Rugby - Pre Binding Edition

[The Anti-Targ]

Fair enough refereeing rugby games is a tough job and people are going to make mistakes but the weird thing was he had the video ref review everything about the incident except the tackle he was about to sin bin someone for. If you're stopping the game anyway I don't understand not making sure you're right on a call that big.

They're not exactly playing Barbarians rugby but in fairness to South Africa they have brought in Le Roux to offer a bit more invention out wide. They still rely on the big forward runners consistently getting over the gainline coming round the corner to generate quick ball before they give out to the backs though.

I actually thought while the Springboks had a full team the All Blacks did a quite good job of slowing down their breakdown ball enough to disrupt their game plan, whether they could do that was a bit of a concern but I thought Messam and Cane did reasonably well.

Yes Cane had a really good game stepping in to McCaw's shoes. A pity the AB scrum looked like it was pretty well monstered when both packs had all 8 on the field. Glad they mostly did well enough in the line out.

And wow Aus just managed to beat Arg by 1. They gots to be worried about Arg at home.

[ljkeane]

Speaking of red cards, Nick Wood's been sent off for stamping on Burger's head a minute into the game against Saracens. Not the best of starts to the season for Gloucester.

[ljkeane]

Bloody hell, three of the Saints tries tonight have featured nfl style blocking which the refs have decided to ignore. Just because they don't run directly into tacklers doesn't mean they aren't obstructing people. How the hell can Burrell just standing directly in front of the tackler stopping him moving forward for the Pisi try not be crossing?

ETA: In fairness there wasn't a lot wrong with that Dowson try.

[ljkeane]

After the disappointment of the red card in the game in New Zealand it was a cracking game between South Africa and New Zealand this afternoon and an absolutely fantastic win for the All Blacks.

The All Blacks are clearly the best side in world rugby but I think South Africa have closed the gap and playing at Ellis Park and with Du Preez back pulling the strings I expected the Springboks to win if maybe not do enough to win the Championship. New Zealand weren't quite as ruthlessly clinical as they were to win some of their games but the fight they showed to stay in the game then pull away in the end playing at altitude down to 14 men for 20 minutes in the second half was really impressive, and the still had the class to take their chances when they needed too. It's not like South Africa played badly either, they were absolutely hammering into the All Blacks for large parts of the game.

This was probably the toughest challenge New Zealand are going to face this year as well. I tend to look at the game from the perspective of the other side when the All Blacks play because New Zealand are clearly the best side in the world and you want to see the underdog do well but you do have to stand back and admire what a fantastic side they are.

[lessthanluke]

Agreed on all counts. Haven't enjoyed a game that much in a while, shame about the two injuries SA suffered at the end of the first half but NZ were outstanding.

[Hereward]

We won. We won. We fucking won.

PS Rose is a fucking cheat.

[ljkeane]

Heh, the new coach at my club retired from playing for Quins about a year ago and we're pretty much playing the Quins game plan, perhaps a rethink is in order.

Good win for Irish though, I actually thought they'd struggle a bit more than they have. That's a fairly solid start to the season now and as a bonus Worcester are looking decidedly shakey. Yarde's looking very good as well, he should definitely be starting for England come the Autumn Internationals.

Good win for Sale on Friday as well. Seymour and Braid were excellent as usual and Cipriani actually had a very good game, he even made a couple of try saving tackles and looked generally solid defensively! If Cipriani can actually start performing to anything close to his potential that'll be a real bonus for Sale, it's probably best to wait for a slightly longer run of form that one game to start getting too enthusiastic though.

[The Marquis de Leech]

This was probably the toughest challenge New Zealand are going to face this year as well.

On paper I'd agree. Except that tiredness kicks in at the end of the season, and I'm actually quite worried about a potential banana-skin in Paris (less so Twickenham, since there is a strong motivation for revenge).

[The Anti-Targ]

After the disappointment of the red card in the game in New Zealand it was a cracking game between South Africa and New Zealand this afternoon and an absolutely fantastic win for the All Blacks.

The All Blacks are clearly the best side in world rugby but I think South Africa have closed the gap and playing at Ellis Park and with Du Preez back pulling the strings I expected the Springboks to win if maybe not do enough to win the Championship. New Zealand weren't quite as ruthlessly clinical as they were to win some of their games but the fight they showed to stay in the game then pull away in the end playing at altitude down to 14 men for 20 minutes in the second half was really impressive, and the still had the class to take their chances when they needed too. It's not like South Africa played badly either, they were absolutely hammering into the All Blacks for large parts of the game.

This was probably the toughest challenge New Zealand are going to face this year as well. I tend to look at the game from the perspective of the other side when the All Blacks play because New Zealand are clearly the best side in the world and you want to see the underdog do well but you do have to stand back and admire what a fantastic side they are.

I couldn't have put it better myself. What other side in the world could possibly win vs. the Boks at home and playing with only 14 men for 20 minutes of the game?

I partly put the win down to the AB's superior bench. Beauden Barrett almost single handedly broke the Bok's spirit with his try. Though Franks tried his best to gift the Boks a chance at winning with his brain explosion of a swinging arm. The Boks lost their cohesion and competitiveness in the final 15 with the bench players replacing the first stringers. I also think subbing Bizmark was a mistake, he was certainly pissed at that decision.

A shame about Brian Habana's injury, he was looking on fire.

[Top Notch Balanter]

In brilliant news for Rugby Union as a game Ruan Pienaar has just rejected Toulon and signed a 3 year deal with Ulster. The brilliant thing about it is that Toulon's financial power still isn't getting them whoever they want and players are in it for pride rather then money

Although i should add that top players do deserve big salaries eg Johnny Sexton's move to Racing didn't anger me at all, also it's probably worthwhile to note that Ulster will probably get some financing from Rory McElroy that is if he makes much money this year

[ljkeane]

In brilliant news for Rugby Union as a game Ruan Pienaar has just rejected Toulon and signed a 3 year deal with Ulster. The brilliant thing about it is that Toulon's financial power still isn't getting them whoever they want and players are in it for pride rather then money

That is good news for Ulster, although I'm not sure it's such good news for Paul Marshall.

So, probably the last year of the Heineken Cup in it's current format at least starts tonight. It should be a good game tonight at Ravenhill even if Leicester do look a bit injury ravaged. Pool 5 looks to be a tough group even with Treviso in there as Leicester, Ulster and Montpellier are all strong sides so early wins could be important.

Looking at the other groups you'd think both Toulon and Saracens would qualify from Pool 3 and Toulon look strong favourites for Pool 2, it'll be interesting to see if Glasgow can take their Pro 12 form into the Heineken though. Pool 1 looks by far the toughest though; Northampton have added arguably the two best players from the Lions tour in North and Corbisiero and look to really have kicked on, Leinster still have most of the players who made them the best side in Europe but how they adapt to losing Sexton at 10 is key, Castres are the Top 14 champions even if they haven't started the season well and half the Ospreys pack are Lions. It should be fairly brutal.

[The BlackBear]

Whooooo! Edinburgh! It was close at times but we just hung in there. Nearly more than 7 points ahead, but the penalty kick was a little optimistic distance wise. Edinurghs scrum, and especially lineout were very strong. Atmosphere was appalling though, I went to the Edinurgh Ulster match last year, it was just the same as this Huge stadium with very few people in it, and many more Irishmen than Edinburgh. But I got in for free so, meh. :D

[lessthanluke]

The atmosphere seemed pretty good on tv! Good result for the Scarlets at Harlequins, played very well with a couple of nice tries! Minus the two yellow cards of course.

[ljkeane]

Great result for the Scarlets yesterday. To be honest I didn't give them much of a chance of threatening an away win so I recorded the Castres - Saints game, which I'm regretting in hindsight.

I was impressed with how the Edinburgh midfield went as well yesterday, I still think Scott was a bit unlucky to miss out on the Lions tour. If their pack can keep giving them and Laidlaw good ball, they definitely look like a dangerous side.

A couple of strange games so far today, both Cardiff and Glasgow were pretty terrible in the first halves of their games but then both Exeter and Toulon switched off a bit in the second half and they were able to come away with away losing bonus points, not a terrible result in the Heineken Cup pool stages.

[ljkeane]

England have announced their squad for the Autumn Internationals.http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/rugby-union/24543899

Largely as expected apart from Trinder in the centres, I thought they'd probably go with the greater experience of Joseph as one of the options even if he hasn't been playing particularly well. I like Trinder, he's certainly the best attacking option at 13 at the moment and he does seem to have improved his defence recently but he does have an occasional tendency to get run over which might be a bit of a concern. As for the other options I'm not a huge fan of Tomkins but I suppose he might be frontrunner to replace Tuilagi as vaguely like for like, Burrell's probably earned a place in the squad but I'd rather he was considered a 12 rather than played out of position.

In the forwards the obvious concern is Corbisiero's fitness again, if he's fit the tight five looks a very solid unit with Wilson in good form and Vunipola with a Lions tour under his belt to come off the bench. If he's not and Marler or Vunipola have to start it looks rather more shaky. The back row options are probably what I would have gone for but form is a bit of a concern with only really Billy Vunipola playing particularly well at the moment and he's spending a fair amount of time at 6 for Saracens rather than 8.

[Hereward]

How is it even possible to lose to Newcastle? I hope Worcester dont develop basic competence.

Thoroughly enjoyed Saracens getting a beating from Saints though.

[Which Tyler]

It's windy out:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=4nv3Dy1OI34

[ljkeane]

:lol: That's a 20 point wind if I've ever seen one.

How is it even possible to lose to Newcastle?

Probably down to a lack of respected leaders in the side. Fortunately though it seems Brian Smith has recognised the problem and solved it by going out and signing James O'Connor to lead from the front.

It should be interesting. Clearly O'Connor's very talented and he could add something but it seems like he's a bit of a headcase and his best positions are probably in the back three where Irish are actually pretty strong.

[The BlackBear]

http://www.rfu.com/news/2013/october/news-articles/291013_squad_update_aus

England Squad. Thoughts?

[ljkeane]

It looks solid without being spectacular, Corbisiero and Tuilagi are probably England's two most reliable weapons at international level so it's a bit of a pain they're both out.

In the backs Tomkins in for Tuilagi isn't a huge surprise, I'm not overly excited at the prospect of him at 13 but he's probably the safest bet of the options available. Hopefully Twelvetrees can kick on from his good performance in Argentina and offer some creativity from inside centre, Farrell has actually being playing fairly well for Saracens as well. It's good to see Lancaster picking two wingers, I'd have like to have seen Wade given a chance but to be fair to Ashton he has started the season quite well. At scrumhalf I think I'd go with Dickson, Youngs is the more talented but he's been fairly gash so far this season and Dickson has been playing really well for Northampton. He's also more suited to the quick rucking style of play Lancaster seems to want to go with.

In the forwards it's a shame both of England's success stories from the Lions tour in Corbisiero and Parling are out. I don't think it'll hurt England too much in the second row where they have good options and ,honestly, while it's harsh on either Parling or Launchbury I do think they could do with a bit more ballast which Attwood offers. I do think loosehead is a bit of a problem though, both Vunipola and Marler have struggled against the Wallabies in the scrum and we really can't afford to be on the back foot in the set piece, hopefully they've kicked on a bit.