Italy vs All Blacks 2021 NH Tour
-
@mn5 said in Italy vs All Blacks 2021 NH Tour:
@nepia said in Italy vs All Blacks 2021 NH Tour:
@chris-b said in Italy vs All Blacks 2021 NH Tour:
@nepia I bet he's not (heavier).
I bet he is. His listed weight is 96kg but I reckon he's heavier than that (same as ALB), Havilli's listed weight is only 88kg but I reckon he's heavier than that too.
Bridges weight is pretty irrelevant given he’s about as sturdy as a wet pretzel in contact.
You've missed a trick.
I object to being drawn into the pile-in on George just for the sake of humour!
-
@nostrildamus Be very wary of my super powers!!!
-
@crucial said in Italy vs All Blacks 2021 NH Tour:
@kiwiwomble said in Italy vs All Blacks 2021 NH Tour:
is it just me or are a lot of these midfielders becoming a little precious with which position they play (12 or 13), in my mind they are much more similar position than 10 and 15, 15 and 14 or 7,8,6 but we have lots of players that are happy to move between these positions
In can be a similar position or can be quite different depending on style of play.
You can have a 12 that is a true 2nd5 or a 12 that is a centre.
Then even with 2 centres you can have a dedicated straightener and a distributor or line-runner OR you can have both players being adept at both. Generally though the 12 plays straighter in that scenario and the 13 is better at getting around the corner and distributing to the wing with good timing.
The defence roles and judgement can be quite different as well. There are definitely 12s that don't make good 13s and vice-versa.
10 and 15 are similar in that they both need good kicking from hand and both need to be quick decision makers and readers of what is in front of them at all distances.
Current thinking in UK seems to be that it's good to have the banger (Tuilagi) at 13, the logic being that at 12 they are running into large flankers, but at 13 will face a weedy back!
-
@nostrildamus said in Italy vs All Blacks 2021 NH Tour:
Looking forward to this game, it could be prosecco rugby. Plenty of scoring opportunities for our lightning #11, Bascule Bridge.
Funny, if there's a game I don't look forward to it's Italy. They're just so uninspiring and spoiling. We tend to play down to their level.
Will watch of course. Live. But Italy have an amazing ability to suck the life from a game.
-
-
@mariner4life said in Italy vs All Blacks 2021 NH Tour:
@kiwiwomble said in Italy vs All Blacks 2021 NH Tour:
is it just me or are a lot of these midfielders becoming a little precious with which position they play (12 or 13), in my mind they are much more similar position than 10 and 15, 15 and 14 or 7,8,6 but we have lots of players that are happy to move between these positions
spoken like a true front row forward
I am pretty much of the opposite opinion. There appears to be far too little specialisation in NZ rugby currently. We've got 10s that play 15, 15s playing 12, 15s that people want to play 12, 11s at 13, a plethora of "6.5s" caused by them playing all 3 loosie positions and filling in at lock.
Supe Rugby has to take a lot of the blame, it's open and loose so coaches can just pick the 15 best players and let her rip. Then the national coaches sort of follow on.
Given the emergence of the importance of the bench as opposed to ‘only the XV play’ era, versatility has been valued. You’d think players see their chances of playing test footy increase if they can play a bit of this and a bit of that.
-
@profitius said in Italy vs All Blacks 2021 NH Tour:
Look out for Garbisi, Minozzi. backrow is decent.
Yes. he's a class act. Would be outstanding in a decent team.
-
@machpants said in Italy vs All Blacks 2021 NH Tour:
No way I'm watching live at 2am
Come on old man I'm sure you've got plenty of years left with the right positive attitude!
-
@act-crusader said in Italy vs All Blacks 2021 NH Tour:
@mariner4life said in Italy vs All Blacks 2021 NH Tour:
@kiwiwomble said in Italy vs All Blacks 2021 NH Tour:
is it just me or are a lot of these midfielders becoming a little precious with which position they play (12 or 13), in my mind they are much more similar position than 10 and 15, 15 and 14 or 7,8,6 but we have lots of players that are happy to move between these positions
spoken like a true front row forward
I am pretty much of the opposite opinion. There appears to be far too little specialisation in NZ rugby currently. We've got 10s that play 15, 15s playing 12, 15s that people want to play 12, 11s at 13, a plethora of "6.5s" caused by them playing all 3 loosie positions and filling in at lock.
Supe Rugby has to take a lot of the blame, it's open and loose so coaches can just pick the 15 best players and let her rip. Then the national coaches sort of follow on.
Given the emergence of the importance of the bench as opposed to ‘only the XV play’ era, versatility has been valued. You’d think players see their chances of playing test footy increase if they can play a bit of this and a bit of that.
Yeah if you are excellent at a couple of positions like Ben smith at fb and right wing I don’t see a problem.
It’s when you are a jack of all trades master of none that it doesn’t look that impressive.
-
The 2015 team was the best I have ever seen. Pretty much everyone was a specialist who played the same position every week.
The 1996 team was about the same.
Guys could play elsewhere, but they rarely did
Now they play a different position every frikken week and no one seems to know which their best position is, including the selectors.
-
@mariner4life said in Italy vs All Blacks 2021 NH Tour:
The 2015 team was the best I have ever seen. Pretty much everyone was a specialist who played the same position every week.
The 1996 team was about the same.
Guys could play elsewhere, but they rarely did
Now they play a different position every frikken week and no one seems to know which their best position is, including the selectors.
A bit of a unicorn team that 2015 outfit. How many centurians in there? To get to that point some of those players were tried in different positions earlier in their careers - Read at 6, Kaino at 8 and lock, Nonu at 13 and wing
Then the bench had guys like Beaudie (10,15 and even played wing) Sonny Bill (12,13 and wing), Vito (lock/blindside/8) and Cane (7 and 6).
Given we are a relatively young side today I’m not surprised we are seeing a bit of variation and experimenting with combinations and positions.
-
I'm watching this and hopefully drinking as well.
There's nothing like shouting some choice words in Italian at your own side (or the opposition).
I imagine cussing in Welsh would be good as well..trouble is, how do you pronounce it?