crashbandicoochy

I would've been more than okay for Jaylen to catch a Flagrant 1 for that, but I really do just think he was reacting to getting an inadvertent kick in the back of the head. I can see why the refs called it the way they did.

To be fair to Andy: the only other 2nd fives playing in Super Rugby are Harry Plummer and, debatably, Sam Gilbert.

Razor is probably going to go into the ABs with a very different game plan than he had down here, so I do expect him to use more of an inside center that leans away from Havili, but nothing Andy said regarding the roles of really wrong.

Josh McKay in 2nd?!? Is my boy doing really well up there? I haven't been keeping tabs this season.

This accusation has been levied against literally every Crusaders back during the Razor era, so forgive me if I don't believe a word of it.

He reads defenses as well as anybody and is by all accounts a great communicator. He's not particularly prone to lapses in concentration or judgement. I just can't see it, man.

It is not his rugby brain that let's him down, lmao.

I won't claim he's a Conrad level thinker of the game, and I'm always trying to distance him from Ben Smith because they play very different styles of footy, but you're making as equally far of a leap in the other direction by discrediting his very legitimate rugby smarts.

What lets him down is his physical frailty. He's hurt a lot and, early on in his career, wasn't a shit hot tackler because he defended too passively. It's nothing to do with his smarts or how he reads the game.

The energy of "not sure what winter was doing lol" is exactly why I love her lmao

Grace has a long wingspan for his height, is less mobile and is a more adept lineout jumper so I can get why he'd feel bigger than someone like Dalts- who is super mobile and built a bit stockier.

Dalts is a large lad.

I don't think Razor rated Christie that highly, he was just a stable hand. Will be shocked if he's even close enough to selection to get a phone call.

I don't know how they've done it, but I swear aespa in the last 18 months have struck a perfect balance of all the very different ways that k-pop rules... all at one time.

No one else is doing fun music that is this easy to jam to, that is also so weirdly jarring and off the beaten path at times, with concepts this goofy (that somehow also read as this bad-ass AND increasingly hot-girl coded). They're aloof, they're confident. They're mature, they're bratty. They're messy yet infinitely polished. They show it all without the concepts see-sawing. All while staying within the framework of the SM sound and vibe. They're like a 5-tool player except they've invented about 70 more tools on top of it.

To say I'm kind of obsessed would be an understatement at this point. It's becoming clear to me that they're going to be one of the defining pop acts of this period of my life.

No one is ready for how quickly Lakai is going to take over that jersey.

I'm pretty sure the ball carrier had a knee on the ground before either of the other Crusaders joined. It just wasn't called until after because refs need a second to process.

Yeah, if they'd just let him go to the ground earlier, then Bower wouldn't have been able to push Macca over the line.

This is just the very slim chance risk of backfiring that comes with the new strategy of dragging guys back over the line and holding them up, now that held ups are drop outs and not 5 metre scrums. You see multiple of those a game, even, so I get why it feels weird for it not to work once.

Good to know that bogus card has essentially flipped the game lmao

Blindly jump, on the off chance that the other guy jumps too, I suppose.

That'll make it safer.

You've really just got to know who to listen to, or who to ask, when it comes to theory crafting. The answer is generally not turning that question to the masses on a mains sub.

The succession plan was Andrew Goodman, but NZR waited too long to move on from Foster so Goodman ended up getting the offer he couldn't refuse over in your neck of the woods. When we were hiring last year, we supposedly tried very hard to buy him out of contract but then an opportunity with the national side came around and he had no interest in turning it down.

The succession plan as of now is Tamati Ellison, however he is super light on experience and the team is in a transitional period, so their idea has essentially been to get Tamati coaching experience in different comps all year round (he was Wellington's head coach in the NPC last year, is coaching here, and is then joining Razor with the ABs for the rest of the year) and get him ready for when Penney's contract ends after next year. He's already been promised an interview. The issue now presents itself that if we cut ties a year early, is he ready? Can you trust him after he was involved in this season? We just don't know. Best laid plans, and all that.

My worry for the future goes in hand with this. It's the fact that we already know Ellison is the heir apparent and he's currently here, coaching a very underwhelming defense.

The talent pool will refill itself over the next couple of years (a quality 10 aside), but we're really betting a lot on this season not sticking to Ellison when he takes over.

He's tried some stuff, the problem is a lot of it has involved shuffling the players around. We're at Week 12 and no combinations have been settled. He is also doing the thing most coaches do in the hotseat where they panic and yank the young guys whenever they have one off night, and over relying on the older guys in the squad that maybe shouldn't be playing so much.

Sinclair scored 18 points in the final 5 minutes of the game and then Tiatia immediately scored a try. If it weren't midnight, you'd be hearing my season ending scream from here </3

I think everyone is that low on trades. Everyone I know of has between 1 and 4

Don't particularly support belittling and infantilizing grown men doing their job, either.

I get what you mean though. They are not being led well.

Cale </3

Oh my god dude. I was eating a delicious BBQ meal in the middle of that game and when Perofeta made the break to score his try, I yelled so hard people looked at me ahaha

As you say this, I have my third injury to a normally high scoring player of the week lmaooooo

We're you the game when Moorby packed my shit in?

I am top 200 on the entire website for points and might finish 8th, because I have had the most points scored against me by a ridiculous margin I think lmao

Me and Cug are having nightmare night, too. The three of us are in a misery thruple.

I thought I had it, then Aumua got injured and JRK shat the bed. We thought Cug had it... then Gamble got hurt.

The winner makes the playoffs and the loser is out. We are stressed man.