H
@Bones yeah the fact he kicked it 55m in the air under pressure was pretty good, it just didn't go out. I feel like these days they would have just run the minute off the clock without kicking anyway.
I can't stand these late game dinky kicks of recent years.
Also makes me more interested in just loading up on players in MP games as they've had games with 89 and 92 points so far.
@Bones I saw him play plenty in U20s, both super and for NZ in 2022. He and Bell were the two best players of that crop through those games, especially in a NZ team that went quite badly given some of the talent they had. Bell's had injury problems since obviously, not sure what happened to Springer last couple of years as I don't see Ta$man play and missed last years Super Rugby, but he was an excellent wing/fullback who didn't make many errors at U20 level and a good kicker. Would be very odd if he doesn't get plenty of gametime from here on out as he was excellent last week.
Worth noting despite going to a smaller school in Waimea he was player of the tournament in the Crusaders schools comp in 2020. Fair to suggest given his history at lower levels, he's been more on the AB coaches long term radar than many realise, similar to Bell last year.
I remember thinking at his peak that I'd actually pick him over Jonah at his peak, because he was almost as good on attack, particularly when you account for the fact Jonah was playing against some very light defenders in the backs in the mid 90s. Savea was clearly better at other aspects of the game as Jonah wasn't much of a defender nor had the same general workrate. Unfortunately Savea's peak was short even by the standards of attacking wings.
If they're not going to have bench players, I don't know if they have the ability to implement it mid season but it would be nice at least if a player who doesn't actually play in the 23 doesn't lock when a game starts, so Vaa'i for example could be replaced by a lock in a later game (I was going to use Canham). It's not a perfect solution as the last game of the week would still be a problem, but the simple fact is it's nonsense to expect everyone to be able to recheck their team before every game when a guy can get injured in warm ups so easily.
Just to clarify this, you're telling me if I put Jacomb in my fantasy team I probably don't have to worry about him getting subbed off after 50 minutes?
These late pregame injury rule outs like Vaa'i are getting really annoying....
@sparky said in Force v Hurricanes:
This must be a candidate for the worst try bomb ever in Super Rugby since the tournament started in 1996. Can anyone think of one worse?
I can only assume he thought it was a faster player than Nic White. Even then, attempting an awkward pass like that when he had an unmarked wing outside him was bizarre.
I realise they're in the entertainment business but the commentators willing the TMO to overlook what seemed to be a dropped ball in one of the MP tries was embarrassing.
Not sure what went worse, subbing out Savea this week or putting Kyren in in the backs, didn't get many chances.
@HugeCarrot2 What site do you play fantasy on?
We use NFL.com, I find it fairly simple.
We had a Silver Fern league back in 2013/2014 that Sneak used to run, though some people would just draft and not be active which was annoying-basically 4-5 of us were active. I made a family league for 2015 and got a couple of guys on here and a couple from the Tab to help make up the numbers-Sneak won that year.
Last year we got up to a 14 team league but some miscommunication meant I thought Sneak wasn't playing so he didn't get a chance to defend his title.
This yeah we've got too many for one league so I kept the family league but I'm looking to spin off a different league built around the Tab guys who work at head office-a couple of them do the nfl trading for Tab. They had 5 guys play last year in our league so with a few more add ons we should b able to have two 10-12 team leagues (the family one is full). 10-12 is the best size imo.
Players must be active though-two years ago we had two randoms who never did anything and didn't bother setting their teams so I just booted them out after a few weeks and found replacement players.
@Canes4life I could see a scenario where he makes the ABs squad this year as wing/fullback cover and is reported like some huge bolter than came out of nowhere, when he was a schoolboy star who was one of our best U20s players of his year. The combo of a small school, playing for Ta$man and the Crusaders having a bad year last year means he's flown under the radar for the average rugby follower.
@taniwharugby I'm stunned that you picked Ikitau as captain then he scored three tries!
@Sneakdefreak league invite sent via dm, would be nice to have you back, have you back for good 
Oh fk why did I pick any fantasy players in these conditions
@taniwharugby He doesn't seem the type that does well in Fantasy-stats from last season have him playing 12 games, scoring zero tries and making one linebreak. Plus he's expensive.
There is absolutely no way any sane coach is leaving her on the bench in 15s. She was one of the best players in the FPC when she was 17 or so playing openside before she got injured. Obviously she's only going to have improved 3-4 years on. There are simply very few women's players with that combo of agility/skill/strength. It would be like if Australia left Levi out of their 15s team.
McKenzie having a shocker
@Canes4life I never saw many Ta$man games, did Taumoefolau look anything like this for them? Because he's put up such big numbers but it feels weird to consider picking him over all the other outside back options that I do know.
Merts is difficult to leave out because he played such a big role in the victories of 98-2000 where they were a more limited team without many other stars and his kicking was a big part of getting them over the line. Mauger actually started finals at 10-13-12 in a three year span. He worked very well with Laulala when they were paired. But the 10-12 combo of Merts/Mauger seems too small in terms of defense, even though they had an unbeaten season in 2002 with those two.
The thing often forgotten about Carter was how strong an open field tackler he was, especially at the fullback position a 10 often ends up at, or even in his case in the 2004 NPC season/final when he was playing fullback due to Cantys logjam. Had he chosen to solely play second five or fullback in either position he could have been equally dominant vs the other options.
Jordan would have to go on the wing to make best use of the Crusaders talent as fullback is a stronger position. Gear had a couple of big years, Reece has the tries but Nadolo had a higher peak.