Māori All Blacks vs British and Irish Lions
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#tagfurlong 😉
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@Bovidae said in Māori All Blacks vs British and Irish Lions:
One last comment, the Maori backs behind the Lions forwards would be good to watch.
That's if Lowe doesn't kick the ball away....
The opportunities were in the first half to set the game up for the Maori, but I was bewildered by Lowe's kicking. The Lions picked up the pressure as you say in the 2nd half and strangled the Maori of possession and opportunity.
But we were not putting scoreboard pressure on them which was what was required in that first half and that would've had an impact I think on the Lions later in the match.
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@kiwiinmelb said in Māori All Blacks vs British and Irish Lions:
With cooper going to the chiefs next year , and cruden leaving , Ireckon Pre game , cooper had made his mind up dmac is his starting 10 next year
And was influenced by that in his decision to start him there .Hansen said that's exactly what happened last week.
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The game was really boring and hard to watch for a neutral. The Maoris tight five was just not up to the task, their locks more particulary. Wheeler and Franklin are good SR players but they lack the physicality required at this higher level. Messam, Dixon and Ioane were good defensively. Hard to judge the Maoris backs in these conditions but Lowe and McKenzie were pretty disappointing (unable to catch a high ball and poor kicking).
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Now watched the second half.
I don't buy the 'Maori strangled into submission' story. The fact is that the score went from 15-10 (and Maori declined gimme 3 just before halftime) to 29-10 on back of: Dmac kick off not 10, Lowe dropped ball on 22, Dmac suicide chip in own 22, Dmac miss on Te'o 10 out and DMac scragged standing 10 yards behind gain line from ruck. To their credit the Lions were ruthless when they got into the red zone. That said, better game management and they wouldn't have been there.
The time to take on the rush is not 15 yards behind the gain line in one's 22. That is when you kick the pill 50 metres downfield.
To paraphase Cypher: 'A little piece of advice. You see an agent, you do what we do. Run. You run your ass off.' Except kick!
In fact from 29-10 the Maori stemmed the tide very effectively.
