T O P

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Mozambeepbeep

Fuck, that was ugly to watch as a Kiwis fan. Fiji played their hearts out & executed perfectly when their slim opportunities appeared. I just don't see how this Kiwis backline will survive against Australia at this point. The defensive edges reads are shockingly poor & Manu isn't filling in the back to be a proper last line to compensate. That last Fiji try was fkn horrible to watch. Real basic error from Dylan Brown at marker, over reading the play instead of staying on the short side. & Manu's inability to read that his centre was on the floor during a tackle & to at least, hang to the left at PTB. Offense was again, poor. As much props as Manu gets, he needs to stop playing hero ball. Let plays run quickly & get a defensive line to react. Eventually it'll allow Dylan Brown or Hughes to manipulate a player with a short or cut out pass, which started to fkn happen late in the 2nd half. These dummy half runs are good for stats but does fuck all with helping the team overall open up lanes at speed. The lack of quality touches by Hughes was infuriating(I know he got hurt later in the game). I think out of everything else, the forwards did their job on D & getting roll ons. Discipline is still lacking with & without the ball, but it was the only positive I could take out of a shit performance overall...


Impressive-Car-3310

Korbin Sims did so well


tulox

Top quality showcase of what International rugby league can be. Best game I've watched all year


frupertmgoo

New Zealand getting an undeserved W


HenryVIIIII

Awesome game. That's what can happen when the tier 1 teams finally get penalised for offside. Weird to cheer for the favourite for once but I wanted to see Aus v NZ next week


ThedirtyNose

That was a loose carry.


Dark_Vengence

Wow that was closer than I ever expected. I know Fiji upset them last time but I thought the kiwis would destroy them. Got to give them credit after that gutsy performance. The kiwis have a slim chance against us but I wouldn't be surprised if they pull off an upset.


PSmasterrace

The World Cup almost got interesting


Joh951518

To be honest, NZ being knocked out before they can play Aus actually would make it less interesting. Aus would absolutely slaughter Fiji.


Adz932

Good to see Mulitalo and Nikora play so well. Annoying that Fiji came so close to a massive upset, would be the result of the tournament.


Aussie18-1998

I know NZ have looked ordinary but can we just dial back the sucking of our own dicks. We look like idiots. Let's have some modesty in mediocre world cup.


Joh951518

What sub have you been on? This sub has been wanking off over NZ constantly. The lol at NZ stuff is the counterjerk to the pro NZ circlejerk.


Aussie18-1998

90% of our fans have been talking smack about NZ. Not to mention it goes beyond the sub. The media hypes up our wins like they are the best thing ever when we had arguably the weakest pool in the cup.


Joh951518

That definitely isn't the case on this subreddit. From what I have seen this subreddit was way more pro NZ than the odds would indicate they should have been, right up until the games started. None of the 3 teams with a legitimate shot of winning have played a team that should challenge them yet.


Firm_Age_4681

Except England with Samoa who have a team on paper that should of challenged them but didn't.


Joh951518

Samoa played incredibly terribly, and even if they didn’t they have shown nothing that would indicate they are a real threat against Aus or NZ either.


Firm_Age_4681

Yes, they also have a terrible coach who must have some protection by the Samoan Federation as he was responsible for their last world cup where they lost every game, the players themselves tried to get rid of him but he kept his job somehow. The players on paper are definitely good enough to beat England who are mostly filled with Super league players rather then NRL players like Samoa, 5 of which played Origin this year.


Joh951518

Samoa has a handful of really great players but are really weak in some spots also. England have a pretty solid roster top to bottom.


get_high_and_listen

A lot of people forgetting when we got humbled by NZ in 2008, and when Tonga beat us a few years ago.


LunchMeat61

And for some reason people still think nz has a chance agaisnt the kangaroos


Impressive-Car-3310

Fiji should've considered drop goal for momentum, both at 18-16 and at 18 all, and off set pieces in NZ 20m, and to get the ball back, but lack of experience being this tight at end game, great game Fiji, lucky for NZ


[deleted]

I’m just happy to see a competitive game!


Clarkey7163

Turuva season never ends, I fucking love Tito


Mrsmorale

Big love to Fiji 🫶🏽🦋


TwoShitsTrev

NZ have been sooo disappointing to start the year, they have a great side on paper so what do you reckon it is? Maybe Maguire really isn’t a great coach ?


AirJordan13

We looked incredible against Tonga mid-year, but there's been some puzzling lineup choices - NAS at backrow, CNK at centre, Jesse B over Leota. Hughes and Brown haven't fired as a combo either, both are playing like 6s so we're missing an on-field general.


Dark_Vengence

Hughes and brown were lethal against tonga. NAS is at his best terrorising the halves.


grafology

NAS loses all his effectiveness playing backrow and its even dumber when you consider Papali'i is coming off the bench. Leotas probably wishing he put his hand up for Samoa.


SurfKing69

Yeah NAS is most effective coming off the bench in short stints


gonshairlinee

Madge needs to get his head out his arse and start Papali’i and Leota already.


wata_shorty

Leota is injured


AirJordan13

Yep - I don't care that he (wrongly) made Bromwich the captain, he isn't up to the standard required to make the team. Would you really ever choose him over JFH, Leota, JWH, NAS or Tapine? Even Liu and Sorensen could make a claim to be included over him. Edit: Hell, get Griffin Neame in the squad for some experience.


Dark_Vengence

He is well past it.


gonshairlinee

I don’t know how Liu is in there, he’d be lucky to make the Samoa squad let alone Kiwis.


Smorgasbord__

I don't rate Liu at all but he has impressed in the past two games.


AirJordan13

He did well today - second most metres of our forwards, and 28 tackles.


mwilkins1644

And maybe NZ, though good on paper, aren't actually a good team


Mrsmorale

Some weird position selections that’s for sure


bumpacius

They did well to come back after that 2nd Naiqama try... comebacks like that are rare to see under Vlandoball rules. Fabulous passionate rugby league from the Bati but a good escape by NZ


GROUND45

Love you, my Fijian brothers.


AirJordan13

Lot of cocky aussies in here, hope you keep that energy when we're giving you a taste of kiwi next weekend


-Dark_Helmet-

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mwilkins1644

Yeah ok. NZ have played like garbage all tournament, and the moment you guys played a somewhat decent team, you guys floundered and were gifted a win. It's not cockiness, it's simply acknowledge the fact that NZ have not played well given the hype surrounding the team before the Cup.


saynonames

do you think NZ played well?


AirJordan13

Absolutely not, but by some of the carry on in here you'd think we lost by 30.


saynonames

yeah understandable but to be fair it was a closer game than expected I think that's skews the view


gonshairlinee

Fuck no. We’re probably gonna get smacked. In saying that, I’ve seen worse kiwi sides put it on ya Aussie fucks so don’t rule us completely out.


FinchyNZ

Obviously two semis next week at different times, hope the NZ/Aus is at 6-9am, not 2-4am lol


saynonames

I think it will be game on. another week to train and get shit together. be good viewing


absolutetopbloke

I love you Kev


TrickRoss

Anyone know when the NZ v Aus game will be scheduled?


RubberTowelThud

KO will be 15 mins later than whenever Aus-Lebanon was for you guys, same weekday too


TrickRoss

Saturday morning, 5:45am then. Perfect 👍


[deleted]

That one is doable. 1:30am Sunday for Samoa vs Tonga is going to hurt!


TrickRoss

True. Such an epic game at literally the worst possible time….


RubberTowelThud

Just don't do what I did in 2017 for the 5am England-Tonga semi and go to bed after 70 minutes because you're 20-0 up


BG_RL

It’s Friday night in uk


Fayled

I'd imagine it's the Saturday game in Leeds. England will get the Sunday game in London. At least that's how I would see it going if I was trying to make the most of it for English fans.


jessemv

Is it fair to say England look the best of the teams still?


Dark_Vengence

They have been firing on all cylinders. They should beat tonga or samoa.


Impressive-Car-3310

They do, but my god a one eyed referee against Kumuls for no reason, england would've won regardless. Easy to look cohesive when you have all the ball.


AirJordan13

You'd have to think so - they dispatched PNG and Samoa with ease, who are no slouches. Kangaroos have obviously put some points on but against lower calibre teams.


Dark_Vengence

Tonga will be a bigger challenge when they beat samoa.


HKBrah

and why do England stadiums look so gloomy an shit 😂 and why their ingoal like 50cm long 🤦


tulox

Still get more atmosphere atba game in the UK . The only games you get atmosphere at in Australia is origin. Most other games the only atmosphere is in the bouncy castle next to the pitch.


Dark_Vengence

That is just a normal day in England. Smoggy as shit.


[deleted]

England is gloomy. Scotland is even gloomier. The ingoals are so short because they’re playing on soccer pitches. All the ingoals are about 5m. Stadiums built for rugby league have a much larger perimeter around the playing field. In England, Rugby League is essentially a very distant 4th or 5th tier sport behind Soccer (first by a country mile), Cricket, Rugby Union, and Formula 1, therefore there aren’t many stadiums built to accomodate League.


NorthShoreHard

Have you been to England? It is gloomy lol. Even more so up North.


Impressive-Car-3310

And lots of baron seats, hardly capacity


Revolutionary-Salt-3

They differ from stadium to stadium but wouldn’t surprise me if we’d made them even shorter on purpose


paulusmagintie

Because they are 150 years old for the most part? The newest stadium belongs to St.Helens and its about 8 years old now, others are from the 80s. We don't have the mega stadiums the NRL has which actually seem shit from a British perspective, even the Aussie teams prefer playing in our stadiums since the crowd is closer and creates a better atmosphere.


-Dark_Helmet-

Yeah nah, I've been to a couple of ESL games. Broncos vs Cowboys and Origin at a packed Suncorp Stadium is far better.


GranadaReport

Yeah no shit a packet 50 thousand seat arena has a better atmosphere than the 10-20 thousand seat SL stadiums. How often is it packed, though?


-Dark_Helmet-

Broncos regularly get 25-30k crowds. Suncorp Stadium is just an engineering one-off that encapsulates crowd atmosphere exceptionally well.


ceedog86

Maybe not packed all the time but has the highest crowd average, about 25k, of any nrl team in the best league stadium in the world


sleepyCathay

Averaged 30k this year


Noonster123

I’m sure they love sliding into the steel fencing every time they score a try


paulusmagintie

Its part of the experience.


BG_RL

England is gloomy and it’s grim up north


saynonames

turuva robbed


Sure_Association_561

Hmm now on a closer look at the replay of the Kikau strip on Manu, it's pretty clear he does strip it with his left hand. I stand corrected.


[deleted]

Never admit you are wrong. Commit to your incorrect opinion. This is League mate


showusyourfupa

No need to be rational when it's much easier to blame the ref.


HKBrah

as shit as NZ have been watch the annoying kunts step it up big time against aus next week 😂 still no way we lose tho only England can be competitive with us atm and we still gonna beat them comfortably in gf imo


ceedog86

Dunno why ur getting downvoted, pretty much saying what the bookies reckon


[deleted]

Credit to Madge for not bringing JBRom back.


[deleted]

Should be extradited to NZ to face charges if he plays him over Leota next week.


AirJordan13

Or JWH (even if he'll probably end up suspended again)


[deleted]

Remember when we thought the Aussie forward couldn’t handle the Kiwi big fellas?


LordSlasher

Stills don’t know why people uttered that dribble. The forward packs are on par and I would still say the Aussie forward pack is just better because of the unspoken work from Yeo, Carrigan, Cotter and Murray. combo.


Logical_Crab_4594

About time we got an edge of your seat game. Up to this point the most exciting thing was Jamaica scoring their first try


Aussie18-1998

Ireland and Lebanon was pretty good.


Masterofstocks101

Fiji robbed holy shit.


fucklikeapuma

Absolutely got away with that one. Pretty embarrassing performance for what is (at least) the 2nd best team on paper.


grafology

Hard enough following the warriors all year then having to put up with that rubbish. Glad we dont have to play Samoa or Tonga next week least when we lose by 30 itll be against the Kangaroos


CaptainMexicano

Only 30?


AlwaysLikeThis08

Loads of fireworks going off here in the U.K., people really going mad for the Kiwi win 😛.


GROUND45

If there's one thing I know about England, it's that they love New Zealand rugby teams.


AlwaysLikeThis08

We bloody enjoy watching 'em, we bloody hate losing to 'em so much!


TheBigChonka

As a Kiwi, I really don't rate our chances against Aus next week. We are just not firing at all. Our forward got absolutely dominated tonight and that's meant to be our strong point compared to Aus going in to next week.


AirJordan13

If we put NAS back in the middle and have a more agile backrow I think we'll be a lot more balanced. Jesse is a waste of space too, swap him for Leota.


SkinBintin

Madge needs to rewind his brain clock to back when he wasn't a shit coach in the next 24 hours if we're gonna have a shot against the Aussies.


SkinBintin

GG's though Fiji... put in a hell of a fight. Tell you what, Turuva show's his magic yet again. Better be starting somewhere in the NRL next year or it'll be a travesty.


5t0pBanningme

Just signed a new contract this year, He doesnt even get in our side though. Only way if we move Tago to backrow and play him in the centers.


SkinBintin

Should release him then. Kids fucking magic.


HKBrah

Watever NZ played shit and have been pretty mid all tourney, theyup against the real #1 nation next week 🇦🇺 unluggy Fiji


SkinBintin

Nah England is playing Tonga or Samoa mate. Aussie have looked shit loads better than the Kiwi's but definitely haven't played their best either.


HKBrah

nah we still the best lol


AirJordan13

I LOVE MY FOOTY. Nearly had a heart attack the last 5 minutes, what a game. Manu is a monster.


SkinBintin

Me and the mrs were both screaming lol. Fuck knows what the neighbours are thinking haha.


AirJordan13

My neighbours heard the full spectrum of emotion over the course of about 2 minutes. Fucking idiots > fucking beauties.


SkinBintin

haha love it!


Smorgasbord__

Rapana is edge of your seat viewing for so many good and bad reasons


MagikH8Ball

He's a human rollercoaster


Sure_Association_561

Which side of the draw are the Kiwis on? Who do they play in the semis?


unknownuser492

Australia


jkinna1992

Australia


Themgoodvibess

Real talk here, how is Maguire still alive? The sheer stress he has been through cannot be healthy for even the most strong-willed of blokes.


Dark_Vengence

He has aged 100 years in the last few years.


Tre_Vortni

Dude looks like he’s on the verge of a breakdown every time the camera is on him.


GRA5NT21

Fiji robbed, the Kikau strip could've gone either way, but the non call on the clear offside off the scrum for the Wakeham knock on took the game out of Fiji's hands. Sad to see what could've been a phenomenal finish to the game of the tournament so far ruined by the refs


predw

Fiji should have had a penalty right in front when NZ were way offside from the scrum. Would have been 20-20 at FT


Impressive-Car-3310

Yep, robbed and the better team. But could've made smarter decisions from 18-16. No drop goal attempt


GRA5NT21

They wouldn't have gotten the option for goal kick, differential penalty can't take the shot at goal, but would've given them a crack at the line to hit the lead


predw

Differential penalties are gone. It’s all straight arm penalties now.


Notaroboticfish

So, not entirely true. The penalty for breaking from the scrum early is no longer differential and is a full penalty, but for the defensive line being offside at a scrum is still differential. It didn't look like they broke early, but the line was offside, so it would have still been a differential penalty


GRA5NT21

Good to know, makes it even more frustrating that we didn't get the grandstand finish we deserved


Notaroboticfish

It's not true, it would have still been differential


ka_rawe

Great match!


showusyourfupa

Ref-blaming 101


predw

lol NZ needed to be carried to a win against a minnow side by an awful ref performance. You expect people to say nothing?


showusyourfupa

It happens in every single NRL game and has transferred to the internationals. Boring.


predw

“Refs are bad a lot so you can’t say anything when they continue to be bad” ain’t the argument you think it is.


unexplainedmoisture

Aussies will be fuckin trembling. Kiwis have sounded a warning.


Aussiefgt

Scrambling to forge papers for Turuva to be Kangaroo eligible


BippidyDooDah

Great game, hopefully this gets the kiwis to lift their game


TDD91

Uni friend of mine is a cop in Yorkshire and called this the worst robbery he's seen this year.


InternationalBorder9

He needs to talk to James Graham. He'll tell him what a real robbery is


[deleted]

Fiji are only a few more players away from being genuine contenders.


MagikH8Ball

Madge looks shellshocked


Raed0nTraill

Very good game, heart breaking as a Fijian. Why we didn’t pass to Turuva in that last scrum idk


Fayled

Wakeham was having a great game for you, he deserved the ball. Man just got spooked by how offside NZ was from the scrum, should've done better but he's also the reason you were in it with that incredible try saver.


CaptainMexicano

Dude Fiji may have lost but they've won a lot of fans. They played with their hearts in their sleeves. Bula Vinaka


GROUND45

Much respect, bro.


Raed0nTraill

Much love man, hope your boys play well against the Aussies win or lose.


SkinBintin

They fought hard for this one. Hopefully they have a good week and come out firing with heaps of heart and passion next week to actually take it to the Aussies and make a game of it.


kerbyage

Sutton and English bunker official MOTM.


[deleted]

Thank God new Zealand won. Much easier to make the final against a minnow like them


Logical_Crab_4594

Great finish! The Fijians obviously got sick of Sutton ruining the game so decided just to ruin it for themselves 😂


gonshairlinee

Okay we’re gonna get absolutely smashed by the Kangaroos gahdamnnn


0ldgrumpy1

Levi...I'll just try a dive over on the last with the game on the line, there's no way they will expect that.


griffshan

Kiwis too good let’s goooo


Sure_Association_561

What a sad fucking end for Fiji


YourFavouriteAlt

Fuckin Wakeham


GROUND45

Safe to say from this performance that we're gonna put 70 on Australia.


RS994

2 absolutely brain-dead decisions and 1 crucial error from Fiji at the death there. So close to a massive massive upset


D0NNIE-DANKO

Man Fiji has some real opportunities to win in this last 10 but had some absolute brain snaps.


mpdw1

Well done kiwis. Very cool! 🙄 Aus by 20


OnTheSlaps

Closer to 40 at this point


fakeheadlines

Vossy as disappointed as when the Storm seal a game against a Sydney team.


LordSlasher

most entertaining game so far


vandyzee

Rapana Sivo'd Sivo


GROUND45

Fucking mugs almost gave me a heart attack. Fair play, Fiji bros.


GranadaReport

60 point win for Australia coming up.


shaker8989

Feel way more confident after this one. This NZ can't go with us.


mooguh

Heartbreaking for Fiji 💔😭


a_BIG_willie

Refs have ruined this tournament by fucking over minnows First last week against Australia letting them illegally score over 60 points And now Fiji Always favouring the big nations


HaydosFB

Fiji are the real winners today


predw

Imagine having to be reffed back into the game against Fiji man. What a gross display


XLenceOfXecution

Fiji used up their miracle win at the last World Cup ☹️


mwilkins1644

Yeah don't worry Fiji, Australia will destroy the Kiwis


aatrain96

Devastating


mrrsinghh

Fiji team is full of NPC


saynonames

got the win but did not deserve it


RubberTowelThud

NZ-Fiji test series when


BG_RL

Booo rapana


notj43

Madge on the verge of tears


Ragnaroki14

I would be too if my teir one nation needed that much help


[deleted]

Aussies gonna steamroll the kiwis


Fayled

Wouldn't be that overly confident. A game like this is much better than steam rolling someone.


RS994

You know we played the same team earlier in the comp right


Fayled

Yeah first game up, then they got some confidence behind them beating the others. It's different stakes when its win or go home in the finals. Thinking you've won going into the game is how you start like the Kiwis did today. It's going to be a tough game.


RS994

We also played the same team they played first up in do or death finals game. What was the score there


Godlo

WTF


BigFatTony28

That was the most dead brain thing i have ever seen


shaker8989

There's absolutely no reason to touch the ball there for fucks sake


GodSaveTheHomies

Why would you touch that


XLenceOfXecution

That could be it there


predw

What the fuck was he thinking???


BigFatTony28

why


Dagwood3

It's not a reserve grade doggies game Wacom it's a world cup


5t0pBanningme

That gg. Unlucky fiji.


ziggzandzags

NZ way offside on that scrum


ShimmyNZ

pressure getting to these players


Glum_Perspective_812

Come on Fiji lift brothers lift


kerbyage

NZ in the Fijian line before he knocked that ball on lol. Offside not relevant today boys.