So by your logic Lucifer, they should discuss all the people who die in tornadoes and hurricanes during the weather section!
Yeah....good one.
Rugby is a big part of the culture of NZ and thus the All Blacks squad being named in the world cup year is big news. Perhaps Tasmania is an option?
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HaHa! I like that.
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You'll see from my posts that I am a Cullen supporter (on form), but I apologize b/c I thought you meant Mertz back for the starting berth, but if you mean just in the squad then hell yeah!! He'd be perfect in those midweekers! (no he's definitely the back-up to Spencer, but the back-up he certainly is).
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Feel the passion!!
Come on SaidInJest, the REAL dispute going on here is Cully (check the topic) versus Ralph....Thus as an Auckland supporter I do not suffer from your "Oh My God Auckland's defence and attack is better than ours and it's the end of an era grief=stricken biased. I am neutral, you are not. Check Ralph's tries out and compare them to Cully's. Is it alright to make the All Blacks b/c you can be depended upon to catch a friggin' ball. Because that's what a "finisher" is in your definition. My version of finisher is a Howlett, who can catch the ball and then go forty metres and then score. Ralph lacks pace, vision and nous - I've seen him burnt off by locks.
(said slowly in a state of bewilderment)
rrrriiiiiigggggggghhhhhhtttttttt......
I agree with Aka - why can't they start on time?
The answe is cos they want as many people as possible....sold-out gigs always start on time.
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Oh dear god. Why? What game have you been watching this year? Spencer kicks as well as Mehrtens only better, he passes better, runs better, holds the ball better, chips better, bombs better....What significant silverware has "Merts" brought back for us? You will discover, like all those stuck in a time warp, that our halfback/first-five combination (with everyone fit) will be Devine and Spencer...you wait, the proof will be in the pudding.
Also Cullen's pace and defence has really stepped up from the npc to the Super 12 - look at his try tally and some of his fantasyrugby scores. In fact, if people here don't have access to stats (preferably on a week-to-week basis throughout the Super 12), what, apart from favouritism and random moments, are you all basing your evidence for your views upon???
HAHA! Yeah, no sorry mate.
<<(even taking into account red & black bias). >>
Are you sure? It doesn't burn inside you? You don't have nightmarish visions of Leon diving into the corner? Of Carter coming up short? So close to the final's final whistle!?
I think it IS clear cut if you are free form a) being a Canterbury fan or b) Showing loyalty to someone you have had in the team and get along with well..(read: does whatever he's told). If you think Cullen will be in there come the World Cup then what is it you feel he didn't do in the Super 12 that he's going to do before the World Cup?
yes, but your tries are out of whack - b/c McCaw got 7 for starters - perhaps these were taken before the end of the season? Anyway you're from Canterbury....
Oh and in case the point wasn't clear
BRING BACK CULLY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! His rugby is as attractive as John Mitchell's ears are as ugly as sin.
Oh and also Sam....
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I read a post (and there are probably more) where you lamented the state of our media coming from CNN and BBC (as I have too) b/c it is all shit....Then you turn around and claim the rugby selection story took the place of "REAL stories"..................Make your mind up bro.
Check Ralph's season stats at Fantasy Rugby noizyboy - they speak for themselves i.e. he doesn't tckle enough and he doesn't make ANY breaks.
Nonu can cover wing, if Sam was to play second-five also......But anyway, no more comments from the provincially-inclined Noizyboy - be gone.
It's about competitive streaks Lucifer - people with them like rugby and sport.
People without one prefer to whinge about how others like sport, how there's a war going on (which most of us with half a brain didn't want either - what significant actions did you take against the US apart from token protesting), how all men who play sport must be gay as a self-defence mechanism for the glaringly obvious fact that physical contact is physically demanding and thiose demands are too much to ask of your spirit or physicality or both, and that smoking weed is better. Some of us enjoy both and are more fulfilled as a result.
HA!!!!!!
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We'd like some non-biased, one-eyed Cantabrian opinions on Cullen thanks...
I am from Auckland - defending Cullen and attacking MacDonald....I am neutral, while you MR "We We" are not.
Nice dust! Nice counter-strike too noizyboy, except I can smell biased and demand to know what province you are from.
<< Sam is an excellent player, but Carter covers first five as well........Picking Daniel Carter rather than Sam Tuitupou gives the team more balance. >>
But if Carlos were injured, Sam could go second-five and Aaron Mauger at first-five where he has been playing INSTEAD of Carter anyhow. Yeh!
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Yes very astute call noizyboy, but you know as well as I do that Cullen was jogging and looking at his outsides when he made a late decision to go for the line and accelerate, by that time Carter had got across and nailed him as he was always running at top speed.
Carter is a good player, but for a damning example of his lack of pace look instead at Matt Giteau burning him on the outside and Carter only able to get a desperate ankle tap when he was originally standing right beside him. You wanna risk that in the World Cup final? Because Giteau will be in the Australian team - maybe they picked him partly on burning Carter in the first place.
Ralph has been shit - he is not in form and not experienced - if you want balance, as you state with Carter, then there must surely be a case for Cullen who is also a multi-purpose player (only a better runner, kicker (yes, that's right, even tho he can't kick, Ralph is an even worse "hack" kicker - anyone who truly knows how to kick and watches him will know) and tackler).
As for Ralph being a classy finisher! Give me a break - Richard McCaw scored more tries than him! Oh, and so did Tuitupou, even though he was playing second five eighth (more than Umaga too incidently. Being able to play in different positions is all very well, but not when it means that you are not truly any of them. carter is not a first-five and not a second-five - he's both.
Funny - Grimmybug, you're kinda saying Sam is being too simplistic and generalizing, but then you say there are those who are stoners and those who are not - which is arguably even more simplistic.
Sam has chosen a more difficult path and I repsect him. Sure, he says silly things sometimes, but most of his statements are born of an honest passion for his beliefs whether they be angry or not. Also, there are definitely preps about and, amidst the vitriol, I agree with some of the things Sam says.
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No - but they may not be brilliant either. They will be at a level, but they are unlikely to break any moulds. People are shaped by the way they are nurtured and/or spoilt.
If Mister Ibanez's post made me feel a little nostalgic, thic got me positively misty-eyed for I too have read what you refer to - an exert from Mike's "Seven Voices" book. Good read.
Mitchell is the ultimate hypocrit. I am not a Wellington fan, I am a Blues supporter (and obviously quite chuffed with that right now), but Cullen should have been the fullback, not MacDonald. Cullen has more experience, more versatility (Mitchell blabbed on about how Cullen paid the price of being a specialist fullback, however he has played in more positions for the All Blacks than MacDonald ever has or ever will i.e. fullback, second-five, centre, left wing and right wing. He is also MORE experienced and in BETTER form. Those were apparently Mitchell's criteria - experience and/or form.....farcical! So instead they put in MacDonald AND worse still CALEB RALPH!!!!! - who has neither extensive experience nor any semblance of form whatsoever. He probably has a favourable record with working Mitchell's arsehole - there is no possible rugby playing reason - I watched every Super 12 game for the NZ teams bar the Chiefs and a couple of Otago games and Ralph is shite.
Cullen's lines, positional play, tackling, running and try-scoring ability are all the equal or better than MacDonald's. Mitchell picked an exciting squad, don't get me wrong, but it wasn't as exciting as mine....I would have had Tuitupou instead of Ralph - Tuitupou paid the price for being a one-position player - well how ironic! Considering, traditionally, not having a set position is supposed to work against you! Tuitupou was the best defensive back in the competition, nay, the world, and ALWAYS crossed the advantage line. Daniel Carter is a good player, but he doesn't have natural speed and that will be shown up if he gets game time. MacDonald is an overly-concussed, over-rated, grinder - the try really hard player....I prefer the play really well player myself but I'm not a conservative ex- English assistant coach trying desperately to break the shackles of natural inclination towards safe players who can stand up to oppositions instead of electric teams that can take it to oppositions.
Mitchell's selections of Spencer, Mealamu, Rokocoko, Muliana etc WERE exciting, but they were no-brainers (except for Rokocoko, who was a bit of a bolter) - the Ralph, MacDonald and Thorn calss were brainless fullstop......Thorn is hesitant and unable to make athletic tackles (check his miss on David Gibson in the final) whereas Kriostian Ormsby would have been a better option, b/c he can also cover blindside.
I hope the Bluies players can adopt Mitchell's ask no questions, lick my ass clean, kick for territiory game plan or else their could be a culture clash. At least we have Spencer etc finally - For years I've had to put up wih Mehrtens and Marshall etc......No, no, they're the best everyone kept on saying. So, how many world cups and bledisloes have we won with them on the field?? I rest my case.
Burning the flag can, in a sense, be a strong show of love for your nation. Because some may do it out of the frustration of watching their country be taken downhill by a destructive minority (usually in power), also that their is a fine line between love and hate is perfectly demonstrated by this act.
don't tempt me!
Also, how were the Blams?