All Blacks v Wallabies at Eden Park.
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I can't see A Smith selected as he won't be in a proper state of mind. He has to put things right with his girlfriend and it is surely not an easy task.
Same team for me with just Savea instead of Todd and Tuipolutu on the bench instead of Savea. The AB will dominate possession so no need to have an openside flanker on the bench. -
@cgrant said in All Blacks v Wallabies at Eden Park.:
I can't see A Smith selected as he won't be in a proper state of mind. He has to put things right with his girlfriend and it is surely not an easy task.
It may be a simple task if she has told him to fuck off.
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@rotated I'm not really bothered how the test is couched by Hansen, Cheika, the media or anyone else. All this talk of records, meh.
The only thing that matters is that the ABs play well and if they do, I think it's a 13+ win.
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@Billy-Tell said in All Blacks v Wallabies at Eden Park.:
@Frye yeah I'd start him to give Retallick a break.
No doubt they just keep the top XV to ensure the record falls.
Why does Retallick need a rest? He will have had 2 weeks rest. He will then get another 2 weeks rest before Ireland (if he's even selected for that one).
Given that he's playing the house down, why would he be taken out of the starting lineup?
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@Crucial said in All Blacks v Wallabies at Eden Park.:
@cgrant said in All Blacks v Wallabies at Eden Park.:
I can't see A Smith selected as he won't be in a proper state of mind. He has to put things right with his girlfriend and it is surely not an easy task.
It may be a simple task if she has told him to fuck off.
And a case of him moving his stuff out before she sets fire to it all
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@canefan said in All Blacks v Wallabies at Eden Park.:
@Crucial said in All Blacks v Wallabies at Eden Park.:
@cgrant said in All Blacks v Wallabies at Eden Park.:
I can't see A Smith selected as he won't be in a proper state of mind. He has to put things right with his girlfriend and it is surely not an easy task.
It may be a simple task if she has told him to fuck off.
And a case of him moving his stuff out before she sets fire to it all
Or puts it on trademe at $1 buy now. Anyone want an ab no 9 jersey ? Only worn for 70 minutes this time last year.
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@ACT-Crusader It doesn't matter to me because I want to see Hansen win a silly mind game. It matters to me because this team for a long while always performs best against a cocky Australian team talking up their chances and always have played down to the level of the aw-gee-shucks-we-are-just-happy-to-be-here Wallaby teams, doubly so as in these funny extra tests at the end of the year.
However they do it after 2 weeks of drinking in their plaudits and celebrating a sensational TRC campaign I want to see them come out with an edge. That edge might be tough to find given they've already dealt with Aussie twice.
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@canefan said in All Blacks v Wallabies at Eden Park.:
@Crucial said in All Blacks v Wallabies at Eden Park.:
@cgrant said in All Blacks v Wallabies at Eden Park.:
I can't see A Smith selected as he won't be in a proper state of mind. He has to put things right with his girlfriend and it is surely not an easy task.
It may be a simple task if she has told him to fuck off.
And a case of him moving his stuff out before she sets fire to it all
I'd be surprised if he was the one moving out. I dare say it's his place.
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The person most likely to get a rest will be ALB. Not because he doesn't deserve to play, but because the coaches are pretty open about managing the workload of young, new players.
The locks have a couple of weeks to freshen up and I can't see Whitelock and Retallick having to start against Italy, so that's a rest for them too. They're the ones with the biggest workloads.
When does Sam get back?
Squire looks to be preferred on the bench for Kaino and can give Read some rest.
If Ben needs a spell, Dagg can move back to fullback, Naholo to right wing and Julian to left.
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@antipodean I would start ALB and I think the coaches will too. Certain young players need to be gradually introduced to Test Rugby, but not this guy. He's already playing like a 50 test veteran and is clear that he oozes class and temperament. Besides, he's only played four full games in the last three months.
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@antipodean I like that idea would be good to see dagg at the back with JS and Nahalo have BB covering the back then slide him to who ever is performing the poorest in the second half and gives one of the other 1st 5s that chance to run the cutter.
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@akan004 said in All Blacks v Wallabies at Eden Park.:
@antipodean I would start ALB and I think the coaches will too. Certain young players need to be gradually introduced to Test Rugby, but not this guy. He's already playing like a 50 test veteran and is clear that he oozes class and temperament. Besides, he's only played four full games in the last three months.
Also, I reckon they'll want to see how he handles the workload.
The recovery of players now involves analysing a shitload of data not only on their performance, but on the recovery days themselves in terms of any obvious injury, but also the responsiveness of their bodies. While it will be a two-week break between each of the next two Tests, I reckon they'll give him another crack to see how he pulls up after the game situations, travel, change of time zone etc.
That kind of data can really highlight the physical freaks that have the right mix of fitness, flexibility, strength, and game knowledge, to be greats.
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@Crucial I think he's pretty damn good at creating opportunity where there's not a lot on. Often beats the first tackle and able to get in behind surprisingly easily on many an occasion. Again, this kind of thing all adds up to eventually pounding out 9 tries when it looked like it might be close.
I was impressed with him on Saturday, mainly in the first half. Looked a lot more assured ball in hand and didn't have the dropsies as bad. Basically, he creates space.
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@Crucial said in All Blacks v Wallabies at Eden Park.:
Can someone please explain what Naholo brings?
I'm struggling to see much myselfThe bit where he burned everyone on the outside with about 8cm of space?
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@Crucial said in All Blacks v Wallabies at Eden Park.:
Can someone please explain what Naholo brings?
I'm struggling to see much myselfWhatever Savea brings (whatever that is), plus a little more.
Quicker and harder to bring down and has the luxury of not turning up fat to his Super team for two years running.
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@Crucial said in All Blacks v Wallabies at Eden Park.:
Can someone please explain what Naholo brings?
I'm struggling to see much myselfPlease explain what Savea brings then.
For me, Naholo's pace and workrate were two pretty obvious improvements.
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Yep Naholo's pace and power is super useful - it's a bit of a point of difference in that backline (Beaudie obviously helps here too in the pace side of things). Naholo is a constant threat that has to be accounted for that can open up other opportunities, whether he is on the end of the line or in midfield. He had multiple breaks in the Bok game. His error rate has come way down also in his last two tests.
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