Be honest, Tahs family, this squad is one honest prop away from a
Honestly, some of you would rather keep a bloke on paddler wages than admit the scrum's been a lottery all season. Three penalties a game copped against us up front and we're still talking about "development" like that's a plan, sure thing, mate, keep paying NZ$800k for bench minutes while the Shute Shield colts sit in the stands learning nothing. I've had a quiet flutter at the TAB on our scrum penalty count the last few weeks and I'm up, which tells you everything. Blood the young tighthead now, drop the passenger, and if it goes sideways early I'll happily wear the egg on my face. Anyone defending the current rotation want to put money where their mouth is, or just the usual hot air? 😏
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Coached juniors long enough to know, Paul. Tape don't lie when a colt packs down against men every Saturday 🔥 NZ$800k for bench scrum penalties? Give the young fella a go, Tahs family 💪Heart with the team, head on pause.
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Paul's got a point and I'll say it as someone who actually keeps the numbers every round: three scrum penalties a game is a genuine leak, but one bloke on a couch in Shute Shield packing down against men is a small sample though. I've watched colts dominate club footy for a season then get penalised twice in their first Super Rugby scrum. If the NZ$800k bench spend isn't holding, fair, blood the young fella gradually off the pine, but hand me the tape first before we torch the rotation entirely.
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seen it all before, fellas - back in the amateur days every club bled a colt into the front row and copped a hiding for six weeks before he grew a spine. small sample or no, you don't find an honest prop on the bench at NZ$800k a season, you find him packing down against grown men on a Saturday and getting schooled for it 😉Seen it all, lads.
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Copping a hiding for six weeks beat paying NZ$800k for three free kicks a game, mate. Every All Black prop started somewhere - Bunnings NPC lads are ready enough 😄Watch as long as I have and you'll get it.
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I'll cop that the front row leaks penalties, but anyone who watched Shute Shield grand final day knows colts pack down against grown men who've been slogging it in gym mirrors for years - one decent season there and I might be convinced, on condition that someone actually shows me his scrum counts, not just vibes.Numbers are honest, takes aren't.
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RobbedAgainHater318 has got it right, I reckon - I'd want scrum counts over at least half a season before I pencil a Shute Shield colt into a matchday 23. I could be wrong, but I've tracked every front-row penalty in my own table since round one and the leak is real, so the pressure to try someone is fair. For what it's worth, I watched a young tighthead at a club game here in Whanganui last winter and even at NPC level the step up off a club scrum is enormous. 📊Do the math before you argue.
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Six weeks of hides vs $800k for scrum turnovers. I'd take the hides, but I'd want to see the bookie pay out on those "ready" NPC lads first 😏Any stat can be bent.
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I'm a Hawke's Bay lad who coached juniors, and even I wouldn't chuck a colt straight into Super Rugby scrums 😅 but geez fellas, $800k for three free kicks a game, you'd want the TAB giving odds on that bloke actually firing. Blood him off the bench for twenty minutes first, see if he bends 🔥One love, one side ❤️
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ben, mate, with respect, i've sat through enough long nights watching scrums fold to know the fear of a young neck lives mostly in our heads. back in my day you threw the skinny country kid straight in against grown men, and i watched one get folded like a deck chair in his first senior game, two seasons on he was holding his own against anyone around. you don't learn the dark arts from the grandstand 😉 and the twenty minute bench stint, that's against tiring legs and a ref who's stopped watching. The easyBeen here longer than some have followed.
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Underdog, that deck chair story cuts both ways, you watched it happen, so why preach the fear is only in our heads? Three scrum penalties a game is a measurable cost, and I'd want the actual penalty counts from the last half dozen matches before anyone trades NZ$800k of bench on a Shute Shield colt's first scrum. Source on him holding, or is this all gut feeling too?
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Underdog, that deck chair story cuts both ways, you watched it happen, so why preach the fear is only in our heads? Three scrum penalties a game is a measurable cost, and I'd want the actual penalty counts from the last …@GloryDays fair call on the counts tbh, table's useless without them. I coached against a skinny tighthead last season, ref pinged us blind every scrum... ah well, nowt to do 🤬One love, one side ❤️
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GloryDays, you're the only one in this thread asking for the actual counts, so consider me with you there. I keep my own table every round and I can tell you that "three a game" reads differently depending on which ref and which tighthead we're facing, the sample matters. I could be wrong, but I'd want the last half dozen matches split by penalty type before anyone ships NZ$800k of bench out the door. My caveat, and I say this as a bloke who marks Year 11 books for a living: sitting a colt down with footage of his own scrum penalties teaches more than twenty anonymous bench minutes ever will. Blood him in Shute Shield first, review the tape with him, then give him the last quarter against a tired pack. That's how you find your prop without folding a neck in round one.Do the math before you argue.
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GloryDays, you're the only one in this thread asking for the actual counts, so consider me with you there. I keep my own table every round and I can tell you that "three a game" reads differently depending on which ref a…@FrontRowFan same, the ref matters more than the prop half the time. I've lost multis to one whistle-happy tight-head call, sample size is everything 😭Value over a big price 💸
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My old man used to say a scrum penalty is the only stat where you can lose the game without touching the ball, and after this season I reckon he was onto something. FrontRowFan's right that "three a game" needs unpacking - I keep the round-by-round numbers too, and there's a nuance here: a chunk of those calls came with one particular referee and against tightheads who've been torturing half the competition, not just us. Small sample though, six or seven rounds tells you a trend, tells you nothing definitive about whether the NZ$800k bloke is finished. So where does that leave us? Somewhere between Ben's twenty-minute bench plan and GloryDays' demand for proper counts before anyone gets punted. Blood the Shute Shield colts when the fixture softens, keep the table running, and revisit at the halfway mark. I'm keen to see the penalty split home versus away before I hang anyone, the tape and the ledger should agree, and until they do, the argument stays open. 📊Numbers > vibes.
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Yeah the ref factor is real tbh, seen whole games flipped off one tighthead call. You need the honest prop AND a bit of luck with the whistle 🤬 ah well, nowt to doIn the stands since I was a kid.