RWC: All Blacks v Italy (Cancelled) (Pool B)
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@Frank said in RWC: All Blacks v Italy (Pool
:Things I would never have picked at the beginning of this year.
- BFA not in test 15, and perhaps not in test 23.
- Rieko Ioane on the outer.
- Reece and Bridge being our top two wingers.
- Ardie Savea playing at blindside.
- Jack Goodhue not being first choice 13.
- Scott Barrett and Patty T improving.
- Owen Franks not going to the World Cup.
Mo'unga taking over the first five jersey and Beaudy shifting to fullback wasn't something I expected.
It has amazed me how Hansen has discarded experience after beating that drum for the best part of 15 years. I wonder quite where we'd be if DMac hadn't got injured, but I have to say, I'm happier with Richie/Beaudy than I would have been with Beaudy/DMac.
Can't say that I'd identified any major problems with Rieko prior to him getting dropped for Bled II, but unless he's been playing up a storm in training, he's not done anything (vs Canada especially) to compel Hansen to give him Bridge's jersey.
Main questions for me for the play-off games is who joins Lienert-Brown in starting in the midfield (I currently think it will be Crotty) and who takes the outside reserve back spot - I think it will be Ben, but it could be Jordie.
Biggest mistake so far in my book - they shoulda taken Big Karl instead of Atu. Switch Ofa to the backup tighthead and have Angus as the fifth prop. I'm not at all convinced with our reserve front row at scrum time - and I can't see how having 30 minutes of a somewhat more mobile Angus is going to be more of a game changer than a solid scrumming Karl.
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@ACT-Crusader said in RWC: All Blacks v Italy (Pool
:@TeWaio I think if ‘attitude’ was a genuine issue I simply don’t think they would’ve selected him.
When the team is away overseas on a campaign like this why would they take the risk of having a guy there with an attitude issue that can impact on others. I know these guys aren’t robots and players are going to have issues and emotions that go up and down, but if attitude of a player is a problem then it makes more sense to remove the player.
There were other players they could’ve taken.
They could’ve taken Nathan Harris allowing Coles to play his rightful position 😎
I think the explanation for that is timing - he only lost his spot so late at Bled II that by then most of the 31 was locked in, and dropping him altogether would've been too disruptive? And now a few months later and 3 games into the WC he's deteriorated further mentally, but its too late?
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@Bones said in RWC: All Blacks v Italy (Pool
:@TeWaio yeah I don't think much can be put on the try celebration. It's not like he's always calmly just walked back. He always celebrates tries emphatically.
Yeah fair, I'm just more used to seeing him score tries that matter in the last 2yrs, rather than against minnows!
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@pukunui said in RWC: All Blacks v Italy (Pool
:I think the selectors have screwed it up a bit to be honest. The way to get Rieko (our best back other than BB for the last 2 years) back up to top form and confidence wasn’t to drop him then play him in midfield from the bench. They also did similar with Ben Smith, dropping him then claiming he had lost his self belief. Which he later said wasn’t true.
Who knows what level Ioane and Smith would have been at if they had been retained starting for the Bled 2 cake walk.
I think they would have been average and slow.
Blaming the selectors for selecting two in-form players, who have played in-form over two players that were given a few tests and didn't really do anything makes no sense to me.
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@Frank said in RWC: All Blacks v Italy (Pool
:So....if Italy beats us with a bonus point, we are out of the tournament.
For Italy to go through they not only need that but also need to allow us to get a losing or 4 try bonus point.
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@ACT-Crusader said in RWC: All Blacks v Italy (Pool
:@Frank said in RWC: All Blacks v Italy (Pool
:So....if Italy beats us with a bonus point, we are out of the tournament.
For Italy to go through they not only need that but also need to allow us to get a losing or 4 try bonus point.
Really?
Boks on 15
NZ 14
Italy 10.If we get no points from the game, and they get win + bonus they go to 15.
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@ACT-Crusader
Agreed. -
I think if everyone ends up on 15 points we would miss out.
I read the rules as the Jaapies would qualify by having the best points differential and then the tiebreak reverts to who won the game between NZ and Italy.
For clarification, in the case of a tie between three or more Teams at the end of the pool phase, once the highest ranked Team has been determined following the above criteria, to determine the next higher ranked Team the process would repeat, starting at criterion 1.
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@Chris-B said in RWC: All Blacks v Italy (Pool
:I think if everyone ends up on 15 points we would miss out.
I read the rules as the Jaapies would qualify by having the best points differential and then the tiebreak reverts to who won the game between NZ and Italy.
For clarification, in the case of a tie between three or more Teams at the end of the pool phase, once the highest ranked Team has been determined following the above criteria, to determine the next higher ranked Team the process would repeat, starting at criterion 1.
Who's turn is it to make the boundaries joke?
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Just what we need, ABs fucking about with real world sports mega stars
Just like before another team we had never lost to
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@Frank said in RWC: All Blacks v Italy (Pool
:Not getting this bizarre loyalty to Rieko.
Bridge and Reece have made every post a winner.
Reece made the decisive break which led to the try in the Bok game which broke the game open and Bridge finished it. Bridge tore it up in the 2nd Bledisloe and both have been on fire for the Saders all year.Rieko hasn't done squat.
He hasn't been allowed to. I think what some are confused about is why Crotty/SBW/Squire are given opportunity after opportunity yet others like Reiko/Smith were just punished.
Contrast the dozen chances Julian Savea got after 2015 (the year, not his weight in pounds) with Reiko or Smith's dropping.
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@rotated said in RWC: All Blacks v Italy (Pool
:@Frank said in RWC: All Blacks v Italy (Pool
:Not getting this bizarre loyalty to Rieko.
Bridge and Reece have made every post a winner.
Reece made the decisive break which led to the try in the Bok game which broke the game open and Bridge finished it. Bridge tore it up in the 2nd Bledisloe and both have been on fire for the Saders all year.Rieko hasn't done squat.
He hasn't been allowed to. I think what some are confused about is why Crotty/SBW/Squire are given opportunity after opportunity yet others like Reiko/Smith were just punished
Contrast the dozen chances Julian Savea got after 2015 (the year, not his weight in pounds) with Reiko or Smith's dropping.
Is that what we’re calling it these days?
They’re still in the squad and getting game time but like many players before them they have missed selection in some big tests.
Crotty for some time has been a key player since in the post Nonu-Snakey era. But he hasn’t played every test even when he has been fit. He’s played most and unsurprising given he’s played well.
SBW’s form has been up and down but more often than not for the ABs he’s been pretty good. But again he’s missed plenty of tests.
Squire probably came down to lack of options.
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@Frank said in RWC: All Blacks v Italy (Pool
:Is this game indoors?
Things I would never have picked at the beginning of this year.
- BFA not in test 15, and perhaps not in test 23.
- Rieko Ioane on the outer.
- Reece and Bridge being our top two wingers.
- Ardie Savea playing at blindside.
- Jack Goodhue not being first choice 13.
- Scott Barrett and Patty T improving.
- Owen Franks not going to the World Cup.
JB starting a world cup test at 10, with TJ on the bench as reserve 10.
SBW and Crotty not injured yet. -
@rotated said in RWC: All Blacks v Italy (Pool
:@Frank said in RWC: All Blacks v Italy (Pool
:Not getting this bizarre loyalty to Rieko.
Bridge and Reece have made every post a winner.
Reece made the decisive break which led to the try in the Bok game which broke the game open and Bridge finished it. Bridge tore it up in the 2nd Bledisloe and both have been on fire for the Saders all year.Rieko hasn't done squat.
He hasn't been allowed to. I think what some are confused about is why Crotty/SBW/Squire are given opportunity after opportunity yet others like Reiko/Smith were just punished.
Contrast the dozen chances Julian Savea got after 2015 (the year, not his weight in pounds) with Reiko or Smith's dropping.
Perhaps they've learned from their mistake. All those chances Savea got after 2015 certainly didn't pay off.
I'm as big of a fan of Rieko as there is but his current form is not compelling and his game has completely stalled and hasn't developed at all. His ball security is poor, his high ball work is behind Bridge, his work rate is behind Bridge, his kicking game is behind Bridge. His first instinct is to tuck and run which is fine but he's become rather one dimensional at this point. Reece on the other hand has shown footwork and acceleration far ahead of Rieko in recent times.
I thought there were some positive signs for Rieko in the second half against Namibia but feels like too little too late at this stage.
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@Darren said in RWC: All Blacks v Italy (Pool
:@Frank said in RWC: All Blacks v Italy (Pool
:Is this game indoors?
Things I would never have picked at the beginning of this year.
- BFA not in test 15, and perhaps not in test 23.
- Rieko Ioane on the outer.
- Reece and Bridge being our top two wingers.
- Ardie Savea playing at blindside.
- Jack Goodhue not being first choice 13.
- Scott Barrett and Patty T improving.
- Owen Franks not going to the World Cup.
JB starting a world cup test at 10, with TJ on the bench as reserve 10.
SBW and Crotty not injured yetThat almost made my Top 5 Stocktake...
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@ACT-Crusader said in RWC: All Blacks v Italy (Pool
:@rotated said in RWC: All Blacks v Italy (Pool
:@Frank said in RWC: All Blacks v Italy (Pool
:Not getting this bizarre loyalty to Rieko.
Bridge and Reece have made every post a winner.
Reece made the decisive break which led to the try in the Bok game which broke the game open and Bridge finished it. Bridge tore it up in the 2nd Bledisloe and both have been on fire for the Saders all year.Rieko hasn't done squat.
He hasn't been allowed to. I think what some are confused about is why Crotty/SBW/Squire are given opportunity after opportunity yet others like Reiko/Smith were just punished
Contrast the dozen chances Julian Savea got after 2015 (the year, not his weight in pounds) with Reiko or Smith's dropping.
Is that what we’re calling it these days?
They’re still in the squad and getting game time but like many players before them they have missed selection in some big tests.
Crotty for some time has been a key player since in the post Nonu-Snakey era. But he hasn’t played every test even when he has been fit. He’s played most and unsurprising given he’s played well.
SBW’s form has been up and down but more often than not for the ABs he’s been pretty good. But again he’s missed plenty of tests.
Squire probably came down to lack of options.
Squire is obviously a unique case but with SBW/Crotty, Ioane and Ben Smith were playing quality test rugby more recently than those two prior to his dropping and Reece's form is nowhere near as irresistible as Laumape's has been.
The "he has always been good in black" argument is good for Crotty/SBW, but what crap games have Smith and Ioane had? I'd like to see them given a chance to play some shockers before confining them to the dustbin.
