Bledisloe Two: Auckland, October 18
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Beauden is a senior player that likes to call the shots. There's no doubt in my mind whatsoever that he would rather play 10. Being shunted to 15 for the likes of Mo'unga who has not stepped up to test level at all would not sit well with him despite going along with it for "the benefit of the team".
Mo'unga should be on the bench as impact while he finds his feet, same as what Beauden did when he first made the ABs. We have no need for Beauden at 15 now with Jordie playing there, and we didn't need him there at the RWC with Ben Smith in the squad.
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@akan004 said in Bledisloe Two: Auckland, October 18:
@Machpants Incredible isn't it that we seemingly had worked out how to unlock the rush D in Lions Test 1 by playing off 9 and then never used that tactic again for whatever strange reason.
They kept that powder so dry that they forgot the combination to the waterproof safe.
But on a more serious note, it is a complete mystery. They pulled that same game plan out for a short period against England on one of the EOYTs but have played this other shitty non direct, counter attack/kick the ball away game 99% of the time for the last 3 years.
Would love to know why.
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Also re: the Blues, they were crazy not to play him at 10 from the get go and get him into form there. Pure madness at that level when you want him touching the ball as much as possible. That's not to say Black played poorly, but he will never offer what BB does.
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@No-Quarter BB played fullback in most SRA games because Black at 10 and BB at 15 was a better combo than BB at 10 and "someone else" at 15. The reason for this was Pefofeta's season-ending injury. IIRC, they only moved BB to 10 when Black got injured (concussion) in the game against the Canes (?).
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@No-Quarter I think you nailed it, he was very good at 15 off the bench when DC was playing and when he was a junior player. But clearly winning player of the year a few times and being the best 10 must make him scratch his head when they put him to 15. Never really thought of it as a demotion before but perhaps that's how he sees it.
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@Stargazer said in Bledisloe Two: Auckland, October 18:
@No-Quarter BB played fullback in most SRA games because Black at 10 and BB at 15 was a better combo than BB at 10 and "someone else" at 15. The reason for this was Pefofeta's season-ending injury. IIRC, they only moved BB to 10 when Black got injured (concussion) in the game against the Canes (?).
BB at 10 with just about anyone at 15 is the best combo, end of story. 10 is a far more important position than 15. If you have one of the best 10s in the world, you select the team around him, especially at Super level where he has a history of single handedly carving teams to pieces from that position. You don't shunt him around to cater for other players. It was utter madness.
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I recall BB got some criticism over his kicking. If 15 kicks conversions and penalties (given RM is also in a bit of a kicking slump), perhaps the gap if any between BB and RM is more debateable again?
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@pukunui said in Bledisloe Two: Auckland, October 18:
@akan004 said in Bledisloe Two: Auckland, October 18:
@Machpants Incredible isn't it that we seemingly had worked out how to unlock the rush D in Lions Test 1 by playing off 9 and then never used that tactic again for whatever strange reason.
They kept that powder so dry that they forgot the combination to the waterproof safe.
But on a more serious note, it is a complete mystery. They pulled that same game plan out for a short period against England on one of the EOYTs but have played this other shitty non direct, counter attack/kick the ball away game 99% of the time for the last 3 years.
Would love to know why.
It almost feels like the coaching group were/are just arrogant. The traditional style of Rugby is to smash the opposition up front and then spin it wide where the space has been created. It's like they decided they're going to invent a new way to play the game where we just spin it from the get go to see if we can run up a cricket score, and were so arrogant to think we have the players to pull that off against world class opposition.
We really, really needed a clean out after that RWC. It was the perfect time to do it. The previous coaches had a great run, but they'd been in the job too long and could no longer see the wood from the trees. It just boggles my mind that we decided to go for consistency when we had some really great candidates to approach.
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@mariner4life said in Bledisloe Two: Auckland, October 18:
fuck as if i wasn't already disappointed enough in this coaching group
we are Cheika's wallabies. start saying goodbye to trophies
Your despair gives me chills... in a good way. If someone could just distill Plumtree's tears so I could inject them? No?
But all this pissing and moaning will be a distant memory come Monday.
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@No-Quarter said in Bledisloe Two: Auckland, October 18:
It almost feels like the coaching group were/are just arrogant.
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@No-Quarter said in Bledisloe Two: Auckland, October 18:
@Stargazer said in Bledisloe Two: Auckland, October 18:
@No-Quarter BB played fullback in most SRA games because Black at 10 and BB at 15 was a better combo than BB at 10 and "someone else" at 15. The reason for this was Pefofeta's season-ending injury. IIRC, they only moved BB to 10 when Black got injured (concussion) in the game against the Canes (?).
BB at 10 with just about anyone at 15 is the best combo, end of story. 10 is a far more important position than 15. If you have one of the best 10s in the world, you select the team around him, especially at Super level where he has a history of single handedly carving teams to pieces from that position. You don't shunt him around to cater for other players. It was utter madness.
And if his brother can kick the goals at 15 then even better.
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@Rancid-Schnitzel said in Bledisloe Two: Auckland, October 18:
@No-Quarter said in Bledisloe Two: Auckland, October 18:
@Stargazer said in Bledisloe Two: Auckland, October 18:
@No-Quarter BB played fullback in most SRA games because Black at 10 and BB at 15 was a better combo than BB at 10 and "someone else" at 15. The reason for this was Pefofeta's season-ending injury. IIRC, they only moved BB to 10 when Black got injured (concussion) in the game against the Canes (?).
BB at 10 with just about anyone at 15 is the best combo, end of story. 10 is a far more important position than 15. If you have one of the best 10s in the world, you select the team around him, especially at Super level where he has a history of single handedly carving teams to pieces from that position. You don't shunt him around to cater for other players. It was utter madness.
And if his brother can kick the goals at 15 then even better.
Yeah so gives a fuck if he is a bit less, and is only a little, accurate with the boot. Ten didn't have to kick goals, when the countries best 15 can.
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@pukunui said in Bledisloe Two: Auckland, October 18:
Would love to know why.
Duh.
It was going to be used in the final. Which is an excellent tactic as now other teams still only have one game of it to analyse. So we can use it again in the next final. What a plan!
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@No-Quarter said in Bledisloe Two: Auckland, October 18:
@Stargazer said in Bledisloe Two: Auckland, October 18:
@No-Quarter BB played fullback in most SRA games because Black at 10 and BB at 15 was a better combo than BB at 10 and "someone else" at 15. The reason for this was Pefofeta's season-ending injury. IIRC, they only moved BB to 10 when Black got injured (concussion) in the game against the Canes (?).
BB at 10 with just about anyone at 15 is the best combo, end of story. 10 is a far more important position than 15. If you have one of the best 10s in the world, you select the team around him, especially at Super level where he has a history of single handedly carving teams to pieces from that position. You don't shunt him around to cater for other players. It was utter madness.
I’d love to hear from some of our diehard Blues fans but with injuries and lack of options it’s not so easy.
I would love to see Barrett back in form, selected at 10 for the ABs and Mo’unga coming off the bench in the second half. Barrett moving to fullback to provide a difference to our attack.
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@mariner4life said in Bledisloe Two: Auckland, October 18:
@Stargazer said in Bledisloe Two: Auckland, October 18:
wow. that's significant.
Even the reduced Sam Whitelock is miles better than the alternatives
Having said that, Vaa'i (apart from dumping one lineout and giving away the losing penalty that wasn't called ... ) wasn't awful ... (apart from those things).
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@NTA said in Bledisloe Two: Auckland, October 18:
@Bones said in Bledisloe Two: Auckland, October 18:
@NTA love how you're making predictions for the second game and not the first, playing it safe.
Note: close first game with Wallabies looking good means second game at Eden Park means Wallabies get thrashed.
58-3 looks like a safe bet.
Stop it.
We're underdogs after a draw at home.
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@Rancid-Schnitzel said in Bledisloe Two: Auckland, October 18:
Wallaby fans must find it hilarious to see the hyperventilating about BB and RM, when they have O'Connor at 10. Excellent player but not a test standard flyhalf.
How he go compared to our guy on the weekend,
