RugbyRebels

He probably should be, but he's off to Munster.

Has Fozzie got anyone holding his hand through the World Cup? Sam Cane made a couple of James Haskell level stupid margin calls in that final that will kill us dead. Please don't fleet it be box kicks, mauls and penalties that do for us.

Joe Schmidt, presumably.

Box kicks , penalties, and mauls it is then.

Analysis of the All Blacks’ kicking tactics (and other things)

Crusaders getting their beans this year man. Wot's going on?

It's a variety of factors.

1. New coach - a lot of the guys are Razor Boys, having come through the system under Robertson. Penney does have a significant pedigree (U20s success, came up via the Canterbury system, some success offshore, etc.) but ultimately, he's spent a whole lot of time elsewhere and there are a lot of players adjusting to new systems and structures. Based on his record, Razor is an exceptional coach (at the domestic level at least, he's a once-in-a-lifetime coach, jury's still out at the test level) and while Penney is a decent coach, a dip was always expected.

2. Injuries - They've got a fairly long list of players that have been unavailable in key areas. Their best fullback, Will Jordan, and a pretty good short-term guy from Wales, uh Lee Haffpound or something, are both out for the season, they're down to their fourth choice 10, their top second-row combination is out, etc. They've had a pretty miserable run there. Currently, they're down:
Will Jordan - gone for the season
Leigh Halfpenny - gone for most of the season, may be able to play in the tail-end of the regular season
Brayden Ennor - out for the season
Fergus Burke - did an Achilles, so he's not likely to feature
Tamaiti Williams - sorting out a dodgy hammy
Brodie McAllister - did a knee
Rivez Reihana - did a shoulder
Scott Barrett - did a finger

In addition, Joe Moody is only just coming back from catching the ol 'Rona - which fucking sucks, Codie Taylor is on a sabbatical until May and Owen Franks had a severe onset of idiocy, getting himself suspended for a few weeks.

It's meant that they're also struggling to get combinations going, they're having a hard time getting Levi Aumua into the games, when he could potentially be a devastating strike weapon in the midfield, and they're likely putting a lot of pressure on themselves to try to course correct which means that they end up doing a lot of coach-killer errors. Even taking into account the miserable conditions against the Blues, they still kept knocking on, their lineout made up of what were ostensibly a pair of kids got eaten alive by Paddy Tuipulotu and Laghlan McWhannell.

Some individual players are actually playing quite well. David Havili has been a very good second playmaker 12, Tom Christie continues to be a fucking machine in the back row, Dominic Gardiner is really making the most of an uninterrupted run the 6 jersey (Christie made 22 tackles, Gardiner made 19 and neither of them missed a single one, and they were one of the reasons why the game was still in the balance going into half time). Meanwhile, Cullen Grace - usually a pretty decent player in his own right, missed enough tackles for the entirety of the back row, making 17 but missing 8 tackles.

Well. That was a bit of a pumping wasn’t it? Bloos pretty ruthless.

Somebody check to see if Lizard is OK.

Ardie to Moana Pasifika was a bit unexpected but a pretty cool move.

I agree.