Bledisloe 2
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@kiwiinmelb said in Bledisloe 2:
I've got a feeling they will start putting some serious work into akiras development,.
Was it me or he did he look slightly out of condition on the weekend. Seemed to have been working on the stomach region instead of the shoulders and arms. He has the right elements to make a great player but needs to put in the hard yards. Maybe they need to room him with Sam Cane.
Strikes me as a player with amazing natural ability that has been able to use his natural size to dominate school boy/age group opponents but hasn't quite made the same impact at senior level. I really do want him to kick on though.
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@chimoaus said in Bledisloe 2:
Was it me or he did he look slightly out of condition on the weekend.
Strange, I thought Akira was everywhere on the weekend. A pest on defence constantly involved. He was the most prominent player in the last 5min too so I don't think conditioning is an issue
I thought I 'd double check the stats for this game. There's only a handful available but they give you an idea..
In defence he got more turnovers than anyone else (3) and was the second highest tackler for Auckland
In attack he was number one in run metres, carries, defenders beaten and passes by a player not playing 9 or 10.
(run metres is surprising that is almost always a fullback or wing)Stats aren't everything but that certainly matches what I saw.. an All Black level player showing his class at NPC level
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@chimoaus said in Bledisloe 2:
@kiwiinmelb said in Bledisloe 2:
I've got a feeling they will start putting some serious work into akiras development,.
Was it me or he did he look slightly out of condition on the weekend. Seemed to have been working on the stomach region instead of the shoulders and arms. He has the right elements to make a great player but needs to put in the hard yards. Maybe they need to room him with Sam Cane.
Strikes me as a player with amazing natural ability that has been able to use his natural size to dominate school boy/age group opponents but hasn't quite made the same impact at senior level. I really do want him to kick on though.
He was the best player on the park, certainly didn't look out of his condition either.
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@Duluth hopefully he gets to stay in camp for the ABs this weekend...
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For the good of the country of course..
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@antipodean And what was with Read's flick between his legs to no one from that attacking scrum?
Read said himself that they did the simple things well in the 1st half but I think they were too cute with some of the options in the 2nd half (e.g., forced passes, a quick throw-in from TJP).
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Akira has certainly had his battles with his fitness in the past - reading between the lines I don't think he has historically been the best trainer.
But yes he was brilliant on the weekend - he was also hitting a lot of rucks. I'd like to see him given a change off the AB bench.
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@KiwiMurph said in Bledisloe 2:
Akira has certainly had his battles with his fitness in the past - reading between the lines I don't think he has historically been the best trainer.
But yes he was brilliant on the weekend - he was also hitting a lot of rucks. I'd like to see him given a change off the AB bench.
If we are talking about raw potential , i thought he impressed against the Lions too ,
Against seasoned test forwards , his physicality seemed to take them by surprise
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@KiwiMurph said in Bledisloe 2:
Akira has certainly had his battles with his fitness in the past - reading between the lines I don't think he has historically been the best trainer.
But yes he was brilliant on the weekend - he was also hitting a lot of rucks. I'd like to see him given a change off the AB bench.
Has he? When? Feels like he’s getting tarred with the Luatua brush (who did get unfit and was fairly criticised for it).
Akira is usually at the top end of the stats, usually plays 80 mins and his crazy runs are generally in the second half. As were some of his maul heroics in the last year.
All I can think of is that awful article where both brothers were pretty much slandered by some hack, accusing them of having to do remedial fitness in front of Wayne Smith at a Blues training . We now know that he was looking at them for the All Blacks.
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@antipodean best rugby podcast going. Sensational listening.
@Kirwan Yeah probably a bit harsh but just going on interviews theyve given in the past etc. I agree that ferald article was garbage. The fact Akira keeps being invited to camp is a very good sign.
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@NTA said in Bledisloe 2:
1 Sio
2 TPN
3 Alaalatoa
4 Arnold
5 Coleman
6 Hanigan
7 Hooper
8 Timani
9 Genia
10 Foley
11 Rona
12 Beale
13 Kuridrani
14 Speight
15 Folau16 Anyone But Moore
17 Robertson
18 Kepu
19 Douglas
20 Pick One
21 Phipps
22 Hodge
23 KoroibeteAs long as you keep selecting Cheika and the world's funniest 'defence' coach it won't matter how you shuffle things around.
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I'd love to be a fly on the wall at a Nathan Grey job interview.
'So, what is your area of expertise?'
'Defence'
'Can you provide some recent examples of that?'
'Yeah sure. One game in the last 7 with the Tahs my expertise managed to keep the opposition score below 40. I consider that pretty good because normally those kiwi teams ship over 50 on us'
'Gee, that's pretty damn impressive. Do you think you could the same for the Wallabies?'
'What? Have the ABs ship 50+? No worries, you'll be in good hands'
