All Blacks Squad for France
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@chris-b said in All Blacks Squad for France:
If Jordie plays, then they could stick Mo'unga on the bench. If DMac is on the bench then he's presumably covering first five and fullback.
Fox strongly indicated that they see DMac filling the role BB used to under Carter, while acknowledging he isn't the finished article yet at 1st 5. Fox also made the point that DMac has been shifted to the wing if required.
I don't think you need to move BB to 15 just for the sake of it. The other thing I noticed Fox said was that some players may only get an opportunity if the series is won, so 2-0 heading into Dunners. They seem to know their preferred 23 for the 1st test.
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@mariner4life said in All Blacks Squad for France:
@bones said in All Blacks Squad for France:
@tim might have only been m4l but I thought I saw it a couple of times.
Wait on, i never said that.
You all look the same to me, sorry.
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@bovidae said in All Blacks Squad for France:
@chris-b said in All Blacks Squad for France:
If Jordie plays, then they could stick Mo'unga on the bench. If DMac is on the bench then he's presumably covering first five and fullback.
Fox strongly indicated that they see DMac filling the role BB used to under Carter, while acknowledging he isn't the finished article yet at 1st 5. Fox also made the point that DMac has been shifted to the wing if required.
Haha "not the finished product at 10". Understatement of the century.
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@mariner4life said in All Blacks Squad for France:
@stargazer said in All Blacks Squad for France:
@mimic Different type of players, different teams, different roles. Stats only tell a small part of the story. People attach way too much importance to them. Where's that article of/about Wayne Smith about stats ....
Do they only count when they support your player? Couple of post showing nothing but meaningless lineout stats
I only used those stats to show that they use certain players for line-outs, because that was the question asked.
I didn't post those stats to show whether they're any good at it. For that, they are indeed meaningless, because you don't know how many line-outs a team has had, where on the field the line-outs were taken, and how often that player was involved in the line-out.
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@bones said in All Blacks Squad for France:
@mn5 said in All Blacks Squad for France:
@tim said in All Blacks Squad for France:
Wynne Gray with some cutting insight:
Rugby has changed immensely since the 1987 RWC, the game we thought was fast then is very different from the one we see now.
Christ he's an old bore. He makes Phil Gifford look good.
Looking forward to seeing Frizell play cos I sure as shit haven't thus far.
Most surprising statement in the whole thread.
Your insults are as tired as they are predictable.
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@stargazer said in All Blacks Squad for France:
Feed the Backs: All Blacks squad naming special
What's up with JKs Mr Magoo glasses?
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Very Shelley Berman
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@machpants said in All Blacks Squad for France:
Just diggin the knife in!
Is it possible, with Akira joining the squad in the last EOYT, that he didn't impress the selectors in training/touring and they're seeing if his attitude etc has improved there? Juat a thought as to why. I have no idea how awesome Frizzell has been, only watch home Highlander games, but not read anything about how great he is up until very recently.
One thing which seems to have passed unnoticed here is that Akira is still only a boy of 22. The others are several years older. Suspect the ABs are playing the long game: based on JK he's got another 13 years in him!
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@machpants I thought it was simply because there was only room for 3 locks in the squad because they wanted to include an extra loosie?
Edited to add this article about the players that didn't make the squad:
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All Blacks coach Steve Hansen says his 2018 squad to face France next month has been the toughest to select of his career, due to the sheer number of quality players currently plying their trade in New Zealand. With today's 33 man squad announcement, a number of standout players from Super Rugby have been left out of Hansen's reckoning, including top try-scorer Ben Lam, as well as the consistent duo of Matt Todd and Akira Ioane just some of those to miss out. Speaking to media, Hansen spoke about the difficulties his selection group faced. "Most of them are tough (to pick) because we've got some talented people and we're always leaving somebody out that you wish you could put in," he said. "A guy like Luke Romano, he's been really solid for us over a number of years, so to ring him and tell him he's not in is difficult." -
Comments re: Frizzell not being in a highlanders starting lineup if all were fit. Just occurred to me he probably also didn't make the Ta$man starting loose trio (Squire at Taufua filling 8 and 6, although they definitely made room for him as starting lock).
For the record I do rate Frizzell. Potential to be a tighter Fifita.
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@pukunui said in All Blacks Squad for France:
I don't see why Taufua coukdn't be perfectly adequate 7 cover off the bench. He pretty much plays the same role as recent AB 7s which is high work rate. Tackle like crazy and do a bit of ball carrying and support work. If anything he is more suited to that role than 6 or 8.
One of the big problems we have in the loose forwards is that Squire seems to have been made out of the same material as Crotty.
You seem to be from the Eddie Jones school of rugby 'thinking'?!
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@stargazer said in All Blacks Squad for France:
@mimic Different type of players, different teams, different roles. Stats only tell a small part of the story. People attach way too much importance to them. Where's that article of/about Wayne Smith about stats ....
Shag alluded to this in discussing selections.
At 7 Cane is no 1, Savea offers bench impact/tactical variation and Todd is a first rate injury back up.
They are looking for a Kaino/Collins (Jerry) replacement. Squire has been groomed for this. My take is that Fifita and Whitelock (L) are not seen as being 'assertive' enough on D for the role. Frizzell is being auditioned for it, with Taufua also being given a shot.
The post RWC Read replacement has to be good on D but can be a more ranging role. Fifita has the athleticism for this, but for me needs to get a bit tighter.
Whitelock (L) is very secure on D, has excellent leadership skills and can play tight enough for the role. However, he is not sufficiently dynamic to take over from Read, so I see him very much as a stop gap measure.
Ioane (A) is somewhat of a scragger on D, but is trying to get more productively involved at ruck time, and provides great go forward off the scrum and is outstanding lurking wide out.
Come TRC, and assuming Read is back, I see Whitelock (L) dropping out, Fifita retained and one of Frizzell/Taufua jettisoned.
Ioane (A) will probably train with TRC squad, but needs an injury break or suddenly to develop maturity to be in the frame for EOYT.
