AB Greatest 15 Rugby Pass
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No other AB has had more influence on percentage of wins than McCaw. By that crieria alone automatic selection. McCaw the greatest AB.
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@sparky said in AB Greatest 15 Rugby Pass:
@sparky said in AB Greatest 15 Rugby Pass:
Always tough to compare players from different eras. I can only really compare players I've seen live which rules out anyone who played before 1983. Based on what I've seen. My All Black greatest forward pack would be.
- Tony Woodcock
- Sean Fitzpatrick
- Olo Brown
- Brodie Retallick
- Sam Whitelock
- Jerome Kaino
- Richie McCaw
- Buck Shelford
- Aaron Smith
- Daniel Carter
- Ma'a Nonu
- Frank Bunce (who the Breakdown didn't even shortlist).
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@victor-meldrew said in AB Greatest 15 Rugby Pass:
@winger said in AB Greatest 15 Rugby Pass:
The whiteboard session that proved Ma'a Nonu as an All Blacks great
Everyone knows about the greatness of former All Blacks midfielder Ma'a Nonu on the field, but few know the impact he made off the park.
It was pretty obvious Ma'a was a keen student of the game if you look at how he developed over the years. Certainly no-one's fool rugby-wise
Pretty happy with Bruce Robertson at 13. He's still the standard for an old bugger like me - think Conrad Smith but better and a bit more skilful. Could drop a goal from 40m if you needed him to.
Bruce Robertson was silk ,
And you forgot pace , he was genuinely quick to go with those silky skills
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@kiwiinmelb Too young to remember Robertson but old enough to remember how fantastic Bunce was in the mid-90s. Great in attack, brilliant in defence. His performance against the Boks in 97 is right up there with Lomu against England in 95 and Carter against the Lions in 05 IMHO.
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@berniescorner said in AB Greatest 15 Rugby Pass:
Meads must have been a hell of a player to oust Whitelock.
He was. Saw him at the end of his career. One of the hardest to pull on a black jersey and almost as skilful as Zinny.
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@sparky said in AB Greatest 15 Rugby Pass:
@kiwiinmelb Too young to remember Robertson but old enough to remember how fantastic Bunce was in the mid-90s. Great in attack, brilliant in defence. His performance against the Boks in 97 is right up there with Lomu against England in 95 and Carter against the Lions in 05 IMHO.
Robertson was similar against the '77 Lions. At the peak of his career then.
Taking absolutely nothing way from Bunce, though. Amazing player.
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@kiwiinmelb said in AB Greatest 15 Rugby Pass:
@victor-meldrew said in AB Greatest 15 Rugby Pass:
@winger said in AB Greatest 15 Rugby Pass:
The whiteboard session that proved Ma'a Nonu as an All Blacks great
Everyone knows about the greatness of former All Blacks midfielder Ma'a Nonu on the field, but few know the impact he made off the park.
It was pretty obvious Ma'a was a keen student of the game if you look at how he developed over the years. Certainly no-one's fool rugby-wise
Pretty happy with Bruce Robertson at 13. He's still the standard for an old bugger like me - think Conrad Smith but better and a bit more skilful. Could drop a goal from 40m if you needed him to.
Bruce Robertson was silk ,
And you forgot pace , he was genuinely quick to go with those silky skills
The AB backline in '76-77 was exceptional. Players like Robertson, Sid Going, Bill Osborne, Batty & BeeGee Williams kept the AB's in plenty of games when the forwards were being beaten-up by the Lions and the Boks.
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@victor-meldrew said in AB Greatest 15 Rugby Pass:
@sparky said in AB Greatest 15 Rugby Pass:
@kiwiinmelb Too young to remember Robertson but old enough to remember how fantastic Bunce was in the mid-90s. Great in attack, brilliant in defence. His performance against the Boks in 97 is right up there with Lomu against England in 95 and Carter against the Lions in 05 IMHO.
Robertson was similar against the '77 Lions. At the peak of his career then.
Taking absolutely nothing way from Bunce, though. Amazing player.
I with you 100% vic, Robertson was the most beautiful runner with the ball in hand I have ever seen, timing of his passaes was I believe still the best I have seen. Actually Grant Batty said in his book one of tours ABs did, he said his own form was absolute shit (mainly because brain was still in NZ with new family I think), but said playing outside Robertson people didn't notice and after a few games Robertson ran you back into form with so many great balls!!
I also think his defence was great, in Lions 77 tets at Wellington, Batty scored that runaway try for one main reason I reckon, Andy Irvine came into the lind, Robertson just bust up on him and hit him as he received the ball, and it just popped up into Batty's hands.
We have had some bloody good centres, but I have still not seen one who just made me sit there with my mouth open and go f*** me like he did. -
@rotated said in AB Greatest 15 Rugby Pass:
@gt12 said in [AB Greatest 15 Rugby Pass]
Jones comes off the bench, with Kaino, McCaw and Zinny starting in my team. I'm only selecting players I've seen play, so Kirkpatrick isn't in the equation for me. Read was great for about one or two years, but he wasn't the athlete that Brooke was.
So was Kaino though by the same standard, no?
Am I alone in understanding Kaino and Read getting mentions, but don't think peak Kaino/McCaw/Read was that much better than peak Collins/McCaw/Rodders?
When was peak Read anyway? 2009 EOYT until the inury before the RWC or sometime during the 2012-2015 cycle?
Fuck all the way off!
Peak Kaino/MCaw/Read (2010 version ... they operated just under peak in 2011) was easily not just the best All Blac loose forward trio ever but probably the best alll time.
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Here's the highlights of the 3rd Test in '77 - one of the great AB performances. Quite a few examples of how good Robertson was from the first minute. And a last-minute drop goal Dan Carter would drool over.
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@victor-meldrew first try would have been called back today with Kirkpatrick ahead of Bruce and carried on moving forward.
Been watching plenty of old stuff recently (well, 90's and early 00's) and is noticable how quick scrums were set and how few resets, sure some descended into a shambles, but looked solid most of the time, granted on average they players were about 15kgs lighter per man than today...
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@taniwharugby said in AB Greatest 15 Rugby Pass:
Been watching plenty of old stuff recently (well, 90's and early 00's) and is noticable how quick scrums were set and how few resets, sure some descended into a shambles, but looked solid most of the time, granted on average they players were about 15kgs lighter per man than today...
It was less of a physical battle in those days and more of a contest for the ball by the hookers. The half backs actually had to put the ball in straight.....
That said, there were some big guys around then. Jazz Muller weighed in at around 19st IIRC and was seriously fast - easily outran a Welsh winger in one game.
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@victor-meldrew said in AB Greatest 15 Rugby Pass:
Here's the highlights of the 3rd Test in '77 - one of the great AB performances. Quite a few examples of how good Robertson was from the first minute. And a last-minute drop goal Dan Carter would drool over.
Hearing Keith Quinn takes me back a few years. I reckon he captured the tension perfectly.
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@dogmeat said in AB Greatest 15 Rugby Pass:
@mariner4life yeah nah. Jones was a more gifted 7 IMO.
Wilson? Who is the demented one?? None of the various Wilsons would get near a best ever XV
Not even Bevan?
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@taniwharugby said in AB Greatest 15 Rugby Pass:
@victor-meldrew first try would have been called back today with Kirkpatrick ahead of Bruce and carried on moving forward.
Been watching plenty of old stuff recently (well, 90's and early 00's) and is noticable how quick scrums were set and how few resets, sure some descended into a shambles, but looked solid most of the time, granted on average they players were about 15kgs lighter per man than today...
A few more spinal injuries in those days, which has led us to where we are now.
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@crazy-horse said in AB Greatest 15 Rugby Pass:
@victor-meldrew said in AB Greatest 15 Rugby Pass:
Here's the highlights of the 3rd Test in '77 - one of the great AB performances. Quite a few examples of how good Robertson was from the first minute. And a last-minute drop goal Dan Carter would drool over.
Hearing Keith Quinn takes me back a few years. I reckon he captured the tension perfectly.
It was a must-win game for the ABs on a Lion's tour which made the sour 2005 tour seem like happy hour. Fuck, there was some unpleasantness on that '77 tour.
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@booboo said in AB Greatest 15 Rugby Pass:
@dogmeat said in AB Greatest 15 Rugby Pass:
@mariner4life yeah nah. Jones was a more gifted 7 IMO.
Wilson? Who is the demented one?? None of the various Wilsons would get near a best ever XV
Not even Bevan?
Could have been a contender. Huge promise and maturity for a young bloke, but injuries killed his career IIRC.
