Posts by Russell Brown
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As opposed to all those other ratshit games that didn't matter at all, because the All Blacks weren't involved? Not picking a fight, RB, but I don't think anyone came to the World Cup to fuck around, do you?
Not buying a fight either, but I don't understand your point either.
I'm fairly sure it's unprecedented for a referee who has controlled one top-level international match to be put in charge of a World Cup quarter-final. Not just in rugby: in any major sport.
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Various ...
I think that bad refereeing is part of the game in the same way players play badly at times, but this took it to new lows. In 1995 the ref was awarded a gold watch by the SAs for his "performance". The French would do well to give Barnes a life size gold replica of the Eiffel tower.
I think the thing that really made it out of the ordinary is that a rookie with one top-level test match under his belt before this World Cup was given such an important game. He blew it, and that's fairly heartbreaking.
I expect when it all washes up we'll find out that the English union pressed for his inclusion: he's the golden boy of of the Heineken Championship. Meanwhile, poor old Paddy has to front for it.
It's been announced he won't feature in any role in the remaining matches -- whistle, sideline or video adjudication -- but that's all a bit after the fact.
BTW, when the highlights come on next, check out the pass from Carter to Luke leading up to our first try.
Nope. We had some impartial South Africans scrutinise it, and they were unanimous: not forward. Good try though.
Some fans could do well to remember that. Winging about the ref should not be a core value of NZ rugby
Well, it isn't, is it? And it's silly to claim that it is simply because the referee's performance has been criticised.
Yes, the All Blacks should have been the masters of their own destiny, and yes, referees make mistakes. But I'm really struggling to recall a situation where such an inexperienced referee has been sent to control such an important game, and then made such crucial blunders.
What I am embarrassed about, however, is the morons who have vandalised Wikipedia in the past 48 hours -- up to and including criminal threats. In at least one case, a private school education doesn't seem to have taught one of the vandals any sense of decency.
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We watched BW off the torrent at the weekend -- Fiona will know the name, but it's the guy from Battlestar Galactica, and it shows. I quite liked it, but definitely not one for the kiddies.
Ep 1 of Heroes spends so much time scene-setting that it's a bit flat, but it ramps up in Ep 2. I keep wondering how much more like Lost the plot is going to get though ...
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He actually makes some good points (Argentina, games in Apia, the Steve Devine cynicism, reneging on crowd guarantees at RWC2011 etc..)
All points that could be, and have been, made without such unpleasant gloating though. It's weirdly hateful.
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I'm a little confused by the latest piece of comment from the fine writers at the Times:
Wow. I thought I'd seen it all, but I think that's the nastiest piece of chip-on-the-shoulder slime I've ever seen under the byline of an alleged sports journalist. What a horrible little man.
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The Carter kick was part of a period of play where we couldn't clear it from our line leading up to the first French points; HUGELY SIGNIFICANT in the balance of the match. That is discussing what happened on the field.
So that'd be the sort of "hugely significant" event where no one scored or was penalised or got injured and the ball didn't change hands?
Let it go, man ...
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I refuse to blame to referee.
I blame the person who appointed him to officiate a game he clearly was not capable of refereeing.
And is not a kiwi, Paddy O'Brien, the IRB refereeing supremo?I just checked Barnes' record. It's much worse than I thought.
Before this tournament started, Barnes had controlled ONE game at the highest level: France vs Italy in last year's Six Nations
His three other tests were in last year's Pacific Five Nations.
WTF?
Barnes appears to be the new golden boy in English rugby, so presumably there was politics involved, but there's something badly wrong there.
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Except he had his backed turned to him is a decent sized exception.
Even backhanded I cannot see Luke McAlisatiar with his arm across the chest.The thing that might have given pause to a more experienced referee than Barnes was Jauzion's Olympic-class dive. If you look at the clip (and lord knows I have) there clearly isn't any impact of that nature. The French deserved three points under the advantage, but the yellow card was sheerl n00b panic.
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Exactly right. It was the ref who stopped us scoring tries despite our glut of posession. It was the ref who decided ...
And on and on. Yes, the All Blacks lacked composure when things went wobbly, and yes there were failures of leadership and selection. But why can't you acknowledge that the referee's performance also had a significant impact on the result?
And in the case of this caught-on-camera offside-entering-from-the-side-hands-in-the-ruck escapade in the French tryline with five minutes to go, the referee quite possibly did stop the All Blacks scoring a try.
I presume you feel some virtue in poo-pooing it all, and good luck to you, but in a very tight match, a lot of points scored against the ABs had to do with poor decisions. And, unfortunately, they weren't able to score loadsa more points like we'd all like them to.
Barnes was in his sixth ever test match, and lost the plot. But don't take my word for it: I was on the radio with Fergie McCormick today, and he said so ...
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Picking a clearly unfit Keith Robinson for the quarter final with the logic that he needed to be match hardened for the “games to follow”. Complacency mixed with arrogance, and motivation for the opposition. Unbelievable.
You make some good points, but what exactly did Robinson do wrong, or not do that Jack would have? We won all our lineouts and six of theirs, so I can't really see that the problem was at lock.
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