All Blacks v France Test 3
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@bones I think we only have one top-notch 13 candidate at the moment - Goodhue, and he is untested at that level. ALB is tidy and skilful, but nothing special at the moment.
There's a lot of good 13s in NZ, but no excellent ones.
I don't think Ioane will be a fulltime centre for at least another two seasons.
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@bones said in All Blacks v France Test 3:
@tim said in All Blacks v France Test 3:
@bones Yeah, there's the same difference between flanker and centre as there is between wing and centre, and it's also super rare to go from the wing to the midfield.
Great post all around.
But but Ardie played in the midfield at schoolboy level, he has all the attributes to play there now.
We have:
Goodhue
Laumape
Crotty
SBW
ALBWith other proven, very good midfielders hanging around like:
Buckman
Thomson
ProctorWhy the fuck should we bother throwing Ioane there? Oh he played there in schoolboy rugby. Plus he's shown amazing form in the midfield. If he's good enough, why doesn't that show out a level down? Oh, crap team, of course. But wait, he still looks great on the wing in said crap team! How puzzling.
You forgot to mention Ngatai. The fern is disappointed.
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@mn5 said in All Blacks v France Test 3:
@bones said in All Blacks v France Test 3:
@tim said in All Blacks v France Test 3:
@bones Yeah, there's the same difference between flanker and centre as there is between wing and centre, and it's also super rare to go from the wing to the midfield.
Great post all around.
But but Ardie played in the midfield at schoolboy level, he has all the attributes to play there now.
We have:
Goodhue
Laumape
Crotty
SBW
ALBWith other proven, very good midfielders hanging around like:
Buckman
Thomson
ProctorWhy the fuck should we bother throwing Ioane there? Oh he played there in schoolboy rugby. Plus he's shown amazing form in the midfield. If he's good enough, why doesn't that show out a level down? Oh, crap team, of course. But wait, he still looks great on the wing in said crap team! How puzzling.
You forgot to mention Ngatai. The fern is disappointed.
how can you let anyone forget!
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@tim said in All Blacks v France Test 3:
Some top level whining bullshit:
"We've got nothing to lose, we've got 80 minutes to play and we'll see what happens."
Including your self respect after that whinge.
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@bones I don't think Ioane playing at centre in the long-term should be dismissed. Inevitably, he will hit an age where he is no longer able to keep it up on the wing (as all our wingers inevitably do), but he could have an Umaga-like career path where he gradually transitions to the midfield. He certainly has the body-shape and ball-skills to do it. I agree that this week might be too soon for that though.
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@gunner said in All Blacks v France Test 3:
Goodhue will be the long term centre, Ioane can therefore keep being the worlds best winger for a few more years.
There is no outstanding centre in NZ ... currently. Goodhue has yet to play a test match at this level. I think Ioane has the necessary dimension to become what the AB are looking for. The left wing spot won't be a problem since there are incredibly promising young guns coming (Caleb Clarke, Leicester Faingaanuku). So it is urgent to test Ioane there as the French team is not a great threat and the RWC is coming next year.
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@cgrant said in All Blacks v France Test 3:
@gunner said in All Blacks v France Test 3:
Goodhue will be the long term centre, Ioane can therefore keep being the worlds best winger for a few more years.
There is no outstanding centre in NZ ... currently. Goodhue has nowyet to play a test match at this level. I think Ioane has the necessary dimension to become what the AB are looking for. The left wing spot won't be a problem since there are incredibly promising young guns coming (Caleb Clarke, Leicester Faingaanuku). So it is urgent to test Ioane there as the French team is not a great threat and the RWC is coming next year.
The Charlie Ngatai of 2018
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@junior said in All Blacks v France Test 3:
@bones I don't think Ioane playing at centre in the long-term should be dismissed. Inevitably, he will hit an age where he is no longer able to keep it up on the wing (as all our wingers inevitably do), but he could have an Umaga-like career path where he gradually transitions to the midfield. He certainly has the body-shape and ball-skills to do it. I agree that this week might be too soon for that though.
I didn't dismiss Ioane playing at centre in the long-term.
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@shark said in All Blacks v France Test 3:
But midfield is messy as is 8.
Not helped by injuries and, to a certain extent, not allowing combinations to develop. The 1st choice midfield should be pretty settled by now but you sense Hansen & co. are still doing too much tinkering.
We just need a solid, if unspectacular, 12/13 combination and I just don't see that at all.
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@victor-meldrew said in All Blacks v France Test 3:
@shark said in All Blacks v France Test 3:
But midfield is messy as is 8.
Not helped by injuries and, to a certain extent, not allowing combinations to develop. The 1st choice midfield should be pretty settled by now but you sense Hansen & co. are still doing too much tinkering.
We just need a solid, if unspectacular, 12/13 combination and I just don't see that at all.
ALB & SBW doesn't fit this bill?
Goodhue is just a Canterbury pick if you ask me.
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The fact that ALB & SBW aren't a settled pair kinda proves my point.
A year and a bit out from RWC2019 and it's 2 out of ALB/SBW/Crotty - sometimes in different positions.
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@victor-meldrew SWB and Crotty are the starters if fit for any test
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@wreck-diver said in All Blacks v France Test 3:
@victor-meldrew SWB and Crotty are the starters if fit for any test
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@victor-meldrew said in All Blacks v France Test 3:
The fact that ALB & SBW aren't a settled pair kinda proves my point.
A year and a bit out from RWC2019 and it's 2 out of ALB/SBW/Crotty - sometimes in different positions.
I'm beginning to wonder if that is such a bad thing.
Although we were lucky to have Nonu/Smith, the times they couldn't play together caused no end of headaches at times (eg Ben Smith filling in)
There aren't many teams around that don't get issues around injuries in the centres these days and hoping for a pair that are available more often than not may be wishful thinking.
Having the available combos with Crotty moving between the two jerseys is great.
Urban Dictionary: SWB