Just to add to that, im not much of an economist or anything but my understanding is there's 2 main levers that can be used - interest rates (monetary policy?) and tax rates (fiscal policy).
Its become orthodox to use the former & ignore the latter, partly because of voter backlash & it can be a bit complicated. But as far as I understand it given sovereign governments can print money & borrow when things are bad to generate economic activity the flipside would be to tax it back out and save it to reduce the supply of money chasing goods.
Some folks argue that would be a tidier way of doing things, who knows?!
https://www.slowboring.com/p/tax-increases-are-the-best-cure-for https://www.corporateknights.com/category-finance/seven-ways-to-tackle-inflation-without-raising-interest-rates/
If you go read up on the history of central banks using interest rate hikes to generate recessions to tame inflation its pretty damn consistent that they often end up overshooting and making things worse than they needed to be to achieve the same result.
There's a follow up article on RNZ I think talking about this a bit more. One of the ideas someone had is that it could be great in health because they could use AI chatbots to talk to patients in their own language.
Which would be a great service for sure; but like, translation tools already exist and are likely to be better than anything branded as "AI" comes up with for a long time and there's always like translation services with humans we could just pay to do it without burning the planet.
That's what excel is; code for people who don't know they're writing code - and its clearly a bad way of doing most of the things people do with it.
But on the flipside you have to give it props for getting people a foot into programming, even if they don't realise that's what they're doing (and folks who use actual languages and lines of text to achieve the same thing don't accept it for what it kinda is).
I think you could make an argument that Excel is the world's most used/successful IDE ;)
I'd have to see that in action before I pass judgement but given LLMs predilection for hallucination and the vagaries of how humans report tech faults I would be surprised if it was significantly more accurate or effective than a human. After all if its working out if there's a known issue then essentially its not much beyond a script at that point and in that case do you want to trade the unpredictability of what an LLM might recommend vs something (human or otherwise) that will follow the script?
Even if an LLM were an effective level 0 helpdesk it would still need to overcome the user's cultural expectation (in many places) that they can pick up the phone and speak to somebody about their problem. Having done that job a long long time ago, diagnosing tech problems for people who don't understand tech can be a fairly complex process. You have to work through their lack of understanding, lack of technical language. You sometimes have to pick up on cues in their hesitations, frustrated tone of voice etc.
I'm sure an LLM could synthesis that experience 80% of the time, but depending on the tech you're dealing with you could be missing some pretty major stuff in the 20%, especially if an LLM gives bad instructions, or closes without raising it etc. So you then need to pay someone to monitor the LLM and watch what its doing - at which point you've hired your level 1 tech again anyway.
The more I see & hear, the more I think its all grift.
Ie the crypto bros left their coins for nfts, and now they've tanked they're finding something else to burn the planet down in order to scam suckers.
"AI" for health is already known to be very problematic, and nobody wants to see a 10 years down the track commission of inquiry about why some women were not diagnosed correctly from their mammograms.
The chatbots Judith is talking about for tutoring children regularly hallucinate and come up with such stupid things as cooking recipes for petrol spaghetti and other reckless trash. Sounds like a fast way to destroy the education of a bunch of children, but all the rich kids will still be in their private schools with low pupil numbers and enjoying private tutors so why would Judith care.
As a match its a lesson in the value of possession in the right parts of the field. They just choked the life out of the Chiefs; who were guilty of making errors at the times when they might have got themselves into the game.
Given you've said reactions appreciated hopefully nobody is going to be sad if they get spoiled by the Super Rugby final thoughts i'm about to share! :)
It wasn't a close match so for neutrals (and Chiefs fans) in some ways it might not have been that good to watch. But as a Rugby fan sometimes you just have to appreciate it when a team is so on song, with the right game plan for the situation executed perfectly. The Blues were simply incredible last night the most dominant performance i've watched in a long time in a match against teams that ought to be fairly evenly matched.
This was a 2015 All Blacks vs France quarter final level demolition of the Chiefs who tried mightily and defended massively but just couldn't find a way to get into, then stay in the game at all. The Blues forward pack, 1-8 and then the reserves were just relentlessly physical and didn't let up for the whole 80 minutes. Tuipulotu was deserving MotM; but Akira Ioane was also massive in his last game for the club. Hoskins Sotutu was a bit quieter, Darry played well, Tu'ungafasi was great until he left early in the 2nd half and Riccitelli for an otherwise unheralded #2 in NZ really put his hand up to be Cody Taylor's understudy with Taukeiaho under an injury cloud.
Some of the stats are actually kinda mind boggling. The Blues dominated possession 67%-33%, which is insane to start with, but they had 39% possession in the Chiefs 22m. Ie, the Blues had more possession attacking the Chiefs line, than the Chiefs had across the whole field. Blues only had to make 82 tackles to the Chiefs 215, and made 513 metres off 153 carries to the Chiefs 256 off 78.
The score would suggest its not worth watching but if you've got the time its a clinic in how to play wet weather rugby .
I don't really get the point of it, copper wire can't be worth that much at a scrapper - especially if they're having to go to a dodgy one to make the trade. I guess its a sign of how tough some people are doing it at the moment.
This sort of thing is pretty consistent with the anecdotal rumours about Luxon's interactions with pilots and other staff while heading up Air NZ. Which sorta pushes those stories from the probably just made up, to actually maybe they are legit after all. Some of the scuttlebutt stories basically alleged he was a total a-hole; which, yeah I can see it.
I mean a souped up compensator Ford Ranger aint cheap is it!
Patrick Tuipolotu is out for 6-7 weeks with medial ligament injury; so its going to be a young lock combination for the Blues in the semi-final. The Brumbies had scrum trouble against the Highlanders, but might find it a bit easier to compete at set piece time and at the collision without having Tuipolotu against them.
It'll be an interesting game on Friday!
Figured i'd write up a summary similar to the end of the round-robin.
The Losers:
8 - Rebels: Both a sad and successful way of ending the club. First time making the playoffs, last time playing a game. Some might argue that they spent a lot of money and didn't really get competitive - 8th place was earnt on 5 wins, 9 losses. But they actually played really well at times during the season. Maybe without all the off field stress the slump in the back half wouldn't have been so bad. A decent squad, coached fairly well - but trying to break the sporting market in Melbourne is tough. Even the NRL only has 1 team there in a city of 5 million, vs 9 in Sydney and (sortof) 2 in Brisbane. So small crowds probably leans into weaker home performances. Sad to see them go - the fans they did have were passionate, no idea who can replace them.
7 - Drua: From some of the smallest passionate crowds to some of the biggest. The Drua are near unbeatable at home in either Lautoka or Suva, and even in the quarter final against Auckland their fans were so loud it almost felt like a home game at times. 6-8 for the season, if they can find a way to consistently win away from home they will easily get a winning record and if they ever got a home quarter or semi, they would be hard not to back to go further. Everybody loves the Drua, and hopes that Moana Pasifika can replicate it!
6 - Highlanders: Like the Drua, a 6-8 season, the weakest kiwi squad struggled with injuries. When Rhys Patchell was playing they looked like a classic attacking NZ side. When he got injured out of the season up stepped Cam Millar and they went to a simple, old school game of slotting 3s and grinding teams out. I kinda loved it; especially de Groot's nonchalant one arm salute to the posts whenever the referee gave a penalty within 40m. Finally got a win against an NZ team after a long drought, and with a group of younger players maybe they're finally getting a development pathway that catches up with the rest of the clubs. If the playoffs are reduced to 6 next year and the Crusaders aren't having another shocker, they'll struggle to make it.
5 - Reds: The Reds are the only losing quarter finalist to have a winning round-robin record at 8-6; there's a lot to like about them and their young players will have a lot to draw from in future seasons but boy did they manage to crap the bed at times this season. Particularly away to teams they should have been beating. 31-40 away to the Force, 17-14 away to Moana Pasifika after a bye week. You can forgive the losses to the Drua and the Highlanders on the road but to be serious title contenders they'll need to find a way to win one of those and also win home games against teams like the Blues or Brumbies. Possibly their worst result and why I backed the Chiefs 20+ was only just beating the Waratahs who'd only managed wins against the Crusaders before that match. Les Kiss seems like a great coach though and I expect them to do pretty well next year.
The Semi-finals:
Well, given how dominant the top 3 teams were this season (all 12-2 records) its no surprise that with home field advantage the Hurricanes, Blues & Brumbies all made it through. The Chiefs went 9-5 but made light work of the Reds at home in what was in a way the least competitive of the 4 quarters. The Rebels really made the Hurricanes work in the first half, and the Drua and Highlanders competed for a time as well before succumbing to classier outfits.
None of the scores were close but they were decent matches; just fairly predictable results given the top 3 teams had double the wins of their opponents! Most of the crowds were on the low side, but the Aus-NZ games tend that way so maybe a bit of a disappointment but expected.
Blues - Brumbies: This should be a cracker; two great forward packs and direct teams going hammer & tongs. The Blues might be without Tuipolotu which will be a big loss he has been huge at lock for them this season; and Akira Ioane also picked up a niggle. Tricky to pick a winner so maybe just go with the home field advantage? Probably one of those games that needs the squad announcements before making a confident pick. Lolesio & Tom Wright have been great for the Brumbies this season so their backline is working well with a settled midfield combo too. Plus Rob Valetini's floor for performance is so high it's easily other player's ceiling. They have 1 Magpie in Ollie Sapsford so if they weren't Australian i'd be tempted to back them.
Hurricanes - Chiefs: The 'canes had 4 of my Magpies on the field at once in the quarter so I almost felt like supporting them. Don't know how many people they had at the stadium in Wellington - maybe only 9-10k, but i'd like to think if they'd made a bold call and held the quarter up at McLean park they'd have packed in 13,000 or so which would have looked & sounded cooler. Anyway, the Chiefs have under performed this season and failed in consecutive weeks against the Hurricanes at home, then the Blues away. But they only lost by 3 against the 'canes and can take a lot from how the Rebels used and abrasive defense and heavy work at the breakdown to limit the Hurricanes opportunities. I still think the Hurricanes have enough on defense to hold the Chiefs out, and more on attack to pick up points. If they get a roll on could even be a 13+ win, but I wouldn't be surprised if the Chiefs clinched a tight one.
In NZ there's not much downtime either, but its in a different form - there's a few different paths.
The top NZ pros will be in Super Rugby camps from the New Year and the season runs through to basically the end of June.
Then there is a split where the best will be on All Blacks duty through the July test window, most will then have a break before heading up north in November for the End of Year / Autumn Internationals. They'll get back to NZ around the start of December and have a few weeks off before starting again.
The SR players that aren't All Blacks will gradually filter into their NPC teams depending on how far into the finals they played. Annoyingly, even though the All Blacks aren't in it, the NPC doesn't actually start until August and runs all the way until the end of October. Those players will get most of November off, but will start assembling for SR training camps again in December.
So that covers the bulk of the best kiwi players, but there's still more Rugby to account for.
Some NPC players will play in Japan instead of SR, and plenty of others will be over in the USA playing MLR. So for those players, while they might get more weeks off in between seasons they then have to pack up & move away from home for half the year too.
Those NPC players that don't pick up a contract in Japan or MLR are most likely just semi-pro; so will go back to being plumbers, farmers or builders for the rest of the year.
But NZR is possibly missing a trick here with the fortunate timing on both JL1 & MLR that could help with the NPC affordability/competitiveness ratio. I don't know exactly how well it could work but encouraging a full working relationship between a given NPC team and both a Japanese & USA based pro teams where the young players likely to make it as full time pros or the guys who are right on the cusp but can't quite make SR still get to play as full time pros just sounds sensible to me.
There's already a lot of players going over there, but that's on their own initiative and very adhoc - probably because those other nations would rather deal with players than NZR (I don't blame them). But I could see it being beneficial for both sides of the exchange, NZR gets pros in the NPC without having to cover the whole year of salary, Japan or in particular MLR get seasoned pros to help build up the strength of their competition and instill that work ethic into their own players.
Isn't it mad that the URC and Super Rugby basically finish at the same time?! Even Japan League 1 only finished a couple weeks ago, and the USA's MLR is closing in on the end of season too! Given its June I guess that means the URC starts quite late, as well as Super Rugby starting quite early. The main impetus for the early start is to be done in time for the winter test window and then leave time afterwards for the NPC. How long that remains the status quo will be interesting.
Figured i'd share my thoughts on how the season shook out and what's coming up in the playoffs. Indulge me!
The losers:
12 - Waratahs: Even more injuries than the Crusaders, they've sucked for a few years now and just didn't have the cattle to compete. Maybe next year if they can pick up some decent players from the Rebels.
11 - Moana Pasifika: Some people rate this year as a bit of a turnaround with a better coaching setup. I'm not sure I see it. They beat the Drua, Reds, Force & Waratahs at "home" but were pretty woeful on the road, including a big game playing in Tonga. They desperately need a real home base (or at least a couple of bases they visit regularly outside of Auckland) and I suspect if SR can't find a 12th team for 2026 they might get dropped for a 10 team comp.
10 - Force: Of the losers, the Force actually looked pretty good at times. It feels a bit weird due to the allegations which he was acquitted of, but when Kurtley Beale started playing for them, the combo with Donaldson at 10 looked really good. Still they only managed 4 wins - even if they looked hard to beat at home.
9 - Crusaders: an awful season which the last few rounds showed was more to do with personnel being unavailable than anything else. Take Whitelock, Mounga and Jordan out of a team and they'll lose some stars, but then ask them to do without Taylor, Barrett, Blackadder, Burke and Havili as well and decimate their coaching staff for Razor's benefit. It shouldn't have been a surprise they struggled to win, let alone dominate. On the bright side, their loss was Super Rugby's gain - I think the interest in the comp comes from the unpredictability and SR should strive to ensure no team can dominate like that again, for the benefit of the comp itself.
The Playoffs:
SR has been a season where the top 3 have been awesome - all with 12 wins, then there's been a logjam in the middle until the strugglers who've all had 4 wins except the 'tahs on 2. That makes most of the quarters a little uncompetitive, but still...
Chiefs - Reds: There's a lot to like from the Reds this year, but they've been really inconsistent and away from home its hard to see them tipping over the Chiefs who've looked good whenever they're not playing the Hurricanes & Blues. Actually to be fair, they've looked ok against them too, but those two are on another level. Hurricanes - Rebels: The Rebels form over the last half of the season was awful, I see them getting stomped here. Hurricanes have been too good on attack this seasons. Blues - Drua: Everybody knows the Drua are incredible at home, but away they kinda suck. The Blues play a very direct & physical game, they should have even more players coming back for the playoffs and should have a dominant win. Brumbies - Highlanders: For a while there it was a chance that the Brumbies could take 2nd, or maybe even 1st place. They are near unbeatable at home. The Highlanders have had huge injury disruptions and have been solid enough but are unlikely to get past this round.
Their recent form is abysmal, so they're not progressing beyond the quarterfinals unless some kinda miracle happens. One of the quirks of SR is that its a round & a 1/2 and the 1/2 round is against your home countries clubs for more derbies.
So the Aussie teams play the other aussie teams more than the kiwi teams get to - which can inflate their table position a little bit. The Rebels did really well early in the season, but in the back end fell off the wagon.
I'm on the other side of the tasman; but from what i've gleaned over the years...
NZR have been trying to convince RA they can't support 5 teams for years, both financially and with player depth. The previous more adversarial leadership of RA were determined that that wasn't true, and that cracking the Melbourne market was crucial. That's why a few years ago when they did drop a team they dropped the Force who were well supported in favour of the Rebels who struggle to make a mark in a state where Aussie Rules, rules and why for years even though it was obvious that the Rebels were struggling financially they were allowed to spend ever more on recruiting star players.
Not coincidentally, when Australia dropped the Force and went to 4 teams, the Rebels picked up some of their players and had their most successful seasons. So in terms of the competition next year it should mean the 4 remaining Aussie teams will be stronger and probably pick up even more wins against NZ sides. This has been a really successful year (comparatively) for Aus, with 3 teams in the playoffs, and the Brumbies were in the running to top the table and only mathematically lost that opportunity in the final round.
How does an 11 team competition work? I dunno. There's been suggestion that SR will try to convince the Jaguares to rejoin and they are apparently quite keen but adding a team in Argentina makes it a much more expensive competition and ensures one game every other week that almost nobody in Australasia will watch - so god knows if the main broadcasters would be interested.
The obvious, but difficult, answer is that NZR (in particular) and SR in general need to humbly beseech Japan for some way of having a crossover competition. Japan League 1 & SR finish quite close together now so one option would be to do a post-season competition which is seeded in a way to ensure the top Japanese teams are likely to win & progress through the rounds. Something like the 7s where as you get knocked out of the running for the top trophy you drop into competition for others would make sense.
Would anyone in Japan watch? I dunno. Would anybody in Australasia - probably; it would at least be something different and the best Japanese teams have a lot of star players in their twilight years. Would it be competitive? Who knows.
Yeah I converted mine to the new version - they had a really good guarantee when I bought mine as well which was 10 years, if something breaks send a photo & we'll send a replacement.
Ive had mine for 10 years and use it daily. Makes pretty good espresso, not as good as a good barista would, but good enough.
https://presso.co.nz/shop/hand-powered-coffee-makers/rok-gc-espresso-maker-silver/
They are pricey given they just do a black coffee and all though.
Just butting in to suggest the Presso.
If you get cycloned and lose power, but have a coffee addiction - then something that can make near Espresso without electricity is a boon!
A lot of people mock the fact than in a 12 team competition a whole 8 teams make it into the playoffs. But with the top four teams secured with 2 rounds to go all of the drama is now in who will finish ranked 5th-12th.
None of the teams ranked 9-12 are playing each other in the next two rounds, in a way that should significantly change their fortunes (barring 1 game) so I think its mathematically possible for any of them to actually qualify in 8th if the Drua lose both of their next two games.
So in a way a generous qualification serves to deliver 4 matches in he first week of the playoffs and ensures there's something to play for all the way to the end of the round-robin.
So thinking of the bottom 6 teams...
- The Highlanders have the Drua at home, then the Hurricanes away so should bank at least another 4 points putting them on minimum 27.
- The Drua struggle away but have the Rebels at home in the last round so should pick up another 4 putting them up on 25.
- The Force go away to the Reds, and then have the Brumbies at home so ordinarily you'd think two losses, but they are a real force at home and Kurtley Beale has helped ignite their attack - its plausible they pick up two wins so land anywhere from 23-27 points.
- The Crusaders are highly unlikely to beat the Blues away this weekend, then have Moana Pasifika at home. MP were very competitive against the Hurricanes this weekend so I could see an upset but it really depends on if Scott Barrett is back or not. Maybe 19-20 points.
- Moana Pasifika are at "home" to the Waratahs and away to the Cru so are probable 19 points, possibly 23.
- The Waratahs injury rates are so high that even though Moana Pasifika's "home" game won't give them the edge a normal home game would they probably won't win, and then they're at home to the Reds who haven't travelled well this year. Its possibly they pick up a couple of wins and end up on 20, if they got bonus points their ceiling is 22; but they've had a horrible season and its more likely they'll only land on 12-14.
Based on what's likely the current top 8 are the top 8; the most likely change is The Force getting up and dropping either the Highlanders or Drua out depending on which one of them win that match.
The top 4 are confirmed, but they all still have plenty to play for if they're hoping to move through the playoffs and want to secure home advantage for more games. Games to watch are Chiefs-Hurricanes this weekend, and then Blues-Chiefs the following as that will decide who finishes where.
Also - the kiwi teams are going to be toughened / tired depending on how you look at it as Blues, Hurricanes, Chiefs all have some big games to play against other Kiwi teams heading into the playoffs.
Even more so than Foster, Sam Cane was very unfairly maligned by the NZ Rugby public during the trials of the '22 - '23 seasons.
It reflects what we value in our rugby players that being the guy on the field that cleaned up after other's mistakes, did all the hard graft, the heavy tackling, clean-outs that he was often mocked for a drive of only a couple metres when receiving the ball. Most folks missed that what he was doing was giving the ABs attack line a chance to reform while under huge duress from defensive pressure.
He hit top form in time for the World Cup and even after all the injuries he'd suffered over the years his defensive hits were huge. I'm a kiwi so of course I think it was unjust that he received a red, while Kolisi got only a yellow given the contrasting force in their two tackles. But even if the ABs had won the cup last year somehow he would still have his doubters back home.
He's 32, has had to suffer through some major injuries - deserves a few years making big money with his family close by before retiring from rugby altogether.
The largest reimagination of rugby’s entertainment value continues to progress with the World Rugby Council approving a package of law amendments that will come into effect from 1 July, 2024.
New law changes confirmed by World Rugby and new law trials announced.
We're in the middle of the 3 bye weeks where each round 4 teams sit down and have a break. So the table looks a bit odd but because of the way the draw plays out at least teams in the top 5 are settled through to the end of Week 9.
At the end of next week the possible changes I see are:
- Fiji might get up over the Hurricanes playing at home, but the latter are playing so well and have such a strong squad it seems unlikely. The 'canes would still be top of the table on a loss I think, while Fiji would possibly sneak up to 6th depending on other results.
- The Blues play the Brumbies at home and while either could win you'd hope the home advantage means the Blues get a better hold on 2nd place. But with 6 rounds to go after next weekend there's still plenty of movement possible.
- Queensland are at home against the Highlanders, and were so woeful against Moana Pasifika that you'd expect some form of response so I don't see the Highlanders moving up the standings in round 9.
- The Crusaders managed to lose to The Waratahs who have been decidedly average, leaking a bunch of points in the process. Next they are up against the Force who have been mostly terrible but also managed to beat Queensland at home, so anything's possible here. Either result just shuffles teams around in the group currently outside the playoffs so doesn't impact the top 8.
- On the Crusaders, a bunch of their supporters have been holding on to their playoff pedigree and their more than mathematical chance of getting into the playoffs in 8th place, making them a real banana-skin game for whoever is 1st. Stuff like 'If you were in 1st place you wouldn't want to come up against the Crusaders in 8th'. Well, any other year's Crusaders sure, but so far nothing about this year's Cru with their horrid injury toll should cause the Hurricanes, Blues or Brumbies much concern. They will get Scott Barrett back soon, and probably Fergus Burke - though given he's heading off up north i'd just invest the time in Rivez Reihana & Riley Hohepa if I were the coaches. But the bigger loss for mine is Will Jordan not there to offer a spark on attack from 15, and none of their options at 9 offer what Bryn Hall did.
What landlords are owed is equivalent to about 0.061% of the rent they're being paid.
I love the work The Spinoff does.
It has been revealed Luxon spent two nights at Premier House over Christmas last year and hosted his extended family for festive celebrations.
This story keeps on giving. He lives in Auckland, Parliament was not in session, but hosted a party for his extended family at this unlivable place, and then it turns out he's actually stayed there at least a couple of nights.
I wonder who paid for the private Christmas do at the place he doesn't live. Did he have it in the apartment or in the public reception areas. Some other articles suggest he's also stayed there other times as well.
So, very unlivable then. I wonder, was he even staying in the apartment he was claiming the $52k benefit on?
America’s car culture kills people and wrecks communities.
Saw this shared on Mastodon and it really made me think of National and their Atlas Network aligned astro-turf organisation the Taxpayer's Onion who campaigned against what they termed the 'ute tax'.
If the results of this 2004 study hold true 20 years later, and in New Zealand, then knowingly or not, they in effect have campaigned for and enacted legislation that will kill more New Zealanders.
"A 2004 study found that for every life saved by a motorist who switched from a car to a light truck (SUV or pickup), 4.3 other drivers, pedestrians and cyclists were killed. "
That statistic also suggests that the safety fears driving people to SUVs are completely overblown and over-egged.
Figured I'd start a thread in honour of the initiative nobody asked for, and seemingly hardly anybody wants. The Super Round!
All of this weekend's games are held at AAMI park in Melbourne; so yeah, of the 12 teams, 6 of them are missing a home game. But I believe they're compensated by the Victoria State government so they go along with it.
Last weekend the Melbourne Rebels had 4000 in the crowd for a home derby against the Brumbies. It'll be interesting to see if they get much of a crowd for any of these games which for the home fans are all bar 1 neutral games.
Does anyone know what streaming options are available for watching MLR and Japan League One games that aren't geo restricted?
We're a week out from the Japan season starting, and despite increasing their fees twice in the last 12 months or so Sky in NZ haven't bought the rights this year. As far as I am aware they never bothered with the MLR rights.
There's so many kiwis playing in both comps that i'm pretty keen to watch a game from time to time so wondering if there's any globally available (and legit) streaming services that show either of these comps?
ANALYSIS: There are now fewer offloads per game than at any point in RWC history, while the number of phases per possession plummeted in France.
Article summarises statistics provided by Opta and some from Warren Gatland; with headline stats:
- This RWC saw fewer offloads per game than any other.
- The average number of phases per possession dropped to 1.8, compared to 3 in 2019.
- Ball in play time dropped marginally to 34.18 minutes / game - but excluding halftime breaks some games took over 100 minutes total to play out.
- Tackles per game have grown to 169, up from 129 in 2019 & 119 in 2015.
- Kicks per game (might) have grown, Gatland suggesting 57 per game, the highest since 1995.
- 25% of all kicks are box kicks.
McLennan rejected a call from six rebellious state unions to resign.
How he thought he could stay on after the fractious last couple of years, and disastrous time since sacking Rennie and hiring Eddie is baffling.
NZR and most of the Super Rugby clubs will probably be glad to see the back of him as he was constantly holding a sword over any progress and change for that competition.
I'm not sure if this is a new intiative to get folks fizzing for next year's season, but there's a gap in Rugby news coverage with the World Cup over and no November tours so today starting at 10 NZDT every hour two teams will announce their squads for next season.
10am: Chiefs and Fijian Drua 11am: Highlanders and Rebels 12pm: Moana Pasifika and Waratahs 1pm: Hurricanes and Brumbies 2pm: Blues and Reds 3pm: Crusaders and Force
I may be the only Southern Hemisphere rugby nerd here, but if I can spare some time amidst my work day i'll post links to the teams as they come out. Given its a World Cup year there'll be more churn than normal and there's already been a lot of moves pre-announced. Eg some of the big moves are Leigh Halfpenny coming down to the Crusaders, Angus Ta'avao returning to the Blues.
What's potentially more interesting off the back of another great NPC season is the wider squad players who will almost certainly be needed as injury cover. Given the departure of Mounga, and uncertain international future for Beauden Barrett, the Flyhalf stocks in NZ are a bit pressed, so one to watch is whether Josh Jacomb gets picked up by anyone.
Excited to see how Stephen Jones improves Lincoln McClutchie's game; and Tom Coventry is a well proven forwards coach.
The Rugby World Cup often signifies the end of an era, where we bid farewell to distinguished players who have left an indelible mark on the sport.
Going to be some holes to fill; and while I don't watch a huge amount of Super Rugby I think in most places its apparent who the replacements already are. I think its interesting in a way that for some of these players the replacement is already neck & neck with them anyway.
Brodie / Sam is kinda a combo - I think Scott Barrett is already obviously our #1 lock so its really who comes in as more of a lineout operator I think. Josh Lord is probably first cab off the rank but there's a few other young locks in NZ that look the goods too.
Nepo Laulala - obvious replacement is already an All Black in Fletcher Newell, so we're probably looking at who would be the 6th prop in the squad and I have no idea.
Aaron Smith - Cam Roigaard will be there, Finley Christie probably in the squad and then there's lads like Cortez Ratima or Folau Fakatava as well. NZ is not short on decent half backs, we're just short on ones that have got some international rugger under their belts.
Dane Coles - another instance of replacing a squad member rather than a starting 15 player which is a position NZ isn't often in. Taukeiaho was the #2 #2 already. Of the players coming through, I think Asafo Aumua has been tried and found wanting - if I were NZR i'd be investing time into Tyrone Thompson and Brodie McAlister.
Richie Mo'unga - Interestingly neither Beaudie or Ardie are listed as departing, so they presumably are both eligible for more games. DMac is the first cab off the rank at 10 for mine. Behind him there's a bit of a gap, Perofeta doesn't even play 10 at NPC and didn't get much time at the Blues. I think Blues should go all in on Zarn Sullivan at 10 anyway. Fergus Burke being out injured next year doesn't help, and Reuben Love looks good but needs a campaign or two at 10 to be sure. Big hole for the ABs unless BB is there as cover.
Shannon Frizell - Had a great year but I wished he wasn't in the ABs after his off field stuff. Todd Blackadder, Samipeni Finau - younger dudes but just need time in the saddle.
Leicester Fainga'anuku - Probably should have got more game time, but didn't because you can't deny Telea & Jordan and he was off overseas too early. Jordan will probably play 15, which leaves Emoni Narawa, Shaun Stevenson or Telea.
Ardie/Beaudie - I dunno how ready for international rugby Ardie will be after playing so much rugby back to back. At 8 we've got the likes of Cullen Grace or Devan Flanders, plus Hoskins Sotutu might find some form too. BB gets replaced by Jordan at 15, but if he's still around as a backup 10 that'd be very much a nice to have; albeit Perofeta fills the same role.
‘We really care about our players,’ said the Boks’ director of rugby, adding that the coaches called for multiple head injury assessments against France
If true, then its no surprise that its Rassie coming up with the scheme.
Interesting selections for the match officials for the quarters.
Fra v SA has an all NZ quartet https://www.rugbyworldcup.com/2023/match/quarter-final-4-winner-pool-a-runner-up-pool-b#match_details
Ire v NZ has an all English quartet https://www.rugbyworldcup.com/2023/match/quarter-final-2-winner-pool-b-runner-up-pool-a#match_details
But the two lower ranked quarters (in terms of sides of the draw, and rankings coming into the tournament) both have mixed appointments.
Jaco Peyper heads up Wales v Arg https://www.rugbyworldcup.com/2023/match/quarter-final-1-winner-pool-c-runner-up-pool-d#match_details
And Mathieu Raynal has Eng v Fiji https://www.rugbyworldcup.com/2023/match/quarter-final-3-winner-pool-d-runner-up-pool-c#match_details
Its an interesting move, you could see the all English all NZ teams as looking to get a consistent view from the team, which sorta sounds like a good idea. Though depending on results either could be used exactly the same in the next matches, or be impossible depending on which teams go through.
The good news is there's no experimenting with giving the whistle to inexperienced ref's, probably the one the NH has seen the least is Ben O'Keefe, but he's taken the whistle in a bunch of finals footy down here and has a pretty good temperament for it.
He's also been pretty adaptable at refereeing to they style requested by the organisers too, say where Super Rugby is really clear on jackals supporting body weight and entry to rucks, but international rugby giving much more lee way - he seems to get the balance on point for whatever series he's in.
The property industry gives more in political donations than any other, and its millions of dollars almost all go to two parties.
$2.5m in donations from the property industry to political parties since 2021. 97% of which has gone to National, Act & NZ First.