All Blacks v Wallabies at Eden Park.
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@cgrant said in All Blacks v Wallabies at Eden Park.:
What did Sopoaga wrong to get dropped ? He was excellent against the Boks when he came in and kicked goals like a machine. But maybe Hansen could select Cruden to bring him back into the mix so he would not be tempted to head north ...
Hansen insists players can't lose ground while injured and usually gives them the chance to regain their place.
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@Milk said in All Blacks v Wallabies at Eden Park.:
@cgrant said in All Blacks v Wallabies at Eden Park.:
What did Sopoaga wrong to get dropped ? He was excellent against the Boks when he came in and kicked goals like a machine. But maybe Hansen could select Cruden to bring him back into the mix so he would not be tempted to head north ...
Hansen insists players can't lose ground while injured and usually gives them the chance to regain their place.
Cruden has clearly lost ground...
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That philosophy is a pretty firm line. Mostly because the incumbent rarely gets dropped outright, and injuries occur
regularly. The last one i can remember is Cory Jane being injured in 2013 and being usurped forever by some crappy utility called Ben Smith. Maybe Crockett being the top loose head for a game last year at RWC when woody finished up injured, before being injured himselfand losing out to moody. -
I suspect BB has claimed the starting 10 jersey.
But they are likely to give AC a chance to start in the next few tests. AC is easily good enoug5j to be our starting 10. Just BB is probably better.
AC remains in front of Lima IMO
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I'm going to add a slight voice of caution in all the excitement around BB this year. Yes, he has taken his chances, has improved in many aspects and is in a great run of form. All you can ask of really and he fully deserves his place.
Where my concern lies is that we haven't seen him under pressure, haven't seen how he controls a game when not on the front foot.
Our opposition has been so poor this year so far that Wales probably gave us our toughest moments. We held our own waiting for them to wither and then cut loose when going forward. What happens on that day where a team holds out for 80 minutes? Is BB the man to guide us into position?
I'm fairly sure that the overall team can and will overcome anything currently being thrown at them and I'm not advocating dumping Barrett at all.
I just have reservations that he may not be the complete answer. -
You've got to give Beaudy the benefit of the doubt when it comes to playing under pressure. He has played some seriously high pressure games at fullback coming off the bench and came through with flying colours.
That game at Ellis Park two years ago where he single handedly gave up the lead then took it back a minute later told me all I needed to know about his mental fortitude under pressure.
Five eighth is different sure. We also haven't seen how he deals with shitty service from halfback and hopefully we won't need to.
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@rotated said in All Blacks v Wallabies at Eden Park.:
You've got to give Beaudy the benefit of the doubt when it comes to playing under pressure. He has played some seriously high pressure games at fullback coming off the bench and came through with flying colours.
That game at Ellis Park two years ago where he single handedly gave up the lead then took it back a minute later told me all I needed to know about his mental fortitude under pressure.
Five eighth is different sure. We also haven't seen how he deals with shitty service from halfback and hopefully we won't need to.
More the wonder of how he can control a pressured game from 10. We have seen him have to deal with shitty service (from TJP) but it was still going forward.
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Sacrilege!!
On that note I did think BB looked a little pressured early on in the recent test v SA.
Why woul you "hope" Cruden isn't given an opportunity to prove he is good enough to start?
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A game like the 2011 RWC final is what I would consider to be a pressure game because that was a grind (irrerspective of the occasion). We've been fortunate that the ABs have been playing at a level above the opposition this season so have been able to up the tempo when required.
I really hope Aust make it a difficult game on Sat.
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@Bovidae said in All Blacks v Wallabies at Eden Park.:
A game like the 2011 RWC final is what I would consider to be a pressure game because that was a grind (irrerspective of the occasion).
So the ABs have rarely had a game of that pressure in the past 4 or 5 years then....so we don't know what most of our guys are like under pressure
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@taniwharugby Of course the ABs have been under periods of pressure, like in the 1st and 2nd tests against Wales this year, and vs Arg in Hamilton. BUT not for the full 80 mins. As I said, that's a credit to the team.
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@Crucial said in All Blacks v Wallabies at Eden Park.:
@rotated said in All Blacks v Wallabies at Eden Park.:
You've got to give Beaudy the benefit of the doubt when it comes to playing under pressure. He has played some seriously high pressure games at fullback coming off the bench and came through with flying colours.
That game at Ellis Park two years ago where he single handedly gave up the lead then took it back a minute later told me all I needed to know about his mental fortitude under pressure.
Five eighth is different sure. We also haven't seen how he deals with shitty service from halfback and hopefully we won't need to.
More the wonder of how he can control a pressured game from 10. We have seen him have to deal with shitty service (from TJP) but it was still going forward.
We may not see that until we play England ( with emphasis on the word may ) I think it's not rocket science Eddie will attempt to beat us up front and take away that front foot ball .
Easier said than done obviously . -
My point is more that we haven't been under such pressure that BB has had to take hold of the game tactically and steer us around.
He still looks to me that if there isn't an opportunity for him to make a break he shovels it on (or kicks if a clearance is required). I have yet to see much evidence of DC like 'quarterback' stuff where he would take ownership of steering the plays.
I'm not saying it is a flaw or that he can't do it just that we haven't seen him have to do it so there is little to go on.
I really do think we have had it quite easy during the TRC.Hopefully I am wrong and we smash the Convicts again despite them being up for a hard game. I just have a suspicion we may get more of a match than many pundits think.
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What about the Super Rugby Final. That was more high pressure than any test we have had?
It's a bit of a mickey mouse non comaprison you are making when you talk about pressure. Hindsight being 20/20 and all that, before the series started there would have been pressure.
I call it confidence, he has that in spades
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Still missing my point. I haven't said he can't cope under pressure, someone else brought that up.
I'm saying he hasn't had to steer around a tight test match. Is he able to step up in the way DC used to when the 10 needed to control the game.
At present he is playing great because the team performance is allowing him to ply his natural game. Long may that be the case. I'm just not calling him the complete article because I haven't seen him have to play those cards.
As an example, have we seen a performance from him like DC had to pull out in the RWC Semi?
