@KiwiMurph said in RWC veterans to be dumped.:

@Nevorian said in RWC veterans to be dumped.:

What’s happening with ALB? Is he likely to be fit?

Injured his ankle week 1 vs Crusaders. Due back very soon I think.

Injury prone is putting it mildly. I wouldn't be surprised if he doesn't make it to France due to injury

@MajorRage

I wouldn’t have a problem with him in the set-up, but I cant see us paying the money.

It was interesting to see In the bit of pre game time footage in the Crusaders dressing room for the Brumbies game,Razor was having a big chat to LF, whatever was said seemed to have worked.

@sparky said in All Blacks 2023:

Sevu Reece gooooooooooooooonnnnneeeeeeeee.

Not going to play again this year.

https://i.stuff.co.nz/sport/rugby/all-blacks/131631356/all-blacks-wing-sevu-reece-to-miss-world-cup-after-seasonending-knee-injury

Stevenson or Telea? Or both since Jordan is still out.

Never tire watching that try. Awesome!

@Crucial Eddie Jones has been tipped to lead the U.S. Eagles when they hold the World Cup.

@SBW1 said in All Blacks 10 after BB & RM finish?:

@kiwi_expat Even though he has had his moments at fullback, I have often thought he got ragdolled there and may have been questionable under the highball. Jordan or Beaudy at fullback offers a more secure option and Jordan in particular has pace to burn from the back. Also wonder if Havili could be another 10 option, as he has played there for the Crusaders.

There's no way havili is even remotely good enough to be a staring 10 for the abs

@No-Quarter said in Thoughts on Cane now?:

@MajorRage good post, though I'm not convinced he went missing, I just think he was asked to play a tighter game against SA. His tackle stats are always up there even in games where he isn't so prominent. I think the fact he can be so devastating with ball in hand counts against him a bit, as when he puts in a tighter shift people think he's gone missing as they expect to see him running over people out wide.

Yeah, probably true.

He's got a bit of Toeava about him on this forum, that's for sure.

@Crucial also he let the English first five waltz past him with BBS yellow card.

I hope Goodhue gets a full season without injuries. I still think he has potential to be a very good centre, even lacking top line speed.

We don't really need a brilliant player at 13, just a competent, organised and reliable player who takes the right options. It's been a while since we saw Goodhue sans injury but he could fill that role if he doesn't break down.

@Joans-Town-Jones said in All Blacks v England:

@TheMojoman said in All Blacks v England:

@nostrildamus said in All Blacks v England:

@TheMojoman Stevenson or Lam?

I'd love to see Stevenson in the mix but IMO he would be competing for the 14 spot with Jordan, Telea and Reece potentially as 15 cover. Lam is a maybe, not sure he has the same impact as Clarke though as a power winger.

Foster (rightly IMO) clearly wants to play a power winger/finesse winger combination with his 14 also an extra FB with kicking etc. Leads me to believe Jordan will be the first choice 14 when fit. Telea has been the find of the northern tour.

I'm on the Shaun Stevenson bandwagon. He needs to be and AB.

an

@broughie said in All Blacks MOTM v Scotland:

@nostrildamus who are you talking about? Coles? Are you testing my attentiveness?

Sorry, rather than testing you I am undoing myself, not enough sleep, meant Codie I think...

Fucking Scooter man. As much as you want to get on him for a multitude of reasons, it's just so hard to because of that workrate .

Savea an obvious choice despite the egg-dive. Paps great, both hookers awesome, Whitelock with some wicked tackles. Amd Smith learned to run again.

Fun!

@Derpus said in ANZAC XV:

It would probably involve the tier of player just below/on the edge of test selection. Doubt you'd have centurians like Whitelock or Hooper lining up.

It'd still be fun though - I think a 23 selected from the best players in SR who arent currently in either test 23s would be fairly competitive.

And yeah, a true ANZAC team would only have a handful of Wallabies - Hooper, Koirobete, Kerevi, Valetini and White would probably be the only ones in with a shot.

I'd say the whole starting front row would get a look in.

@Nepia said in All Blacks vs Wales:

Dagg showing that maybe the standard of education at fancy pants private schools isn't that great. 😉

Well this is triggering cc: @Magpie_in_aus

@pakman said in All Blacks vs Scotland:

@Kiwiwomble said in All Blacks vs Scotland:

@nostrildamus yeah, reminds me of when they tried using crash ball from the blind side with bridge....its like their tactical decisions are not actually related to let alone based on the actual players they select

One crash ball by DH was spectacularly ineffective!

FiFY

I'm astounded the love Dalton is getting.

Came on, bustled, made a few tackles. That's his job. Did fuck all Cane didn't when he was on. We gave up metres and a try when he was on. ALB arguably had more impact, made 5 tackles and he's a centre.

The stats on this game are weird.

@nostrildamus think mate Mounga doesn't go that well with an inside centre type player as much as a 2nd 5/8, someone who plays first receiver a bit and allows him to take the ball a little wider. With the Crusaders off set play especially early in game, Havili often takes the ball off set play. Not a criticism of Mounga, but just something I have seen.

@Billy-Tell said in Who are you watching as priority?:

To be frank (ba dum tish) with the misogynists, BF are great. Super well coached and in Fitzpatrick and Fluhler they have their Nonu and Smith. The men’s XV could emulate their use of when to pick n go and when to spin it. Cocksedge took the right options but still too slow. I have no idea why Demant was relieved of the goal kicking.

So not watching or being interested in the BFs is misogynistic? Or did I misunderstand you?

I haven't seen any comments on here that reflect that attitude. Just people expressing a preference and giving reasons why. I prefer women's Netball to men's Netball. Does that make me prejudice against men?

@Steve said in 2022 All Blacks NH tour:

@TheMojoman said in 2022 All Blacks NH tour:

@ACT-Crusader said in 2022 All Blacks NH tour:

@TheMojoman said in 2022 All Blacks NH tour:

@Stargazer said in 2022 All Blacks NH tour:

Official:

allblacks 🚨 SQUAD UPDATES | Unfortunately @samcane7 & Dane Coles will be returning to New Zealand after picking up injuries in last nights match. Sam - fractured cheekbone, Dane - calf. All the best with your recovery fellas 💪

@pattytuips, @damianmckenzie_, @tuivasasheck & @braydonennor will join the @allblacksxv in Dublin

@leicester_f will rejoin the squad and @billy_harmon has been called in.

Telea and @asafoaumua will stay with the squad.

That stuff article posted in other threads clearly missed a bit of info.

They must be confident Retallick will escape suspension if they’re sending Tuipulotu to AB XV.

Positive is Papali’i will get an extended run in the 7 jersey. He was dynamite off the bench last night.
Happy for Aumua. Keeping Coles around has hindered his development.

Was he? I’m not sure I can watch it again, but I didn’t think he stood out (other than the hair of course).

I’m a fan of what he can bring though.

If we assume that Ardie is going to start all three tests, the question they may be considering is, do we start Papali’i or Sotutu? It’s not beyond the possibility with Cane injured that they move Ardie. They’ve done it before.

Papali'i was very good, I think 9 tackles in 14 mins plus the turnover which iced the game. He and Tuipulotu (as with most of the bench) did their job in bringing energy.

I think to reduce disruption they'll straight swap Papali'i for Cane and keep Ardie at 8. That way they can free up a bench spot for Sotutu who I thought, barring the turnover on the tryline was generally good.

I can't see Frizell backing up against Wales. He's turning into the modern day Reuben Thorne which is not all bad, you need solid blindsides who do the dirty work, make their tackles, solid carries, rucks/mauls. Akira does that and provides much more with ball-in hand.

Love Papalii but not sure I can cope with our open side flanker looking like Billy Idol.

Hopefully he doesn’t miss the starting XV after putting in the hard yards at training: tries without a place.

@Crucial said in So what did we learn from Bled2?:

@ACT-Crusader said in So what did we learn from Bled2?:

@nzzp said in So what did we learn from Bled2?:

@ACT-Crusader said in So what did we learn from Bled2?:

@nzzp said in So what did we learn from Bled2?:

@Victor-Meldrew said in So what did we learn from Bled2?:

teams who've analysed his play at 12 first

knowing something is coming and doing something about it are two very different things. Big body running straight is a key rugby requirement at the top level. Then if they doubleteam/stack a defence, space is created elsewhere.

Bring it on, JB at 12, Hayman at 8, 2023 is ours

Dagg to 10 and Messam to centre. Mealamu to openside

*Messum

5- Jordie
6- Lomu
7- Mealamu
8- Hayman
9- Cruden
10- Dagg

12- Ardie
13- Messam

DMac as reserve halfback?

I was going to put Ben Blair as halfback, but didn’t want to trigger some of the haters in here

@nzzp said in All Blacks MOTM v Australia II:

@voodoo said in All Blacks MOTM v Australia II:

Seems I'm the only person that feels Smith is worthy of a top 3 spot, and other than Clarke, he was the only guy left to not get a vote.

Youse are crazy!

he suffers from sustained excellence. His normal is massive for us - but he also isn't quite what he was.

How you'd vote for Taylor over Smith I do not know

Yeah, I get that - but I also thought his 1st half in particular was noticably commanding, and such a step up from his recent outings.

The other thing I always notice about Smith is how fast he exits the field after being subbed - he motors and looks fresh as a daisy like he hasn't just played 66mins of rugby!, Bloody show off

Locks after the RWC? Well it will be SB and whoever plays well in super rugby that year as no-one else has been developed 😂

@pakman unseen? Hardly. Still evident v Japan

@Chris-B said in All Blacks MOTM v Aussie I:

@nzzp Just to be clear, this is last week's poll. 🙂

oh holy shit. You're right.

As you were, man, that's a bloody sneaky move.

@Tordah said in Bled 1 Melbourne - pick the score:

ABs to get a decent lead, then falter and almost lose it at the death, but for a B Foley knock-on.

About the closest prediction so far

@ACT-Crusader said in Bledisloe 1:

And if you are league supporter, just be sure to remember that whatever sanction a judiciary spits out there is a premium on top of that for any Warriors

Using the WE CAN'T PUNISH FANS AT FINALS TIME clause, because... well..... 😉

@dogmeat said in All Blacks MOTM v Argentina II:

@Crucial I wonder why Papali'i is rated N/A when guys that came on with or after him are given a score

N/A = Not Around? 😀

@ACT-Crusader said in All Blacks v Argentina II:

@Kirwan said in All Blacks v Argentina II:

@Duluth said in All Blacks v Argentina II:

“I’m one of the guys that says ‘the things that happens on the field stays on the field, that’s how it has to be always."

Clearly this is not true. The next word was 'But'

"he just continued picking on me"

"it really hurt me"

"He said things that I’m sensitive about"

"I just couldn’t understand why he kept picking on me"

It's almost like Coles singled out an emotional player and tried to get him to lose focus on the game.

I'm shocked. Nothing like this ever happens in top level sports.

Won't someone think of the children?? Oh Pablo pulled out that bullshit too

"I know there’s a lot of young kids or young players watched the game and it’s not a good example"

zzzzz

Smart from Coles, targetted what appears to be a mentally weak player.

Nothing the opposition says should stop you thinking about the game. Fitzy would be proud.

But did it affect him thinking about the game, during the game? All it seemed to impact was the post game handshake…

Certainly did, he was chasing Coles several times rather than getting into position

We have a chance now. We have a tight 5.
The rest is icing
Might buy some tickets

“Campo had scored a couple of tries in the first half and we felt we had the measure of Ireland,” said Lynagh. “Mistake. Gordon Hamilton’s try turned the match on its head, a sympathetic bounce of the ball, a slip by Campo and away he went. Ireland were in front and Lansdowne Road was bouncing.

“I’d taken over the captaincy as Nick (Farr-Jones) had gone off injured. I knew I had to come up with something precise and factual. I was determined not to resort to the cliche of, ‘don’t panic, don’t worry’. There were no clocks at the ground so I asked referee Jim Fleming how long there was to go. Four minutes, came the reply. So, that’s what I said to the boys. I stuck to the facts. ‘Four minutes, still time, we’ll kick long from the restart, press, they’ll kick out and we’ll strike from the lineout’. In fact, Nick told me only the other week that he’d have kicked short to contest the ball if he had still be on the field and captain. So, there we are – what might have been.”

What was is that Ireland scrum-half Rob Saunders sliced his clearance, Australia had a lineout around the 22-metre line, David Campese took it up and was on hand later in the sequence but was tackled. Lynagh’s role had been to track play. He swooped and dived over the line.

“There was a deathly silence and I wondered what had happened, maybe that play had been called back and I hadn’t scored,” said Lynagh.

@voodoo “Rugby, it’s a game of centimetres, literally for AB ball carriers”

@Kirwan that’s bad. He was having a good game otherwise.

@pakman said in Worst AB Captain:

@Machpants said in Worst AB Captain:

@mariner4life said in Worst AB Captain:

@pakman said in Worst AB Captain:

One inconvenient fact in terms of this debate is that in the most critical 15 minutes when ABs made poor tactical choices SAVEA was the captain.

i can't believe, in the same breath that people are asking for more tactical thought on the field, that those saem people are suggesting Ardie Savea as the captain.

The very definition of tactical inflexibility. Ardie, bless him, is all attack, all the time. So much so that his excited labrador act often results in shitty errors at poor times.

There is so much broken at the moment. But i do think leadership is one of the most important. I just read Ryan having a pop at individual preparation during the week. The skipper should be setting those standards. If he's not, or he is an no one is following, that's a big concern.

But he can learn. Cane has had his time, so Ardie has got a year and a half to improve. Canes has had 2.5 and stil hasn't got it.

How hard is TAKE THE FUCKING THREE

Well in particular against 'park the bus' teams like the Pumas.

I've seen enough ABs tests to know what to do. Take the 3s against teams like that, eventually they will get desperate to catch up and you can feed off their mistakes. Right?

Whitelock was strong but he gave away a penalty after 15 seconds in the second half which is not how you want your leaders to lead and set the tone for the second half.

@Chris-B said in All Black props:

@Dan54 Don't know anything about the dynamics, Dan - but one thing I'd imagine could be a worry is blowing a prop's knee when the weight comes on as they shift the brake foot back.

Yep mate, just a thought I had, I was thinking they should perhaps have to keep brake foor there, just trying to think how we can stop them getting too low, the keeping shoulders above hips is perhaps one of problems as they have feet so far back to keep hips low I think we getting some slipping. I not really advocating we go to it and just thought I would ask other's opinions, which I kind of helps me undertand why perhaps it not looked at.

@pakman said in All Blacks v Pumas 1:

@KiwiMurph said in All Blacks v Pumas 1:

@Kirwan said in All Blacks v Pumas 1:

Pretty funny justifications going on here for Taylor. How many Tests does it take to learn to take a half step and throw it down the middle?

Was kinda important.

If there is any accountability left in selection he’d be gone. Stunk up the joint for 35 minutes.

Also - wasn't it an all Crusaders tight 5 when he came on (and wasn't that the point)?

Problem maybe Kiwi refs letting them get away with such for years?

This

And 'line ball' passes

@MajorRage said in O Captain! My Captain!:

@MiketheSnow said in O Captain! My Captain!:

In my experience as a player and a watcher, the best captains are either

The hardest fluffybunny in the team
The best player in the team, and the higher you go at least the best player in their position

Every once in while, the stars align and the fella you follow is both

Unfortunately, Cane is neither

Discuss

I would actually say Cane is the hardest guy on the team.

Doesn't mean I think he should be Captain or starting though.

Might be the hardest but not the hardest fluffybunny.
We don't really have those, maybe Coles (more the latter) or Scott.

@nostrildamus said in All Blacks MOTM v Boks II:

@MN5 said in All Blacks MOTM v Boks II:

@nostrildamus said in All Blacks MOTM v Boks II:

@MN5 said in All Blacks MOTM v Boks II:

Only saw the highlights, not the full game but went for Frizell, R Ioane and Savea.

Havilii looked decent too but out of principle I can’t vote for him.

Because Tonga beat Scotland in 2012 and anyone of Tongan descent feels your highland ire a decade later?
I'm guessing this is not true but a decade long burning sense of Utu is a great reason.

Jesus Christ, what a bizarre post.

Really? It was just a test to see if you are like those Scottish men I know who hold obscure grudges that everyone else has forgotten about.

Reminds me that my Glaswegian bro in law used to say 'While the Irish English and Welsh were fighting each other we were fighting our natural enemies: ourselves."

Yeah but I’m from Wellington

@MN5 said in Baby Blacks:

I wished the Saveas had more time together.

Or the Gears.

Have just been looking through Jules final season and a bit when Ardie was mainly on the bench and would replace Cane. They had some good games together. Especially in 2016 against Oz. That slaughter in Sydney had them both doing well.