AB MOTM v Argentina I
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Whitelock and Smith were decent and Sotutu made an impact off the bench.
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@Snowy said in AB MOTM v Argentina I:
Voter turnout is likely to be very, very low.
I’ve mailed mine in.....to the Argies
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Cane, Sotutu & DMac.
The latter at least held onto the ball when on attack....
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@Victor-Meldrew said in AB MOTM v Argentina I:
Cane, Sotutu & DMac.
The latter at least held onto the ball when on attack....
Ummm...apart from when he had it ripped off him only yards out?
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aside from Sotutu its about who made the least errors....which is more what i expect when I am picking a Northland MOTM, not an AB one
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Only just watched it. Thought Cane and Smith were most committed starters, and DMac was the best off the bench with much needed energy. Whitelock, Sotutu, ALB and Moody all had their moments. I think the performances are mostly indicative of a mentally and physically draining season like no other.
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@ARHS said in AB MOTM v Argentina I:
Only just watched it. Thought Cane and Smith were most committed starters, and DMac was the best off the bench with much needed energy. Whitelock, Sotutu, ALB and Moody all had their moments. I think the performances are mostly indicative of a mentally and physically draining season like no other.
In other words going through exactly what the other teams are going through as well ?
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@ARHS said in AB MOTM v Argentina I:
I think the performances are mostly indicative of a mentally and physically draining season like no other.
Really don't get this excuse at all. NZ residents have generally had a much easier time in 2020 than almost anyone else and have had much less disruption to their lives. The Argentinians (& most European sides) have had months of not being able to train together. Other teams have had much more to cope with than Foster's men, they just seem to have been a lot better led through the battles of coping with it all.
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@sparky said in AB MOTM v Argentina I:
@ARHS said in AB MOTM v Argentina I:
I think the performances are mostly indicative of a mentally and physically draining season like no other.
Really don't get this excuse at all. NZ residents have generally had a much easier time in 2020 than almost anyone else and have had much less disruption to their lives. The Argentinians (& most European sides) have had months of not being able to train together. Other teams have had much more to cope with than Foster's men, they just seem to have been a lot better led through the battles of coping with it all.
It’s not really an excuse, it’s just the reality of things.
What was clear is that when Super rugby shut up shop that upon return some players didn’t adjust to the return. Call it what you will, but some very good players, even current All Blacks seemed to have fallen off a cliff form wise. Pre-lockdown in good form and then SRA weren’t great.
Bringing all those moving parts together for a short bit of test rugby would be no doubt challenging for any coach. Look at some of the 6Ns games and performances. They have been up and down. Some have been downright dire. Bledisloe and 3Ns are no different.
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@ACT-Crusader Why is Foster picking them if they are out of form?
England have just won their fifth game on the bounce. Their side seem to be enduring okay despite 50,000+ UK deaths, two national lockdowns and Rugby training with more than five people being illegal for five months. Eddie Jones has monitored his players fitness tightly and dropped the guys who weren't meeting his strict expectations.
Don't blame the situation COVID (which is an international crisis), when it's the All Blacks coaches and management that are to blame for yesterday's appalling performance.
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@taniwharugby said in AB MOTM v Argentina I:
aside from Sotutu its about who made the least errors....which is more what i expect when I am picking a Northland MOTM, not an AB one
That was the most frustrating thing, errors were spread across the park!
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@sparky Agree with everything you wrote apart from blaming the coaches.
It's ridiculous to use COVID as an excuse when you look at what the Pumas had to contend with.
I give the coaches a tiny amount of wriggle room because with a couple of exceptions that was universally acknowledged as the best side they could put out. The players just didn't front - which is becoming habitual and I agree part of the coaches remit to address.
I didn't vote but if I had I would have gone Cane for putting himself about and Smith for his try saving double tackle and the determination on his face as he executed it. Those two looked like the game meant everything to them. The rest - not so much.
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@dogmeat said in AB MOTM v Argentina I:
@sparky Agree with everything you wrote apart from blaming the coaches.
It's ridiculous to use COVID as an excuse when you look at what the Pumas had to contend with.
I give the coaches a tiny amount of wriggle room because with a couple of exceptions that was universally acknowledged as the best side they could put out. The players just didn't front - which is becoming habitual and I agree part of the coaches remit to address.
I didn't vote but if I had I would have gone Cane for putting himself about and Smith for his try saving double tackle and the determination on his face as he executed it. Those two looked like the game meant everything to them. The rest - not so much.
Smith's face during that "in-the-sheds" interview after the game too... he was pretty obviously not a happy man. He looked like he'd just been caught in an airport's disabled-toilet.
I was thinking watching that - I'd quite like to see a similar interview of every single player, and coaching staff, and check whether the same emotion was there across the board.
