NPR

Ymx wrote: ↑Sat Jul 03, 2021 7:15 am This is carnage !

19-0 after 7 mins

Gumboot wrote: ↑Sat Jun 26, 2021 7:02 am My friend's wondering if anyone knows where to stream the Maori vs Samoa game? It isn't on any of the usual sites... apparently.

Kiwias wrote: ↑Sat Jul 03, 2021 7:29 am

Gumboot wrote: ↑Sat Jun 26, 2021 7:02 am My friend's wondering if anyone knows where to stream the Maori vs Samoa game? It isn't on any of the usual sites... apparently.

My friend reckons this is quite a good link

https://www.viprow.me/new-zealand-vs-to ... e-stream-2

Ymx wrote: ↑Sat Jul 03, 2021 7:48 am Blimey Papalii is sensational

Gumboot wrote: ↑Sat Jul 03, 2021 7:57 am

Ymx wrote: ↑Sat Jul 03, 2021 7:48 am Blimey Papalii is sensational

All three loosies are playing well.

Expecting lots of early subs and a ragged last quarter.

Gumboot wrote: ↑Sat Jul 03, 2021 7:54 am

Kiwias wrote: ↑Sat Jul 03, 2021 7:29 am

Gumboot wrote: ↑Sat Jun 26, 2021 7:02 am My friend's wondering if anyone knows where to stream the Maori vs Samoa game? It isn't on any of the usual sites... apparently.

My friend reckons this is quite a good link

https://www.viprow.me/new-zealand-vs-to ... e-stream-2

Cheers mate, but you may want to check the date of my post.

Ymx wrote: ↑Sat Jul 03, 2021 8:53 am102-0

Gumboot wrote: ↑Sat Jul 03, 2021 8:56 am That'll do.

Commiserations to Tonga.

Jacobson my MoM

Ymx wrote: ↑Sat Jul 03, 2021 9:02 am

Gumboot wrote: ↑Sat Jul 03, 2021 8:56 am That'll do.

Commiserations to Tonga.

Jacobson my MoM

Did I hear right, the team was pretty ravaged by NH club threats on the players?

SaintK wrote: ↑Sat Jul 03, 2021 9:19 am

Ymx wrote: ↑Sat Jul 03, 2021 9:02 am

Gumboot wrote: ↑Sat Jul 03, 2021 8:56 am That'll do.

Commiserations to Tonga.

Jacobson my MoM

Did I hear right, the team was pretty ravaged by NH club threats on the players?

Should imagine the travel restrictions out of Europe and into NZ would have had a major effect?

OPINION: The finger-pointing will be swift but predictable as the international game wrestles with another sad evening for Pacific Islands rugby.

Seventeen years after the Pacific Islanders team pushed the All Blacks in Auckland - and their Tongan captain Inoke Afeaki pleaded for the game to build on that memorable performance - Tonga were demolished 102-0 at Mt Smart Stadium on Saturday.

It will be Covid’s fault, for depriving Tonga of European-based stars. It will be the fault of those dastardly northern hemisphere clubs, for preventing Tongan players from coming back to play. It will be New Zealand Rugby’s fault, for picking players such as Vaea Fifita and Shannon Frizell.

All Blacks debutant Quinn Tupaea carries through the traffic against Tonga on Saturday.
It will be World Rugby’s fault, for not letting players such as Ngani Laumape and Charles Piutau play for Tonga after their All Blacks’ career ends. And it will be Japan’s fault, for taking so many young Tongan players and converting them into Brave Blossoms.

But let’s all take a look in mirror. How easy we take the moral high ground when it suits us, when the reality is that Pacific Island talent has provided us all with moments of joy while playing for the teams we support. Admit it, the current inequality in the system quietly suits us.

Ikale Tahi head coach Toutai Kefu said he hoped to have as many as 28 players available to play the All Blacks in Auckland on 3 July, but was not sure if the players in MIQ would be up to it, as some were only due to be released three days before the game at Mount Smart Stadium.

He said Covid-19 made it very tough to select the squad and it was disappointing that more than 20 mostly uncapped players turned them down.

Tonga Rugby Union chief executive Peter Harding said a number of those players were worried being capped by Tonga would risk affecting their club contracts, while some were discouraged from playing by their agents.

boere wors wrote: ↑Sat Jul 03, 2021 12:22 pm Sad result.

Kawazaki wrote: ↑Sat Jul 03, 2021 10:29 am There could be a real danger looking ahead for the All Blacks (and by extension world rugby) though you might not think so based on winning 102-0...

They don't have anyone credible to play against anymore.

South Africa have abandoned Super Rugby and Australian RU is losing more and more of its best juniors to the NRL every year.

I'm not sure what the solution is other than NZ continue to develop their intra-provincial competitions but how long is that sustainable without a decent and legitimate test level above it?

Paddington Bear wrote: ↑Tue Jul 06, 2021 8:13 am

Kawazaki wrote: ↑Sat Jul 03, 2021 10:29 am There could be a real danger looking ahead for the All Blacks (and by extension world rugby) though you might not think so based on winning 102-0...

They don't have anyone credible to play against anymore.

South Africa have abandoned Super Rugby and Australian RU is losing more and more of its best juniors to the NRL every year.

I'm not sure what the solution is other than NZ continue to develop their intra-provincial competitions but how long is that sustainable without a decent and legitimate test level above it?

Things are cyclical - if you'd have said to anyone in SANZAR 15 years ago or so Wales, Scotland and Ireland would all be exceptionally competitive and be arriving at the next RWC thinking they had a shot you'd have been laughed out of there. Doesn't take an awful lot for Australia to bounce back.