Bledisloe #2
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@akan004 said in Bledisloe #2:
@Duluth Hopefully it's a grade 1 strain only, we can't afford to lose anymore of our starting 15 to injury.
My understanding is that the higher the hamstring strain the trickier it can be get right.
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@Crazy-Horse said in Bledisloe #2:
@akan004 said in Bledisloe #2:
@Duluth Hopefully it's a grade 1 strain only, we can't afford to lose anymore of our starting 15 to injury.
My understanding is that the higher the hamstring strain the trickier it can be get right.
Great, more good news.😕
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@No-Quarter said in Bledisloe #2:
Now that I’ve had some time to reflect, I’m a little more positive about our chances, though I am far from convinced we should be favourites for the cup given our form leading into it.
SB’s red card cost us the chance of winning that test. Yes we got dominated in the first 40, more so than usual. But that wouldn’t be the first time we’ve weathered the storm, kept the scoreboard close and then finished stronger.
Credit to the Wallabies, they didn’t let up and they didn’t panic when Beauden dotted down after by far our best passage of play. They exploited the numerical advantage, particularly around the fringes and really made us pay for SB’s brain fart. But I would expect any of the top sides to do that; bottom line is we will get pumped if we lose a player early in the game as we’re back in the pack now. The same is true for the other top sides.
We do have the cattle to go all the way, and a win against SA in pool play will give us a pretty easy run to the semi, but we need to get our tactics right.
Given we will never blow teams away in the first 40 I’d like to see us be more conservative with both selections and gameplan.
That means keeping the ball in hand more and using our forwards to hit it up around the fringes in the early exchanges. Wear teams down even if we’re not scoring tries.
Selection wise we need to start Taylor and TJP, move Beauden back to 10 and put our most experienced back BFA at 15 where decision making and defence will be important. A rookie like Ennor or at 14 is not a huge risk. Cane should start at 7 with Ardie on the bench, and a big bopper at 6 (Frizell, Jacobson or Squire, they just need to go hard for 50 odd minutes).
Then in the second 40 we can roll out Coles, A Smith, Aridie and Mo’unga to really up the tempo - those 4 blokes coming on at the 50-60 minute mark can provide us a massive point of difference. I don’t think any other team could boast that level of class and impact off the bench when defenses are tiring.
This 2nd Bledisloe is a great chance for us to adjust our game plan and play more to our strengths.
Thoughts?
I think they definitely need to start with TJP. It's obvious how the top opposition sides are going to play against us now and his bulk and physicality will be essential in the early stages. Once the game breaks up and the forwards tire is the perfect time to bring on the smaller guy with the brilliant pass.
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That article from @Donsteppa says it all really.
"And there are startling statistics which back Hart up.Moody made just one carry, which is one more than Franks made, while replacements Atu Moli and Angus Ta'avao made five each.
In stark contrast, Wallaby tighthead Allan Alaalatoa made an incredible 12 runs, and Scott Sio an impressive eight as Australia dominated possession. Replacement Taniela Tupou made eight and James Slipper one."
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@KiwiMurph said in Bledisloe #2:
Franks would be a candidate to be dropped entirely from the 23 this week you'd think with Laulala and Taavao in the squad (I assume they'll ask Ofa to play loosehead).
Is Ofa really good enough to be a Test loosehead? I doubt it. Agree re Franks, Laulala has to be given the starting spot now.
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When we look at this test now we will by the end of the game have a FULL look at what coaches have in mind for WC. Reason for this is the importance they place on the Bledisloe Cup. They state over and over again this so the whole 'keeping the powder dry' experiment will to a degree be thrown out as they will surely start the team they see as the best available and play the gameplan they see as winning won't they?
so we will I assume not be guessing about the form of the team, the makeup or gameplan after this weekend. -
@akan004 said in Bledisloe #2:
@KiwiMurph said in Bledisloe #2:
Franks would be a candidate to be dropped entirely from the 23 this week you'd think with Laulala and Taavao in the squad (I assume they'll ask Ofa to play loosehead).
Is Ofa really good enough to be a Test loosehead? I doubt it. Agree re Franks, Laulala has to be given the starting spot now.
The issue is - the two most mobile props we have are Taavao and Ofa who are both better at tighthead. But there is also Laulala. So unless Ofa plays loosehead one of them misses out (plus we aren't flush with loosehead options as Moli is very raw).
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What were the first half possession stats? We seemed to have so little ball that I'm reasonably happy that we didn't waste it by having Owen run three steps and fall over. Though in fairness, at least he probably wouldn't have tried a stupid little chip kick like the backs seemed to think was a good idea.
Need to re-watch, but on reflection it seems like there were very few high kicks from either team?
I don't think we've got a better loosehead option than Joe Moody, so any change needs to be at tighthead IMO.
Kane Hames would be quite handy right now - but, he was commentating the Ta$man-Wellington match at the weekend.
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@Chris-B Moody was the best loosehead in the world in 2017 and had the better of Furlong during the Lions series, so am willing to give him the benefit of the doubt. Hopefully he can regain some of that lost form. Not happy with the overall prop selection, I think Karl T needs to come back into the mix. Currently we only have one decent scrumaging loosehead and that's Moody.
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@akan004 said in Bledisloe #2:
Hopefully he can regain some of that lost form
there is an awful lot of that floating around at the moment
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As a prop, I'll point out that dominating an opponent or opposition scrum is, in large part, due to your second row.
At my little amateur club, there is a second rower who is a bloody hard working ball runner, and a fairly hefty unit, but at scrum time he's nowhere near the other guy who is more agile but "gets it" at scrum time on the push.
So you can talk about Moody being good but it doesn't mean much unless you look at the guy pushing him and his mates around. I'd say Retallick is probably a factor in making Moody look good at Test level.
Franks needs to get the arse tho. He's still got that stupid niggly thing hanging over his head, and is relatively easy to prop against due to his bad foot setup.
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I was sooo bored today and am now stuck on the number of carries our forwards are doing on attack I have developed a new metric, Carries vs Possession %. I have no idea why I have done this other than my obsessive brain.
No idea if it is says anything about us on attack have included past ABs games and the recent weekend games of others for comparison.
what is evident is overall we maybe are not that bad as our bench carries more than other nations however our starters get mauled by the opposition. This i guess back up we often finish strong.
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This is a bit more like it - rather than just blaming the red card.
