All Blacks 2024
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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.
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@Halfback said in All Blacks v France:
@antipodean I'm a Cantabrian and this resonates with even me. As I said earlier, what business does Havilli even have being in the squad? He played a handful of super rugby games this year, and in them he was a liability cough Waratahs game. Then he got injured and walks into the All Blacks. Might be one of the worst All Blacks I've seen.
That jersey could and should be filled by Love or Narawa
The selection of Havilli and Blackadder combined with the call up of Fihaki gives me grave concerns.
On the positive side of the ledger I see glimpses of improvement in our manner of play. We've dominated aspects of games but not realised the benefits.
Hopefully these changes are deliberate and we're about to see it come together as the players gain familiarity and experience with it and each other.
But there needs to be some ruthlessness in selection next year rewarding form, regardless of SR franchise or province.
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Selecting players you know in the first year (Havili, Blackadder) I have been able to stomach, but the Fihaki selection is just weird. If he keeps getting chances, he better be fucking great.
Other coaches have had projects (Eg, Toeva) but those players were so clearly talented that no-one really questioned why the coaches wanted to see them.
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I think the big problem with the 2024 All Blacks is that the coaches are still trying to replicate the 2009-2016 All Blacks, but the game has moved on.
You need more muscle in the forwards, more backs who can kick and more flat out gas out wide these days.
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@mariner4life said in All Blacks 2024:
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.I'm not sure we have a better lock yet, but Holland is coming and Barrett and Vaaii are basically the same sort of player. So, knowing this coaching team, I guess Vaii goes to the bench....
My issue is that he's a pretty shit captain. I do like the way he is improving with his talk to the ref, but that decision today was just, un All Black like.
The game was there to be won, and he decided to keep it close. I don't think we can have a leader who thinks that way and still be effective.
BTW: If he didn't call the corner because we don't have any exception strike plays (assuming we can't get to a line out drive), then we need better coaches.
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I think the big thing today showed, is the importance of 9 & 12 when you lack a world class 10.
Felt like we took huge steps back when Roigard went off as there was less of a threat around the ruck, meaning more attention was on B Barrett. As a result he then had to look wide, and ALB’s inability to run the crash ball took all the life out of our attack which looked really good - it was only then we went back to those silly little kicks.
I do wonder if (and granted a tinge of Highlanders bias) if Fakatava really does need to be looked at as the other halfback. For all his downside, he is probably the next best threat around the ruck (maybe Hotham?) and is quick to the breakdown. I really hope they have not written him off.
Have discussed in other threads, but really need Tupaea/McLeod to have a big season at 12, because they feel like more natural long-term solutions to the midfield depth than Lam for mine. Lam is a winger or centre at test level, and he ain’t better than Proctor.
