Statistic of the Day

[J Dory]

As long as it didn't come out tasting bad.

Too antipodean? I was just reporting facts Tigs. Cold. Hard. Facts.

With the exception of folks from Brittany, French people can't cook seafood, they overcook and over complicate everything. Could be why Dory is not to your taste.

[Lizard]

6 degrees of seperation

As we all know, it is impeccable RR logic to claim that if Team A beat Team B, and Team B beat Team C, then Team A must be better than Team C. Using that logic, I have attempted to prove that the lowest ranked World Rugby member is in fact the best in the world by the shortest chain of victories possible. I have found a 6-defeat chain and challenge all-comers to do better.

As we all know, the All Blacks are the highest ranked team at the moment. The lowest ranked team (103rd) is currently American Samoa AKA Amerika Samoa (birthplace, incidentally, of All Black Jerome Kaino). American Samoa only became a full World Rugby member in 2012, first being ranked in December that year (alongside fellow newcomers Greece, Mauritius and UAE). This locks the beginning of this ladder into the lower echelons of Pacific Rugby as those nations only rarely play teams outside the region. In any event, As far as I can tell, the only team Amerika Samoa has ever beaten at all is the Solomon Islands (currently 95th), most recently in the 2015 Oceania Cup.

The Solomon Islands peak performancea are probably a brace of wins over Niue (86th), most recently in the 2011 Oceania Cup.

Niue, in turn, has on a couple of occasions stunned the Pacific rugby world by turning over the Cook Islands (AKA South Auckland 3rd XV) currently ranked 48th. The Cooks are generally regarded as the best Pacific rugby nation after Fiji, Samoa and Tonga, but the gulf between them and the Cooks is vast.

Despite never beating any of the regional Big Three, the Cook Islands did spring quite a surprise by beating Italy (13th) in 1980. This was Italy’s first tour to the South Pacific which included a narrow loss to Fiji and mixed results against 4 lower division NZ provinces. This was also the Cooks’ first and only test so far against non-Pacific opposition (although they are touring Mexico and Brazil next year). Italy’s loss might be partly explained by being in Rarotonga near the end of an amateur tour, and also partly by the fact that 8 of the match day squad had been capped just the day before (!) against the Junior All Blacks (I think U21 in those days) in Auckland. It must have been something of a wake-up call as only 3 days later in Papeete, Italy gave Tahiti a serious hiding in an uncapped match.

Italy have of course tasted their first victory over South Africa (6th) this year, and the Boks beat NZ more frequently than anyone else.

To summarise, the chain of undisputed superiority is:
Amerika Samoa 103rd
Solomon Islands 95th (defeated 2015)
Niue 86th (2011)
Cook Islands 48th (2008)
Italy 13th (1980)
South Africa 6th (2016)
New Zealand 1st (2014)

[rowan]

"must have been something of a wake-up call as only 3 days later in Papeete, Italy gave Tahiti a serious hiding in an uncapped match."

Probably has more to do with the fact Tahiti prefers soccer, sucks horribly at rugby, and doesn't have a particilarly significant diaspora in South Auckland to draw upon...

[Adder]

As long as it didn't come out tasting bad.

Too antipodean? I was just reporting facts Tigs. Cold. Hard. Facts.

With the exception of folks from Brittany, French people can't cook seafood, they overcook and over complicate everything. Could be why Dory is not to your taste.

MEH. You should see Bulgarians... they fry/ ruin every Fish.

[tigran]

As long as it didn't come out tasting bad.

Too antipodean? I was just reporting facts Tigs. Cold. Hard. Facts.

With the exception of folks from Brittany, French people can't cook seafood, they overcook and over complicate everything. Could be why Dory is not to your taste.

MEH. You should see Bulgarians... they fry/ ruin every Fish.

The french have so many ways to cook anything that it goes beyond your imaginations...

[rowan]

Niue (86th)

Kiss me if I'm wrong, but I believe that island is completely under water now

[Lizard]

Niue (86th)

Kiss me if I'm wrong, but I believe that island is completely under water now

Nah, it's highest point is 50 or 60m above sea level. It's in no imminent danger of sinking, although sea level rises will increase coastal flooding in storm surges.

You might be thinking of Nauru?

And for the last tine, I'm not kissing you.

[rowan]

Nauru? Yes, I think you're right. Do they still have a rugby team, or have they turned to the underwater variety?

[Adder]

Niue (86th)

Kiss me if I'm wrong, but I believe that island is completely under water now

Nah, it's highest point is 50 or 60m above sea level. It's in no imminent danger of sinking, although sea level rises will increase coastal flooding in storm surges.

You might be thinking of Nauru?

And for the last tine, I'm not kissing you.

He just doesn't want to be corrected but you are willing to do the ultimate sacrifice for "truth". Very weird for someone working around Law (I believe)

[I R Geech]

Nauru? Yes, I think you're right. Do they still have a rugby team, or have they turned to the underwater variety?

Nah, they're fine, just broke since the birdshit ran out. Think they play Aussie rules and have 7s team, but that's about it.

[rowan]

Well, according to their Wikipedia page, rugby is actually a "growing" sport on the now submerged island of Nauru. The mind boggles...

Rugby union in Nauru is a minor but growing sport. The national team have competed in various international competitions, including the Pacific Games.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rugby_union_in_Nauru

[rowan]

Oh, wait, I just checked and they still have about 10,000 people living on the last tiny 20km square chunk of land remaining above sea level. So its the 234th biggest country in the world but has the 25th highest population density. Rather amazing they even found room for a rugby field.

Niue on the other hand is only 1600 residents living on 260 square kilometres of land, just for a comparison.

[melbournerebel]

Oh, wait, I just checked and they still have about 10,000 people living on the last tiny 20km square chunk of land remaining above sea level. So its the 234th biggest country in the world but has the 25th highest population density. Rather amazing they even found room for a rugby field.

Niue on the other hand is only 1600 residents living on 260 square kilometres of land, just for a comparison.

Its only 1600 cos most of them live in Otara

http://www.stats.govt.nz/Census/2006Cen ... ation.aspx

Niuean (22,476).

[scuzzaman]

I've seriously considered retiring to Niue.

Miles from anywhere, still get internet and satellite sports coverage, grow taro, catch fish, supplement with coconuts, pineapple, and onions.

What's not to like?

[morepork]

I've seriously considered retiring to Niue.

Miles from anywhere, still get internet and satellite sports coverage, grow taro, catch fish, supplement with coconuts, pineapple, and onions.

What's not to like?

Jump on an inflatable dinghy with a 2-horse seagull wearing a ratty T-shirt and jandals and the Australian coast guard will swoop on you and put you in a nice camp somewhere nearby that part of the world.

[rowan]

I think that would be Nauru, where probably half of the resident 10 K population crammed onto the tiny 20 square kilometre chunk of land still above water are in the National Processing Center, otherwise known as Australia's dumping ground for unwanted non-white immigrants. Sounds like paradise...

[rowan]

What does Phul Gufford have to say?

The harsh reality is that clashing global seasons, and the player exhaustion that comes with the current programmes, mean a level playing field for test rugby only comes every four years, at the World Cup.

The All Blacks had just enough left in the tank to overcome a gritty French side in Paris.

The lip smacking in the north over the Irish loss, and scrappy wins over Ireland and France, for the All Blacks is understandable. When 32 games with the All Blacks have passed for just one northern win, who in Europe wouldn't be tempted to reach in the cliché draw for the old "gap closed", "end of an era", and "aura fades" lines?

READ MORE http://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/rugby/opin ... app-iPhone

[Lizard]

There have been 21 years of professional test rugby. Of these 2016 provided:

England's highest winning percentage
England's 2nd most wins
New Zealand's 2nd= highest win percentage
New Zealand's 2nd= most wins
Australia's most losses
Australia's 2nd lowest win percentage
South Africa's lowest win percentage
South Africa's most losses

[rowan]

England peaking in between World Cups as usual then... Of course, they had a good season, but I'm surprised they didn't manage an unbeaten season in the early 2000s at some stage. Australia, ironically, had a respectable Autumn tour, but took a long while to get it together in this post-World Cup year. South Africa were simply awful, perhaps the worst Boks I've seen, but I'll wait til they have a poor World Cup before proclaiming their demise.

[scuzzaman]

I've seriously considered retiring to Niue.

Miles from anywhere, still get internet and satellite sports coverage, grow taro, catch fish, supplement with coconuts, pineapple, and onions.

What's not to like?

Jump on an inflatable dinghy with a 2-horse seagull wearing a ratty T-shirt and jandals and the Australian coast guard will swoop on you and put you in a nice camp somewhere nearby that part of the world.

True. I'll keep that in mind.

[tigran]

For years I've said the only equality was to be shown on WCs.... How many times have they laughed at me in here...

[J Dory]

For years I've said the only equality was to be shown on WCs.... How many times have they laughed at me in here...

Hahahaaaaaaaaaa.............

[Eugene Wrayburn]

Non-international season has 16 games plus up to 3 knock out matches plus up to 3 knock out games. It runs from February to July. At the other extreme is the T14 which has 26 plus 3 knockouts plus 6 HC matches and up to 3 knock outs. So up to 38 club games running from August to June.

One of those can reasonably be described as long and arduous. The other is half as long.

[J Dory]

Non-international season has 16 games plus up to 3 knock out matches plus up to 3 knock out games. It runs from February to July. At the other extreme is the T14 which has 26 plus 3 knockouts plus 6 HC matches and up to 3 knock outs. So up to 38 club games running from August to June.

One of those can reasonably be described as long and arduous. The other is half as long.

Yeah but in the NH most of the time players in club teams spend their time waiting for the scrum half to pass it to the 10 so he can kick it out and everyone can amble slowly to the next set piece. SH rugby is a lot more tiring due to all the running and hard tackling and stuff.

[rowan]

I'm not sure if the Southern Hemisphereans still play much provincial and/or club rugby - in addition to Super Rugby - but back in the early years it was pretty much one after the other for those guys. That might just about add up to over 30 games. & once you get to Super Rugby, let's face it, that's tougher than most international competition.