Registered: Sep 2001
Location: ........
Posts: 14954

Having watched the All Blacks seconds eat the Barbarians ( a team made up of anyone they think might have a chance of beating the All Black seconds, including All Black firsts ), it came to mind that the "kick it to the corner and go for a lineout" way they play that particular match is much more entertaining than the "fwop one over the goalposts", for one and for all.

There's still the high tackles, shameless rucking and loads of blood.

So how about taking the value of a penalty kick down to two points?

Nothing more boring than a team that plays possession in the opponents half and waits for penalties to win the game. Having a wonderkid kicker does not make for a more interesting rugby team. ( Not naming any names ).

And while we're on the subject, could we rename the "piss-up" forum to "sports forum", since no-one ever fucking posts there, even if there is actually a piss-up trying to get itself organised.

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Registered: Aug 2001
Location: Hilbert Space
Posts: 35561

Persistant foul play, which would increase with a devalued penalty, is bad for rugby, and is particularly effective against dynamic flowing teams ('accidental' offsides at the loose, being slow to get back, etc).

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Registered: Sep 2001
Location: ........
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yellow card, red card

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Registered: Aug 2001
Location: Hilbert Space
Posts: 35561

Or maybe, don't commit foul play, don't concede penalties. Hmmm.

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Registered: Sep 2001
Location: ........
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don't commit foul play, don't get sin-binned

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Registered: Aug 2001
Location: Hilbert Space
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You'd rather have players off the pitch than a penalty kick punish the foul play (and, thus, the punishment for the foul is basically increased when it is committed near the try line or near the centre of the pitch).

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Registered: Sep 2001
Location: ........
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Well, probably not really.

Maybe the "drop the penalty to 2 points" might not be the "why didn't we think of it before, *slaps head*" solution, but the brand of rugby played in the Barbarian manner is, in a word, more fucking entertaining than watching some public school boy eye up a set of goalposts, do a camp squatting gesture and then kick a fucking piece of pigskin.

Maybe fouls deemed intentional could automatically incur a ten meter loss of ground or someit.

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Registered: Aug 2001
Location: Hilbert Space
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I think that one of the keys to the Barbarians games is that people just take more risks. It's good when both sides take that approach, but if only one does, they are often going to get beat by a less good team. Cautious rugby is winning rugby, often enough.

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Registered: Sep 2001
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Did you catch the game smug?

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Registered: Aug 2001
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No, no rugby on TV here in the US unless I had a better cable deal.

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Registered: Sep 2001
Location: ........
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...oh, thought you were in Blighty.

There was quite a magical moment when Justin Marshall called in the Barbs backline to score a pushover. If it hadn't been for technical hitches this end I would have had a video of it to send to you.

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Registered: Aug 2001
Location: Hilbert Space
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You let the woman touch the video recorder, eh?

Damn US videos are different anyhow.

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Registered: Aug 2000
Location: In a Blue, Blue State
Posts: 12544

A real death penalty. If you have someone who commits a foul killed right on the field, I bet attendance and viewership will go up astronomically.

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Registered: Sep 2000
Location: Kansas City
Posts: 7504

quote:

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Originally posted by Smug Git
No, no rugby on TV here in the US unless I had a better cable deal.

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Registered: Aug 2001
Location: Hilbert Space
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I have the minimum cable package. Which is a good thing.

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Registered: Jun 2002
Location: Just to the right of the moon
Posts: 3141

I watched the Ba-Baas game. It was a travesty. 9 Australian players who thought they were in a test match and so directed the game accordingly, a fijian on the wing who touched the ball once, and south African pack with a couple of Aussies in it. Worryingly for the AB's, that pack which had been together for a week completely dismantled the AB forwards for pretty much the entire game, seconds or not (and there were more than a few first teamers in that AB side (Somerville, Oliver, Jack, Mealamu, Williams, Weepu, Mauger, Howlett, Muilaina, Nonu - not all second string and a fair number of that team will be there to take on the Lions). The Baa-baas also dropped the ball twice in scoring positions. In fact the sole Northern Hemisphere rep, Lo Cicero, ran 10 meters through a maul to score.

If I was lions coach then the front five would be a target for me. Disrupt the All Black scrummage and then maul like a bastard before giving it to people like O'Driscoll or D'Arcy or Henson who I think would give any oppo a run for their money, and who i also think are better, individually, than their southern hemisphere opponents. D'Arcy especially, and the AB's have never played against him so they don't know what he's like

I think the AB's are an awesome team. I also think they got far too carried away with the win over France (remember that the week beforehand the French got spanked by Argentina in Marseilles. That fact is significant. France had never lost at that ground. I think that the French were simply appaling on the day as they sometimes are and this business about being outmuscled and physically mismatched was just a smokescreen. The Ba-Baas were up to it physically and the Lions even more so

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