Openside flankers
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@stargazer said in Openside flankers:
@nepia Not tier 2, but tier 3: Samoa.
Oh, is his Mum Samoan and Maori?
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@chris-b said in Openside flankers:
Given M4L's comment about 7 being our signature position - which I think nails it - it's quite surprising the number of guys who weren't really 7s who played tests there. Maybe guys like Zinzan started out as 7s - I can't remember now.
From that list - Blackadder, Thomson, Masoe to an extent, Rodney, Razor, Blowers, Taine, Barry, Zinny, Schuler (I think?), Joseph, Brewer.
Agree with that list, although I actually thought Rodders was a natural 7 when he started out, especially with his 7s background and high work rate.
He did bulk a bit and then became a specialist clean out master. Plus there were other 7 options at Wellington that almost forced the coaches hand.
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I had to go back and double check because I thought Messam may have started a test/game at openside, but he didn’t. He replaced McCaw once off the bench and covered 7.
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@stargazer said in Openside flankers:
@nepia Only Samoan as far as I know.
Karl played for NZ Māori. He also has distinctive tā moko, as does his little brother.
Don't know if they're Samoan honestly.
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@mn5 said in Openside flankers:
Liam Barry
I can't believe i had to scroll halfway down this thread before someone finally mentioned Liam Barry. He was as good as any of the blokes on the 'unlucky to be around when we had another gun' list and could have played a lot of tests otherwise. I think he debuted against France on the EOYT in 1995 and impressed immediately. But I don't remember what happened after that for his career to fizzle out rather quickly? By the SA tour the next year he'd been overtaken by Andrew Blowers I think, and I don't even recall him playing much if any SR?
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@mariner4life said in Openside flankers:
@taniwharugby said in Openside flankers:
@mariner4life I remember the 2005 Lions tour, and I was playing Fantasy Rugby where you picked players, I always had a Kiwi 7 in each of the games...Herring, Bradnock etc they all raked in loads of points I finished 3rd in the whole wide world for that one...
@Duluth and he had heart valve issues too!
I'll always remember the Planet Rugby awards for the 2005 Lions tour and they gave Nili Latu the Provincial Player of the tour as he set the scene for every team the Lions played having a gun 7 to overcome
Who did Manawatu have lighting it up in their 100 point drubbing?
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@bovidae said in Openside flankers:
@gt12 In the professional era the Cantabs will probably say Angus Gardiner.
Rated by MANY former Crusaders as the unluckiest team mate not to have worn the black jersey.
There was also a chap called Greg Smith who he duelled with at Canterbury for a year or two in much the same fashion as the Hammett vs Sexton battle. Smith was possibly even better.
Anyone mentioned Dallas Seymour??
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@shark said in Openside flankers:
@mariner4life said in Openside flankers:
@taniwharugby said in Openside flankers:
@mariner4life I remember the 2005 Lions tour, and I was playing Fantasy Rugby where you picked players, I always had a Kiwi 7 in each of the games...Herring, Bradnock etc they all raked in loads of points I finished 3rd in the whole wide world for that one...
@Duluth and he had heart valve issues too!
I'll always remember the Planet Rugby awards for the 2005 Lions tour and they gave Nili Latu the Provincial Player of the tour as he set the scene for every team the Lions played having a gun 7 to overcome
Who did Manawatu have lighting it up in their 100 point drubbing?
Josh Bradnock as TR mentioned. He wasn't in the same class as others 7s that were prominent in that tour but still gave a very good account of himself.
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@shark said in Openside flankers:
@mn5 said in Openside flankers:
Liam Barry
I can't believe i had to scroll halfway down this thread before someone finally mentioned Liam Barry. He was as good as any of the blokes on the 'unlucky to be around when we had another gun' list and could have played a lot of tests otherwise. I think he debuted against France on the EOYT in 1995 and impressed immediately.
Barry debuted on the 1993 EOYT. You may remember the controversy with Mains.
On his first tour with the All Blacks Liam Barry became the innocent participant in a major controversy. Coach Laurie Mains brought Mike Brewer into his squad for the latter part of the tour even though he had been originally unavailable for business reasons and was in Britain at the time for that purpose. When Brewer was brought in as a reserve for the international against England and especially when he took the field as a replacement against the Barbarians in the tour finale it caused a storm of protest, especially in New Zealand. This was because he had been preferrred to official selections in the team in Barry and also John Mitchell.
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@shark When Hart chose the 96 squad to tour SA he said Barry was the unluckiest not to have been chosen. I suspect Ginge Henderson got the nod for his leadership abilities given it was a proper tour with mid week games.
Barry then got injured and didn't play again that year. Saw the writing on the wall, fucked off to Japan for 5 years. Came back in 2001 and got injured again so finished his playing career back in the less physical Japanese league
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Interestingly, on Barry, I had in mind that he was mainly a 6 - but, his AB profile says....
Barry, though tall and rangy and not as closely built to the ground as some other specialists such as his contemporary Josh Kronfeld, played for much of his career as an openside flanker.
And a quick glance indicates he played all but one of his AB games as a 7.
But, he was apparently 1.94 metres tall, which you'd have thought would have seen him instantly on the blindside - especially in those days.
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@chimoaus said in Openside flankers:
Bugger missed the quiz, great list and I appreciate the time putting it together, would be great to get another quiz/thread going for another position perhaps.
I’m pretty sure I’ve done the research on the last 30 ABs to play hooker. I’ll try and dig it up.
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@chris-b said in Openside flankers:
Interestingly, on Barry, I had in mind that he was mainly a 6 - but, his AB profile says....
Barry, though tall and rangy and not as closely built to the ground as some other specialists such as his contemporary Josh Kronfeld, played for much of his career as an openside flanker.
And a quick glance indicates he played all but one of his AB games as a 7.
But, he was apparently 1.94 metres tall, which you'd have thought would have seen him instantly on the blindside - especially in those days.
Well, according to you everyone was a midget back then
My only memory of Liam Barry was on the news being interviewed cos he Dad and Granddad were All Blacks. No pressure on any kids he may have had then !
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Doing a little bit of research of guys who pre-date my rugby watching - I think Graham Williams might have been our first genuine openside flanker. It would be interesting to know whether they set up as blindside and openside with him (or others).
After him, they went back to pairs of bigger tight pairings for a couple of years with Kirkpatrick paired with people like Tom Lister and Grizz.
Then Alan McNaughton is actually listed as an openside - but in his three tests played in 6 twice and 7 once - maybe indicating that the players knew what they were doing, but not the guys handing out the jerseys. They picked him for three 1971 Lions tests hoping his speed off the back of the lineout would pressure Barry John.
A bit later, it seems Alistair Scown was probably pretty mobile, but still pretty big - probably a proper openside.
And then Ken Stewart.
Other opensides not yet mentioned (I think), Geoff Hines and Stu Cron.
