The 'How is Fozzie going?' thread
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@Big-Bok said in The 'How is Fozzie going?' thread:
Half an hour to a kickoff I, for one, await with great interest.
The selection process, imperfect though it may be, has yielded 15 genuine AB players. Akira will hopefully get a decent chance to show why he should have been included a lot sooner and a lot more often. Nothing wrong with the subs either.
This team has more than enough skills to beat Argentina. And the coaches have had plenty of opportunity to suss out the Argentine defence - not greatly dissimilar to that deployed by the Boks in the WC. And the ABs won that game.
Nailing my colours to the mast, I expect NZ to win by a wide margin.
Nailed it big fella 🙂👍
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@PecoTrain said in The 'How is Fozzie going?' thread:
@sparky said in The 'How is Fozzie going?' thread:
If I was Mark Robinson, I'd do the deed quickly and brutally this week. Fire Fozzie, annoint Razor.
Nah...you have to make it look like an accident.
There are lots of tunnels in Sydney and Liz is stuck at home if you need to make a call to find out how it was done in Paris.
Is it too soon for that joke?
If anything, it's too late 🙂
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@Victor-Meldrew said in The 'How is Fozzie going?' thread:
a great no.2
@Victor-Meldrew said in The 'How is Fozzie going?' thread:
But can often turn out to be a utter crap
Unfortunate references to shit but that seems to be what we have.
He's not learning. Jack isn't a 12, Jordie isn't a 14, Ardie is an 8 at a real stretch. I'm even going to say that BB is a 10 (and out of form). We have Sotutu, Jordan and Akira who all should have had loads of game time over the last month or so. Not to mention Clarke who was such an obvious pick from the beginning.
Would we be 3:1:2 now?
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https://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/rugby/all-blacks/108061927/rieko-ioane-values-family-history-with-japan-as-all-blacks-prepare-for-bledisloe-battle
Ian Foster:
"We're probably not smart enough to think two games in advance."talk like this scares me, humour intended, or not. Bye bye next RWC.
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@nostrildamus said in The 'How is Fozzie going?' thread:
https://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/rugby/all-blacks/108061927/rieko-ioane-values-family-history-with-japan-as-all-blacks-prepare-for-bledisloe-battle
Ian Foster:
"We're probably not smart enough to think two games in advance."talk like this scares me, humour intended, or not. Bye bye next RWC.
Although, whether it was real or not, the perceived downfall of the coaches in 2007 was that they were thinking about a semi-final instead of the quarterfinal in front of them...
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so long ago!
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@PecoTrain said in The 'How is Fozzie going?' thread:
@Big-Bok said in The 'How is Fozzie going?' thread:
Half an hour to a kickoff I, for one, await with great interest.
The selection process, imperfect though it may be, has yielded 15 genuine AB players. Akira will hopefully get a decent chance to show why he should have been included a lot sooner and a lot more often. Nothing wrong with the subs either.
Pre-RWC we had a few areas where we were struggling to find players that fitted well with what the larger team was trying to do:
- a genuine, powerful 6
- a midfield that was solid defensively and could hopefully attack a bit
- a number 8
We never solved those questions and post-RWC, we added:
- the annual review of the best in-form wingers
At the end of the year, I suspect we can guess at the answers to 6 (Akira - he's played <80 mins but looks solid), 8 (Sotutu - sorry Ardie, you're either 7 and drop Cane or sub....), we still don't have any better answers in the midfield aside from "Goodhue/ALB isn't the answer and I'm not sure Reiko is either - is everyone else still injured?". On the wings we have Caleb Clarke as a solid choice in 2020 but we will see what everyone's form is like in 2021. Maybe we've also learnt that Jordie Barrett isn't a wing.
Because the real questions will come when some of our senior players hang up their boots - Moody/Coles/Whitelock/Smith/Beauden.
And I have skipped the Ritchie/Beauden at 10 debate because its a sideshow until we sort out the other more serious crap and even if the answer is Beauden he will be 32 at RWC2023.
Given that progress, I wonder what the coaching staff are working towards. Or is it just passing another year and hoping for a superstar in 2021? Or 2022? Or 2023?
Fixed.
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A little harsh - I would speculate that if Read had hung around another year that we could have worked out who was our best option at 7 rather than starting Captain Cane and moving Ardie between 6 and 8 when he's neither while Sotutu would have probably got a similar amount of game time.
Which then questions why you'd name Cane captain if you weren't sure what the rest of the loosies would look like.
But I guess that was Faster starting as he meant to go on.
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@Snowy said in The 'How is Fozzie going?' thread:
Unfortunate references to shit but that seems to be what we have.
Purely unintentional.
He's not learning.
I'm finding Foster frustrating beyond belief.
I think he did the sensible thing with Caleb Clarke by making his debut as a replacement to ease him in and then sticking with him, and if Akira has turned the corner with his attitude, then Foster deserves credit for that too. I like the way the changes he's made have been incremental and allowed players time to bed down and feel comfortable in their position. And the drive towards the tryline from a lineout has become really potent.
However.......
Some of his selections and tactics are truly bizarre. I won't go over JB again, but why have two playmakers on the field if you're not going to swap them round and why throw a rookie 13 in at the deep end in a big game? And why wait until seemingly use the last game to use cross-kicks & Jordie's height?
Some really pragmatic stuff but mostly truly bonkers stuff.
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@MN5 said in The 'How is Fozzie going?' thread:
@Machpants said in The 'How is Fozzie going?' thread:
Holy shit. The fern woulda short circuited in 1949!!
B team played Oz while A team was in SA.
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@PecoTrain said in The 'How is Fozzie going?' thread:
A little harsh - I would speculate that if Read had hung around another year that we could have worked out who was our best option at 7 rather than starting Captain Cane and moving Ardie between 6 and 8 when he's neither while Sotutu would have probably got a similar amount of game time.
Which then questions why you'd name Cane captain if you weren't sure what the rest of the loosies would look like.
But I guess that was Faster starting as he meant to go on.
Awww bro, bloody good stuff. Here we all are thinking it's been a bit of a shit year and our no8 is ordinary and you go and cheer us up by saying imagine if Read hung on another year.. you're right it could always be worse 😬
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@Bones said in The 'How is Fozzie going?' thread:
Awww bro, bloody good stuff. Here we all are thinking it's been a bit of a shit year and our no8 is ordinary and you go and cheer us up by saying imagine if Read hung on another year.. you're right it could always be worse 😬
It would have taken the pressure off Fozzie and stopped him making stupid early calls that may have worked out differently. Or maybe that should be "reinforced previous expectations"...
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@PecoTrain said in The 'How is Fozzie going?' thread:
@Bones said in The 'How is Fozzie going?' thread:
Awww bro, bloody good stuff. Here we all are thinking it's been a bit of a shit year and our no8 is ordinary and you go and cheer us up by saying imagine if Read hung on another year.. you're right it could always be worse 😬
It would have taken the pressure off Fozzie and stopped him making stupid early calls that may have worked out differently. Or maybe that should be "reinforced previous expectations"...
Huh? Are you saying Cane shouldn't be captain and Savea should be starting openside? Only change I can see if Read stays is we get a captain that's about the same and an even less effective 8, most likely with Cane starting and Sotutu not even making the bench (they're hardly gonna have a specialist 8 on the bench when the 8 is the captain).
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People need to realise that Savea is no longer a no.7. He doesn't play there anymore for the Hurricanes.
So for the ABs, he either starts at no.8 (as currently) or is the best option on the bench to provide cover in the loose forwards and used as an impact sub (my preference). But no chance Savea starts at openside unless there are injuries.
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@Bones said in The 'How is Fozzie going?' thread:
@PecoTrain said in The 'How is Fozzie going?' thread:
A little harsh - I would speculate that if Read had hung around another year that we could have worked out who was our best option at 7 rather than starting Captain Cane and moving Ardie between 6 and 8 when he's neither while Sotutu would have probably got a similar amount of game time.
Which then questions why you'd name Cane captain if you weren't sure what the rest of the loosies would look like.
But I guess that was Faster starting as he meant to go on.
Awww bro, bloody good stuff. Here we all are thinking it's been a bit of a shit year and our no8 is ordinary and you go and cheer us up by saying imagine if Read hung on another year.. you're right it could always be worse 😬
Imagine things going wrong and seeing those wild, staring, panicky eyes again...
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