Eloise's Thoughts and Fancies

First, sorry this is late. I wrote this at the normal time, then life got in the way. Before I dive into the reviews properly, the Top 14 has restarted. They have reduced the time on the shot clocks for penalties and conversions, this is a local variation, the global experiment stays the same. I’ve seen one kicker timed out, that’s in two weeks, I think I saw one other kicker in all the years since it was introduced, so it feels like it has bite. But, also, the elite kickers seem to have adapted just fine. Those who are “merely” excellent - and in that group are names like Hastoy and Jaminet who have both kicked for France at test level - seem to struggle. The easy kicks mostly go over, but longer and wider kicks that you would have expected them to make are being missed. For example, last year Jaminet kicked 75% from over 50m, out to about 58m straight in front of the posts. Yesterday he missed from 48m straight in front. Conversions on the 15m line were missed, and there wasn’t a win...

  South Africa Women v Black Ferns This match had a few more twists and turns but, in essence was played in two styles, depending on who was in control of the ball. If the Black Ferns kept the ball in hand, and in the field of play, they scored pretty much at will. If the SA Women, or the referee (who was also from SA which helps explain the huge imbalance in the penalty count), got the play to set pieces, then they looked much better.  Unfortunately for the SA Women, set piece opportunities were relatively few and far between. The Black Ferns' handling was excellent, the stats say 13 turnovers lost but I think most of those are spilled high balls under pressure. There were a couple of knocks on, but not many. Penalties to SA and then lineouts tended to relieve pressure, but they then lost shape and handed the ball back to the women in black. If they spilt ball, the Black Ferns rarely need a scrum, they could take the advantage. They even scored two tries whilst down to 13 for...

  South Africa v New Zealand, Test Two If last week’s game was summed up by South African dropped ball unproductive entries into the 22, this game was summed up by a stat that’s not really recorded - the unwillingness of the referee to blow the whistle.  The scrums were a shambles, and some, maybe most, of that was his fault - the cadence between bind and set in particular was all over the place. As short as 2s, as long as 10s. Crouch to bind was pretty consistently 3s. Yes, I timed it because it was so noticeably all over the place. (in the later test there was a bit of variation, but it was about 2-4s so the players still had to listen, and react, but weren't just waiting forever.) If both sides are a mess, and they were sometimes, a chat or better yet a fast reset. But if you’re only talking to one side, blow the fucking whistle. (Again, comparing to the later match, BOK spoke to the front rows once. Gus about four times, and once he called them all over, then only spoke to...