Field Theory by Hadyn Green

I've watched it many, many, many, times now. Many times indeed.

What the hell was Sivivatu doing?

And as for the promotion, having a game at the same time as the MLB world series probably isn't the best idea right? How are you going to compete with that in terms of hype? Although it was cool to hear the crowd chanting 'All Blacks' in the last 10 min.

And 44,000... That's still more than comparable to test matches in NZ and Aus. It's around 10,000 more than the NZ venues can hold at present.

If a team mate was tagged by a reanimated corpse, you HAVE take their head off. No mucking around. You owe it to New Zealand.

If you had read "world war z" (highly, highly recommended), you would know that the best approach for sorting out zombies is an entrenching tool.

The Marines modified the standard entrenching tool during the first zombie war (it was referred to as the "lobotomizer") which had the highest kill-to-dollar ratio of the war.

And as for steampunk...where was the mad scientist trying to "get a live one" to better understand the nefarious infestation?

Robbie Deans can bitch all he likes about cynical play and what not but he still didn't beat us this year. And of course Canterbury have collapsed since he left… oh….

Of course, you could argue that Canterbury's continued strength enhances his rep as a leader, rather than detracts from it, in that he created a culture and systems with the strength to outlast his tenure.

I don't think you can sheet all the Wallabies failings back to Deans. He's polished that turd as much as he can but its still a turd. Hey - maybe he needs Sam Mahon as an assistant coach!

such a fantastic idea
steampunk is so much better than zombies

next time might i suggest water guns
they melt the zombies

" At times it was just shy of casual racism. "

To me, this was what was at the root of that bizarre refereeing interlude you start your post with too.

It looked like Lawrence could not believe that that poor Japanese TMO had the temerity to give an interpretation of the whole incident being ruled on rather than the requested yes/no part data that would show Lawrence a full matrix from which he would then adjudicate on as the senior official. An attitude which is, i suppose, acceptable given the defined hierarchy of the refereeing team...yet I got the distinct feeling that this hierarchy was being coloured by Lawrence wanting to demonstrate his natural superiority in things rugby as one from a traditional rugby playing nation.

Of course I could have just got this from what the comments men were say ing as well.

Either way it was quite disrespectful of the TMO.

And I agree with you... there was no way that was a try... it was, as the TMO said and you have repeated, a knock on.

The Marines modified the standard entrenching tool during the first zombie war (it was referred to as the "lobotomizer") which had the highest kill-to-dollar ratio of the war.

The Russians sure liked their spades in Stalingrad as well. Oh and is there movie (i'm sure i've seen a trailer for this) based on that book coming soon?

Of course, you could argue that Canterbury's continued strength enhances his rep as a leader, rather than detracts from it, in that he created a culture and systems with the strength to outlast his tenure.

My counter to that is that Robbie Deans' success has been built on having as many of the best players as it is possible to stick into one team. That may be more a sign of a brilliant development system in Canterbury; or perhaps more likely a brilliant recruitment system - which you could probably credit to the entire union.

" At times it was just shy of casual racism. "

To me, this was what was at the root of that bizarre refereeing interlude you start your post with too.

Pure hearsay, but i've read other threads on this on rucku and apparantely at one of the later moments when he was in discussion with the Japanese Assistant Referee Lawrence said something along the lines of the TMO being an idiot.

The decision by Lawrence was purely down to him being frustrated at the TMO not responding in the way he was expecting. The TMO presumably didn't know what else to do; somehow in translation his message of 'no try, it was grounded before the line and then knocked on' turned into just 'knock-on' which for whatever reason given he was 30 metres away and had his view obscured by 3-4 players Lawrence didn't want to know about.

Having said that, it would have been more sensible to have had a TMO and referee pairing that could communicate directly - whether that be all Japanese or whatever - as long as it wasn't George Aioub.

As for Deans' moaning; if he doesn't win this weekend he's going to have to come up with a new strategy to deflect attention from his inability to get something out of the Wallabies. With no domestic competition of note, they have no system to develop enough quality players.

They clearly have little depth as a guy who was injured wasn't replaced in the team but put onto the bench to play 20 minutes or so. What would have happened if Moore had been injured in the first 10 minutes?! Or did Deans just rethink his game plan?

They clearly have little depth as a guy who was injured wasn't replaced in the team but put onto the bench to play 20 minutes or so.

I thought that injury happened at the stadium, which is why Moore started in #16 (uniform trivia!)

I think I heard the commentators say Polota-Nau had 'woken up with a sore achilles', and had accordingly been replaced. Why they kept their jersey numbers was not explained fully (or, indeed, at all).

As for Deans' moaning; if he doesn't win this weekend he's going to have to come up with a new strategy to deflect attention from his inability to get something out of the Wallabies.

The current Wallabies are a poor outfit with significant frailties. They are carried by a couple of aging and increasingly injury prone players (Mortlock is the prime example) and if those players are missing they are exposed as very average.

They are living on the reputation of past players and they are consistantly talked up for marketing reasons, not their ability on the paddock.

The great Wallaby era has been an anomaly, like the Hadlee era in NZ cricket. They are reverting to business as usual.

Deans must be regretting taking over a country whose side is in such obvious systemic decline.

Given that the "great Wallaby era" arguably started in third test of 1978 vs NZ, it's been a pretty lengthy anomaly.

Is Mike the guy who wears cargo shorts, a floppy hat, and bare feet, and spends the game charging up and down the sidelines at breakneck speed? I saw him on Saturday at the Wgtn game and figured he must be pretty fit indeed. I've also noticed him doing the same thing at the Phoenix. Most of the other photographers just tend to camp down at one end and rely on their telephoto lenses to compensate for their lack of movement....

...we dressed up as Steam Punk zombie hunters and ambushed the Wellington Zombie Walk outside Te Papa.

You know, should this become an annual event there would almost certainly be found, via PA, a ready supply of willing and well-equipped adventurers and colonial johnnies waiting for the call to arms. Hint hint.

Is Mike the guy who wears cargo shorts, a floppy hat, and bare feet, and spends the game charging up and down the sidelines at breakneck speed?

No that's Dave of Photosport, he's pretty intense.

You know, should this become an annual event there would almost certainly be found, via PA, a ready supply of willing and well-equipped adventurers and colonial johnnies waiting for the call to arms. Hint hint.

It might be that next year. This year it was a secret army

Tracey's game stats are up.

Thomson topped the tackle count, Read managed to miss three tackles in his relatively brief spell on field, Hore was busy.

Either way it was quite disrespectful of the TMO.

My understanding was that the TMO could not rule on anything before the goal line under the rules. Hence Lawrence's frustration with him stepping outside his job.

But that might be rugby league I'm thinking of.

I couldn't tell if it was a try or not from the 10 replays I saw, and was happy with it to be awarded in the interest of the referee having to just make a decision with the TMO not being at all helpful.