Stuart Hogg arrested again. He can't help himself can he?
https://www.planetrugby.com/news/stuart-hogg-arrested-again-for-breach-of-bail-as-rugby-return-hangs-in-the-balance
How are they so in debt? Presume they get roughly the same amount of 6Ns money that the irfu do
i think its more accurate to say the he refuses to get help for himself, some serious mental problems going on there most likely
New Zealand team named for England match. Perofeta at 15 the only major surprise :
1. Ethan de Groot (22) 2. Codie Taylor (85) 3. Tyrel Lomax (32) 4. Scott Barrett (69) (Captain) 5. Patrick Tuipulotu (43) 6. Samipeni Finau (1) 7. Dalton Papali’i (32) 8. Ardie Savea (81) (Vice Captain) 9. TJ Perenara (80) 10. Damian McKenzie (47) 11. Mark Tele’a (9) 12. Jordie Barrett (57) (Vice Captain) 13. Rieko Ioane (67) 14. Sevu Reece (23) 15. Stephen Perofeta (3) 16. Asafo Aumua (6) 17. Ofa Tu’ungafasi (57) 18. Fletcher Newell (13) 19. Tupou Vaa’i (25) 20. Luke Jacobson (18) 21. Finlay Christie (21) 22. Anton Lienert-Brown (70) 23. Beauden Barrett (123)
This summer series has the potential to be an absolute cracker and the most intriguing for years. Whilst I'd say the odds are all in favour of the home teams, there are a rake of sub plots throughout with new coaching teams, multiple player departures etc. making for an interesting few weeks.
NZ vs England is probably the pick of the ties for me, to be honest. NZ in complete transition. No Mo'unga, Cane, Whitelock, Retallick, Jordan, Smith, Frizzell or Laulala from their RWC final 23. And Beauden Barrett spent the year in Japan so is only back to join the bench.
They've a bit of a headache at halfback currently. Rumours from NZ that Scott Robertson has been in touch with Richie Mo'unga and they're desperately trying to get him out of his Japanese deal to return to NZ as he's their best outhalf by a distance. McKenzie has not been trusted by NZ much in the past despite being around the team for years now. Similarly, Aaron Smith was head and shoulders their best 9. Perenara would probably start for most nations but behind him (and McKenzie) there's a gulf in experience and proven test quality. Beauden Barrett is likely to find himself back in the 10 jersey for NZ at some point this summer, I'd imagine. But he's 33 and not the player he once was, particularly at outhalf where he hasn't played for NZ since 2022.
On the flip side, we have England who have had a similar level of turnover but had the 6N to bed guys in and played a game against Japan already where they went full strength essentially. Henry Slade was interviewed on the BBC podcast this week and said they arrived in Japan 10 days before their game. They were completely over their jet lag by match day. Auckland is a few hours further ahead but shouldn't make much of a difference to them so they'll be fully adapted to local time by their first or second day and been able to train fully.
To my mind, England are the coming team in the world right now. Hard to know if their ceiling is much higher than top 3 or 4 but they're dangerous and, mostly due to those retirements and injuries, now have a backline that is a genuine threat which is behind a pack that is filled with raw talent like George Martin, Ben Earl and CCS. I'd imagine Borthwick would have loved if Lawes stayed on given he's probably still the best blindside in the UK and Ireland but, that aside, I don't see who else would potentially get into this pack that has retired.
Borthwick is dull but he's shrewd and knows how to get his teams organised and difficult to break down. With Smith and Mitchell at halfback, they've genuine game breakers who can create something within that fairly disciplined/well drilled approach. I reckon NZ to scrape it but England to give a very decent account of themselves.
Whoever is watching Sky tmw, you might let us know their presenters and pundits, commentators etc.....
I have no idea who they are using and have a feeling they will go bare minimum....
Sky used to pride themselves on their Rugby coverage....now its the shìt on their shoe...which makes me wonder why they bother with it at all....
Theyll go all out for a Lions tour then....
This morning their pundits are Kyle Sinckler, Nick Evan's and Will Greenwood. Don't know the host, Hannah. Haven't seen her before.
Anna Woolhouse. No I don’t know why Miles Harrison keeps calling her Hannah either, I haven’t seen her before but she is apparently a Sky regular. Not sure why no Alex Payne.
They do but don't near make enough income from other areas like irfu do.
Miles Harrison cannot pronounce a suite of names so it's no surprise. Routinely inexplicably renamed Nemani Nadolo's surname to "Nandolo".
McKenzie got out of jail there with that brainfart.
It could be CTE.
New Zealand were full of mistakes. The only tactic they seemed to have was kick it deep and try turn England around. A one point win isn't a great result.
I suppose it's good for Robertson, I can only imagine what pressure he'd be under if he started with a loss.
You can't trust McKenzie at out-half on the international stage. I love watching him because you get electrifying plays but you get mistakes that'll cost your team too.
Smith left a lot of points out there. They were very lucky.
The panel has been swapped to Sam Warburton, Dan Biggar and Jamie Roberts at 10:30am.
This ABs team are there for the taking. They just don't have the personnel in some positions.
I'm interested to see what way Australia go under Joe Schmidt. Oz union needs a lifeline.
He's right, that's how Nadolo is pronounced. Like the N sound in Tuilagi, it's a feature of Polynesian phonology.
Well thank you, every day is an education. I take it back so.
These are two dog **** teams
I'm not a real fan of these summer internationals. I watched the New Zealand game this morning because i had nothing to do.
I'm not watching this game and I'm not sure I'll watch the Ireland game.
I don't think it's right. These guys need time off, it takes about four weeks to recover from a season, you should be off on your holidays then.
They get time off, the offseason is about to start.
Every single SH rugby union would fold without them, so it's a non-negotiable anyway.
Agreed that the games have value and a need but it must be rough on players like Tadgh Beirne who's pretty much played 12 months straight. They should be given some rest.
Pretty sure if you asked him he'd much rather be in South Africa than chilling at home.
You don't really know that and I don't either. He's obligated to play because of his contract.
Thank you, who is on commentary?
Can you do the same for the Ireland game please?
The same could be said about the AIs. Super Rugby starts in Feb so pre-season starts in December the NZ and Aussie players have to come over here in November when really they should be on holiday. They need a rest.
Wrong thread.
Rupert Cox and Sam Warburton. Yes Sky aren’t even hiding that the commentary is being done off tube from Iselworth, by using the same co-commentator that they’ve just had doing the studio segment.
Is that really relevant?
We've a big enough player pool that the games can be played and those who have played significant minutes can be rested and recover.
If they are playing summer internationals you mean?
The super rugby season finished two weeks ago.
