AB squad for the Rugby Championship
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@ACT-Crusader said in AB squad for the Rugby Championship:
@nzzp we had our best fullback playing fullback last weekend though. Isn’t that a good a thing?
Not really, as our best fullback is also our best ten (IMO by quite a distance). Ten is more important that 15, so it weakens the team.
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@Kirwan said in AB squad for the Rugby Championship:
@ACT-Crusader said in AB squad for the Rugby Championship:
@nzzp we had our best fullback playing fullback last weekend though. Isn’t that a good a thing?
Not really, as our best fullback is also our best ten (IMO by quite a distance). Ten is more important that 15, so it weakens the team.
Our second best fullback is also playing on the wing which weakens the team further.
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@Hooroo said in AB squad for the Rugby Championship:
Why can't Cane play on the Blind, Ardie at open and Read at 8?
For me Ardie has to start. He can play 80 at the highest intensity and then you have Cane breaking people in two in the tackle as well.
Read can swing the ole zimmerframe and knock a few down too.
Hanson probably has nightmares about when the lineout was a huge weakness for us, so anything that weakens that is vetoed. So we lose strength in defence, rucks, link play, everything else to keep an extra lineout option with a waste of time like Fifita. Or a flat track bully like Squire.
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Whitelock and Read have always been the main targets in the lineout, followed by Retallick, so having a tall no.6 is not always a necessity. Often the blindside is used as a jumper at the front where explosive jumping is more important.
It's not like we have Blackadder at lock anymore.
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@nzzp said in AB squad for the Rugby Championship:
I have concerns about Jacobsen as a starter, as I think he may be running on fumes at the end of the year. It's a big physical demand on a new professional ... hopefully he's there for experience (in RWC year!)
Jacobson (to spell his name correctly) is there on merit and is a consideration for the RWC squad. He isn't an apprentice.
Pleased with the way that the coaching team have managed his workload and added value so far. I think he could be NZ's answer to O'Mahoney and Navidi.
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@Bovidae we may have barrett though depending on brodies fitness so its not like for like in height
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@DaGrubster said in AB squad for the Rugby Championship:
@Bovidae we may have barrett though depending on brodies fitness so its not like for like in height
Yes, but the Crusaders often had Taufua at 6, who is shorter than both Cane and Savea. So their options were Whitelock, Read and Barrett.
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@Bovidae The Crusaders often used Taufua successfully in the line-out though, despite being shorter than Whitelock, Read and Barrett. Height clearly isn't always a determining factor. Also, during the 2019 season, Douglas started more games than Taufua and is taller.
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@Stargazer said in AB squad for the Rugby Championship:
@Bovidae The Crusaders often used Taufua successfully in the line-out, despite being shorter than Whitelock, Read and Barrett.
Which was my point earlier, about not needing a tall no.6. It's all about what you do on the ground before jumping. I was obviously referring to previous seasons with Taufua.
Messam was used regularly by the ABs and Chiefs at the front of the lineout. Cane and Ardie have been used in the lineout this season too.
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@Toddy In that last season for the Canes when we finally grabbed the title, he was probably playing the best rugby of his career and probably would of surpassed Read if he stayed on. Correct me if I'm but I think he was European player of the year in 2017 which says something.
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@Stargazer said in AB squad for the Rugby Championship:
@Bovidae The Crusaders often used Taufua successfully in the line-out though, despite being shorter than Whitelock, Read and Barrett. Height clearly isn't always a determining factor. Also, during the 2019 season, Douglas started more games than Taufua and is taller.
Taufua's shortcomings (heh, heh) as a lineout option were exposed when we played the B&I Lions and Read didn't play. We had Whitelock, Romano, Bedwell-Curtis, Todd and Taufua and our lineout got taken apart.
Only two decent options in that lineout, where with Whitelock, Rettallick and Read, we'd have three - but we'd still probably move from a lineout that will take two steals to the good, to two steals to the bad.
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@Chris-B In the ABs, we are talking about having a fourth lineout option (the blindside) after both locks and Read.
Using the Irish as an example, O'Mahony (6) is 1.91 m and Stander (8) is only 1.85 m. Both regularly used in their lineout.
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@Bovidae Yep. But, we were all happy enough to rationalize that Taufua was too short, until that logic has become inconvenient.
We have had a dominant lineout since the advent of Read and Kaino - and that has carried on while we've used tall blindsides. In my view (and I'm sure Hansen's) we are going to give some of that back if we play two openside flankers. We won't be basket case, but we won't be as good and against the Jaapies for example - they'll be playing 2 metre Pieter on the blindside.
