Māori All Blacks vs British and Irish Lions
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Well that is the blueprint for the Lions to win the test series - 75% dominance of territory and possession. They should have had the game sewn up by HT and the lack of intensity once they're awarded a kickable penalty deep in the opposite 22 might hurt them. Luckily for them last night they were virtually camped there all night. Lions v impressive in all contact areas ... unsure if they have stepped it up or just that the MABs looked to have no stomach for the battle.
I think we've seen how Lions will defend against the ABs. Rush defence (obviously) and making the rucks really messy with tacklers hanging around and competing players flying in from all angles. If the ref likes to flap his arms, then the ABs will struggle to get their game going.
DMac was a strange choice at 10 given he hasn't played there this season and even stranger in conditions like last night. He likes to play off the cuff ..... never going to work for a team under pressure. TKB looked like he'd rather be somewhere else - the penalty he conceded early in the second half was super dumb.
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OK, a brief match report.
The Lions were very good. Maori didn't show up, and off the pace got smacked around.
Longer version
Town was mental. Queued out of pubs, loads of lions fans, but weather not cooperating for pub hopping or being outside. Very hard to get drinks or food. The queue for busses to the ground was immense - was a few hundred metres long, but bus drivers reported after the game that they all go there. How, I don't know, but apparently it managed.Vegas International Stadium was good. Modern pitches are high quality - despite near constant drizzle all day, the turf was in great condition. The bank was OK, but some muddy areas - to be expected.
Watched the NZ ENG Women play on TV first. Thought it could be a precusor to the Maori game, and so it turned out. Playing against a dominant forward pack is damn hard, and even worse in wet and cool conditions. Maori tight 5 looked an area of weakness, and so it showed on the night. Also seemed to miss a specialist 7, too.
Lions executed very well. Knew their (simple but effective) gameplan, and brought it big time. Maori did not show up. They weren't allowed to get going, but there were things happening that you can't blame on the Lions. For instance - in Rugby, it's usually a good idea to catch uncontested balls. Or chase kicks, for instance. Simple stuff, done poorly. Once the ball got cut off at source, the backs just couldn't get going.
As a result the crowd was very subdued. Not much to yell about, and never really got going. A clash of styles, but a gulf in class meant the game never rose to great heights.
So, what does it mean for next weekend? Lions must be in with a shot, but it's a long-ish shot. They will need to get dominance up front, recycle all night, defend like maniacs, maul everything and hope they can stop the ABs from creating in the backs. World class forwards, but I can see the ABs keeping parity up there. If we can keep th emaul defended well, we should go well.
Roll on Saturday, and good luck the Chiefs on Tuesday. THe dropoff between the 1st and 2nd XV for the Lions is massive - Chiefs should be in with a shot.
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@KiwiPie said in Māori All Blacks vs British and Irish Lions:
Well that is the blueprint for the Lions to win the test series - 75% dominance of territory and possession. They should have had the game sewn up by HT and the lack of intensity once they're awarded a kickable penalty deep in the opposite 22 might hurt them. Luckily for them last night they were virtually camped there all night. Lions v impressive in all contact areas ... unsure if they have stepped it up or just that the MABs looked to have no stomach for the battle.
I think we've seen how Lions will defend against the ABs. Rush defence (obviously) and making the rucks really messy with tacklers hanging around and competing players flying in from all angles. If the ref likes to flap his arms, then the ABs will struggle to get their game going.
DMac was a strange choice at 10 given he hasn't played there this season and even stranger in conditions like last night. He likes to play off the cuff ..... never going to work for a team under pressure. TKB looked like he'd rather be somewhere else - the penalty he conceded early in the second half was super dumb.
DMac got some time at 10 versus the Canes when Cruden went off injured. He struggled in that short stint as well.
The biggest issue was the lack of use of the ball by Lowe.
Between Bender, Dagg and B. Barrett dropping back, the ABs have excellent kicking options and better users of the ball, whether it's wet or dry.
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Coach Colin Cooper will be disappointed his side wasn't able to fire much of a shot on a night which promised so much, and with this one-off game done he's now hoping for some good showings on a yet-to-be-announced fixture list for an end-of-year tour. "I think the end of year tour is really important for Maori rugby," Cooper said. "It's an opportunity to bring some younger guys in and develop them and get ready for the next Lions tour. And I think to help Maori rugby the more we tour the better.Good to read that there will be an EOYT for the Maori ABs.
We may have seen the last of some of the older players in the jersey, if Cooper is going to bring in the next generation of players. The Mitre 10 Cup season is going to be important for some young players! -
Just watched replay of first half. Maori did turn up for this and were fairly good. Lions were certainly not dominant, even in forwards. One weak area was inability of Maori to run through phases. Seemed to suffer from DMac sitting deep and backs struggling thereafter to get to gainline. Maori kicking very poor. Will rewatch second later, but interesting to look for what changed. One thing is that the rain seemed to worsen early in half.
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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 . -
@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 .My take on it is that the coaches just selected all their best "players" and wanted them on the field to start. We've seen it many times in the past. Sometimes it's worked and other times it has failed terribly.
DMac all in all is a better player than West. But DMac has shown to be very hit and miss in the limited time he has played 1st 5 at Super or ITM level. Again the worst thing about the selection was breaking up a damn good wing/fullback combo.
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@ACT-Crusader yeah definitely that too , plus shag publicly saying he needs to play more 10 all contributed to him thinking it was the selection to go with imo .
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My biggest worry from this game, for next year, is that Cooper didn't bring West on and move McKenzie back to fullback about 10 minutes after half time. The team clearly needed a change and that was the easiest one to make. Probably should have brought Hika on earlier but I suspect he's not a fan anyway.
Hmmm, I wonder if I've got a Canes jumped tucked away in my closet somewhere.
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@taniwharugby Preferably the one that Cully wore and not that bloody Northlander one!
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@Nepia ha they were the only ones I could see that I was pretty sure were 90's jersies, unless you wanna pull your Central Vikings one out?
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@taniwharugby Anything pre-The Hammetuer is good.
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I've had a quick look through the comments.
From my vantage point high above the corner where Messam scored, the Lions pack just strangled the life out of the Maori, in 2nd half especially. It's easy to point the finger at the backs but they had so little ball to play with and were always on the back foot. If you want to point the finger at Maori players start with no's 1-5. This wasn't a surprise as we all knew that the Maori pack needed to front if their backs had a chance to do something. They didn't. We've seen BB struggle behind a beaten Canes forward pack vs the Crusaders and Chiefs this year.
I haven't watched a replay but all of the 2nd half action appeared to be in the Maori half (my end). I don't even remember the Maori having the ball inside the Lions' 22. But for all the possession the Lions backs had they never looked very threatening.
Akira was definitely the best Maori player on the park. TKB made 2 try-saving tackles which hasn't been mentioned.
The weather wasn't great which helped the Lions with their superior kicking game, and Maori failed to cope.
One last comment, the Maori backs behind the Lions forwards would be good to watch.
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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.
