France v All Blacks
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@ACT-Crusader BBBR had a calf strain, according to Hansen.
Really, that's no good.
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@Stargazer said in France:
@Stargazer said in France:
I really respect Kaino, but I think they need to find a long-term replacement asap. He looks like he's falling apart. I'd rather see guys like him retire before they break down completely. And they need to try more guys than Dixon and Squire.
Kaino has had a pretty good season, better than Read's through the SH tests, he hasn't had a great EOYT though but we don't know if that was due to his injury or if he hit a wall.
We'll find out next Super season I guess.
I was just going to say that I also don't completely agree with the criticism of Read. He's been playing with an injury that requires surgery. We just don't know how much that's affecting his game. We won't see him in the first part of the SR season ..
Feel like he's run himself to a standstill, didn't he play full SR season too? Missing beginning of next SR season probably beneficial ( from AB pov).
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With the crack down on high(ish) tackles, and increasing likelihood that a tackle that slips up, or when the player falls into it will lead to a YC/RC, should we be adapting our defensive style?
The dominant tackle that drives the player back is less easy to execute if you are making a real effort to tackle lower - say the waist area versus chest. The waist tackle will also allow more offloads. So do we start tackling lower, looking to put the ball carrier on the ground and re-employ a fetcher?
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Plenty of work-ons. I also think Shag and co may have been holding something in reserve for the Lions tour next year, We don't want the NH to see everything in our play book. I noticed we did something similar before the WC. We altered our style slightly - just to keep the rest of the rugby world guessing. We have to keep evolving. Set a new benchmarks and standards.
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@Stargazer said in France:
@Stargazer said in France:
I really respect Kaino, but I think they need to find a long-term replacement asap. He looks like he's falling apart. I'd rather see guys like him retire before they break down completely. And they need to try more guys than Dixon and Squire.
Kaino has had a pretty good season, better than Read's through the SH tests, he hasn't had a great EOYT though but we don't know if that was due to his injury or if he hit a wall.
We'll find out next Super season I guess.
I was just going to say that I also don't completely agree with the criticism of Read. He's been playing with an injury that requires surgery. We just don't know how much that's affecting his game. We won't see him in the first part of the SR season ..
Colour me surprised my Magpies buddy, you're coming to the defence of the Crusaders captain ;).
I don't think Read has been too far off the pace this year.
@Mokey I think he's taking time to settle himself into the captaincy like McCaw did initially. He's a bit softly softly at the moment but it will come - only Tana seemed to have it straight out of the gate.
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So do smilies/emojis not work anymore? Also, I can't edit as well. [Edit: I can edit].
@Stargazer There was a wink after captain on that previous post. [Edit: And now it's there ... I'm officially having a fucken mare. I should go back to bed.]
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ASmith seems to have left his form back in that Christchurch toilet, he needs to stop throwing his arms up to attract the refs attention and pay attention to what is going on around him instead. He threw a shitty pass along the ground and almost cost us when he didn't catch on to the Frenchie who fly-hacked that ball out of the ruck. Lucky our scrambling defence was up to it for most of the match.
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@mariner4life said in France:
I think Barnes has been excellent
If by "excellent" you mean "hasn't had an absolute howler but is still not getting as much right as he should and is kind of inconsistent sometimes but not too bad on the whole and certainly better than Peyper last week" then yes.
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@Stargazer said in France:
I really respect Kaino, but I think they need to find a long-term replacement asap. He looks like he's falling apart. I'd rather see guys like him retire before they break down completely. And they need to try more guys than Dixon and Squire.
I'd like to see Luatua there
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@Billy-Tell said in France:
Thought Barnes was fine myself one of his better tests.
Damned with faint praise
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@ACT-Crusader Didn't think so, but impossible to tell from Paddy comms. Thought SB was good. Whitelock really seemed to stand up in second half. Saw a bit of Oz-Irish. Must say we could do with a limpet like 7 such as Pocok -- we just don't seem to challenge for turnovers at the mo. Leads to making masses of tackles.
First three attacjs by France we had three t/os. First Todd, not sure second, Sam third.
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@Stargazer said in France:
I really respect Kaino, but I think they need to find a long-term replacement asap. He looks like he's falling apart. I'd rather see guys like him retire before they break down completely. And they need to try more guys than Dixon and Squire.
I'd like to see Luatua there
I'd like them to look at Luatua, A Ioane, Taufua and Shields.
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@Billy-Tell Our midfield lacks punch too. It was always going to be a big drop from Nonu/Smith though. Here's hoping that SBW is back to his best next year.
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@Stargazer Taufua seems much too small to be an 8 or 6 at test level. Fifita seems a better bet.
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@Tim I still think he should be considered. He has shown both in SR and for Counties this year that he has the biggest engine and work rate of them all, runs fast, and can play at 8 well. I wonder whether they'll have 3-day camps again in the weeks before the SR break. That would be a good opportunity to call up all these players and have a closer look at them in the AB environment.
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With the crack down on high(ish) tackles, and increasing likelihood that a tackle that slips up, or when the player falls into it will lead to a YC/RC, should we be adapting our defensive style?
The dominant tackle that drives the player back is less easy to execute if you are making a real effort to tackle lower - say the waist area versus chest. The waist tackle will also allow more offloads. So do we start tackling lower, looking to put the ball carrier on the ground and re-employ a fetcher?
Yes - I've always been a fan of the poacher, terrier-like nose to the ground style. We need to develop a dominant tackling style as well though to stop momentum and offloads.
