All Blacks vs England I

KiwiMurph

@mariner4life said in All Blacks vs England I:

It's not Foster v Razor

It's DMac has a better passing game than BB and Mo'unga and thus we unlocked it

I'm still astounded that he's copping shit playing 10 outside a beaten pack and rubbish halfbacks.the boy is a wizard

Truth lies somewhere in the middle. There was definitely space created and you can see the opportunities he presents.

But he also overplayed his hand a bit much and a lot of his kicking was average.

It would be nice to see him paired with Ratima.

Tim

@mariner4life Hard to get turnovers without someone hitting defensive rucks to put pressure on, like the last one. We also got a turnover when Papalii tackled Earls off the scrum and brought him down quick.

mariner4life

I don't care about super rugby it's rubbish.

I care about good loose forward play. Dalton is a short 6. Ardie is a floating something.

We need to focus on generating turnover ball, but somehow we still pick these guys who just don't

Tim

@mariner4life Who would you pick? Sotutu and Jacobson were high up in turnover stats.

mariner4life

Harmon

And Sotutu.

ACT Crusader

@Frank said in All Blacks vs England I:

Our best - Scott Barrett, Reece, Taylor - all Cantabrians as it happens.

Newell was excellent off the bench.

Williams and Bell trained the house down during the week too. And did you hear how well Havili was holding those tackle bags. Mo’unga was the pick of the ex players in the crowd too.

Carrying this team….

mariner4life

But I get that the AB coaches see it differently, because this is now two who.pick the exact same.

But again I watched a team keep the ball as long as they wanted

Tim

@mariner4life said in All Blacks vs England I:

Harmon

Jesus buddy. Have you ever wondered why the Highlanders' defence is so bad? The guy cannot get wide, and cannot scramble in cover. If someone makes a break against them then they generally score. Harmon is very good in close, and great for them in slow winter games. He is a decent jackler, but is more limited in covering the field than any other starting seven in NZ! He's a hybrid 7 and tight forward at that rate.

Robertson preferred Christie over him, despite Christie's many limitations.

KiwiMurph

@mariner4life said in All Blacks vs England I:

Harmon

And Sotutu.

Unfortunately 2024 Harmon is not the same player he was in previous years

Tim

@mariner4life Our line speed was shit. Our pattern was shit. How do you put pressure on the ruck with that kind of presence?

ACT Crusader

@mariner4life yeah it’s pretty telling to me that when Sevu Reece has competed for the ball at the ruck what on the naked eyes was as many as your openside flanker, then we aren’t picking the right mix to win turnover ball.

I would’ve loved for Harmon to be given a shot because of how he competes for the ball and his technique. But he’s off overseas.

Being back Matt Todd

Tim

@ACT-Crusader said in All Blacks vs England I:

Newell was excellent off the bench.

Great in the scrum. Missed a couple of tackles. About par for the night compared to the others.

Tim

@ACT-Crusader said in All Blacks vs England I:

Being back Matt Todd

2010 "link player". Daniel Braid was his predecessor.

mariner4life

Yeah I wasn't really serious

But NZ rugby has abandoned that sort of player.

And we always pass it off with "oh breakdown turnover comes from systems" but of.so long we've watched Foster teams ignore breakdown turnover, and tonight we were the same.

And it's not 2002 where it's the opensides job, but shit could one of out loosies please be a ruck pest?

nostrildamus

I think we all agree the loose trio is still looking unsettled. The locks are the best of what is left (but I also like Darry) and we are currently spoiled for props and have some useful hookers. But during the last era and possibly this one we are still undecided on the best trio.