All Blacks vs Fiji 2

Bovidae

The matchday 23 is (Test caps in brackets)

George Bower (2)
Codie Taylor (57)
Nepo Laulala (30)
Scott Barrett (41)
Samuel Whitelock (124) - captain
Akira Ioane (3)
Ardie Savea (49)
Luke Jacobson (4)
Aaron Smith (98)
Richie Mo’unga (23)
Sevu Reece (9)
David Havili (4)
Anton Lienert-Brown (49)
Will Jordan (4)
Damian McKenzie (29)
Dane Coles (76)
Ethan de Groot (1)
Angus Ta’avao (15)
Brodie Retallick (82)
Shannon Frizell
Brad Weber (8)
Beauden Barrett (90)
Rieko Ioane (35)

Chris

The matchday 23 is (Test caps in brackets)

George Bower (2)

Codie Taylor (57)

Nepo Laulala (30)

Scott Barrett (41)

Samuel Whitelock (124) - captain

Akira Ioane (3)

Ardie Savea (49)

Luke Jacobson (4)

Aaron Smith (98)

Richie Mo’unga (23)

Sevu Reece (9)

David Havili (4)

Anton Lienert-Brown (49)

Will Jordan (4)

Damian McKenzie (29)

Dane Coles (76)

Ethan de Groot (1)

Angus Ta’avao (15)

Brodie Retallick (82)

Shannon Frizell

Brad Weber (8)

Beauden Barrett (90)

Rieko Ioane (35)

That looks close to the top side certainly the 23 at least.

Bovidae

Does Rieko come on to play centre or the left wing? That will be interesting to see.

Jacobson the backup 7 this week.

Kiwiwomble

that has to be close to full strength team (bower an exception), considering it was still a decent score last week...this could be a hiding

I like the idea of reece on the left and Jordan (second fullback) on the right, its tried and true

glad we'll get to see AI start again, will also be interesting to see if Frizell does any better off the bench against a tiring opposition

ACT Crusader

@bovidae said in All Blacks vs Fiji 2:

The matchday 23 is (Test caps in brackets)

George Bower (2)

Codie Taylor (57)

Nepo Laulala (30)

Scott Barrett (41)

Samuel Whitelock (124) - captain

Akira Ioane (3)

Ardie Savea (49)

Luke Jacobson (4)

Aaron Smith (98)

Richie Mo’unga (23)

Sevu Reece (9)

David Havili (4)

Anton Lienert-Brown (49)

Will Jordan (4)

Damian McKenzie (29)

Dane Coles (76)

Ethan de Groot (1)

Angus Ta’avao (15)

Brodie Retallick (82)
20. Shannon Frizell

Brad Weber (8)

Beauden Barrett (90)

Rieko Ioane (35)

Congrats to Frizell for making his debut. Good luck with your AB career young fella. Upwards and onwards

Toddy

About as good a team as they can pick at the moment.

Couple of question for me

Bower seems to get through quite a tackles in a game but I'd be interested to know if any of them are dominant tackles. Seems to have quite a low technique for a big fulla. Better than risking a card but you have to find a balance from your big men.

Barrett will help with the collisions where BBBR was like a wet paper bag but only if he stays on the park.

Savea is coming back from injury and has hardly played 7 since 2019. Are we going to have Savea and AIoane out on the wings with just Jacobson doing the donkey work or will Savea actually play like a 7.

Good to see Smith paired with RM. Seems pretty clear that RM is the number pick so hopefully he gets a sh*tload of game time there now. BB back to his impact role.

Looking at that backline it's full of midgets with 5 players that halfback sized. It's a shame RIoane isn't starting a head of Reece.

Crucial

I would have liked to see BBBR have a start alongside Whitelock but I guess there are reasons why not.

It usually takes a few games in a row for him to get going. When the old duo was back together last week they basically pulled a maul backwards for Coles' third(?) try. BBBR in particular put in some huge leg drive for that one.

Chris

@toddy said in All Blacks vs Fiji 2:

About as good a team as they can pick at the moment.

Couple of question for me

Bower seems to get through quite a tackles in a game but I'd be interested to know if any of them are dominant tackles. Seems to have quite a low technique for a big fulla. Better than risking a card but you have to find a balance from your big men.

Barrett will help with the collisions where BBBR was like a wet paper bag but only if he stays on the park.

Savea is coming back from injury and has hardly played 7 since 2019. Are we going to have Savea and AIoane out on the wings with just Jacobson doing the donkey work or will Savea actually play like a 7.

Good to see Smith paired with RM. Seems pretty clear that RM is the number pick so hopefully he gets a sh*tload of game time there now. BB back to his impact role.

Looking at that backline it's full of midgets with 5 players that halfback sized. It's a shame RIoane isn't starting a head of Reece.

If you are regarding Havilli as one of the 5 midgets at (1.84m and 95kg ) I wouldn't regard him as a midget.Not massive but not a midget.
Pretty much the Same size as ALB at 96kg and 1.85m

Crucial

@toddy said in All Blacks vs Fiji 2:

Looking at that backline it's full of midgets with 5 players that halfback sized. It's a shame RIoane isn't starting a head of Reece.

When Weber comes on they will be bigger than most halfbacks.

Joking aside, they aren't units but aren't exactly midgets either (DMac aside)

ACT Crusader

@toddy said in All Blacks vs Fiji 2:

About as good a team as they can pick at the moment.

Couple of question for me

Bower seems to get through quite a tackles in a game but I'd be interested to know if any of them are dominant tackles. Seems to have quite a low technique for a big fulla. Better than risking a card but you have to find a balance from your big men.

Barrett will help with the collisions where BBBR was like a wet paper bag but only if he stays on the park.

Savea is coming back from injury and has hardly played 7 since 2019. Are we going to have Savea and AIoane out on the wings with just Jacobson doing the donkey work or will Savea actually play like a 7.

Good to see Smith paired with RM. Seems pretty clear that RM is the number pick so hopefully he gets a sh*tload of game time there now. BB back to his impact role.

Looking at that backline it's full of midgets with 5 players that halfback sized. It's a shame RIoane isn't starting a head of Reece.

Yeah Bower is an interesting one. Surprised he actually made the ABs, but they must see something that I don’t.

I’m quietly excited to see how this loose forward trio will go. On paper there is a skill set that complements each other, but they haven’t played together which means we will probably see a little disjointed stuff.

With Havili at 12 and a genuine playmaker, I think this will free up Mo’unga to take on the line a bit more. Again on paper Havili / ALB could be exciting.

On the back 3, Will Jordan is a good 6’2, not Jordie height, but he has more size than most people think.

Bovidae

@act-crusader said in All Blacks vs Fiji 2:

Congrats to Frizell for making his debut. Good luck with your AB career young fella. Upwards and onwards

NZR must have ran out of numbers for Shannon.

Crucial

@bovidae said in All Blacks vs Fiji 2:

@act-crusader said in All Blacks vs Fiji 2:

Congrats to Frizell for making his debut. Good luck with your AB career young fella. Upwards and onwards

NZR must have ran out of numbers for Shannon.

Or debating whether to put down appearances or last chances?

Toddy

@chris said in All Blacks vs Fiji 2:

If you are regarding Havilli as one of the 5 midgets at (1.84m and 95kg ) I wouldn't regard him as a midget.Not massive but not a midget.
Pretty much the Same size as ALB at 96kg and 1.85m

That's the long way of saying midget

Nepia

@bovidae said in All Blacks vs Fiji 2:

The matchday 23 is (Test caps in brackets)

George Bower (2)

Codie Taylor (57)

Nepo Laulala (30)

Scott Barrett (41)

Samuel Whitelock (124) - captain

Akira Ioane (3)

Ardie Savea (49)

Luke Jacobson (4)

Aaron Smith (98)

Richie Mo’unga (23)

Sevu Reece (9)

David Havili (4)

Anton Lienert-Brown (49)

Will Jordan (4)

Damian McKenzie (29)

Dane Coles (76)

Ethan de Groot (1)

Angus Ta’avao (15)

Brodie Retallick (82)

Shannon Frizell

Brad Weber (8)

Beauden Barrett (90)

Rieko Ioane (35)

Sheesh, that's a team that's probably only 3 selections away from what I would pick.

Swap Reece out of the team, squad, country completely for Rieko, I'd even allow having both Barrett's on the bench in this scenario.

Swap Retallick and Barrett. Retallick needs game time, Barrett needs fewer chances to get carded.

Start our best hooker in Coles.

Bovidae

That's pretty much a Crusaders' tight five, which should help with combinations.

I think they are still rotating a few players so as SB wasn't involved last week he gets a chance in this test. We'll get to see the old guard in the 2nd half.

Taylor needs to step up. He played like Tarzan for the Crusaders and Jane for the ABs last season, so we can't afford another repeat of that.

bayimports

Is Bridge injured? Its going to make for a boring fern match day thread, without his availablility to distribute ..

mariner4life

and i put Stan Sport on last night so i will actually watch

Might watch last weeks to see what all the whinging was about

Crucial

@bayimports said in All Blacks vs Fiji 2:

Is Bridge injured? Its going to make for a boring fern match day thread, without his availablility to distribute ..

African Monkey

Hmmm, I think its closer to our strongest side but there's still plenty of spots up for grabs.

Kiwiwomble

@bayimports said in All Blacks vs Fiji 2:

Is Bridge injured? Its going to make for a boring fern match day thread, without his availablility to distribute ..

it will be his fault for not being there

The Silver Fern

All Blacks vs Fiji 2