RWC Week 1: France v All Blacks
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@BerniesCorner said in RWC: France v All Blacks:
The thing is we have some pretty good players
Disagree.
We lack depth in a whole raft of areas - midfield, halfback, lock to name a few. The only area where we seem to have an abundance of talent is 11, 14 & 15 - and after BB & Jordan's performance tonight even that looks pretty thin.
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@Joans-Town-Jones said in RWC: France v All Blacks:
@sparky said in RWC: France v All Blacks:
The reality is that this AB team is very poor. I think Italy have a chance of denying us a Quarter Final spot.
They'll have to beat the other teams by more than us OR, France deliberately lose to them.
And France being France, that's quite possible. I was there that glorious Tongan night at the Cake Tin in 2011!
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@frugby said in RWC: France v All Blacks:
Anyway, I think the biggest thing we have to do, is workout what our best bench is. The best sides have great benches that bring plenty to it.
I think Sami T arguably deserves the start, so I'd go Taylor in 16. Though I don't think he is perfect, I think Williams could bring some impact. Him and Newell, so some good SR continuity. Scooter goes the 80 for me, so perhaps due to his injury issues, we use BBBR as a dynamite option for the last 20. Frizell starts 6, I think they have to call Blackadder in to the squad, or at the very least Finau. Those guys are impact options, they fill 20. Roigard in 21, ALB in 22, Fainga'anuku in 23.
No more ALB please for fuck sake.
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@Victor-Meldrew not a surprise. The u20s haven’t really had a decent vintage for a while and the talent pathways aren’t doing the job they used to, and too many players are leaving NZ to play abroad.
The sound you can hear is chickens coming home to roost.
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@stodders said in RWC: France v All Blacks:
The second 40 was an aberration though.
The whole 80 against the Boks was a aberration. I'd add we need to question why the lessons weren't learned from that.
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@voodoo said in RWC: France v All Blacks:
It’s pretty wild how dependent we have become on Frizell, Scott B and Jordie B, 3 of the dumbest blokes playing rugby 😂
Are you picking on Frizell for his off field antics ?
The Barrett reference is pretty self explanatory though !
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@Victor-Meldrew said in RWC: France v All Blacks:
@BerniesCorner said in RWC: France v All Blacks:
The thing is we have some pretty good players
Disagree.
We lack depth in a whole raft of areas - midfield, halfback, lock to name a few. The only area where we seem to have an abundance of talent is 11, 14 & 15 - and after BB & Jordan's performance tonight even that looks pretty thin.
Look Jordan had a stinker, but he has loads of credit in the bank.
As I said in a previous thread Beauden Barrett has 113 caps now. HIs first 70 were fairy tale stuff.
The last 40 or so. Absolute trash.
He is one of my favourite Allblacks of all time (I've backed him at 100/1 for top try scorer), but he is a massive problem. Not only because he is playing crap, but because accommodating him omits other players we could do with and he gets in Mo'ungas way.
Get Jordan to fullback and have a power winger in 11 or 14 with Telea on the opposite side.
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France missed 32 tackles tonight. Not often that happens to an Edwards coached defence. NZ couldn’t capitalise on this, especially in the first half.
France got pumped by NZ in the pool game in 2011 and lost to Tonga. They ended up losing by a point in the final, after a mutiny against their coach.
Strange things happen at world cups 😬
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@Joans-Town-Jones
Oakville -
@stodders said in RWC: France v All Blacks:
France missed 32 tackles tonight. Not often that happens to an Edwards coached defence. NZ couldn’t capitalise on this, especially in the first half.
ABs finished ahead on lots of things carry metres, rucks, ruck speed etc etc
Key ones we lost: penalties (4-12 I think?) and kicking metres was way behind
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@stodders said in RWC: France v All Blacks:
Going forward - discipline and handling needs to be so much better. Every time NZ looked like they were stretching France, they either dropped the ball or got isolated and pinged. You can’t let teams like France, Ireland and SA have 12 penalties to play with.
France were blowing hard at times. NZ let them off the hook with poor execution and lack of discipline. Both are fixable.
JB and SF returning will be a big boost. BBBR returning and starting with SB will add some ballast and power.
BB has to be on borrowed time now. Wouldn’t surprise me if DM gets a run at FB in Italy test.
CR to take his chance and force himself onto the bench by QF.
If TL returns by end of the pool, that’s quite a lot of changes/improvements from the 23 seen tonight.
Impressive use of initials.
But stop giving me hope.
It may be a stages of grief thing but my mindset is changing.
My expectation has gone and I'm now just going to watch the footy and enjoy the event. I'll still watch with hope, but no expectation.
Is this what normal fans feel like?
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Its a pity Stevenson and/or Jordan did not get more minutes at 15 previously.
We also severely lack a Levi Aumua type at 12. It's just a necessity in international rugby now. You need someone to cart it up.
Fosters in and out Hokey Cokey selection policy has left a fair few guys not knowing where they stand. Roigard, DMAC, Jacobsen, Finau...I could go on. It's all over the place and has been for a few years. Perofeta (1 minute against Ireland), Sowakula, RTS, Ennor. Rightly or wrongly loads of blokes got messed around. Faingaanuku was in the wilderness for a longtime too.
We looked magic against Argentina with DMAC and then foster just ripped it all up.
I cannot get my head around his tenure at all. He is all over the place.
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We've got one last throw of the dice.
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@MN5 said in RWC: France v All Blacks:
@voodoo said in RWC: France v All Blacks:
It’s pretty wild how dependent we have become on Frizell, Scott B and Jordie B, 3 of the dumbest blokes playing rugby 😂
Are you picking on Frizell for his off field antics ?
The Barrett reference is pretty self explanatory though !
I could be being unfair to on-field Frizz to be fair
Still - 3 blokes who know one way and that’s straight up the guts. Shows that at the end of the day, rugby often doesn’t have to be that complicated.
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@pjay no team used to play like ABs either, but back in 2015, the players available were better and could execute the game plan. There wasn’t a team around that was close to them.
Trouble is, you have to cut your cloth accordingly. First Hansen, then Foster have been trying to do the same thing with a good, but not great, crop of players. Sometimes they are able to execute to the same standard, but because they lack the quality, discipline and focus of that 2015 crop, they drop the ball more often. The basics are just not executed as well.
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It’s too late for this team to change, the die has been set. We may fluke a win over a top team, but we go no further then the semis.
We lack balance in the loosies (with or without Cane). Ditto the backs… accentuated when we play ridiculous aerial tactics.
Our props in particular are nowhere near world class.
All set piece is currently a weakness for us. This is majorly concerning.
Which leads on to… we are lacking in game fundamentals. Tactics that support territorial advantage, building phases of pressure etc. It appeared we had moved on, but alas we’re still playing Fosterball.
Relying on miracle plays won’t win a World Cup.
How much lasting damage has been inflicted upon the ABs over the last 4-6 years under a declining Hansen and a grossly under qualified Foster. Probably a nice guy. Nice guys finish last.
We were out-coached/out-tacticed again today.
I’m now nervous about Italy.
Best thing that could happen is that the team develops a siege mentality, like they did when they saved Foster’s skin in SA, backs to the wall, and galvanise.
I hope I am wrong about most of this (but I suspect not).
