All Blacks 2022
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@nzbloke
And what you'd think of midweek matches against teams like the English Saxons, Ireland A or the French Barbarians ? -
@cgrant said in All Blacks 2022:
@nzbloke
And what you'd think of midweek matches against teams like the English Saxons, Ireland A or the French Barbarians ?I don't think midweek games are even worth thinking about against anyone, and teams like Ireland A, Saxons etc even worse, I remember when ABs would play French selections , not ideal.
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@cgrant said in All Blacks 2022:
@nzbloke
And what you'd think of midweek matches against teams like the English Saxons, Ireland A or the French Barbarians ?much like we dont need more competitions, we dont need more teams (IMHO), playing against club team mid week contributes to the history..or even mana if you will.. of these existing teams...which is good for rugby...much less so for these teams that end up getting cobbled together
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@kiwiwomble said in All Blacks 2022:
@cgrant said in All Blacks 2022:
@nzbloke
And what you'd think of midweek matches against teams like the English Saxons, Ireland A or the French Barbarians ?much like we dont need more competitions, we dont need more teams (IMHO), playing against club team mid week contributes to the history..or even mana if you will.. of these existing teams...which is good for rugby...much less so for these teams that end up getting cobbled together
Part of it is only about past history, what it does is gives midweek players a better chance of earning a spot in the top AB squad between tests... pretty big squads are taken on tours anyway, so adding a few more isn't going to make much diff, also midweek matches don't have to be played on every tour.
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@nzbloke yeah, i'd agreed midweek games were good for the touring team, the comment was just about who they play
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@dan54 said in All Blacks 2022:
@cgrant said in All Blacks 2022:
@nzbloke
And what you'd think of midweek matches against teams like the English Saxons, Ireland A or the French Barbarians ?I don't think midweek games are even worth thinking about against anyone, and teams like Ireland A, Saxons etc even worse, I remember when ABs would play French selections , not ideal.
It has to be predominantly club teams. Not composite teams.
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@dan54 said in All Blacks 2022:
@cgrant said in All Blacks 2022:
@nzbloke
And what you'd think of midweek matches against teams like the English Saxons, Ireland A or the French Barbarians ?I don't think midweek games are even worth thinking about against anyone, and teams like Ireland A, Saxons etc even worse, I remember when ABs would play French selections , not ideal.
It has to be predominantly club teams. Not composite teams.
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@kiwiwomble said in All Blacks 2022:
@nzbloke yeah, i'd agreed midweek games were good for the touring team, the comment was just about who they play
They'd have to play against the really top club teams in the UK etc
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@nzbloke ...literally what i said
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@kiwiwomble said in All Blacks 2022:
@nzbloke ...literally what i said
We have mentioned that before anyway, no bloody good playing the weaker clubs, the midweek players get no benefit out of it
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@cgrant said in All Blacks 2022:
I made the proposal of composite teams because the clubs would be reluctant to add a midweek game to their heavy schedule. If they have to, they would probably field a "B" team.
That is the spectre of the pro game. No one plays for the glory anymore. Even if the players wanted to the owners won't want to risk their valuable assets in a non league game
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Dan, the limited value we would get out of them probably means they are not worth doing.
I see value in dirtrackers playing NH sides but the difficulty in agreeing terms with a club, strength of opposition, ABs taking an enlarged squad for these games means it would be hard to justify.
I think at the moment, we have a lot of players who are inexperienced in playing international rugby up north so it may be worth a short term benefit until normal service resumes (which should be now tbh)
Personally think we have enough to worry about with shoehorning enough experience into players like Blackadder, De Groot, Papalii and Tukehui plus others to worry about their tier below them just yet.
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@dagrubster said in All Blacks 2022:
Dan, the limited value we would get out of them probably means they are not worth doing.
I see value in dirtrackers playing NH sides but the difficulty in agreeing terms with a club, strength of opposition, ABs taking an enlarged squad for these games means it would be hard to justify.
I think at the moment, we have a lot of players who are inexperienced in playing international rugby up north so it may be worth a short term benefit until normal service resumes (which should be now tbh)
Personally think we have enough to worry about with shoehorning enough experience into players like Blackadder, De Groot, Papalii and Tukehui plus others to worry about their tier below them just yet.
Agree, though I not sure if playing against club teams will give them a lot of experience at playing test teams, just gives them experience at playing along side other second string ABs. I wonder if there would not be more value in getting NZ Áá going and them playing USA,Canada etc etc.
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USA and Canada would probably lose to a top European side shorn of their internationals.
I see value in NZA touring the nth hemisphere clubs. Let’s face it, rugby in the north is leading the way at the moment so there would be a lot of value in getting that exposure for NZ players who have probably only played against NZ and Aus super rugby sides to date…
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@dagrubster said in All Blacks 2022:
USA and Canada would probably lose to a top European side shorn of their internationals.
I see value in NZA touring the nth hemisphere clubs. Let’s face it, rugby in the north is leading the way at the moment so there would be a lot of value in getting that exposure for NZ players who have probably only played against NZ and Aus super rugby sides to date…
Mate I couldn't agree more about the strength of Clubs sides in Europe, hell I watch games every week, I thinking more of the good of international rugby, ie USA, Canada etc.
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I see Oli Jäger made the team of the week.
What are the chances of him being called up in July?
And by whom!? Would he choose the ABs over Ireland?
