RWC squads 2023
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@nostrildamus said in RWC squads 2023:
@nzzp said in RWC squads 2023:
@MN5 said in RWC squads 2023:
SBW isn’t happy
SBW analysis is:
- I'm mates with Quade
- Quade was dropped
- Therefore, Eddy has lost the plot
Seriously, if he's got Rugby reasons that are more than that I'd be astonished
Williams, a former All Black who was part of New Zealand’s 2011 and 2015 Rugby World Cup victories, claims Jones has made a huge mistake by leaving the experience and world-class abilities of Hooper and Cooper behind.experience tick
world-class on current form question markI saw Hooper on GBRA pod and I think the years of putting it all on the line and having to give interviews when his teammates didn’t show up finally got to him in Argentina last year, and I doubt he’s got anything left in the tank.
Listened to Quade at pressers and watching him speak to team after Bled1 loss I’d say he’s got a huge amount of value to the squad, even if his form isn’t 100%.
McDermott is excellent skipper, but Skelton has always struck me as a meathead.
Wondering if something’s gone down and Eddie has reacted with the axe? -
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@KiwiMurph said in RWC squads 2023:
This is a really good read explaining Eddie's thinking
It's not like Jones has just dumped a whole lot of older, out of form players and replaced them with in-form ones though.
Yes, guys like Hooper (and potentially QC) probably don't deserve to be heading to France on form, but does Suliasi Vunivalu? What about Ben Donaldson? There are still plenty of players in the team with question marks over their form, and they don't have the pedigree to fall back on.
Max Jorgenson is the only player in there who I think is actually a semi-inspired selection - but then Australia also have a history of anointing talented youngsters as the 'next big thing' and then shattering their confidence by drafting them into the team too early. So it's not actually unprecedented what Jones has done - heck, Jordan Petaia wasn't in a hugely dissimilar boat ahead of the last World Cup to Jorgenson now, and look how long it's taken for him to turn into even a consistently decent Super Rugby player (I think even there the jury is still out...).
So I don't think Jones' squad is a master stroke. I think he's mostly replaced average, experienced players with average, inexperienced ones. Now he has an excuse for not performing at the World Cup - what's going to be his excuse when the Lions arrive in a few years?
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@Bones said in RWC squads 2023:
He's going to struggle to get out of the pool with these selections, reckon he had a chance if he'd have gone with a few more familiar faces.
Given what Wales just dished up Aus will get out of their pool just fine.
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@Bones said in RWC squads 2023:
"There's no way we would fake an injury to swap out players..."
"... just to slow down a game and get mid-game coaching... completely different thing."
"There's definitely going to be some injuries from the warm-up games"
"This isn't even our official squad yet anyway..."
"We've got until the 21st, so there!"
"You can't prove I ever said this was our squad... I didn't even." -
The warm up games jinx strikes! Van Poortvliet out of the RWC for England and N’tamack for France. Easy to see which is the bigger loss.
JVP is replaced by Alex Mitchell who was the form 9 last season but apparently his game management was not up to scratch. I guess that means his inability to kick aimlessly in the opposition 22 when we have an overlap. He will bring some zip, a quicker, better pass, a real running threat and an oddly shaped head.
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Ntamak gone. Is this true?
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@Catogrande said in RWC squads 2023:
He will bring some zip, a quicker, better pass, a real running threat and an oddly shaped head.
Just as N seem to have a conveyer belt when it comes to quality wingers, the same can be said for England when it comes to half-backs.
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@Canes4life said in RWC squads 2023:
Huge blow for France - https://www.skysports.com/rugby-union/news/12508/12939843/rugby-world-cup-france-fly-half-romain-ntamack-to-miss-tournament-with-acl-injury
Fuck, love watching him play. You have to feel sorry for the bloke as this could have been his best and possibly only chance of winning a medal.
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Cyril Baille injured too. Out for 5 or 6 weeks, so back for the quarter finals but should be out of form as he won't be able to run during this period. I wonder if Galthié will select him. Baille is arguably the best LHP in the world. His potential replacements (Wardi, Gros) are far from world class, meh I would say. So this is another big blow for France.
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@cgrant said in RWC squads 2023:
Cyril Baille injured too. Out for 5 or 6 weeks, so back for the quarter finals but should be out of form as he won't be able to run during this period. I wonder if Galthié will select him. Baille is arguably the best LHP in the world. His potential replacements (Wardi, Gros) are far from world class, meh I would say. So this is another big blow for France.
For the French you could say between Baille and the next LHP there is a yawning gap. But then you’d be dabbling in Anglo-French wordplays.
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@Catogrande said in RWC squads 2023:
He will bring some zip, a quicker, better pass, a real running threat and an oddly shaped head.
I’ve just googled his head expecting to see some elephant man monstrosity. Instead I was presented with something within the perfectly normal range.
That’s 1 minute I’m not going to get back.
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@scribe said in RWC squads 2023:
I’ve just googled his head expecting to see some elephant man monstrosity. Instead I was presented with something within the perfectly normal range.
I haven't looked but I'll go with @Catogrande's opinion as he seems to know him intimately...
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If you think that is “within the normal range”, I’m guessing that you come from your local equivalent of Tiverton and will take that into account going forward.
