All Blacks v Argentina II
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@canefan said in All Blacks v Argentina II:
I only have the eye test, but I remain unconvinced that ALB has the wheels or the physicality to foot it with the stronger teams. Rieko has his negatives, but he has X factor has shown he can do most of his core jobs reasonably well at 13
Does he? For me he is fairly predictable in a very good way insofar that he does the basics well and is dependable.
I still think he is a better winger than midfielder but I thought the same about Umaga as well and they persisted with him in the midfield.
Ioane has now played started as many tests at centre (32) as he has on the wing (30), an in those 32 tests I don鈥檛 think we have fully unleashed him as the centre we want/think he is due to a combination of factors IMO. No doubt he has had some good games but rewind to when he was on the wing and he was using his skills to great effect.
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@LatsToTheMax said in All Blacks v Argentina II:
@Bones said in All Blacks v Argentina II:
@LatsToTheMax I didn't say he intentionally "clobbered" him.
But yeah, half his body height he is, I never even realised Aumua was close to 3m tall. Fuck knows why he's not being looked at for the second row.
It was implied with your "..."
Nah I was adding to your foul play examples, not talking about Aumua.
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@brodean said in All Blacks v Argentina II:
Your assessment of ALB is unfortunately accurate.
I do think its important to consider that ALB was primarily at 12 during the Hansen era and Foster moved him to 13 after Razor had been playing Goodhue at 12. He also struggled with injury a lot during the Foster era which makes it difficult to get any momentum.
That said I agree with others that he struggles for pace and physicality against the big teams.
Its possible that could be the same case for Proctor who also gets injured a lot.
The thing with Rieko is he's very durable and he isn't going to struggle against anyone for size or pace.
ALB was at 13 for the Chiefs and 12 for the ABs with RCro the opposite if I recall. Not sure why Hansen did that. But then again, late 2016- Hansen made a lot of calls that didn't make sense.
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@brodean said in All Blacks v Argentina II:
Your assessment of ALB is unfortunately accurate.
I do think it鈥檚 important to consider that ALB was primarily at 12 during the Hansen era and Foster moved him to 13 after Razor had been playing Goodhue at 12. He also struggled with injury a lot during the Foster era which makes it difficult to get any momentum.
The post Nonu/Smith era we saw a merry go round of combinations due to injury, availability, form, exodus.
ALB has been a key feature of that merry go round. But Hansen played him at centre plenty of times and Foster continued it.
- started 11 tests at 2nd 5 - 7 in the Hansen era, 3 in the Foster era, 1 in the Razor era
- started 31 tests at centre - 17 in the Hansen era, 13 in the Foster era, 1 in the Razor era
- come off the bench in 33 tests - 19 in the Hansen era, 11 in the Foster era, 3 in the Razor era
When ALB started at 2nd 5 he partnered with the following players at centre:
- Fekitoa (3)
- Goodhue (4)
- Ioane (2)
- Ennor (1)
- Proctor (1)
When ALB started at centre he partnered with the following players at 2nd 5:
- Crotty (9)
- Laumape (5)
- Havili (7)
- SBW (4)
- Goodhue (4)
- Jordie (2)
When he has come off the bench he has played a mix of both midfield positions and even on the wing.
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@Rancid-Schnitzel said in All Blacks v Argentina II:
Couldn't agree more. He's always been a handy test player rather than a game breaker . He never really makes an impact off the bench either.
Never really makes an impact, come on bro, surely you watched the RWC QF against Ireland. His impact late in the game was massive.
Some fun facts also, in the 33 tests he has come off the bench the ABs are
Wins - 26
Draws - 3
Losses - 4 -
@ACT-Crusader Top work there!
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@ACT-Crusader said in All Blacks v Argentina II:
@Rancid-Schnitzel said in All Blacks v Argentina II:
Couldn't agree more. He's always been a handy test player rather than a game breaker . He never really makes an impact off the bench either.
Never really makes an impact, come on bro, surely you watched the RWC QF against Ireland. His impact late in the game was massive.
Some fun facts also, in the 33 tests he has come off the bench the ABs are
Wins - 26
Draws - 3
Losses - 4Many bench appearances in 2020s, during which AB win performance c. 71%. Excluding gimmes falls to 63.4%, if my figures correct.
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Rewatched Q3. Excellent try at beginning of half. Seven replacements 51 - 54.
Papali'i a tackling machine -- at one stage three in a minute!
Noticeable that ABs after try became sloppy. Five or so errors which kept dissapating pressure over course of rest of quarter.
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Q4.
ABs should be shot for not scoring from 5m out at 69.
First a smart arsed short throw, and then backs couldn鈥檛 manage draw and pass to go over. Ended up with Pumas scoring at other end near sticks.
My other takeaway was BB at 10 and WJ at 15 made mainly poor decisions. Big step down from DMac/BB.
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@ACT-Crusader said in All Blacks v Argentina II:
@Rancid-Schnitzel said in All Blacks v Argentina II:
Couldn't agree more. He's always been a handy test player rather than a game breaker . He never really makes an impact off the bench either.
Never really makes an impact, come on bro, surely you watched the RWC QF against Ireland. His impact late in the game was massive.
Some fun facts also, in the 33 tests he has come off the bench the ABs are
Wins - 26
Draws - 3
Losses - 4Tbf I said never really. Now do the final. I'm not saying he's shit or anything I just don't see him as anything other than a stop-gap at this point in time. Has definitely not lived up to the early hype.