All Blacks v England
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@Dan54 said in All Blacks v England:
@Victor-Meldrew said in All Blacks v England:
@Steve said in All Blacks v England:
@Victor-Meldrew said in All Blacks v England:
@Steve said in All Blacks v England:
A reserve 9 who was launched out of the squad as yesterdays man and is now back in the squad.
Makes perfect sense to me. Fakatava getting injured reduced his options for the 3rd halfback role. Christie wasn't that flash last week & TJP grabbed his chance & did pretty well.
But hadn't Weber usurped him at some time this year? If I recall correctly?
Christie, Favakata & now TJP have usurped Weber
I actually think TJ and Weber have surpassed Christie and Fakatava, and would be close to WC selection next year.
Not Weber ffs. He was hopelessly ineffective in the ABs XV v Baabaas match. Got spectacularly ragdolled and his passing was slow and laboured. The contrast when Ratima came on was stark. Offered so much more - variation in attack, better options on defence.
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I think with the halfbacks they are all players that have fluctuating form. Good idea to keep them all floating around and when needed select whoever is on form. Apart from Fakatava they all now have the experience to drop into the team. TJ is riding a high at the moment but earlier in the year he looked ready for pasture. He was terrible for NZM. Weber had a good spell in Super and early NPC then faded. Christie looked an adequate sub for most of the year but has deteriorated as the year has gone on.
I wouldn't be making RWC plans on any single one of them yet. -
@Crucial said in All Blacks v England:
I think with the halfbacks they are all players that have fluctuating form. Good idea to keep them all floating around and when needed select whoever is on form. Apart from Fakatava they all now have the experience to drop into the team. TJ is riding a high at the moment but earlier in the year he looked ready for pasture. He was terrible for NZM. Weber had a good spell in Super and early NPC then faded. Christie looked an adequate sub for most of the year but has deteriorated as the year has gone on.
I wouldn't be making RWC plans on any single one of them yet.Agree that’s going to be completely up to who is travelling the best come WC selection time.
Apart from Smith the other 2 HB spots are anyone’s to grab .
I would not be surprised to see a bolter make it we see one come out of the woodwork at WC time. -
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@Jailbreak7 Ok mate, to be honest I haven't watched Baabaas game, which is incredible in this household. Just ran out of time monady and haven't really spent the time to watch as yet.
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Cant see the point of Sotutu as a bench option, unless it is to confuse England, and / or give all the squad a run. Would rather have had Harmon, - think this type of brutal forward-oriented game would really suit him,
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@Dan54 said in All Blacks v England:
@Chris yep would be happy to see a bolter come out, Ratima or someone have Super to make a mark I guessing.
It would have to come out of SR I would think.
Ratima springs to mind Roigard maybe I would like to see a real running threat selected to add a point of difference. -
@Jailbreak7 said in All Blacks v England:
Cant see the point of Sotutu as a bench option, unless it is to confuse England, and / or give all the squad a run. Would rather have had Harmon, - think this type of brutal forward-oriented game would really suit him,
It’s a strange one has Akira fallen back in the pecking order now or is it a horses for courses selection.
Blackadder and I suppose Grace come back into the selection mix next year a few to select from.
MMT also looks like he could be worth a look. -
@Jailbreak7 said in All Blacks v England:
Cant see the point of Sotutu as a bench option, unless it is to confuse England, and / or give all the squad a run. Would rather have had Harmon, - think this type of brutal forward-oriented game would really suit him,
I think he's pure injury cover. They expect Ardie to play 80mins as he always does, and if he gets injured it's a like for like with Hoskins. If Paps goes down, Ardie shifts to 7 and Hoskins to 8.
It's a little luxury of having Ardies massive motor that we can afford to have a specialist 8 on the bench.
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Rate our forward pack now. All 8 need to be on song. Unbelievable quite frankly compared to the start of the year.
Come on, lets do this.
Amped -
Accuracy
Discipline
Patience -
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Well my team guess wasn't too far away in the starting line up, only Telea leapfrogging Reece, was missed. My bench guess was off though. Im not sure what they are thinking about impact in the backs? Curiously is Reece is injured, just seems weird to have both DH and ALB there on the bench, one I can understand both suggest maybe injuries in squad?
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the bench selection really is quite weird. There are at least two guys there who are old fashioned reserves.
Start up front, to bring the 6 on, in all likelihood it results in the blindside moving to lock.
If Sotutu comes on, it's probably for DP, which means Savea moves to 7In the backs:
If Mounga is having a stinker and you want to tow him, you have to move your 15 to 10, your 12 to 15, and bring on a midfielder.
If a winger goes down you have to move your centre.I absolutely fucking hate having to make 2 or more changes to swap one player. "Positionless" rugby has been tried a few times and it fucking doesn't work because rugby teams are about guys in certain positions doing certain jobs. And it's very very difficult, even for elite players, to swap roles mid-game, especially under the fatigue of a high-intensity test match.
My only quibbles in the run-on side is i would have started Sami T (but i can see the logic in bringing him in later) and i still believe we are turning our current form lock around the track into an adequate blindside.
I still think we'll win though, the above are minor quibbles. And just another case of "that's not how i would do it so you suck" which infests this place.
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This post is deleted!
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@voodoo said in All Blacks v England:
@Jailbreak7 said in All Blacks v England:
Cant see the point of Sotutu as a bench option, unless it is to confuse England, and / or give all the squad a run. Would rather have had Harmon, - think this type of brutal forward-oriented game would really suit him,
I think he's pure injury cover. They expect Ardie to play 80mins as he always does, and if he gets injured it's a like for like with Hoskins. If Paps goes down, Ardie shifts to 7 and Hoskins to 8.
It's a little luxury of having Ardies massive motor that we can afford to have a specialist 8 on the bench.
Also offers lineout change up.
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@mariner4life I can see impact in our bench forwards and halfback and then as you mention it looks confused.
Im not so sure if we win well, but looking forward to this. The majority of that forward pack will have 2019 on their mind, that in itself should make for a great contest. I hope we win, but I think this will be close either way, I don't think England's recent performances matter, they will be just as much up for this as we are.
