Rugby

Spot on HappyListener, it’s somewhat pathetic now

I still love the game though

I kind of agree but what I do believe they’re inconsistent, why should the Wallabies be punished (especially as it lost them the game) when teams and refs have been wasting time with no consequence.

I’m all for speeding up the game but I believe the inconsistency of the decisions on field are a bigger problem.

I regard it as part of the same problem, of course much of it is down to diktats around safety e.g. the process for forming a scrum nowadays.

The ‘flow’ of the game has been lost, which often evened-out inconsistencies and/or debateable decisions within a game. The coaches, players & media keep micro-analysing events within games as the games are so short!

Some of the (high paying) spectator feedback I’ve read has been scathing about what transpired on Saturday, primarily around the funereal pace of the match, much of this due to England’s way of having pack meetings before line-outs.

I wouldn’t want to ref an England game, as it can’t be much fun to keep having to blow your whistle, often for stupid offences, an aspect of England’s ‘play’ which has become endemic.

Taxi for Mr Pivac. Back to the future for Wales

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Agreed, unfortunately I think hands are tied when it comes specifically to matters of safety especially with ongoing litigation, but Paul Thorburn was quite scathing here:

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Bye bye EJ too. Not sad, but they should have had the cojones to do it a year or two ago.

Bruce

While certainly not a fan of Eddie I wonder if dumping him with less than 12 months to the WC is a good idea.

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Bad idea I’m thinking but time will tell

Whilst he’s not everyone’s cup of tea, evidently his record overall is the best of any English coach

Just had a bad 2022 but so have quite a few coaches

Can’t blame coaches all of the time, it’s up to the players to deliver . Look what happened to the ABs vs England in last 10 minutes, can’t blame coaches for that

Eddie is a very experienced coach , no doubt will pop up very shortly somewhere . Maybe it’s what the Wallabies need , big kick up the backside

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I was cheering for you right until that last sentence. :scream:

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Thought you might say that ha

Can’t see him back here at all

Hopefully RNZ getting off their conservative a***s and have locked in Razor Robertson as next AB coach after RWC

But I won’t hold my breath on that one also

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There’s lot of emerging sides that would probably benefit from having an Eddie on their side. Sides like Georgia or even Canada or the US could do worse.

As one of the newspapers said over here, the RFU had to stick or twist, they went for the latter. We will only know if it was the right decision this time next year.

It’s a brave (or foolish) call this close to the WC.

I wonder if the players liked Eddie as a coach ?

He would have driven them pretty hard - maybe they just got sick of it , who knows

The Wallabies and AB squad members all seem to be behind their head coaches and support coaches which puts the whole team in the right mindset over the next 9 months

Same with France, Ireland , Boks , Scotland and Argentina players also

We don’t get too much press down under on whether players were behind Eddie or not , the UK media certainly weren’t

I think Eddie did a good job for England - up until 2021
Its the right call for me, there will be a bounce in the team for the six nations - as typically happens when a new coach comes in- and then the focus is on maintaining that bruce until Sept/Oct

Rock and a hard place for new coach - hero or banished forever ha

England were not shaping up to be competitive at the World Cup under EJ so I am not sure a new coach can make that situation worse.

England went backwards after losing that last final. Looked to me like the fast aggressive game got put in the back burner and EJ tried to copy the SA style. Hasn’t worked, England were dreadful on the last 6nations and he should have gone then.

Bruce

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While I accept EJ generates a bounce at RWC (Matt Giteau comments this week), this would have first time he had had the team for 8 years so maybe not the same spark. The one think EJ has done is unite everyone against him. RFU unlikely to get many England supporters complaining. I also suspect some of the squad member comments of support were driven by not breaking ranks. It doesn’t feel like a happy camp. Contrast England cricket under McCullum and Stokes.

Robinson as interim unlikely to deliver any significant change heading into 6N but I presume they need headroom to get the longer term appointment in place. Not totally convinced about Borthwick TBH but the Tigers seem to find his style to their liking.

My brother suggested Cheka might get him in to help with the Pumas. If his termination agreement permits it he would love to get one over the RFU come the RWC. Watch this space.

Those were the days …

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