All Blacks 2024
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From 12:00 where they talk about Beaver's take aways
First on Barrett kicking, then from 14:30 discussing play off 9, then from 17:45 discussing our attack focused on the front man and maybe not getting the balance right with the back runner. -
So Kieran Read thinks that Savea will move to 7 once Cane leaves and Sititi will play in his best position - no.8. No one will disagree about the latter but Ardie will need to change his game a lot to fill that new role, i.e., hit rucks and clean, and tackle someone.
While Savea did pack at 7 when Finau replaced Cane it's what you do away from the scrum that is important in a loose forward trio.
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@Bovidae said in All Blacks 2024:
So Kieran Read thinks that Savea will move to 7 once Cane leaves and Sititi will play in his best position - no.8. No one will disagree about the latter but Ardie will need to change his game a lot to fill that new role, i.e., hit rucks and clean, and tackle someone.
While Savea did pack at 7 when Finau replaced Cane it's what you do away from the scrum that is important in a loose forward trio.
I smell Shannon Frizell.
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So that's the serious part of the year over. 4 losses, 3 on the road against good sides.
In my opinion the things to look for next year
Front row is in an excellent place, very happy.
2nd row? I seriously question Scott Barretts spot in the side. Vaai has gone well past him, in all facets. Patty T comes off his best year as well. What exactly is he doing at such a high level to keep him in the side. If Holland kicks on like everyone expects...
The loose forwards who played basically the whole game will get big wraps. On attack they looked good. If that is our trio next year, then one of them needs to learn to really hit guys. We need a couple of those back 5 forwards to smash guys.Please, can we give BB the "thanks for the great service and 2015, but it's time mate". He was so very ordinary today, and there was an instant shift in speed of thought and play when DMac came on.
We need a fullback.
We need a winger with some wheels.
We need a serious Plan B option to play direct off 9 for a bit. We do the same thing over and over, passes out the back. We have the power players, and that play out the back is more effective when the opposition have to worry about the ball carrier maybe taking 5m is you slide off.
We're bloody close, so many games this year the results could have been reversed (both ways) but I think we are actually the architects of our own destruction.
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Just add to that:
We need a captain with some brains.
Today’s game was there to win and our choice to go for goal kept the French in it. With five to go we kick for goal and still require a) secure the restart, b) make no mistakes to give up points, and c) have to go 80 metres with no errors.
Poor captaincy. -
@gt12 even the greatest captain the ABs have had in the modern era made mistakes when he took on the captaincy, culminating in the 2007 debacle.
I thought SB has been much improved on this tour. He has been earning his place. I’ve also noticed his communication with refs is much improved too. The ABs have improved their discipline immeasurably and are not getting on the wrong side of the refs as much as they were earlier in the year. So now he needs to work on his decision making and reflect on missed opportunities in this game.
I think he’s doing ok. Not great. But trending upwards.
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I think Scott Barrett had a decent NH tour after a lull in the RC. The lineout has been dominant, the scrum has been strong, and the maul defense has been very good. Barrett contributes his cleans as per usual. These are his core roles and he's performed them to a high standard.
What is it that people expect him to do better as a player?
I don't think his captaincy has been too bad. That was the closest we came to beating France since 2018 and until this point we were unbeaten. On balance he's done a pretty good job I would have thought.
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@brodean said in All Blacks 2024:
I think Scott Barrett had a decent NH tour after a lull in the RC. The lineout has been dominant, the scrum has been strong, and the maul defense has been very good. Barrett contributes his cleans as per usual. These are his core roles and he's performed them to a high standard.
What is it that people expect him to do better as a player?
I don't think his captaincy has been too bad. That was the closest we came to beating France since 2018 and until this point we were unbeaten. On balance he's done a pretty good job I would have thought.
Yeah if they look at the hard work he is doing, the grunt work they would get it .
He has been very good on this tour always up with the top 2 tacklers as well. -
@brodean said in All Blacks 2024:
I think Scott Barrett had a decent NH tour after a lull in the RC. The lineout has been dominant, the scrum has been strong, and the maul defense has been very good. Barrett contributes his cleans as per usual. These are his core roles and he's performed them to a high standard.
What is it that people expect him to do better as a player?
I don't think his captaincy has been too bad. That was the closest we came to beating France since 2018 and until this point we were unbeaten. On balance he's done a pretty good job I would have thought.
He was more vocal with the ref today, which shows progress
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We've lost the equal most tests in a year (2022) since 2009 & all wins against England were extremely unconvincing - We almost threw all 3 England matches at the death FFS......
I think people got carried away after beating a poor English side who lost by 6 points to Australia (Ranked 10th), then an aging Irish side who showed they aren't really at the races against Argentina as well. If we look earlier in the season, the win against Australia in Sydney was also by the skin of our teeth. Not many convincing performances this year in the big games with a win now side and a huge amount of caps.....
I would still take Schmidt/Foster from 2023 were we actually won the RC convincingly, beat Argentina 42-10 & 44-6 in the Semi's, South Africa 36-20 at Mt Smart & only lost 12-10 in World Cup final (despite having 14 men) over this facade of 'improvement'.......
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@darylmitchell said in All Blacks 2024:
We've lost the equal most tests in a year (2022) since 2009 & all wins against England were extremely unconvincing - We almost threw all 3 England matches at the death FFS......
I think people got carried away after beating a poor English side who have lost 5 on the bounce by the skin of our teeth, then an aging Irish side who showed they aren't really at the races against Argentina as well. If we look earlier in the season, the win against Australia in Sydney was also by the skin of our teeth. Not many convincing performances this year in the big games with a win now side and a huge amount of caps.....
I would still take Schmidt/Foster from 2023 were we actually won the RC convincingly, beat Argentina 42-10 & 44-6 in the Semi's, South Africa 36-20 at Mt Smart & only lost 12-10 in World Cup final (despite having 14 men) over this facade of 'improvement'.......
The losses were also all by the skin of their teeth. It goes both ways.
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We're damning SB with faint praise. His junior partner is doing all that "grunt work" as well as being our dominant lineout forward, good around the track and a threat at the ruck.
We've got far too comfortable with "he's going okay" players in the ABs. There isn't a single player on our team that can't be upgraded on. -
@darylmitchell said in All Blacks 2024:
We've lost the equal most tests in a year (2022) since 2009 & all wins against England were extremely unconvincing - We almost threw all 3 England matches at the death FFS......
I think people got carried away after beating a poor English side who lost by 6 points to Australia (Ranked 10th), then an aging Irish side who showed they aren't really at the races against Argentina as well. If we look earlier in the season, the win against Australia in Sydney was also by the skin of our teeth. Not many convincing performances this year in the big games with a win now side and a huge amount of caps.....
I would still take Schmidt/Foster from 2023 were we actually won the RC convincingly, beat Argentina 42-10 & 44-6 in the Semi's, South Africa 36-20 at Mt Smart & only lost 12-10 in World Cup final (despite having 14 men) over this facade of 'improvement'.......
I think plenty of people would love to have Sam Whitelock, Brodie Retallick Aaron Smith, and Richie Mo'unga back in the mix and they would make a difference as they did in 2003.
The wins have been clunky as has been the attack and I think that comes down to the game plan.
Our best game was against Argentina at Eden Park. I thought the French game was probably our second best effort but we couldn't quite seal the deal.
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@KiwiMurph said in All Blacks 2024:
I had to go so missed the last 20. Did Tosi make the field? I saw Patty T come on
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@brodean said in All Blacks 2024:
@darylmitchell said in All Blacks 2024:
We've lost the equal most tests in a year (2022) since 2009 & all wins against England were extremely unconvincing - We almost threw all 3 England matches at the death FFS......
I think people got carried away after beating a poor English side who lost by 6 points to Australia (Ranked 10th), then an aging Irish side who showed they aren't really at the races against Argentina as well. If we look earlier in the season, the win against Australia in Sydney was also by the skin of our teeth. Not many convincing performances this year in the big games with a win now side and a huge amount of caps.....
I would still take Schmidt/Foster from 2023 were we actually won the RC convincingly, beat Argentina 42-10 & 44-6 in the Semi's, South Africa 36-20 at Mt Smart & only lost 12-10 in World Cup final (despite having 14 men) over this facade of 'improvement'.......
I think plenty of people would love to have Sam Whitelock, Brodie Retallick Aaron Smith, and Richie Mo'unga back in the mix and they would make a difference as they did in 2003.
The wins have been clunky as has been the attack and I think that comes down to the game plan.
Our best game was against Argentina at Eden Park. I thought the French game was probably our second best effort but we couldn't quite seal the deal.
Even as little kids everyone knew they’d be superstars
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@Mr-Fish said in All Blacks 2024:
@darylmitchell said in All Blacks 2024:
We've lost the equal most tests in a year (2022) since 2009 & all wins against England were extremely unconvincing - We almost threw all 3 England matches at the death FFS......
I think people got carried away after beating a poor English side who have lost 5 on the bounce by the skin of our teeth, then an aging Irish side who showed they aren't really at the races against Argentina as well. If we look earlier in the season, the win against Australia in Sydney was also by the skin of our teeth. Not many convincing performances this year in the big games with a win now side and a huge amount of caps.....
I would still take Schmidt/Foster from 2023 were we actually won the RC convincingly, beat Argentina 42-10 & 44-6 in the Semi's, South Africa 36-20 at Mt Smart & only lost 12-10 in World Cup final (despite having 14 men) over this facade of 'improvement'.......
The losses were also all by the skin of their teeth. It goes both ways.
Sure, except one is recorded for posterity in the wrong column, forever diminishing a record earned over a century.
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@darylmitchell said in All Blacks 2024:
We almost threw all 3 England matches
We almost beat France and South Africa (twice) ...
.... beating a poor English side who lost by 6 points to Australia (Ranked 10th)
We beat Ireland who had beaten the World No.1 invincible Springboks....
Works both ways.
The results are what they are...no point complaining about almost unless you are going to celebrate the other almosts.
