But again, the big potentiel of these players can be limited if they stay playing in the amateur georgian championship instead of a georgian Pro14 franchise or whatever professional team.
Another good news for Georgia was the crowd, with more than 10K georgians fans in Florence and thousands in Tbilisi, whatching the game on a big screen. That's a big argument to get more Tier1 tests.

Another thing, there is not a single foreign player in georgian championship and the whole national team raised in Georgia. I do not blame Italy for using foreign players and it is not the team that abuses it the most but still a good advantage for a team when they can't develop a local guy at some position. I mean, the entire italian backrow were born and raised abroad, Negri, Steyn and Meyer learned rugby in South Africa, talisman Polledri in England. But this is an additional reason for Georgia to develop its own players.

Finally, congratulations to Italy for the deserved win, you showed that Georgia is still a Tier2 team who needs to keep working, but I think that Georgia is in the right way to become a strong rugby nation the following years !

Yeah_Right wrote: »

I was rewatching the Ireland v Argentina match last night and one of the things I noticed about the Argie scrum (as it was going backwards) was how their were binding. They were putting their arms around the outside of the props' hips rather than between the legs. I had never seen this before. I would have thought it weakened the scrum.

croket wrote: »

Here are some highlights from Italy-Georgia, obviously from a georgian fan.

Watched full game and IMO Georgia was not so far away. They faced a full Tier1 who really played 100% and Italy showed that the gap between Tier1 and Georgia is still not closed.

If Italy missed few first choice team because of injuries, Georgia too. The second row duo Mikautadze (Montpellier) and Nemsadze (Ospreys) missed a lot to Georgia, considering how difficult were lineouts without them. Also, they are two very powerfull locks, I think any prop would love to have these locks behind them. Both of them, alongside Clermont's flanker Kolelishvili are also strong ball carrier and very usefull to destroy mauls (especially Mikautadze - just check "Mikautadze maul" on YT) . I don't mention Toulon talisman Gorgodze who is retired from international rugby, despite that he is younger than Parisse. Unlike Tier1 teams like Italy, were an injured Pro14 player is replaced by another Pro14 player, Georgia suffers from a lack of depth, as almost every Tier2 team, except for the props. So, these three top level players were replaced by 3 players from french ProD2 and English Championship and this is a proof that Georgia is still a Tier2 team. Georgia also missed these 2 most experienced backs, centre Kacharava and fullback Kvirikashvili, both 100+ caps, and both out of injury.

Despite that, I think that Georgia showed some good display, and made progress from an all-forward oriented game plan to a moste complete style.

Italy played a decent game, and could have scored an 5th try, when Castello just had to run to the corner but made the wrong choice. In another hand, Allan's try (5:06) were scored after Lobzhanidze was hurted with a borderline tackle, then Mchedlidze loss the ball and Allan just had to run where Lobzhanidze is lying down, instead of being able to defend, but well played by Italy. Georgia also had an opportunity to close the gap to 4 points (7:00 on the video) with a great break by Gorgadze, unfortunately followed by a knock on from Aprasidze.

I think that Georgia suffered a lot from the yellow card at min 30., with 10 points conceded during this time and the whole team looked very tired after that. Obviously, most of the players are not used to playing at such intensity, some of them are even amateurs and I think Georgia needs a Pro14 franchise or at least more Tier1 tests like this one to made progress. Also obvious that there is a gap between Italy and Georgia but not so big at all...

Still, Georgia fielded a very young side, with the entire backrow born 1996, as the starting scrumhalf and the right winger while only 3 players in the starting XV are 30 or more. On the bench, Aprasidze born 1998 and Kveseladze born 1997. All these players are already decent and can still progress a lot. Also Georgia can compete with Tier1 teams at U20 level, especially this year, with 2 small loss against France (champions) and South Africa (3d) followed by 3 won against Ireland, Japan and Scotland. But again, the big potentiel of these players can be limited if they stay playing in the amateur georgian championship instead of a georgian Pro14 franchise or whatever professional team.
Another good news for Georgia was the crowd, with more than 10K georgians fans in Florence and thousands in Tbilisi, whatching the game on a big screen. That's a big argument to get more Tier1 tests.

Another thing, there is not a single foreign player in georgian championship and the whole national team raised in Georgia. I do not blame Italy for using foreign players and it is not the team that abuses it the most but still a good advantage for a team when they can't develop a local guy at some position. I mean, the entire italian backrow were born and raised abroad, Negri, Steyn and Meyer learned rugby in South Africa, talisman Polledri in England. But this is an additional reason for Georgia to develop its own players.

Finally, congratulations to Italy for the deserved win, you showed that Georgia is still a Tier2 team who needs to keep working, but I think that Georgia is in the right way to become a strong rugby nation the following years !

Yeah_Right wrote: »

I was rewatching the Ireland v Argentina match last night and one of the things I noticed about the Argie scrum (as it was going backwards) was how their were binding. They were putting their arms around the outside of the props' hips rather than between the legs. I had never seen this before. I would have thought it weakened the scrum.

prawnsambo wrote: »

Locks I presume? That's weird. Would have thought that they wouldn't be able to get their shoulder into the shove in that configuration.

Digifriendly wrote: »

Georgia vs Samoa a good indication of where both sides are at and should be a reasonable game. Have Samoa declined a bit as a rugby nation in last few years?