Māori All Blacks vs British and Irish Lions
-
@Nepia ha they were the only ones I could see that I was pretty sure were 90's jersies, unless you wanna pull your Central Vikings one out?
-
@taniwharugby Anything pre-The Hammetuer is good.
-
I've had a quick look through the comments.
From my vantage point high above the corner where Messam scored, the Lions pack just strangled the life out of the Maori, in 2nd half especially. It's easy to point the finger at the backs but they had so little ball to play with and were always on the back foot. If you want to point the finger at Maori players start with no's 1-5. This wasn't a surprise as we all knew that the Maori pack needed to front if their backs had a chance to do something. They didn't. We've seen BB struggle behind a beaten Canes forward pack vs the Crusaders and Chiefs this year.
I haven't watched a replay but all of the 2nd half action appeared to be in the Maori half (my end). I don't even remember the Maori having the ball inside the Lions' 22. But for all the possession the Lions backs had they never looked very threatening.
Akira was definitely the best Maori player on the park. TKB made 2 try-saving tackles which hasn't been mentioned.
The weather wasn't great which helped the Lions with their superior kicking game, and Maori failed to cope.
One last comment, the Maori backs behind the Lions forwards would be good to watch.
-
-
#tagfurlong 😉
-
@Bovidae said in Māori All Blacks vs British and Irish Lions:
One last comment, the Maori backs behind the Lions forwards would be good to watch.
That's if Lowe doesn't kick the ball away....
The opportunities were in the first half to set the game up for the Maori, but I was bewildered by Lowe's kicking. The Lions picked up the pressure as you say in the 2nd half and strangled the Maori of possession and opportunity.
But we were not putting scoreboard pressure on them which was what was required in that first half and that would've had an impact I think on the Lions later in the match.
-
@kiwiinmelb said in Māori All Blacks vs British and Irish Lions:
With cooper going to the chiefs next year , and cruden leaving , Ireckon Pre game , cooper had made his mind up dmac is his starting 10 next year
And was influenced by that in his decision to start him there .Hansen said that's exactly what happened last week.
-
The game was really boring and hard to watch for a neutral. The Maoris tight five was just not up to the task, their locks more particulary. Wheeler and Franklin are good SR players but they lack the physicality required at this higher level. Messam, Dixon and Ioane were good defensively. Hard to judge the Maoris backs in these conditions but Lowe and McKenzie were pretty disappointing (unable to catch a high ball and poor kicking).
-
Now watched the second half.
I don't buy the 'Maori strangled into submission' story. The fact is that the score went from 15-10 (and Maori declined gimme 3 just before halftime) to 29-10 on back of: Dmac kick off not 10, Lowe dropped ball on 22, Dmac suicide chip in own 22, Dmac miss on Te'o 10 out and DMac scragged standing 10 yards behind gain line from ruck. To their credit the Lions were ruthless when they got into the red zone. That said, better game management and they wouldn't have been there.
The time to take on the rush is not 15 yards behind the gain line in one's 22. That is when you kick the pill 50 metres downfield.
To paraphase Cypher: 'A little piece of advice. You see an agent, you do what we do. Run. You run your ass off.' Except kick!
In fact from 29-10 the Maori stemmed the tide very effectively.
