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TEIVOVO Super Rugby Pacific Podcast

TEIVOVO Super Rugby Pacific Podcast

Written by: TEIVOVO Rugby
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 Talofa, Ma’lelei’i Bula and welcome to TEIVOVOrugby – I’m Culden Kamea and this is my Super Rugby Pacific Podcast.

This is my weekly podcast on the Fijian Drua, Moana Pasifika and other teams in the Super Rugby Pacific 2023 competition, plus Team Fijiana of course when they start defending their Super W title in Australia this year.

Catch up on the latest Super Rugby Pacific news on the weekly TEIVOVO Super Rugby Pacific Podcast with host Culden Kamea, including a weekly post-match round-ups, analysis and interviews with current Fiji stars and past Fijian legends.

#SuperRugbyPacific #SuperRugby #TEIVOVOsports #TeivovoRugby #TeivovoDigital #FijianDrua #rugby #FijiRugby #rugbyunion #Raka #team #rugbytraining #sports #Fiji #FRU #Fijian_DruaCopyright TEIVOVO Rugby Rugby
Episodes
  • 04-04-2023 TEIVOVO Super Rugby Pacific Podcast S01E06 #SuperRugbyPacific #SuperRugby #TEIVOVOsports #TeivovoRugby #TeivovoDigital #FijianDru

    04-04-2023 TEIVOVO Super Rugby Pacific Podcast S01E06 #SuperRugbyPacific #SuperRugby #TEIVOVOsports #TeivovoRugby #TeivovoDigital #FijianDru
    Apr 4 2023
    Talofa lava, Malolelei’i, Bula vinaka and welcome to TEIVOVOrugby.com’s Super Rugby Pacific podcast Season 01 episode 06 – I’m Culden Kamea.

    This is my weekly podcast on the Fijian Drua, Moana Pasifika and other teams in the Super Rugby Pacific 2023 competition, plus Team Fijiana of course defending their Super W title in Australia.

    However, this week, I just have to get this off my chest – biased or incompetent refereeing.

    Not in Super Rugby Pacific but at the Hong Kong 7s on Sunday in the play-off for Bronze in the Women’s competition between Fijiana and Great Britain.

    Sadly, Fijiana were robbed of the bronze medal by biased refereeing in their game against Great Britain.

    Having trailed throughout, Team Fijiana scored just before the fulltime siren with 31 seconds to play and then converted for a 19-17 win at 08 seconds after the final siren – why they should then have to re-start beats me.

    Anyway, during sudden death after the re-start, the referee blew five consecutive penalties against Fijiana until Great Britain won.

    Two penalties were awarded against Fijiana for the “tackler not rolling away” according to the referee, but in both cases the Fijiana tacklers were clear of the tackle ball, and in both cases, another Fijiana player was already over the ball trying to win it.

    In the first penalty for this at 44 seconds into the sudden death game time, the Great Britain number 10 loses her feet and falls into the tackle ball area off her feet, which is an infringement.

    She temporarily blocks the Fijiana 09 from exiting that area, but she is to one side and stands up while Naimasi is correctly over the ball trying to win it, when the referee penalizes Fijiana for not rolling away.

    Another penalty was for the Fijiana front row “standing up” in the scrum, according to the referee.

    Yet it was so clear that Team Fijiana dominated the Great Britain scrum throughout the game, and especially during the sudden death period.

    It was so clearly the Great Britain forwards who stood up twice under immense pressure, being pushed backwards at their scrum!

    Yet the referee penalized the Fijiana front row for “standing up”.

    As far as I know, all front rows try to get under their opponents front row and force them up, which the Fijiana forwards did, even the TV commentator said, “Big scrum Fiji,” at one minute and 24 seconds into sudden death game time.

    After re-setting the scrum for a second time at one minute 56 seconds gone, the Great Britain forwards could not take the pressure and had to stand up again so that they could get out of the scrum ASAP.

    All referees know this and always penalize the scrum going backwards for standing up, not the dominant forwards driving forward – in this case Team Fijiana.

    In the case of the fourth penalty against Fijiana Captain Naimasi for “not rolling away” she was behind the tackle area and not in any way interfering with Great Britain playing the ball, yet Naimasi was penalized.

    From that penalty Naimasi was yellow-carded for not retiring 10M and Great Britain scored against Fijiana with a player down.

    That was plain daylight robbery by biased refereeing.

    New Zealand cruised to victory in both the Women’s and Men’s finals of the Cathay/HSBC Hong Kong Sevens to increase their leads at the top of the ladder.

    New Zealand women beat Australia 17-26 and the All Blacks 7s beat Fiji 17-24 to win their first Cathay/HSBC Hong Kong 7s title since 2014.

    In Super Rugby Round 6 last weekend:
    • the Hurricanes 45-42 the Force
    • the Brumbies 40-36 the NSW Waratahs
    • the Crusaders 25-12 the Reds
    • the Fijian Drua 38-28 the Rebels
    • the Chiefs 20-13 the Blues
    • Moana Pasifika 17-45 the Highlanders

    In Super W Round 2 last weekend:
    • the Fijiana Drua 39-12 the Rebels
    • the Brumbies 13-24 NSW Waratahs
    • the Force 14-29 the Reds

    Both Fiji teams had good wins at home with the Drua on a bye this weekend and a tough game against the Blues in Lautoka in the heat of mid-April to come, while our Fijiana Drua girls play the rest of their games away in Australia.

    For TEIVOVOrugby.com, I’m Culden Kamea.

    #BreakfastBites #TEIVOVOsports #TeivovoRugby #TeivovoDigital #rugby #rugby7s #FijiRugby #rugbyunion #rugbyleague #Raka #team #rugbytraining #sports #FRU #Fiji
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    5 mins
  • 30-03-2023 TEIVOVO Super Rugby Pacific Podcast S01E05 #SuperRugbyPacific #SuperRugby #TEIVOVOsports #TeivovoRugby #TeivovoDigital #FijianDru

    30-03-2023 TEIVOVO Super Rugby Pacific Podcast S01E05 #SuperRugbyPacific #SuperRugby #TEIVOVOsports #TeivovoRugby #TeivovoDigital #FijianDru
    Mar 29 2023
    Talofa lava, Malo lelei’i, Bula vinaka and welcome to TEIVOVOrugby.com’s Super Rugby Pacific podcast Season 01 episode 05 – I’m Culden Kamea.

    This is my weekly podcast on the Fijian Drua, Moana Pasifika and other teams in the Super Rugby Pacific 2023 competition, plus Team Fijiana of course defending their Super W title in Australia.

    In Super Rugby Round 5 last weekend:
    the Blues 30-17 the Force
    the Rebels 40-34 the Reds
    the Hurricanes 59-0 Moana Pasifika
    the Highlanders 57-24 the Fijian Drua
    the NSW Waratahs 14-24 the Chiefs
    the Crusaders 35-17 the Brumbies

    In Super W Round 1 last weekend:
    the NSW Waratahs 43-0 the Force
    the Rebels 0-43 the Reds
    the Fijian Drua 12-7 the Brumbies

    Borrowing much of this story from STUFF NZ rugby columnist, Mark Reason:

    The average margin of victory for the five New Zealand Super Rugby teams last the weekend was 26. And all of them were a long way short of full strength.

    One thing Super Rugby Pacific cannot hide from is that attendances are plummeting across Australia and New Zealand. That’s why crowd attendances at games are never revealed, but it’s plain to see on TV.

    In contrast, NRL crowds are up this season. Over 50,000 turned up for the Brisbane derby between the Broncos and the Dolphins.

    The NZ Warriors get way bigger crowds than the handful who turned up at Mount Smart to watch the Canes thump Moana Pasifika.

    Further afield, the NFL in the US has just concluded a bumper regular season with 97% of seats sold, with the average crowd - wait for it - 69,389 at an average ticket price of a staggering NZ$740 per ticket.

    It’s a major worry. If only the Fijian Drua can be more consistent and Moana Pasifika start winning.

    In other Super Rugby news:
    Crusaders and All Blacks Wing Sevu Reece will miss the rest of the 2023 rugby season, including the Rugby World Cup in France, due to a knee injury.

    The 26-year-old Fijian flyer injured his knee earlier this month against the Blues at Eden Park and will undergo surgery.

    Across the ditch, rugby union fans in Australia were somewhat stunned by news last Friday that Rugby Australia had signed NRL teen sensation, Joseph Sua’ali’i to switch codes and play for the New South Wales Waratahs from 2025.

    The 19-year-old has penned a deal - reportedly worth A$1.6Million per season until the end of 2027 to become Australia’s highest-paid rugby player in history.

    It comes ahead of the 2025 British and Irish Lions tour and the 2027 Rugby World Cup.

    A$1.6M a season is a staggering amount of money to bank on one player – especially a Wing to what – beat the British & Irish Lions?

    Rugby Australia has been down this road so many times before; signing the likes of Wendell Sailor, Lote Tuqiri, Marika Koroibete and more recently Suliasi Vunivalu – some of the best NRL Wings of all time!

    Not sure if it was all money well spent?

    Any way, watch out for Team Fijiana at 1.05pm at home in Suva on Saturday against the Melbourne Rebels, followed by the Fijian Drua at 3.35pm also at HFC Bank Stadium against the Rebels, fresh off impressive wins against the Tahs and the Reds, who have both beaten the Fijian Drua.

    For TEIVOVOrugby.com, I’m Culden Kamea.

    #SuperRugbyPacific #SuperRugby #TEIVOVOsports #TeivovoRugby #TeivovoDigital #FijianDrua #rugby #FijiRugby #rugbyunion #Raka #team #rugbytraining #sports #Fiji #FRU #Fijian_Drua
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    5 mins
  • 20-03-2023 TEIVOVO Super Rugby Pacific Podcast S01E04 #SuperRugbyPacific #SuperRugby #TEIVOVOsports #TeivovoRugby #TeivovoDigital #FijianDru

    20-03-2023 TEIVOVO Super Rugby Pacific Podcast S01E04 #SuperRugbyPacific #SuperRugby #TEIVOVOsports #TeivovoRugby #TeivovoDigital #FijianDru
    Mar 21 2023
    Talofa lava, Malo lelei’i Bula vinaka and welcome to TEIVOVOrugby’s Super Rugby podcast Season One episode 04 again, sorry I got my numbers mixed up last time – anyway I’m Culden Kamea.This is my weekly podcast on the Fijian Drua, Moana Pasifika and other teams in the Super Rugby Pacific 2023 competition, plus Team Fijiana of course when they start defending their Super W title in Australia very soon.In Super Rugby Round 4 last weekend:the Hurricanes 34-17 the NSW Tahs.the Chiefs 44-25 the Rebelsthe Blues 28-34 Crusadersthe Brumbies 62-36 Moana Pasifikathe Highlanders 43-35 the Force A couple of big issues that I want to focus on are:the Yellow card, no-pushing-in-the-scrums, 13-man rulethe naming of Scott “Razor” Robertson as All Blacks Head CoachCompeting against any team with 15 players is tough enough, but as the Blues found out against the Crusaders last weekend, with two men short, it’s nigh on impossible.The Blues ended up conceding two tries in the 10-minute period, going from 21-19 up to 31-21 down and like the Fijian Drua against the NSW Waratahs the previous round, that was pretty much game over.So how did the situation arise?The Blues losing both starting props – Alex Hodgman and James Lay – to injury inside the opening quarter hour. They then lost one of their replacement props – yellow-carded for a cynical infringement on the goal-line.So the World Rugby Law 3.18 states: “Only when no replacement front-row player is available is any other player permitted to play in the front row” – the Blues had to inject reserve Hooker Kurt Eklund into the game, because, even though he is not a prop, he is at least a front-rower.They then had to drop another player to accommodate that, with blindside flanker Cameron Suafoa the unlucky man.But here’s where things get tricky - there is a quirk in the law whereby a team forcing uncontested scrums must be ‘punished’ for doing so by losing another player.This law was introduced following a controversial Wales v Georgia Test in 2017.This situation also arose in round two in Melbourne, where the Fijian Drua were forced to 13 players in their 46-17 loss to the Waratahs.So the Blues opted to take off fullback Stephen Perofeta, and with law 3.15 stating: “Uncontested scrums as a result of a sending off, temporary suspension or injury must be played with eight players per side in the forwards”, the Blues were on a hiding to nothing trying to defend with only five backs.Meanwhile, the Highlanders produced a final quarter surge to claim their first win of the Super Rugby season 43-17 against the Force, but a growing injury list and a misfiring attack means they have a lot of work to do.In a scrappy, error-riddled game dominated by kicking, the Highlanders’ attack again struggled to get going for long periods.They host the Fijian Drua in Dunedin this Saturday in what could be a real ding dong battle – guaranteed, the Fijian Drua will be much more dangerous with ball in hand than the Force.Finally in my rugby podcast today - the New Zealand Rugby Football Union has confirmed Scott “Razor” Robertson as the All Blacks Head Coach from 2024, ending a chaotic search that can still derail their Rugby World Cup campaign this year.Razor has been appointed through to the end of the 2027 RWC in Australia.Bula Razor, so what happened to Fiji?The BIG conspiracy theory doing the rounds is that the former interim CEO Tevita Tuiloa had really connected with Razor and was building up a strong working relationship with the Super Rugby Champion Coach to lead the Flying Fijians to the RWC2023.However, the now former Chairman, Fiji Navy Commander, Humphrey Tawake pushed for the somewhat rushed announcement of Simon Raiwalui ahead of Razor when they could have waited a couple more weeks and Razor could have possibly been named as the Flying Fijians Head Coach to RWC2023.A short time later, Tawake also announced that Tuiloa was gone – giving three reasons for his departure after Tuiloa revealed that Fiji rugby 7s legend, Jerry Tuiwai was still waiting for the $30,000 for his new home, promised by fomer PM Bainimarama immediately after the Tokyo Olympics gold medal win in 2021. Thankfully, Fijian Prime Minister, Sitiveni Rabuka stepped up and named his own nominee to the FRU Board, instantly replacing former PM Bainimarama’s nominee – Tawake.Tit for tat – whatever, that’s the big conspiracy theory anyway.For TEIVOVOrugby, I’m Culden Kamea.#SuperRugbyPacific #SuperRugby #TEIVOVOsports #TeivovoRugby #TeivovoDigital #FijianDrua #rugby #FijiRugby #rugbyunion #Raka #team #rugbytraining #sports #Fiji #FRU #Fijian_Drua
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    6 mins
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