Spiffy wrote:Some of the comments on Curry, above, are perhaps a little harsh. The youngest kid in the England squad, a natural 7, he has been pitched in at the deep end and asked to do a job at 6. This I think he has done admirably. You can hyperanalyse his every move, but the fact remains, he has been outstanding in the shirt, well worth his place and highly instrumental in England's success in this RWC. He will only get better as a blindside as he matures, adds a little weight and experience in the role.
He and Underhill are a tremendous pair of flankers, probably the best combination in the RWC, which is remarkable, given their age and experience.
Trust me, we're aware of what we've got. He's got flaws, but is already being talked about in World XV terms and is only 21. He nitpick because we care... and also because we're bored waiting for Saturday to get here.
Spiffy wrote:Some of the comments on Curry, above, are perhaps a little harsh. The youngest kid in the England squad, a natural 7, he has been pitched in at the deep end and asked to do a job at 6. This I think he has done admirably. You can hyperanalyse his every move, but the fact remains, he has been outstanding in the shirt, well worth his place and highly instrumental in England's success in this RWC. He will only get better as a blindside as he matures, adds a little weight and experience in the role.
He and Underhill are a tremendous pair of flankers, probably the best combination in the RWC, which is remarkable, given their age and experience.
Which comments? And as pointed out, he’s not doing much different save packing down at 6 at scrum time. He’s played bloody well; just needs to work on his scrum defence.
Well that's us told, a £2,000 fine! I get technically we advanced over halfway and having fined France we were likely to incur some penalty, but that's so low it barely feels like an anything
Digby wrote:Well that's us told, a £2,000 fine! I get technically we advanced over halfway and having fined France we were likely to incur some penalty, but that's so low it barely feels like an anything
Probably a decision to avoid any 'complaints', but enough to ensure (those who want to) can find mitigating circumstances as to how we had an 'against the spirit of the game' advantage.
Digby wrote:Well that's us told, a £2,000 fine! I get technically we advanced over halfway and having fined France we were likely to incur some penalty, but that's so low it barely feels like an anything
Probably a decision to avoid any 'complaints', but enough to ensure (those who want to) can find mitigating circumstances as to how we had an 'against the spirit of the game' advantage.
I wonder how they would handle one of the NH countries coming up with a pre-game ritual. Morris dancing has been suggested for us. The Scots could easily claim a warriors' sword dance or whatever. Russia could come up with a Cossack dance. Seriously, the haka is just naff.
Digby wrote:Well that's us told, a £2,000 fine! I get technically we advanced over halfway and having fined France we were likely to incur some penalty, but that's so low it barely feels like an anything
Probably a decision to avoid any 'complaints', but enough to ensure (those who want to) can find mitigating circumstances as to how we had an 'against the spirit of the game' advantage.
I wonder how they would handle one of the NH countries coming up with a pre-game ritual. Morris dancing has been suggested for us. The Scots could easily claim a warriors' sword dance or whatever. Russia could come up with a Cossack dance. Seriously, the haka is just naff.
I like the Haka. Or I liked the haka. But I don't like this version. The dramatic pauses and cut-throat signs seem a little overboard to me. I much preferred the old one.
I do think it creates a little atmosphere and I don't think it does much against the opposition, so I don't see a problem with it.
p/d wrote:
Probably a decision to avoid any 'complaints', but enough to ensure (those who want to) can find mitigating circumstances as to how we had an 'against the spirit of the game' advantage.
I wonder how they would handle one of the NH countries coming up with a pre-game ritual. Morris dancing has been suggested for us. The Scots could easily claim a warriors' sword dance or whatever. Russia could come up with a Cossack dance. Seriously, the haka is just naff.
I like the Haka. Or I liked the haka. But I don't like this version. The dramatic pauses and cut-throat signs seem a little overboard to me. I much preferred the old one.
I do think it creates a little atmosphere and I don't think it does much against the opposition, so I don't see a problem with it.
Pretty sure there will be a revisit of the claims the Haka hurts NZ. Sure it gets them pumped up, but there's been talking for years they can be too emotional in the opening minutes of a game and don't execute well until around 5 minutes into the game. There are players who don't sing their anthems as they want/need to stay calm and focus on their role, NZ will certainly be looking at how they can do their dance and still be ready for kickoff
Oakboy wrote:
I wonder how they would handle one of the NH countries coming up with a pre-game ritual. Morris dancing has been suggested for us. The Scots could easily claim a warriors' sword dance or whatever. Russia could come up with a Cossack dance. Seriously, the haka is just naff.
I like the Haka. Or I liked the haka. But I don't like this version. The dramatic pauses and cut-throat signs seem a little overboard to me. I much preferred the old one.
I do think it creates a little atmosphere and I don't think it does much against the opposition, so I don't see a problem with it.
They've had multiple versions for years
I can’t remember the last version. But from 2000-2015 at least it was fine.
Looking at the skill execution shown by Youngs picking up the ball from the time the clip will start on that link I was strongly not reminded of that video on passing technique you sent my way. It's annoying as I know he can get it right, but he tends to do this too often as his default
Digby wrote:Pretty sure there will be a revisit of the claims the Haka hurts NZ. Sure it gets them pumped up, but there's been talking for years they can be too emotional in the opening minutes of a game and don't execute well until around 5 minutes into the game. There are players who don't sing their anthems as they want/need to stay calm and focus on their role, NZ will certainly be looking at how they can do their dance and still be ready for kickoff
No doubt. I find it incredible that the Kiwi media (and quite a fair few fans) are treating this as an incredible result that requires significant change to expiate the shame. Even on the English commentary, they talked about "one of the biggest shock results in World Cup history."
Granted, I am very happy and NZ were favourites, but this was #2 against #1 (at the time ) so surely our victory wasn't *that* much of a disaster?
Looking at the skill execution shown by Youngs picking up the ball from the time the clip will start on that link I was strongly not reminded of that video on passing technique you sent my way. It's annoying as I know he can get it right, but he tends to do this too often as his default
I've lost track of which thread we're meant to use to slag off Youngs's passing.
I see they also address Which Tyler's idea of combining the names Curry and Underhill. Did you send a letter in, Which?
I also can't believe he was actually being serious when he talked about naming his 'finishing XV' first. What a load of nonsense. What if Itoje had played like absolute shit and given away 30 penalties?
Stom wrote:
I like the Haka. Or I liked the haka. But I don't like this version. The dramatic pauses and cut-throat signs seem a little overboard to me. I much preferred the old one.
I do think it creates a little atmosphere and I don't think it does much against the opposition, so I don't see a problem with it.
They've had multiple versions for years
I can’t remember the last version. But from 2000-2015 at least it was fine.
even in that period they were doing different versions on a match by match basis
Banquo wrote:
They've had multiple versions for years
I can’t remember the last version. But from 2000-2015 at least it was fine.
even in that period they were doing different versions on a match by match basis
I wonder if the players would opt to continue it, given a free (i.e. un-influenced) choice. From the start of the anthems to the end of the haka is 10 minutes +.
Stom wrote:
I can’t remember the last version. But from 2000-2015 at least it was fine.
even in that period they were doing different versions on a match by match basis
I wonder if the players would opt to continue it, given a free (i.e. un-influenced) choice. From the start of the anthems to the end of the haka is 10 minutes +.
Banquo wrote:
They've had multiple versions for years
I can’t remember the last version. But from 2000-2015 at least it was fine.
even in that period they were doing different versions on a match by match basis
Yeah, but they weren't doing dramatic pauses between each line for tongue wiggling and yelps in that period. They just did a haka without drawing it out.
Banquo wrote:
even in that period they were doing different versions on a match by match basis
I wonder if the players would opt to continue it, given a free (i.e. un-influenced) choice. From the start of the anthems to the end of the haka is 10 minutes +.
Stom wrote:
I can’t remember the last version. But from 2000-2015 at least it was fine.
even in that period they were doing different versions on a match by match basis
Yeah, but they weren't doing dramatic pauses between each line for tongue wiggling and yelps in that period. They just did a haka without drawing it out.
Puja
ah ok, I've not been doing strictly come haka watch I just know they have a dance for every occasion.
Can't be bothered with the haka anymore. In some way it has become funny, more than anything else, and not a warlike challenge at all. Farrell's smirk said a lot.
Every time I see that wide-legged stance now, I can't help thinking it's doing nothing more than inviting a swift kick to the ballocks.
Spiffy wrote:Can't be bothered with the haka anymore. In some way it has become funny, more than anything else, and not a warlike challenge at all. Farrell's smirk said a lot.
Every time I see that wide-legged stance now, I can't help thinking it's doing nothing more than inviting a swift kick to the ballocks.
Now I can't get the picture of King Georges 'power stance' from Blackadder 2 out of my head. It would also make a cracking counter challenge.
) so surely our victory wasn't *that* much of a disaster?
