Pasty Backline
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<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="dogmeat" data-cid="602511" data-time="1470131853"><p>
I probably would if a Singh or a Lee made the AB's</p></blockquote>
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Danny Lee managed to play two tests without him standing out too much!<br><br>
It would be nice to get we could get a more diverse team soon. League is well ahead of us on that. They had Matt Sing playing two decades ago! -
<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="rotated" data-cid="602560" data-time="1470145849">
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<p>Danny Lee managed to play two tests without him standing out too much!<br><br>
It would be nice to get we could get a more diverse team soon.<strong> League is well ahead of us on that.</strong> They had Matt Sing playing two decades ago!</p>
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<p>Meh, we had Ranji Wilson in the teens (the 1910s and I think he was West Indian). Also, I'm pretty sure we've had a couple of Samoan players with Asian heritage. Also, Sing is Aboriginal isn't he?</p>
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<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="gollum" data-cid="602528" data-time="1470135013">
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<p>Craig Innes (going back a bit) Keith Lowen.. Regan King (<strong>I think he was probably 1/16th or something</strong>...). It is odd that we don't produce more Jamie Roberts / George Norths tho'</p>
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<p>Seriously, how do you come up with these ideas? 1/16th Maori would mean he'd have to only have one of his great great grandparents be Maori. He's probably got two Maori grandparents. </p>
<p><br><img src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/63/Regan_king.jpg/220px-Regan_king.jpg" alt="220px-Regan_king.jpg"></p>
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<p>Same with Keith Lowen - he's obviously of Polynesian heritage.</p> -
<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="Nepia" data-cid="602563" data-time="1470147083">
<div><br><p>Seriously, how do you come up with these ideas? 1/16th Maori would mean he'd have to only have one of his great great grandparents be Maori. He's probably got two Maori grandparents.</p>
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<p>But <em>how</em> Maori? If his paternal grandad is 3/4th & his maternal grandad is 4/6th that means hes 11/73rds.</p>
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<p>I think. My excel doesn't do th's's. And what if he's got a 1/8th Cook Islands in there somewhere. Its a minefield I tells you. </p> -
<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="MN5" data-cid="602514" data-time="1470132362">
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<p>When was the last time NZ Rugby actually produced a hard running, tackle busting white guy in the backline ?</p>
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<p>No shit, last one I can think of is Scott "Stormy" McLeod. Other countries produce these guys in abundance......</p>
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<p>There is a bit of difference between a guy like George North and a Julian Savea though. No question that North is big and strong but Savea is far more explosive. I know South Africa struggles to produce the type of big backs that can bust tackles the Nadolo and Savea does.</p>
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<p>As for your original question, wouldn't Kirwan fit the bill?</p> -
<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="gollum" data-cid="602568" data-time="1470149870">
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<p>So then the question becomes which NZ flankers could have been good English centres?</p>
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<p>Ardie Savea? :whistle:</p> -
<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="MN5" data-cid="602514" data-time="1470132362">
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<p>When was the last time NZ Rugby actually produced a hard running, tackle busting white guy in the backline ?</p>
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<p>Some guy called Kirwan?</p> -
<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="gollum" data-cid="602568" data-time="1470149870">
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<p>So then the question becomes which NZ flankers could have been good English centres?</p>
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<p>"good English centres?"</p>
<p>Are you allowed to ask a question centred around an oxymoron?</p> -
<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="SidBarret" data-cid="602569" data-time="1470150207">
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<p>Ardie Savea? :whistle:</p>
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<p>He's at least 1/16th...</p>
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<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="nostrildamus" data-cid="602576" data-time="1470153369">
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<p>"good English centres?"</p>
<p>Are you allowed to ask a question centred around an oxymoron?</p>
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<p>Manu Tuilagi would have made a cracking hooker had he been raised in NZ. Like a tubby Mealamu</p> -
<p>"Manu Tuilagi would have made a cracking hooker"</p>
<p>That is wrong on so many levels and no doubt expensive as well.</p> -
<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="gollum" data-cid="602568" data-time="1470149870"><p>
So then the question becomes which NZ flankers could have been good English centres?</p></blockquote>
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I can think of heaps. Sam and Tom Harding come to mind. Maybe Matt Todd. Razor Robertson may have been too big but would have been a pretty robust midfielder nonetheless. Someone like Callum Gibbins from Manawatu is a nugget.<br><br>
Heaps of raw boned white guys out there. -
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<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="nostrildamus" data-cid="602575" data-time="1470153295">
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<p>Some guy called Kirwan?</p>
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<p>Well of course but he retired about a thousand years ago.</p>
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<p>Interesting about the NZ system turning them all into flankers though. A valid point there. I think for shits and gigs Kieran Read should start a test in the midfield the next time the ABs play a minnow in the World Cup.</p>
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<p>I think the obsession goes back a few years when other teams had a chance at providing their "White Lomus".....some went further and filled the backline with them, case in point Wales.</p>
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<p>SidBarret, don't be fooled y George North, just cos he is big and white and worst of all from the Northern Hemisphere don't have any doubts how explosive he is, he caused all sorts of problems in that first test for Wales.</p> -
<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="pakman" data-cid="602554" data-time="1470143089">
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<p>My father would say that Ian MacRae, all 86 kg of him, was the original!</p>
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<p>Yep. </p>
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<p>Innes was considered "big" in his era but TKB and TJP are both heavier and taller than Innes was in his AB playing days.</p> -
<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="gollum" data-cid="602568" data-time="1470149870">
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<p>So then the question becomes which NZ flankers could have been good English centres?</p>
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<p>Michael Jones. Remember Hart's comments that he had the skills to play in the centres c1987-88. </p> -
<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="MN5" data-cid="602586" data-time="1470162642">
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<p>...</p>
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<p>SidBarret, don't be fooled y George North, just cos he is big and white and worst of all from the Northern Hemisphere don't have any doubts how explosive he is, he caused all sorts of problems in that first test for Wales.</p>
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<p>Don't get me wrong, I think North is a brilliant player and would have him for Springboks in second, but he is far more likely to power through a tackle than send players flying like skittles the way a in-form Savea/Nadolo/Ranger-type does. </p> -
<p>Back to the white midfielders, does anyone remember John Hainesworth (spelling?) from the 80s? Massive pasty unit from Wanganui, who then transferred to Wellington but never really made it. I used to collect the NZ Rugby Annuals and NZ Rugby Almanack when I was young and he may have been named in the "five most promising" players by one of those publications one year. He may have been selected in one of those "Central Zone" teams in the post-North Island vs. South Island era.</p>
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<p>Dunno whether he was a cracker as Wanganui didn't feature much on Sport on One or Sunday Grandstand, but I'm pretty sure he was. Definitely a blockbuster, was the size of a Boroevich or a McGrattan.</p>
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<p>Ummm...googling led me to this 2005 Wanganui Chronicle article</p>
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<p><a data-ipb='nomediaparse' href='http://www.nzherald.co.nz/wanganui-chronicle/sport/news/article.cfm?c_id=1503424&objectid=10930510'>http://www.nzherald.co.nz/wanganui-chronicle/sport/news/article.cfm?c_id=1503424&objectid=10930510</a></p>
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<p>John Hainsworth (69 games 1984-1995; NZ Div 1988-89-93, NZ Juniors 1984, Central Zone; Marton, Pourewa);</p>
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<p>If you don't remember him you can just say "no."</p>
