Possible All Blacks 2020
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@cgrant said in Possible All Blacks 2020:
Josh Dickson ? He has added a lot of kgs to his frame. Everybody was expecting great things from PPP but Dickson is the best Highlanders lock, and probably one of the best in NZ so far.
Well, his performance against the Crusaders has been very disappointing.
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Good performances again from Cullen Grace, David Havili and Hoskins Sotutu. Keep this up and they will be knocking on the door of the ABs squad come the end of June.
By contrast Aaron Cruden's and Josh Dickson's defence this weekend both looked a long way below international standard.
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@mariner4life said in Possible All Blacks 2020:
J Barrett is still shit. For every good thing he does, there is still something that looks park rugby to accompany it.
Hasn't stopped SBW being picked for years, to be fair....
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@Chris-B said in Possible All Blacks 2020:
@Chris Maybe. But, if I could change one thing in that game it would have been Sam Whitelock's push on Farrell. With more experienced and calmer heads around him - maybe Sam would have shown more composure - and we'd have had a chance to be back in the game.
Assume you're being ironic?
We lost that game because the experienced players lost it big time. In particular, Read had that wild-eyed look in his eyes he gets when things ain't going his way.
Hansen's biggest selection mistake wasn't picking inexperienced backs - it was not starting Sam Cane.
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@Victor-Meldrew said in Possible All Blacks 2020:
@Chris-B said in Possible All Blacks 2020:
@Chris Maybe. But, if I could change one thing in that game it would have been Sam Whitelock's push on Farrell. With more experienced and calmer heads around him - maybe Sam would have shown more composure - and we'd have had a chance to be back in the game.
Assume you're being ironic?
We lost that game because the experienced players lost it big time. In particular, Read had that wild-eyed look in his eyes he gets when things ain't going his way.
Hansen's biggest selection mistake wasn't picking inexperienced backs - it was not starting Sam Cane.
Not sure if selection was some of the issue.
Reading things afterwards, it seems we didn't expect England to come so hard...how did we not?
Hansens biggest problem was his voice was stale - he had shown time & again, he couldn't get the players up & about when he needed to. -
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@sparky said in Possible All Blacks 2020:
Tom Robinson and Hoskins Sotutu looking worthy of AB call-ups.
yeah, will see if their conditioning lets them go deep into the season. It's a hard road being a pro rugby player, takes a hell of a lot of physicality
Big Karl, much though I love him, is probably moving away from the ABs a bit. His carrying and hands last night were very poor. Could cost him unfortunately, despite his scrum capabilities
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Maybe but right now, there aren't many LHP of international quality in NZ behind Moody. Moli hasn't shown he is up to it. So who else ? Hodgman looked promising against the Chiefs before his injury. He is big and strong, while his scrummaging seemed to have improved. Ross has a big workrate but his scrummaging is suspect. Johnstone is a good scrummager but his mobility is far from being top notch. Armstrong is playing better these days than he has ever done but I don't know how he is rated by Foster. Numia is promising but still too green. So, IMO, big Karl will probably be selected for the AB squad.
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@cgrant I think Ross' scrummaging is better than you say. He quite likely could have been an AB based on form before his injury which gave Karl his chance with the Chiefs and subsequently AB selection.
With a new scrummaging coach in Feek he might have different ideas to Cron on whether the likes of Tu'ungafasi and Moli are best suited as international LHs or THs. That will change the mix of the props if Ofa, especially, is considered to be primarily a TH prop. That then puts big Karl back into the conversation.
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@Marty said in Possible All Blacks 2020:
@Bones summary: (1) has major woody for Goodhue at 12; (2) manages to write entire column without tying it to thuggish AB's vs Ireland, Dublin 2016
So now that the final nail is in the coffin, Goodhue can go back to playing centre?
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@cgrant said in Possible All Blacks 2020:
Maybe but right now, there aren't many LHP of international quality in NZ behind Moody. Moli hasn't shown he is up to it. So who else ? Hodgman looked promising against the Chiefs before his injury. He is big and strong, while his scrummaging seemed to have improved. Ross has a big workrate but his scrummaging is suspect. Johnstone is a good scrummager but his mobility is far from being top notch. Armstrong is playing better these days than he has ever done but I don't know how he is rated by Foster. Numia is promising but still too green. So, IMO, big Karl will probably be selected for the AB squad.
Big Karl played 68 minutes in the heat, and is looking fitter! At least one of those dropped balls was because Nock rocketted at him from close quarters. He's in my squad.
Meanwhile who's class scrummager on the TH side, other than Nepo.
