RWC Week 4: All Blacks v Italy
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Beauden Barrett is shit now. He’s lost his speed, doesn’t tackle and avoids contact and taking the ball to the line. He’s not a threat. Still a classy kicker or passer.
We need a threat at 15. Look at someone like Reece Walsh from the NRL. Fast, doesn’t avoid contact and ball playing, the triple threat to create opportunities.
Damian is our man. If fozzie moves Damian to 15 we become World Cup favourites. Would rather risk him making some errors for the chance that we can actually threaten on attack. Go down swinging with Damian instead of being comfortable and only losing by less than 20 with Beaudy.
FYI, Beauden is one of the best players I have seen in his prime. He is an all black legend and should always be remember as one. His time is done now.
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Now all the Dmac haters will say he makes too many errors. Do we want to go down how we did in 2019? Without even firing a shot?
Or do we want to go down fighting and pick the guy that could ignite our attack?
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@Yeahtheboys said in RWC Week 4: All Blacks v Italy:
Beauden Barrett is shit now. He’s lost his speed, doesn’t tackle and avoids contact and taking the ball to the line. He’s not a threat. Still a classy kicker or passer.
We need a threat at 15. Look at someone like Reece Walsh from the NRL. Fast, doesn’t avoid contact and ball playing, the triple threat to create opportunities.
Damian is our man. If fozzie moves Damian to 15 we become World Cup favourites. Would rather risk him making some errors for the chance that we can actually threaten on attack. Go down swinging with Damian instead of being comfortable and only losing by less than 20 with Beaudy.
FYI, Beauden is one of the best players I have seen in his prime. He is an all black legend and should always be remember as one. His time is done now.
aannnddd, you lost us
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@voodoo said in RWC Week 4: All Blacks v Italy:
@Yeahtheboys said in RWC Week 4: All Blacks v Italy:
Beauden Barrett is shit now. He’s lost his speed, doesn’t tackle and avoids contact and taking the ball to the line. He’s not a threat. Still a classy kicker or passer.
We need a threat at 15. Look at someone like Reece Walsh from the NRL. Fast, doesn’t avoid contact and ball playing, the triple threat to create opportunities.
Damian is our man. If fozzie moves Damian to 15 we become World Cup favourites. Would rather risk him making some errors for the chance that we can actually threaten on attack. Go down swinging with Damian instead of being comfortable and only losing by less than 20 with Beaudy.
FYI, Beauden is one of the best players I have seen in his prime. He is an all black legend and should always be remember as one. His time is done now.
aannnddd, you lost us
We don't need no set piece dominance
We don't need no breakdown control
No scrum dark arts in the engine room
Foster, DMac can win it alone -
I read somewhere DMac said Foster gives them (I presume the 10s) a lot of freedom
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@nostrildamus said in RWC Week 4: All Blacks v Italy:
I read somewhere DMac said Foster gives them (I presume the 10s) a lot of freedom
That might be half the problem!
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@canefan they need to be able to play whats in front of them and react to something they see, but look at the Irish, they are so disiplined in what they do, particularly on defence, they are all in, this then pressures the opposition creating opportunities and giving the freedom to attack, which is also because they have the trust in thier defensive system if it doesnt come off, but also, more often than not, they get the fuck out of thier 22, properly, as do several other top sides.
With the stats re kicking about at present and playing in the opposition half, it makes you wonder what either Foster is seeing to have plans for these short kicks, or, what the players think they are seeing over and over when the short kick is just putting more pressure on themselves.
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@KiwiMurph said in RWC Week 4: All Blacks v Italy:
@Victor-Meldrew said in RWC Week 4: All Blacks v Italy:
The forwards seem to have gone backwards under Ryan - despite some bright spots. Their performance against the Boks at Twickenham was the worst I've seen in years.
I think it's a bit disingenuous to cherry pick a warm up game with zero riding on it as proof the forwards have gone backwards.
Warm-up game or not (and I'd argue no game against the Boks is a warm up game) it was still the worst forward display I've seen for years.
I watched the 2021 loss to France a week or so ago and the same problems were there in the opening game - lack of discipline, precision and ability to handle pressure - but for longer periods of the game.
The forwards are a hell of a lot better off under Ryan than they were under Plumtree.
Up until the last few weeks, I'd agree with you. But looking at the last few games and the debacle that was the 2nd half against England, I'm now not so sure. As I've said before, I hope they can get their RC mojo back.
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@Victor-Meldrew said in RWC Week 4: All Blacks v Italy:
@KiwiMurph said in RWC Week 4: All Blacks v Italy:
@Victor-Meldrew said in RWC Week 4: All Blacks v Italy:
The forwards seem to have gone backwards under Ryan - despite some bright spots. Their performance against the Boks at Twickenham was the worst I've seen in years.
I think it's a bit disingenuous to cherry pick a warm up game with zero riding on it as proof the forwards have gone backwards.
Warm-up game or not (and I'd argue no game against the Boks is a warm up game) it was still the worst forward display I've seen for years.
I watched the 2021 loss to France a week or so ago and the same problems were there in the opening game - lack of discipline, precision and ability to handle pressure - but for longer periods of the game.
The forwards are a hell of a lot better off under Ryan than they were under Plumtree.
Up until the last few weeks, I'd agree with you. But looking at the last few games and the debacle that was the 2nd half against England, I'm now not so sure. As I've said before, I hope they can get their RC mojo back.
Dude the effort in Oz vs Argentina was much worse
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@Victor-Meldrew Discipline. That is the big thing for me. The ABs are unable to exert sufficient pressure on their opponents for long enough without gifting a relieving penalty. Teams are waiting for the ABs to make a mistake or infringe. And they do.
For the ABs to advance much further, the penalty count cannot be above 10 (given what SA, France and Ireland are achieving right now), and they cannot lose a man to a yellow or red (obviously).
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@Yeahtheboys Would be a travesty if D-Mac didn’t get a proper taste in a meaningful RWC game between 2019 and this year.
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@stodders said in RWC Week 4: All Blacks v Italy:
@Victor-Meldrew Discipline. That is the big thing for me. The ABs are unable to exert sufficient pressure on their opponents for long enough without gifting a relieving penalty. Teams are waiting for the ABs to make a mistake or infringe. And they do.
100%. agree. It's been getting steadily worse since around 2016, improved a bit in 2022, huge improvement in this RC but in the last few games has fallen off a cliff.
Whatever switch Ryan, Foster & co flipped earlier this year needs to re-flipped.
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@Victor-Meldrew ABs are still trying to play an aerobic version of the game when the game has evolved to be more anaerobic. The way the ABs trained (explosive power and being athletic) was great when you could send one or two players into a breakdown to generate quick ball. You can rarely do that now.
Teams have to evolve to the way the laws are being applied by refs.
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Ball in air time is massively down (meaning teams can field bigger, less aerobic players knowing they won't get tired as easily). Attrition is the name of the game.
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defensive players are being given more leeway at the breakdown. Rucking (in a style) is back and is being rewarded if players stay on their feet. At worst, it allows defences to make a mess and slow ball down.
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teams that are happier playing without the ball and forcing mistakes through defensive pressure are getting more reward. The box kick is a great attacking platform if you can secure the ball as defences aren't necessarily set. Low risk play with a high reward if you come up with the ball.
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and finally, teams who kick best (not most, best) are generally getting more reward. Territory is king in the modern risk-averse game.
For me, Ireland are the best team right now because they can play an attritional set piece game if required and they have enough creativity to unlock defences, more through manipulation than a moment of genius. But most of all, they swarm their opponents, not giving them a moment to rest. That is where the ABs need to get back to.
ABs don't need to try to be like SA. Wrong type of cattle. ABs can certainly be as good as Ireland though. It just requires team cohesion, working partnerships in key parts of the team and a large dollop of mana to make everyone work that bit harder for each other. You can see in the Irish team that they would fight for the man to their side. It is a powerful advantage if you get it right.
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@Machpants said in RWC Week 4: All Blacks v Italy:
@Victor-Meldrew said in RWC Week 4: All Blacks v Italy:
@KiwiMurph said in RWC Week 4: All Blacks v Italy:
@Victor-Meldrew said in RWC Week 4: All Blacks v Italy:
The forwards seem to have gone backwards under Ryan - despite some bright spots. Their performance against the Boks at Twickenham was the worst I've seen in years.
I think it's a bit disingenuous to cherry pick a warm up game with zero riding on it as proof the forwards have gone backwards.
Warm-up game or not (and I'd argue no game against the Boks is a warm up game) it was still the worst forward display I've seen for years.
I watched the 2021 loss to France a week or so ago and the same problems were there in the opening game - lack of discipline, precision and ability to handle pressure - but for longer periods of the game.
The forwards are a hell of a lot better off under Ryan than they were under Plumtree.
Up until the last few weeks, I'd agree with you. But looking at the last few games and the debacle that was the 2nd half against England, I'm now not so sure. As I've said before, I hope they can get their RC mojo back.
Dude the effort in Oz vs Argentina was much worse
Against England we were 25-6 up with 10 minutes to go and effectively gave up. At least we tried to fight back against Argentina in Sydney. Whatever was wrong in the forwards back then still hasn't been fixed.
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@stodders said in RWC Week 4: All Blacks v Italy:
ABs don't need to try to be like SA. Wrong type of cattle. ABs can certainly be as good as Ireland though. It just requires team cohesion, working partnerships in key parts of the team and a large dollop of mana to make everyone work that bit harder for each other.
Totally agree.
But the key issue for me is still there: our inability to maintain focus for long periods of time - collective headspace. Fuck knows what the issue is or how to fix it, but it's been there since '16. Improves every now and then but invariably turns out to be a false dawn.
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@Wurzel said in RWC Week 4: All Blacks v Italy:
This is the same All Blacks team that’s lost twice to Argentina, coming up against the most talented Italian squad ever assembled.
If we are to ever lost to Italy, this would be the time. Crowley will have the Italians dialled right in for this.
I’ve actually watched the Italians play this WC and we are not losing to them. Anyone can freely quote this post back at me should we lose. 4TBP with room to spare (provided no idiotic red cards)
