AB's 2016 in Review
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@mariner4life nothing wrong with having flaws, gives us plenty to work on, and I expect Hansen and Co have seen ALOT of work-ons the past 4 weeks or so.
You could put some of the end of year play down to fatigue, but it shouldn't be an excuse as this is all part of what they do, and I think for the most part we manage our player workloads pretty well.
As for the loosie thing, I wouldn't mind seeing Cane/Todd running together given Cane plays more like a 6.5....whereas the Aussies run 2 7's and a 6....
Mentally you'd think this season has mind-fudged our boys similar to a RWC year (after which they don't play again) they knocked off that record run, and you could see in that game that the record on the line meant a lot, and felt the pressure....so to have that high, then come down from there for a wee, jump on another plane and head to the Northern tour, add in all the off-field dramas for NZ Rugby (Smith aside, I don't expect most did so personally) and it has actually been a pretty tough season, physically and mentally.
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what about everyone else?
The Saffas are obviously deep in a hole. Hammered by us. Away losses to Aus and Arg. A home loss to Ireland. Now a disastrous tour up North. Shit rugby, terrible results.
Argentina are game, had a crack at us, but are still painfully limited, and not overly smart.Up North, Ireland have had a resurgence. They were playing very basic, aerial kick-and-chase rugby a yer ago, and looked shit. Now they are playing with a heap of power, and their pack is top class. Beat us, beat the Aussies. Still need more polish in the backs. France have played some great rugby in their last two tests, but lost both. Plenty of width, power, and offloads galore. Gave us no end of trouble defensively. Look to have turned a corner? Experience, smarts and polish needed. England continue to rack up wins in an efficient fashion. This weekend's grand final/Wallaby revenge match should be good fun to watch. Wales look to have slipped back, beating the Boks can't hide that. Scotland are improving. Italy have not, beating the boks can't hide that! Based on the last 3 weeks, the 6N could be epic, especially with Lions spots on the line.
And finally the Wallabies. What the fuck to make of them? 0-3 to England in June. Smacked by us in 3 tests (despite an improved showing in the 3rd). Lost away to South Africa (ouch). Smashed Wales, beat France with a 2nd team, then lost a winnable test to Ireland. Cheika looked to have unlocked a pack to get them parity up front, then went straight back to 2 opensides and Dean Mumm. Timani and their 2 new locks are good additions. Kepu and Sio refound form, Moore got better as the year went on. I guess this weekend will tell a lot, but i am not sure they have actually improved from 12 months ago? And I'm not sure the coach knows his best 23 (sorry, 24) either. Beat England and this tour is a success, and you can wrote the rest of the year off. Lose this weekend and suddenly the RC and 0-4 to England in a year is big black mark.
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@mariner4life is interesting alright, we killed Aus in 2 tests, they were there or thereabouts in the 3rd, although can you write some off to our nerves with the record on the line, we killed SA, Argies were good for 50 mins then disappointing...Aus will be more competitive next year, SA wont, Argies, who knows, almost becoming French-like in their ability to compete or not.
Comfortably got past the Welsh.
Irish got King kong off their back, and ended up a test a piece, certainly seem a team on the up.
Killed Italy and then meandered past a spirited French outfit...depending whether this was just one of those random one off tests by the French, who knows, but the Irish comms were surprised by how well they went, so maybe it was just one out of the box.
Hard to gauge how good England are, as they have played teams at different times to us for comparisons, not that you can actually do that anyway.
Kinda glad we didn't play them, just because it does add to the 'mystique' of playing them because we don't do it very often.
We were far from our best on tour, and for me Aaron Smith is still key to our performances, a form Smith is what gets this AB side humming, and without him, as good as TJ is, he isn't Smith.
If we get Smith back to his best, can keep our front line players injury from through the Super season, we will have a pretty deep squad to select from for the Lions.
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Areas of concern.
Propping depth and also finding ball running props. Rugby is moving towards props who can do their core roles of scrumaging, tackling as well as being effective ball carriers. Franks and Moody unfortunately don't fit this bill. Losing Faumaina is going to be a big loss as he's our only prop in the 23 that offers good go forward.
No 8 and No 6. Finding another world class No 8 and a world class No 6 has to be high on the priority list with Read being the only decent 8 that we have and Kaino operating on his last legs. We have plenty of blindsides around but none of them apart from perhaps Akira show signs of being near Kaino's quality. Perhaps given time, Squire could also be that man. For a country that has such a large PI and Maori population, I am surprised that we don't seem to be able to produce that massive ball carrying lossie in the mould of Billy Vunipola, Picamoles etc. The last real big guy that showed promise but never quite delivered was Lauaki.
I think we are doing ok in pretty much every other position so all in all, it's not such a bad situation to be in. Hopefully we get a great crop of u20s next year that can provide us with a few quality ABs going forward. This current AB team is built around the great u20s sides of 2009-2011 but the step down in quality over the last few years has been noticeable. These things tend to be cyclical however so I wouldn't be surprised if we get a gun team again in the next couple of years.
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In the U20s, we'll see Marino Mikaele-Tu'u for his second year. There's a lot to like about this lad; he's a very big, powerful 8. He only got a few games for the Magpies (because they wanted him to play with the U19s), but if he gets a full NPC season next year, we'll be able to see whether he's really as good as he showed during the JWC. Hope the Canes will pick him up next year.
Edit: added this photo to show he's big
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If Ioane improves his workrate, he looks like an AB on the Dane Coles attitude adjustment plan. Hasn't been picked though, so I think he's a 2018 option and they are trying to get Kaino through one more year!
My guess is that Fifita is ahead and has some working about being physical. He's certainly a player with huge upside.
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I think propping depth is only a concern on the tighthead side - and I think it's our biggest concern - though Ofa seems to be making progress and Laulala will hopefully return and improve.
Loosehead we've got Moody, Crockett, Hames, Paulasi Manu and quite a few others who look quite promising.
I really like Hames - he really tries to dominate his opponent, where Crockett and Moody to an extent seem more happy just with parity. Won't surprise me to see Hames or Manu go past both in the next 12 months.
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@Hooroo said in AB's 2016 in Review:
@Chris-B. Laulala seemed to go alright before being injured. (I think he's tighthead)
If he comes back as strong and dominate then I think our propping concerns are eliminated
Not sure if it's ever been confirmed, but isn't Charlie Faumuina supposedly off to France after the Lions tour?
If so, we're effectively back to Franks, Laulala, Ofa.....someone quite a long way further back.
We've been pretty lucky that Owen Franks has been so durable - presumably that will end when he scores a test try?
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Is it Atu Moli as well, had heard the ABs had been keeping an eye on him
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He's still got a few work-ons at scrum time, but improved last year - hopefully he has a massive year for the Chiefs
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@Chris-B. said in AB's 2016 in Review:
I think propping depth is only a concern on the tighthead side - and I think it's our biggest concern - though Ofa seems to be making progress and Laulala will hopefully return and improve.
Loosehead we've got Moody, Crockett, Hames, Paulasi Manu and quite a few others who look quite promising.
I really like Hames - he really tries to dominate his opponent, where Crockett and Moody to an extent seem more happy just with parity. Won't surprise me to see Hames or Manu go past both in the next 12 months.
I assume they'll be looking at Reggie Goodes as well.
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Third hooker: with Nathan Harris regularly falling apart; Coltman and Parsons only just good enough as injury cover, but not really AB material; and Ash Dixon probably considered too old, my guess is that they'll keep a close eye on Riccitelli this Super Rugby season. I hope the lad gets sufficient game time for the Canes and continues developing well. I was really impressed last season. From short-term injury cover contract and fourth choice at best at the beginning of the 2016 season, to a full contract and 2nd choice now.
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Interesting for next year:
All Blacks coach Steve Hansen confirms pre-season 'well-being camp'
"We're going to have a camp in January, not so much a rugby camp but a strength and conditioning camp, a well-being camp - let's call it that - which will be great. -
@akan004 I don't think there's much point looking for ball running props if that's not the game plan we are going with. Even with Faumuina on the field, he's not being used to carry a lot of ball anyway.
Right now they want props that are rock solid at set piece - scrums and lineout - can tackle and hit the line hard, ones that don't lose the ball in contact, and can make the short pass.
Our 4 front line props all do that stuff at a pretty high level.
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@ACT-Crusader said in AB's 2016 in Review:
Our 4 front line props all do that stuff at a pretty high level.
One might say "at an AB level"
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@Stargazer said in AB's 2016 in Review:
Interesting for next year:
All Blacks coach Steve Hansen confirms pre-season 'well-being camp'
"We're going to have a camp in January, not so much a rugby camp but a strength and conditioning camp, a well-being camp - let's call it that - which will be great.Or outside code talk, the checking in on Savea to see how fat he's got, camp.
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@gt12 It will be interesting to see how Rennie uses his props. You would expect Laulala and Hames to be the starters, with Moil and Graham to provide impact off the bench. But knowing Rennie there will be rotation. Moli is a big unit but still a kid.
As to the ABs, I think it's been good to have these difficult NH tests before the Lions series. Hansen has acknowledged that they have learned some valuable lessons. One of those lessons is obviously the breakdown, where SH teams tend to reload and get to their feet quickly if they can't win a turnover whereas NH teams really attack the ruck with bodies/hands.
