Deans wants officials to Police the breakdown

http://www.espnscrum.com/the-rugby-championship/rugby/story/168656.html

Obviously hes been reading all this guff on the internets about Pococks opposite number being a dirty cheat and attacking poor frenchmans fingers with his eyes.

This picture suggests that he may have issues getting complete neutral Policing though...

Spoiler:

He met those NSW police because they came over to Christchurch to help out in the aftermath of the earthquake. And good on them.

Deans has also said that the Aussie scrum gets penalised more than it should because of its perceived weakness. All part of the pre-game show to get the ref on their side.

kiakahaaotearoa wrote: He met those NSW police because they came over to Christchurch to help out in the aftermath of the earthquake. And good on them.

Deans has also said that the Aussie scrum gets penalised more than it should because of its perceived weakness. All part of the pre-game show to get the ref on their side.

Or just remind the officials how sh1te their scrum is

I don't think it's as bad as some people make out. Wales have a very handy scrum and didn't gain any dominance in that area. The NZ scrum looked a bit shaky at times against Ireland so I don't think tomorrow will see the ABs get ascendancy in that area. The lineout used to be a problem for us against Australia but we seemed to have fixed that problem and along with restarts we even seem to do very well in those areas.

The key though is the breakdown and whether the ABs are able to get a roll on with the forwards without Kaino and Thorn's grunt.

The Ozzy scrum at present isn't as bad as some of those that have preceded it. It helps having Polota-Nau in there, and Moore is a pretty decent scrummager as well.

The breakdown got policed and Pocock was pinged twice.

Be careful what you wish for.....

He wasn't complaining about it after the QF last year.

It was more than twice. Pocock was testing things too much and gave away sitters in front of the posts. The captain was trying to force things too much and that was probably born out of frustration. But some of those infringements were inexcusable and relieved the pressure for the ABs and enabled them to get out to 8.

Rolland's rulings were shocking at times. He penalised the offensive team in ascendency for fringe technical fouls, like one massive all blacks counter ruck result in the Wallaby penalty because someone lose their feet after they drive more than 15 meters over the ball. Nonu get penalised for "crossing" or "obstruction" and he was not in front of SBW at any time. He has no empathy for the game and distrupts the flow. He needs to be realigned by some remedial training. The Rugby cHampionsHip will not be a successful specatcle with this sort of small minded pedantic nit picking. A giant dissappointment to 70,000 fans at the stadium and millions world wide.

Why can referees not take a role model from the excellent Joubert? or Walsh?

It's his inability to play advantage that irks me. He started doing it in the second half but all too briefly.

I thought in the first half it was a harsh call when AAC came out of the dead ball line and the ABs were ruled in front when they drove over the ball and scored. But the one you mention was particularly harsh when the ABs drove the Wallabies so far back I'd challenge anybody to keep their feet in that situation.

It's important to look at the spirit of the law in interpretation.

The idea of staying on your feet is to prevent sealing off the opposition from challenging.

In that situation, there was no way Australia could challenge because they had been pushed back 20 meters, and the player fallling over did not seal off, he just went to ground. The ball was well on the NZ side, so should have been play on.

Similarly when AAC ran out of the in-goal after the terrible pass dropped by Beale, he was isolated and facing 4 all blacks, because Messam "came from the side" I would argue that as the tackled player, AAC had to roll away, and there was no ruck formed because Messam arrive before the 1st Wallaby, so there could be no gate yet.

Rolland is a jobsworth who spent too much time refereeing the slower less dynamic game and he is a fish out of his element in the rugby championship. These guys should come up to speed in super rugby before messing up the championship.

Geez AWP your english teacher sure has performed miracles...

Anyone see the news? The cause of Woodcock's injury. One of those things I guess, but unfortunate.

ebop wrote:Anyone see the news? The cause of Woodcock's injury. One of those things I guess, but unfortunate.

I didn't see the cause?

Pocock's out for 3 months - so will possibly miss the AIs as well as the Rugby Championship

Faianga hit woodcock in the ribs with his shoulder well off the ball at 24.05 mins. You see woodcock clutching his ribs afterwards. Not quite a BOD and probably happens all the time. He must have just hit the right spot.

Ebop do you have a link?

Woodcock's a pretty big bloke so it must have either been one hell of a hit or freakishly unlucky to damage him like that.

Nah I don't sorry yappysnap. Was on nz news and then I had a look as I'd saved the game. Faingaa got up from a ruck on the AB side and drove into woodcock with shoulder after ball had been cleared by Genia, 24:05 mins. Don't think he was expecting it as it looked like a glancing shot.

Bit of paybacks for this maybe....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_kLEcVW7DAs&feature=youtube_gdata_player

All I can say is Woodcocks lucky he isn't South African.

Was it Reads tackle that put Pocock out? he didnt go off but was down for a long time...

There are some reports that he actually went into the game with it not right, when they were trying to treat it after the Reid tackle they couldnt do much, because it was so heavily strapped.

I'm assuming this is the team for Saturday...

ALL BLACKS: Israel Dagg, Cory Jane, Ma'a Nonu, Sonny Bill Williams, Hosea Gear, Dan Carter, Aaron Smith, Kieran Read, Richie McCaw (c), Liam Messam, Sam Whitelock, Luke Romano, Owen Franks, Keven Mealamu, Wyatt Crockett. Reserves: Andrew Hore, Ben Franks, Brodie Retallick, Victor Vito, Piri Weepu, Aaron Cruden, Ben Smith.


I agree with Henry, more pain for Australia. They just do not look ready for this. The lack of depth is being exposed minute by minute:

http://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/rugby/all-blacks/7530051/Graham-Henry-sees-more-pain-for-Wallabies

Mark Ella in the SMH was a little more pessimistic: he claimed the Wallabies would be another decade without the Bledisloe.