Players to build the team around?
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@Bones sorry are you counting missing overseas players? Vito? (or has he retired?)
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@nostrildamus said in Players to build the team around?:
@Bones sorry are you counting missing overseas players? Vito? (or has he retired?)
Sure, we need good, solid locks. Cruden and TKB are sorely missed.
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TKB played well for the ABs in the tight last minutes. Cruden might have fancied his chances. But I can't think of any young-enough locks overseas that might be worthy of a return. Please no one say Isaac Ross (even if he is back).
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@nostrildamus said in Players to build the team around?:
TKB played well for the ABs in the tight last minutes. Cruden might have fancied his chances. But I can't think of any young-enough locks overseas that might be worthy of a return. Please no one say Isaac Ross (even if he is back).
Fatialofa and that other big bloke for the Canes (with the big head) were pretty good at denting the line...
Edit: remembered now, Lousi.
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@Bones said in Players to build the team around?:
Hemopo
I had forgotten him! Good, abrasive player but: not tall for an international lock, and don't we have good enough stock now at 6 and 8?
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@nostrildamus said in Players to build the team around?:
@Bones said in Players to build the team around?:
Hemopo
I had forgotten him! Good, abrasive player but: not tall for an international lock, and don't we have good enough stock now at 6 and 8?
Yeah, not tall, but his abrasiveness and ability to run great lines meant he was good at bending the line, had a great workrate too. Would be a good squaddie and/or bench option - would be competition for SB I reckon and certainly makes a better fist of blindisde.
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@Tim said in Players to build the team around?:
@MN5 OH MY GOD! He said "look at the score" five times! We can't have that sort of behaviour in a professional rugby team.
What an idiotic and hysterical website.
If Nigel Owens had been reffing he may have got a harsh telling off about that sort of behaviour not being part of rugby.
But I accept most refs wouldn't take that hard a line.
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@Bones yes I liked him, always went forward, and same height as Brad Thorne who went alright at lock.
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@Machpants but he has continued playing at a high level across the board, history has shown coming back from a season where you are voluntarily unavailable for the ABs isnt an ideal path.
I'd love to be wrong and BBBR teams up with Whitelock and they dominate again.
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@DMX said in Players to build the team around?:
Wondering if we are finally paying a price for underperforming Under 20s. The other countries have been producing bigger and better teams and the NZ U20 skill levels have no longer made the point of difference.
On the contrary, we should be quite optimistic about the next few years based on U20 form
Where are they now: The 2017 New Zealand U20 world champions
Here's where the world-conquering New Zealand U20 side of 2017 have ended up three years after their success in Georgia.
And this too
Where are they now: The 2015 New Zealand U20 world champions
Some have flourished, while others have floundered, but where in the world are New Zealand's world champion U20 class of 2015?
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@chimoaus said in Players to build the team around?:
How do you accurately judge a players discipline? Was Ardie unlucky when he got pulled off his feet and landed on the wrong side giving away a penalty? Or should he not have made the play?
It seems a very fine line at times, do players intentionally pull down mauls, enter from the side, off their feet, pancake etc. Is it poor technique, poor game knowledge or just unlucky.
On the weekend we got smashed with those soft penalties where the player should have known better. When you aggregate all these penalties it certainly stopped us building pressure and allowed Sanchez to build points.
Can you coach those stupid plays out of players or are some more prone to it than others?
And sometimes the ref just sees it differently. Last penalty I think Sam W was pretty sure he was legal, but Angus thought he knew better.
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@taniwharugby said in Players to build the team around?:
@chimoaus well a penalty conceded is a penalty conceded, the slip of a bind at scrumtime equals the same as a dumb little slap.
SOmetimes pulling down a maul is deliberate, hopefully just a penalty to stop a try...but alot of the times a foot slips, a player lets you go, pulls at you...
Just unfortunate.
That slip of the bind was BS.
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@Tim said in Players to build the team around?:
@taniwharugby said in Players to build the team around?:
Tuipoluto isnt dominating like a guy of his size should
This is true, and I wish they would use him to hit the ball up in the middle of the park, and target guys for hits with a rush defence close in too. Don't think he suits the go wide quickly and short passing game plans they use.
It's very frustrating. First few games of SRA he was looking like the beast we thought he'd be. But seemed to lose impact over course of SRA. hasn't really regained that early SRA form for ABs?
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OK, so the question is who's going to be there over the next two cycles. I'll assume that's about 6 years or so, and we assume they can do a Conrad/Ma'a/DC/McCaw and get into their mid 30's.
The obvious six year candidates are
- Cane
- ALB
- BBBR
- Mo'unga
- ...? Hos? Akira?
