All Blacks 2024
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@stodders said in All Blacks 2024:
@MN5 Why do people always ignore the props
I didn't
There are some very good props up our way
Lomax will need to be firing on all cylinders to come away with his World XV place come December
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@MN5 said in All Blacks 2024:
@MiketheSnow said in All Blacks 2024:
@BerniesCorner said in All Blacks 2024:
@Duluth said in All Blacks 2024:
@MiketheSnow said in All Blacks 2024:
Agreed
But you're Welsh. We don't take moral victories from 'nearly winning'. Or at least most of us haven't accepted that level yet
We lost the RC, we couldn't beat SA, and we lost to Argentina. We found ways to lose games we should've won.
It's not good enough. The level of criticism for the AB side has been minimal. If things don't improve on the EOYT maybe we'll see some real pressure.
How many NZ players would make a World 15 currently
Realistically
Zero
Caleb Clarke and Will Jordan would be options.
Ardie Savea…..a few years ago
Beauden Barrett…..a few more years ago
Jordan possibly if he had the right centre inside him
We'll know soon enough
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@NTA said in All Blacks 2024:
@stodders said in All Blacks 2024:
@NTA Nick, what's your opinion on the lost Wallaby talent that is Tyrel Lomax?
Good prop. Wish he was still on this side of the ditch. I think he'd go better with our locks than yours.
He went all right against Ox and the Boks pack with Vaa'i behind him, apart from a couple of scrums. And ABs had upper hand by end of H1 in Cape Town. Even better against England with Paddy T.
LSL is good scrummaging LH lock. Is Frost top dog of the local TH locks?
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@frugby said in All Blacks 2024:
but this year has been fine margins.
Shipping 20-25 points in the second half on a regular basis isn't fine margins, it really isn't.
They've gone with the approach of working out which of the current guys can fit the system first, which is conservative, but it could yet be proven the right one. Easier to bring fresh talent into a side which knows what it is doing, then one trying to find its identity.
Not sure that makes sense. Why would you build a system and then use people unlikely to be around when the system is fully in place? Wouldn't a coach be better to develop a system which make the best use of his player pool and likely lifespan?
I think the coaches are probably well aware that there is loads of talent u23, so they want to ensure there is an established spine so that they can just drop these guys in - but doing it all at once is very risky.
There is an established spine and has been since England 1. And most of the successful new players haven't been dropped in, they've been picked due to injury and the likes of Proctor being given the barest minimum of game time. That's the biggest downside for me this year has been missed opportunities to develop players - just hope things change on the EOYT.
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@Victor-Meldrew said in All Blacks 2024:
Things I'll be looking out for.
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Develop the newer players. It's all very well keeping TJP and BB in the squad for experience, but not at the expense of game time for some of the tyros. Injury has been Robertson's best selector in may ways. Expected much more structure on the development side.
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Midfield isn't working well enough. Reiko seems to have stopped developing and JB is a solid journeyman only - OK leading up to RWC 2023 but need to aim a little higher.
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On field leadership. Still not great, but some encouraging signs. Be good to see SB growing further into the role in his first year. and the likes of Vaa'i continuing to grow in stature
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Headspace and focus has gone backwards. We may have lost players like Smith and BBBR but filling those positions hasn't been a issue (e.g Vaa'I). For me this is the real problem that needs to be fixed. We are blowing leads and look hesitant when opportunities arise.
TBH, at this stage I think it's how the team performs and develops which is more important than results. I'll accept a couple of losses as long as they aren't like the dross we saw in much of the RC this year.
Def want to win, but a hard-fought loss against the top NH teams away from home would be real progress and help address a lot of concerns. If we come back with the likes of Sititi and Vaa'i in the forwards and Clarke and Jordan in the backs being seen as core, world-class players, that'd be real progress.
Agree on 1 and most of 2.
Not sure how 3 can be promising when your argument for 4 is happening. I think it is precisely on-field leadership that is costing us in the late stages of games. -
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@reprobate said in All Blacks 2024:
Not sure how 3 can be promising when your argument for 4 is happening.
Two different but related things. Leadership is top down, focus (e.g. discipline) is everyone.
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@Victor-Meldrew Indeed - but I was looking for some leadership late in those SA games, and I wasn't seeing it at all. Headless chook stuff from experienced leadership group players, and SB not saying or doing much of anything. Same deal with the Argie loss.
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Discipline was a problem. There didn't seem to be a message to maintain our discipline and we gave away yellows.
We don't seem to adapt well with the yellows as well defensively or try and dominate possession.
Doesn't help that leaders like the Barrett's and Cane have a history of cards.
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@brodean Personally I think Cane gives away cards when he's fatigued - though that's just a feeling rather than any data on when his cards occur.
Barrett almost looks like a bit he's been playing a bit gun-shy to avoid cards himself.
But yeah, the team yellows are shit. Again I think fatigue plays a part with our poor use of the bench - though that doesn't excuse the otherwise excellent Caleb Clarke. -
I agree with all of that - except the last two cards Cane received for the AB's were in the first half so he shouldn't be fatigued. Maybe he was? ¯_(ツ)_/¯
An interesting write up here which includes some footage of some of Cane's missed tackles - though not the ones that lead directly to tries.
Will the withdrawal of the ‘top 20’ devalue France’s tour of New Zealand?
In resting Antoine Dupont and the rest of his 'premiums', has Fabien Galthie undermined a mouth-watering voyage?
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@pakman said in All Blacks 2024:
LSL is good scrummaging LH lock. Is Frost top dog of the local TH locks?
I think LSL actually has the mongrel to do both.
Frost is a big lad and important to securing scrum ball.
Williams has surprised me - he's not the biggest but he's very capable and handy around the park as well.
Potentially Skelton in the mix on EOYT as we toss up opening the borders in preparation for Lions 2025.
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@brodean Yeah I've read that. You could easily pick and choose moments from games this year to make Savea or any other AB pretty much look like a retard too, so I'm not a big fan of the cherry-picking game moments type of article.
A hard man and a legend for coming back from a broken neck - but Cane's well and truly done in my eyes, we can't have a tight forward playing in the AB 7 shirt, no matter how loose our 8 is.
