ABs that arrived ‘fully formed’
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@bones said in ABs that arrived ‘fully formed’:
Did someone say Aaron Smith was fully formed? He was pretty damn average when he first hit super rugby and not even half the player he's become when first selected for the ABs. He was just an ok halfback.
Are you sure you're not thinking of his early performances for Manawatu? My memory could be wrong, but didn't he make the All Blacks in his first year of Super Rugby? And like Damo said, he was first-choice not longer after that/
I remember him maybe being a bit helter-skelter, but his pass was just so quick that he was a definite AB selection that year.
Edit: Turns out I am wrong. He was with the Highlanders in 2011.
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@bones said in ABs that arrived ‘fully formed’:
Did someone say Aaron Smith was fully formed? He was pretty damn average when he first hit super rugby and not even half the player he's become when first selected for the ABs. He was just an ok halfback.
My first recollection of him was being massively impressed by him in an NPC game.
And frankly, with the exception of the aftermath of toiletgate, I don't recall him playing poorly after that.
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I remember Waikato being well in the lead, only to be torn apart by Manawatu when in the second half a young first five came on. He was incredible. Literally turned a game around in 20 minutes. It was Aaron Cruden.
I also was at an All Black trial in Palmeston North when Norm Hewitt thought he would take on the very green opposition winger one on one. Only to be thrown to the ground like a toy. It was Jonah Lomu he was embarrassed by.
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@victor-meldrew said in ABs that arrived ‘fully formed’:
Conrad Smith. He looked the real deal at 13 from his debut in '04 against Italy and nailed down the 13 jersey for 10 years once Tana the Captain retired.
I watched him play for NZ Universities and he was easily the best player on the park. He was so skinny that we all said something along the lines of ‘if that guy could put on 10 kegs he’ll be the starting center for the ABs’. I’ve never seen a center who just glided along like that as I was too young to see Robertson.
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@dice said in ABs that arrived ‘fully formed’:
@canefan said in ABs that arrived ‘fully formed’:
Cullen hit the ground running
It was a bit too easy for that guy.
That Test against Scotland was a doozie - one of the best you'll ever see. So much good play from both sides in that game and Gregor Townsend's try was out of this world in it's simplicity and execution
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@gt12 said in ABs that arrived ‘fully formed’:
@victor-meldrew said in ABs that arrived ‘fully formed’:
Conrad Smith. He looked the real deal at 13 from his debut in '04 against Italy and nailed down the 13 jersey for 10 years once Tana the Captain retired.
I watched him play for NZ Universities and he was easily the best player on the park. He was so skinny that we all said something along the lines of ‘if that guy could put on 10 kegs he’ll be the starting center for the ABs’. I’ve never seen a center who just glided along like that as I was too young to see Robertson.
Robertson arrived fully-formed as well. He was similar to Conrad but probably faster and a bit more skilful with the boot.
No disrespect to Frank Bunce, Tana and co, but these two were easily the best 13's I've seen in Black
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@victor-meldrew said in ABs that arrived ‘fully formed’:
Conrad Smith. He looked the real deal at 13 from his debut in '04 against Italy and nailed down the 13 jersey for 10 years once Tana the Captain retired.
Snakey was a bit in and out of the team between 04-07. Remember Henry went back to Mils and played him at centre in a number of key matches. Then Ice was used also.
His real emergence coincided with Nonu’s - in 2008 and beyond.
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@act-crusader said in ABs that arrived ‘fully formed’:
Snakey was a bit in and out of the team between 04-07. Remember Henry went back to Mils and played him at centre in a number of key matches. Then Ice was used also.
The era of the World-beating Rotation Policy...?
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@victor-meldrew said in ABs that arrived ‘fully formed’:
@act-crusader said in ABs that arrived ‘fully formed’:
Snakey was a bit in and out of the team between 04-07. Remember Henry went back to Mils and played him at centre in a number of key matches. Then Ice was used also.
The era of the World-beating Rotation Policy...?
Even so, guys like Mauger, Mils, McAllister and even Ice still racked up a big number of tests.
Snakey only played 2 tests in 04, 4 in 05, 2 in 06 and 4 in 07 (that included Portugal and Romania)
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@act-crusader said in ABs that arrived ‘fully formed’:
@victor-meldrew said in ABs that arrived ‘fully formed’:
@act-crusader said in ABs that arrived ‘fully formed’:
Snakey was a bit in and out of the team between 04-07. Remember Henry went back to Mils and played him at centre in a number of key matches. Then Ice was used also.
The era of the World-beating Rotation Policy...?
Even so, guys like Mauger, Mils, McAllister and even Ice still racked up a big number of tests.
Snakey only played 2 tests in 04, 4 in 05, 2 in 06 and 4 in 07 (that included Portugal and Romania)
Fascinating. Did Mauger & Lucky ever play at 13? Did Conrad ever play at 12 or was he a specialist 13?
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@victor-meldrew said in ABs that arrived ‘fully formed’:
@act-crusader said in ABs that arrived ‘fully formed’:
@victor-meldrew said in ABs that arrived ‘fully formed’:
@act-crusader said in ABs that arrived ‘fully formed’:
Snakey was a bit in and out of the team between 04-07. Remember Henry went back to Mils and played him at centre in a number of key matches. Then Ice was used also.
The era of the World-beating Rotation Policy...?
Even so, guys like Mauger, Mils, McAllister and even Ice still racked up a big number of tests.
Snakey only played 2 tests in 04, 4 in 05, 2 in 06 and 4 in 07 (that included Portugal and Romania)
Fascinating. Did Mauger & Lucky ever play at 13? Did Conrad ever play at 12 or was he a specialist 13?
Lucky played 3 games at 13.
Mauger had 2 games at 13. One of those was back in 2002 though.
Conrad played 1 game at 12 in 2008. The rest of his tests were at 13.
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@mikethesnow said in ABs that arrived ‘fully formed’:
@canefan said in ABs that arrived ‘fully formed’:
Cullen hit the ground running
very, very quickly
He was the guy who immediately came to my mind when I saw the thread title...
Conrad got injured a lot early in his career, I vaguely remember him breaking his leg of all things.
If we could pretend Jonah didn't debut against France, he'd be up there.
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@dice said in ABs that arrived ‘fully formed’:
@victor-meldrew said in ABs that arrived ‘fully formed’:
@act-crusader said in ABs that arrived ‘fully formed’:
@victor-meldrew said in ABs that arrived ‘fully formed’:
@act-crusader said in ABs that arrived ‘fully formed’:
Snakey was a bit in and out of the team between 04-07. Remember Henry went back to Mils and played him at centre in a number of key matches. Then Ice was used also.
The era of the World-beating Rotation Policy...?
Even so, guys like Mauger, Mils, McAllister and even Ice still racked up a big number of tests.
Snakey only played 2 tests in 04, 4 in 05, 2 in 06 and 4 in 07 (that included Portugal and Romania)
Fascinating. Did Mauger & Lucky ever play at 13? Did Conrad ever play at 12 or was he a specialist 13?
Lucky played 3 games at 13.
Mauger had 2 games at 13. One of those was back in 2002 though.
Conrad played 1 game at 12 in 2008. The rest of his tests were at 13.
Mucking about with the midfield - pretty much an AB tradition since 2002...
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Though he's been mucked about by the selectors, ALB has been Mr Consistent and pretty near world class since his debut. Hard to recall a bad game from him in Black so I guess he could be considered to have arrived fully-formed.
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@chester-draws said in ABs that arrived ‘fully formed’:
I remember Waikato being well in the lead, only to be torn apart by Manawatu when in the second half a young first five came on. He was incredible. Literally turned a game around in 20 minutes. It was Aaron Cruden.
I also was at an All Black trial in Palmeston North when Norm Hewitt thought he would take on the very green opposition winger one on one. Only to be thrown to the ground like a toy. It was Jonah Lomu he was embarrassed by.
Jonah didn't exactly shine in his first* AB games.
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