AB squad next RWC (2023)?
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@Nepia said in AB squad next RWC (2023)?:
I wasn't wanting to put down Mikaele-Tu'u, I just think Flanders has the potential to be a long term AB.
Understand but Flanders is a similar player to Jacobson and what the ABs will need is a bruising no.8 to complement those types of players. Akira if he gets his shit together, but Mikaele-Tu'u has all those attributes.
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@sparky said in AB squad next RWC (2023)?:
Sure Rugby performance is probably 30% about mindset, but it is 70% about talent and Akira Ioane has the talent.
I hope someone can persuade him to sort his stuff out and seize the opportunities he has.
If anyone can, I'd put my money on Razor. Shame he didn't get swallowed up by the Crusaders machine.
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@sparky said in AB squad next RWC (2023)?:
Sure Rugby performance is probably 30% about mindset, but it is 70% about talent and Akira Ioane has the talent.
I hope someone can persuade him to sort his stuff out and seize the opportunities he has.
Not saying they should have selected him exactly , but the game against england probably showed , we lack big brutal physical players of his type, and he did have one of his best ever games against the lions
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@kiwiinmelb except you are missing the fact that the majority of games he plays he is simply lazy and shys away from hard work. Yes he had a big workload this year, but I lost count at how many times he just stood near a ruck and watched his team mates hit the ruck. Teariki Ben Nicholas (Wellington), Gareth Evans (Hawkes Bay) and Devan Flanders (Hawkes Bay) are all better options moving forward.
No doubt Ardie will probably command the 8 jersey with Cane at 7 and someone else at 6.
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@sparky said in AB squad next RWC (2023)?:
@cgrant said in AB squad next RWC (2023)?:
That German loose forward playing for the NZ schoolboy team is one to watch.
Aaron Segner. Technique at breakdown looks excellent for an 18 year old.
Hopefully he'll stick with NZRU rather than be tempted back to Europe. Wouldn't be surprised if the Paris or London clubs were keeping an eye on him.
Even changed his first name...dedicated to the cause
Ja, he plays rugby sehr gut.
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@pakman I think PPP and BBBR are the same height.
Seeing them playing - they're in among a bunch of other people who are big units, as well. Someone like Mitch Hunt who looks tiny out there is actually solid as fuck in real life.
Seeing them wander round among the crowd of normal sized people, they look like giants. It's no wonder that contact with the head happens when they tackle halfbacks!
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Not Coltman, Frizzell and Webber?
Its easy to put the selectorial boot in now, after the fact.
Jacobson was a brave selection for 2019, but his subsequent replacement by Frizzell rather than Papalii was not.
No Aumua or TTT in the 3rd choice positions either in 2019.
For the record, I would have liked Aumua to have been good enough for 2019 selection, but if his throwing isn't good enough yet then I too would select someone else. Hooker is second most important position in the team.
As much as I like Webber, I'm disappointed that TTT didn't play for the ABs this year and go to the RWC.
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@kiwiinmelb I don’t think the type of player was the problem on Saturday, it was the tactics and execution that let us down. Tactics to diffuse the England attacking defence and tactics to exploit the gaps that were actually there.
Another ‘big body’ would’ve just got smashed had we played the way we did.
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@Bovidae said in AB squad next RWC (2023)?:
When I lived in the USA I saw up close a number of basketball players who breathed rarified air. The backup centre for the college team was a white guy who was 2.18 m (7' 2").
shameless name drop alert
I’ve met Shaq (7’1), Yao Ming (7’3), Shawn Bradley (7’6), Mark Eaton (7’4) and they are sun blockers! I was only a kid at the time when I met Eaton and I thought he was Goliath!
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@ACT-Crusader If you has also met Manute Bol you'd have the full set. Eaton was a giant in his time.
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@Hooroo said in AB squad next RWC (2023)?:
The Jesse Ryder of NZ rugby
At least Jesse actually performed at the highest level. A crying shame that he did not persevere, certainly a case of "what might have been".
His test batting average places him at 17th place in NZ behind
TA Blundell @ 68 (two tests in 2017)
CS Dempster @ 65.72
KW Hough @ 62 (two tests in the late 1950s)
MP Donnelly @ 52.90
KS Williamson @ 52.22
HM McGirr @ 51.00 (two tests in 1930)
FB Smith @ 47.40 (four tests in the late 40s/early 50s)
LPRL Taylor @ 46.52
MD Crowe @ 45.36
JF Reid @ 46.28
MH Richardson @ 44.77
GM Turner @ 44.64
AH Jones @ 44.27
HM Nicholls @ 44.25
TWM Latham @ 44.03
HG Vivian @ 42.10 (seven tests in the 1930s)
JD Ryder @ 40.93 -
@Higgins said in AB squad next RWC (2023)?:
@Hooroo said in AB squad next RWC (2023)?:
The Jesse Ryder of NZ rugby
At least Jesse actually performed at the highest level. A crying shame that he did not persevere, certainly a case of "what might have been".
His test batting average places him at 17th place in NZ behind
TA Blundell @ 68 (two tests in 2017)
CS Dempster @ 65.72
KW Hough @ 62 (two tests in the late 1950s)
MP Donnelly @ 52.90
KS Williamson @ 52.22
HM McGirr @ 51.00 (two tests in 1930)
FB Smith @ 47.40 (four tests in the late 40s/early 50s)
LPRL Taylor @ 46.52
MD Crowe @ 45.36
JF Reid @ 46.28
MH Richardson @ 44.77
GM Turner @ 44.64
AH Jones @ 44.27
HM Nicholls @ 44.25
TWM Latham @ 44.03
HG Vivian @ 42.10 (seven tests in the 1930s)
JD Ryder @ 40.93It's not what he has achieved I am getting at, it is what he didn't achieve...
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Discussing what an AB's squad might look like in 4 years time, holy heck!!!!
There will be players in there that no one has ever heard of, players whose form falls off a cliff, new coaches with new ideas and new favourites......
And perhaps the biggest unknown of all, it's near impossible to know who the Highlanders 3rd string No.6 will be this far out.
What a waste of energy even thinking about who might be in this team.
