All Blacks v England
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G. Bower, C. Taylor, F. Newell, T. Chief, S. Whitelock, S. Barrett, B. Harmon, T. Cane, T. Lander, R. Mo’unga, L. Fainga’anuku, B. Ennor, T. Blue, S. Reece, J. Barrett
Good balanced side. Plenty of grunt and hard workers up front and size in the backs.
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@Bones I concede that Ofa is not as good as a couple of years ago. Don't remember Newell carting it up with any substantial impact and just an observation. Always willing to be corrected especially if I've offended those Cantabs who think everything forward must wear black and red.
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@broughie said in All Blacks v England:
@Bones I concede that Ofa is not as good as a couple of years ago. Don't remember Newell carting it up with any substantial impact and just an observation. Always willing to be corrected especially if I've offended those Cantabs who think everything forward must wear black and red.
Ofa is in the same category as Clarke, that away win against the Crusaders he was running like a back and powering through people at will. Never seen him so mobile.
Both seem to have struggled in the AB camp to being their Super form back to Test level. Part of that may be returning from injury, or just confidence, but the difference is marked.
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@Bones said in All Blacks v England:
@Kirwan ahhh...so both should have played both games for the ABXV?
No, neither have been playing as badly as some have mentioned on here.
There is a nexus of negativity infecting some posters at the moment, they need a glass of enjoy your fucking sport.
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@Bones said in All Blacks v England:
@Kirwan some posters eh! Disgraceful, very similar to those pesky some people.
Clarke has been worse than Havili, you don't seem to have a problem with negativity towards him. Go figure.
Ofa is well worth keeping though.
Perhaps, Clarke has been more rocks and diamonds though - part of the reason it's been frustrating to watch him. He'll do an amazing take, or a 60min break, then fuck it up.
DH has been just really ineffective. That said, I still think DH should be in the WC squad, covering 10-15 similar to JB is just too useful. I just think he's the third best 12 in the squad now, and not a great bench option.
As for Clarke, he's so close to clicking and when he does we don't have other wingers with his good attributes, so I see why they are sticking with him. Reece has had his opportunity to take his spot and did....nothing.
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@Kirwan there's more and more rocks. I think his performance recently has probably been on a par to what saw Faingaanuku dropped, I'd be very tempted to give Leicester another go.
But I've said before I think Clarke has free reign to find something until the world cup selection.
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@Bones said in All Blacks v England:
@Kirwan there's more and more rocks. I think his performance recently has probably been on a par to what saw Faingaanuku dropped, I'd be very tempted to give Leicester another go.
But I've said before I think Clarke has free reign to find something until the world cup selection.
That's the negativity nexus again, he's still doing plenty well - but people just talk about the mistakes - which is fine, but I'm happy to point out the positive and hope he sorts out whatever is going on with his balance.
I kind of think that Foster needs to tell him to be super selfish, sort of like Cullen, and if it's 1 on 1 don't look to link up just run over/around the defender.
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@Kirwan cool, I'll look forward to hearing the positives, although I'd prefer to see them.
Does this nexus only work if it's a blues/Auckland player? Might just be me that finds it ironic to bemoan people telling people where to post, then bemoan the nexus and that people need to enjoy their sport... or just not criticise the boys in blue eh.
I really enjoyed Rieko and Telea on Sunday, is that another nexus?
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@Kirwan said in All Blacks v England:
@Bones said in All Blacks v England:
@Kirwan there's more and more rocks. I think his performance recently has probably been on a par to what saw Faingaanuku dropped, I'd be very tempted to give Leicester another go.
But I've said before I think Clarke has free reign to find something until the world cup selection.
That's the negativity nexus again, he's still doing plenty well - but people just talk about the mistakes - which is fine, but I'm happy to point out the positive and hope he sorts out whatever is going on with his balance.
I kind of think that Foster needs to tell him to be super selfish, sort of like Cullen, and if it's 1 on 1 don't look to link up just run over/around the defender.
Yeah agree, when I saw him at Eden Park a few years (?) back absolutely demolish the Wallabies he was running hard and not looking for support until he felt he needed it. It does feel to me the coaches are over complicating things for him both on attack and defense and he's getting caught in two minds too often. He's not meant to be a play maker that puts other people away, he's meant to be our power winger that smashes through people and sets up the next play if he can't get all the way to the line.
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@Kirwan said in All Blacks v England:
@Bones said in All Blacks v England:
@Kirwan there's more and more rocks. I think his performance recently has probably been on a par to what saw Faingaanuku dropped, I'd be very tempted to give Leicester another go.
But I've said before I think Clarke has free reign to find something until the world cup selection.
That's the negativity nexus again, he's still doing plenty well - but people just talk about the mistakes - which is fine, but I'm happy to point out the positive and hope he sorts out whatever is going on with his balance.
I kind of think that Foster needs to tell him to be super selfish, sort of like Cullen, and if it's 1 on 1 don't look to link up just run over/around the defender.
I agree with your last sentence, that's what I was getting at earlier when I said I'd actually be ok if he was just hungus and not a great linker.
But when you take the attacking lapses with the now multiple defensive errors, it's hard to keep justifying his place. In a RWC knock out game, one of those defensive errors can mean a game and an exit. That's not to say all the guys will be perfect always, but he's made enough errors now to suggest he's more prone than most
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@Bones said in All Blacks v England:
@Kirwan cool, I'll look forward to hearing the positives, although I'd prefer to see them.
Does this nexus only work if it's a blues/Auckland player? Might just be me that finds it ironic to bemoan people telling people where to post, then bemoan the nexus and that people need to enjoy their sport... or just not criticise the boys in blue eh.
I really enjoyed Rieko and Telea on Sunday, is that another nexus?
Putting words into my mouth to make your point is bit childish.
It's been pretty noticable how negative the site in general has been, just pointing out the glass is half full and backing it up with my observations/opinions. Feel free to keep disagreeing, but it would ne nice if was more than a pithy comment to crack yourself up, and talked about the actual game/player.
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@voodoo said in All Blacks v England:
@Kirwan said in All Blacks v England:
@Bones said in All Blacks v England:
@Kirwan there's more and more rocks. I think his performance recently has probably been on a par to what saw Faingaanuku dropped, I'd be very tempted to give Leicester another go.
But I've said before I think Clarke has free reign to find something until the world cup selection.
That's the negativity nexus again, he's still doing plenty well - but people just talk about the mistakes - which is fine, but I'm happy to point out the positive and hope he sorts out whatever is going on with his balance.
I kind of think that Foster needs to tell him to be super selfish, sort of like Cullen, and if it's 1 on 1 don't look to link up just run over/around the defender.
I agree with your last sentence, that's what I was getting at earlier when I said I'd actually be ok if he was just hungus and not a great linker.
But when you take the attacking lapses with the now multiple defensive errors, it's hard to keep justifying his place. In a RWC knock out game, one of those defensive errors can mean a game and an exit. That's not to say all the guys will be perfect always, but he's made enough errors now to suggest he's more prone than most
Yep, he definitely needs to improve. But also, the person replacing him has to be better. In this squad that's Reece or Reiko - and Reiko is also the best centre so not really an option. Last game Reece was disappointing too, and also a different style of player.
With Telea able to play a more powerful/physical wing style it might open the door for Reece at 11 again, but others seem to think it's too much of a risk to play him. Personally I think you should reward good games and pick him again.
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@Kirwan said in All Blacks v England:
There is a nexus of negativity infecting some posters at the moment, they need a glass of enjoy your fucking sport.
funnily enough, that is exactly why I havent watched a full AB game since the Irish test series, lack of enjoyment...I have only watched highlights of the northern tour games, but watched the full AB XV games, watched numerous BF games, only because I had stopped enjoying watching the ABs play at the moment, so though the best way to deal with that, was stop watching.
I still enjoy watching rugby, but am more picky about what I am watching.
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