All Blacks vs Fiji 2
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Hmmm, I think its closer to our strongest side but there's still plenty of spots up for grabs.
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@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
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An important game for the loose forward combination
When Papali'i returns you'd assume SF drops out of the 23. Savea is an almost certain starter for the big matches given the lack of experienced loosies
The question for those big Tests will be does Savea start 7 or 8? Depending on where he starts it will be Jacobson or Papali'i on the bench
At the moment I think Papali'i has his nose on front but that could easily change
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So DMac is regarded as being ahead of Jordie Barrett - or is Jordie injured?
Great to see Akira picked at 6 ahead of Frizell and Jacobsen ahead of Sotutu.I guess they have to play Ardie, but I'd be surprised if he is up to speed (though certainly tall enough)
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@duluth said in All Blacks vs Fiji 2:
An important game for the loose forward combination
When Papali'i returns you'd assume SF drops out of the 23. Savea is an almost certain starter for the big matches given the lack of experienced loosies
The question for those big Tests will be does Savea start 7 or 8? Depending on where he starts it will be Jacobson or Papali'i on the bench
At the moment I think Papali'i has his nose on front but that could easily change
I think Jacobsen is locking up the 8 spot.
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@duluth said in All Blacks vs Fiji 2:
An important game for the loose forward combination
When Papali'i returns you'd assume SF drops out of the 23. Savea is an almost certain starter for the big matches given the lack of experienced loosies
The question for those big Tests will be does Savea start 7 or 8? Depending on where he starts it will be Jacobson or Papali'i on the bench
At the moment I think Papali'i has his nose on front but that could easily change
I am wondering if we are ever going to see the best of Papali'i on a regular basis. He is one of those unlucky players with have going around at the moment who always seem injured.
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@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 ..
I know, all Reece and Jordan can do is beat tacklers and score tries. Such limited players in comparison.
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@tim said in All Blacks vs Fiji 2:
Prop depth is not great ...
It is our biggest problem.
For all that we got lauded for our ball-playing props a few years ago, behind Moody and Ofa, we've got a pair of statues and a bunch of rookies - and Angus.
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@duluth said in All Blacks vs Fiji 2:
An important game for the loose forward combination
When Papali'i returns you'd assume SF drops out of the 23. Savea is an almost certain starter for the big matches given the lack of experienced loosies
The question for those big Tests will be does Savea start 7 or 8? Depending on where he starts it will be Jacobson or Papali'i on the bench
At the moment I think Papali'i has his nose on front but that could easily change
Slightly surprising that Frizell is on the bench rather than Blackadder. If Ardie goes down early, does Akira move to 7?
I don't want Ardie wearing 8 on his back.
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@chris-b said in All Blacks vs Fiji 2:
Slightly surprising that Frizell is on the bench rather than Blackadder. If Ardie goes down early, does Akira move to 7?
Jacobson will be covering 7 (SF to 6 and Akira to 8 probably)
I agree it's surprising they didn't go for Blackadder.
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Following today’s team naming, Foster confirmed that Vaa’i was available for selection after recovering from a minor injury but that he’d missed out to his more experienced teammates. He also suggested that an extra week of rest won’t harm the young forward.
“He had a niggle at the start,” Foster confirmed. “21 years old, had a massive Super Rugby campaign, probably played more than even what the Chiefs would have wanted with their shortage of locks and so this campaign is really about getting his Achilles right. His has come right this week but he’s just missed his opportunity.”
Why three Chiefs won't feature for the All Blacks this weekend
The All Blacks have made a host of changes for this weekend's rematch with Fiji, helping to spread the workload across the whole squad for the three games in the July series - not everyone has had a shot, however.
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Like the look of team. Understand no Blackadder really, he went well last week, but happy to see Jacobson cover 7. Can even understand Barrett at lock, think they probably feel we need to shift bodies at ruck time, and BR can keep working on getting back up to where he needs to be, give Akira another chance to show what he can do or maybe depart, and I thought Frizell went better than many gave him credit for last week, so happy with him on bench.
Only thing is I hope they put on good performance so we (or I) have to admit we don't know as much as we think!
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@bovidae said in All Blacks vs Fiji 2:
I'd say it tells us that Frizell is still ahead of Blackadder amongst their options for 6. Jacobson has played a lot at openside.
That first bit doesn't surprise me - but, strange that they'll have to re-jig the entire backrow if Ardie has to depart.
Maybe they want Shannon's extra size coming off the bench?
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@chris-b said in All Blacks vs Fiji 2:
@bovidae said in All Blacks vs Fiji 2:
I'd say it tells us that Frizell is still ahead of Blackadder amongst their options for 6. Jacobson has played a lot at openside.
That first bit doesn't surprise me - but, strange that they'll have to re-jig the entire backrow if Ardie has to depart.
Maybe they want Shannon's extra size coming off the bench?
I think Ioane is the player likely to be substituted so they have chosen Frizell with that in mind. If we have the starting 3 loose forwards and Papalii in the 23-man squad there is much more versatility.
I don't mind Ardie ending the game at no.8 but not as a starter.
