All Blacks squad - The Rugby Championship
-
@Kiwiwomble said in All Blacks squad - The Rugby Championship:
PGS did nothing to warrant being dropped
A few other players could've been dropped too, but PGS earned his demotion
The lady hitter wouldn't have been my pick to replace him. However I think he got selected because he already has a few caps and they are running out of Tests to blood someone before the RWC (I disagree with this position too)
-
@nostrildamus I've written plenty about Leicester already. One for the future.
-
-
-
@KiwiMurph said in All Blacks squad - The Rugby Championship:
They recalled Frizell for a reason.
PGS getting dropped and Dalton having a shocker at 6 when he was considered one of the top 3 options at blindside.
I doubt we'll see Dalton start at 6 again anytime soon
-
@Chris-B said in All Blacks squad - The Rugby Championship:
Wouldn't surprise me to see Scott Barrett at 6
so you starting SW and PT?
Not sure playing SB at 6 helps combat the Boks physicality of you push PT to lock, Vaai is an option, but for me you play SB at lock, and Akira at 6.
But will be interesting to see how Ryan plays it, especially with his familiarity with CT, SW & SB...maybe he might get some fire out of Taylor?
-
On the midfield size thing in regards stopping Kerevi, I don’t actually think JBs height helps him in that respect. I think one of the more compact players have a better chance of knocking him back. Sammy T never had a problem knocking big guys over and he was a midget.
-
@Nepia said in All Blacks squad - The Rugby Championship:
On the midfield size thing in regards stopping Kerevi, I don’t actually think JBs height helps him in that respect. I think one of the more compact players have a better chance of knocking him back. Sammy T never had a problem knocking big guys over and he was a midget.
Jordie may well be 105kg but it’s less impressive when you’re about 25 feet tall.
His nickname is Udon, not Arnie.
-
@Chris-B said in All Blacks squad - The Rugby Championship:
Wouldn't surprise me to see Scott Barrett at 6. They will be worried about countering the Bok's size and physicality.
But, it's a difficult team to predict, because this will be Ryan's forward pack, rather than Plumtree's - and there's questions about whether they "give the boys another chance to put things right", or there's a significant change of tack.
My guess is the former, but a clear loss would surely necessitate a significant change of course.
FFS the last time they did that was 2019. It doesn’t work. SB ain’t a 6 and as I keep saying for all the Fern hype around him in the Irish series he missed a number of tackles, turned over ball, and is still the AB most likely to have a brain fart.
-
Personally, I think if they don’t give the 6 jersey to Akira here, then he's never going to be seen as the option and may as well not be picked. If they don't trust him to back up after Ireland and play well in SA, I can't see how he is going to get chances to go deep at a WC.
I'm really intrigued about how Ryan will influence the selection of the forwards, he may not be a selector but he should be a/then main voice for selecting the forwards in the 23 (based on the game plan as decided by the coaches and leadership group).
-
@Duluth said in All Blacks squad - The Rugby Championship:
@Kiwiwomble said in All Blacks squad - The Rugby Championship:
@mariner4life said in All Blacks squad - The Rugby Championship:
@No-Quarter said in All Blacks squad - The Rugby Championship:
I'd be shocked if they were to pick the failed Frizzel ahead of him
unfortunately i would not
me neither, i would almost put money on friz starting
The woman beater/coward punch thrower didn't make the original squad. I don't think he's leap frogged a bunch of people. He's the replacement for the dropped PGS
Wasn't he unavailable through injury (or not fully fit)? Only came off the bench in the quarter-final after 8 weeks off.
-
@Crucial he did have an injury earlier in the season but was supposably back fully fit by the time the squad was selected
-
@Kiwiwomble said in All Blacks squad - The Rugby Championship:
@Crucial he did have an injury earlier in the season but was supposably back fully fit by the time the squad was selected
Yeah, came back via the bench in the last game as mentioned. Given the quick turnaround before the squad announcement maybe he didn't warrant the risk of going in cold. ABs fitness requirements would likely have been tougher than Highlanders injury impacted team as well. Might have been told to produce the numbers (like DeGroot)
-
@No-Quarter said in All Blacks squad - The Rugby Championship:
Akira has been one of the shining lights of the ABs recently. He was instrumental in getting us back in the game against the French last year - he, ST and SB starting hitting it up close in and got us awesome go forward. For me he's the incumbent 6, and I'd be shocked if they were to pick the failed Frizzel ahead of him. I'd say they see Frizzel as someone who technically has similar physical attributes to Akira (though has never shown it at test level) so could cover in case of injury.
The same coaching masterminds that decided Samisoni could miss the deciding test of the series against Ireland to give all the hookers a run like they were handing out participation medals?
-
@Chris-B said in All Blacks squad - The Rugby Championship:
Wouldn't surprise me to see Scott Barrett at 6. They will be worried about countering the Bok's size and physicality.
But, it's a difficult team to predict, because this will be Ryan's forward pack, rather than Plumtree's - and there's questions about whether they "give the boys another chance to put things right", or there's a significant change of tack.
My guess is the former, but a clear loss would surely necessitate a significant change of course.
I hope Ryan picks his forwards. It might mean more Crusaders but then if they get dominated no excuses.
-
@Crucial said in All Blacks squad - The Rugby Championship:
@Kiwiwomble said in All Blacks squad - The Rugby Championship:
@Crucial he did have an injury earlier in the season but was supposably back fully fit by the time the squad was selected
Yeah, came back via the bench in the last game as mentioned. Given the quick turnaround before the squad announcement maybe he didn't warrant the risk of going in cold. ABs fitness requirements would likely have been tougher than Highlanders injury impacted team as well. Might have been told to produce the numbers (like DeGroot)
Yep - and you wonder what rugby he's been playing since. He was slated to play half a game in the Mako pre-season vs Canterbury. May have played a couple of club games.
I'd be surprised to see him in the 6 jersey. Less surprised to see him on the bench.
We are going to need to solve our lineout wobbles from the previous match though.
-
-
@Kirwan I'm only suggesting that it won't surprise me to see Scott at 6 - largely to combat the Bok lineout. If Retallick were available, I'd think it quite likely. I certainly think it's more likely than Frizell at 6.
Most likely though, they'll stick with Akira.
Even if we play Barrett there (and Vaai at lock), we are going to be giving away height to each of the three tallest Boks, so we've got challenges. And I'm sure our lineout problems won't have escaped the Bok coaches.
