@berniescorner said in All Blacks MOTM v Italy:

Coles done enough for Ireland AB 23

As long as they drop Taylor and not ST.

After the Southland game:
Olsen 3, Nock 2, Pryor 2

Updated:
Goodhue 11
Caird 7
Nock 6
Olsen 5
Rush 3
Gregory 3
Ranger 3
Wright 3
Macilai 3
Hallam-Eames 2
Pryor 2

Which is why I prefer Mo'unga off the bench. His style of play can really exploit tired defenses. When he starts against the more physical sides he goes missing completely. Not that Beauden is a natural 10 that will control the game, but he can handle the physical stuff a lot better and is not afraid to run hard and straight when required.

@kev right before I clicked submit I saw only 2, thought I changed it to 3...

We have some good individuals, just not a great team.

This game was tailor made for DMac, loose and against a defences that cannot keep connected. I still wouldn't have him in the 23 against defensively adept teams.

Goodhue has been consistently good this season. The only Northland player that has played well in every match

So Akira Ioane and Jordie Barrett are going to be the top two players on the Fern's MoM table after the Rugby Championship. Hats off to them on their hard work on developing themselves and delivering on their potential. Hoping that both can develop further into dominant world-class players and even all-time greats in the next few years.

Ranger, Caird, Goodhue for me.

Reihana had his best outing. Nock and Macalai were very good.

@broughie said in All Blacks MOTM v Springboks I:

@crucial I like how he seems to make the gain line. Just one of those things he seems to do well. I think Foster would find it difficult to move away from Havilli though.

Some of those passes DH had to receive were excruciating. If they play BB and TJP again they should choose for 12 who ever can catch the ball despite how bad the pass is. I didn't actually see the one per game dud pass from Weber though, thought he was very good.

Two locks and Nock. Lean pickings after that.

I'll have to rewatch it but Samsoni was attracting several defenders at a time, not going backwards and solid with ball security, given last week they gave Akira a lot of 2 tackler attention it would be rather mouthwatering to see them both on the field.

@taniwharugby said in Northland MOTM v Ta$man:

Caird, Goodhue and Olsen.

Special mentions for Cooper, Uluilakepa, Nock.

Several others also stepped up.

That is a completely different side to the table running around in rounds 1 and 2

Same but with special mention also for Pryor. Much better boys!

@kirwan pretty sure he wasn't if you actually watched the game closely.

@antipodean said in All Blacks MOTM vs Aus III:

@canefan said in All Blacks MOTM vs Aus III:

@antipodean said in All Blacks MOTM vs Aus III:

@junior said in All Blacks MOTM vs Aus III:

@victor-meldrew said in All Blacks MOTM vs Aus III:

@gt12 said in All Blacks MOTM vs Aus III:

Under Shag, Cane got left out of the starting line-up of a WC semi-final.

Yeah, the one bloke who would have caused England serious problems from the word go.

That loss still rankles with me - and not just for the Cane omission. Some of the dumbest play I've seen from an AB team for years, mainly from the senior players

It’s taken me a long time to accept that Sam Whitelock might be a decent captain after his facepalm to Farrell late on, which effectively ended what little glimmer of hope we might have had of pinching that match

I don't blame him for that - it was a ridiculous intervention by the referee.

Farrell was being a prick. But he bit the bait

That's not in contention. It's the bullshit reversal from Owen that's the issue.

I agree. But in the current climate the retaliator almost always gets pinged. So we can argue but at the end of the day he needs to keep his discipline there

@nzzp said in Auckland MOTM v Ta$man:

Ruru. Then I couldn't figure out anyone else

I think there was some candidates in the pack in particular

The props were on top in the scrum but didn't get much reward from the ref. Scrafton seems to be in good form. The loosies were mostly good until the lack of possession resulted in some missed tackles. Choat in particular got through a lot of work on defence (14 tackles no misses)

@kev I could have swapped out Reihana for Macilai.

Reihana looks a classy player, often saw him come in and talking to the forwards, which is impressive for a young guy in his 2nd match.

Aaron, Akira and Codie.

@higgins said in Northland MOTM v Wellington:

You got pummelled by fifty, did you have any?

I had to think for 3 days. First time I have ever considered not voting. Hard to look good when when we you are surrounded by incompetence.

Scrafton was very good.

@bones said in All Blacks MOTM vs Aus I:

Whitelock, Paps, Smith.

May rewatch but they seemed to be the only ones without a glaring mistake.

Penalty in front of the ref, didn't see a mistake, unnecessary forward pass.. ah oops answered. Anyway, apart from mistakes, good selection although I thought Sam came more into the fore later on. Nugget was mostly excellent, again but I worry about our replacements..