All Blacks v BI Lions Test #3
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@No-Quarter said in All Blacks v BI Lions Test #3:
@Chris-B won't be happy with all the Canes players starting for the decider.
It's madness and even A Smith and Dagg have some latent Canes genes that could easily come to the fore immersed in that mix. Our only hope is that Lienert-Brown remembers his inherent Cantabness and holds these fools together - or that they've called in Hammer to give out brain infusions.
On the more serious side, most people would have been picking something like Smith, Barrett, ALB, Savea, Dagg before the first test - and before the squad was selected, a bench of Perenara, Cruden, Fekitoa wouldn't have been a surprise - so it's really only Laumape and Jordie who are substantial changes from a "traditional" (ie last couple of years) match-day 23. We will definitely miss Ben Smith, but we were already doing that last week.
We just have to hope that the two new boys are significantly better than last week's 25 minutes of SBW and 80 minutes of Rieko (hopefully along with bonus of getting an extra half hour of Kaino).
You'd hope they can do that - though personally I probably would have started an ALB-Fekitoa combination. If they can avoid serious mistakes, we'll probably win, though it's far from guaranteed. I'd rather Auckland turn on a fine night.
Aside from this, I'm hoping to see our forwards come out and make the sort of statement they did vs Oz in the RWC final.
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@DMX said in All Blacks v BI Lions Test #3:
The two out and out wingers have cost the ABs in the last two games so I can absolutely see the logic of bringing Jordie in. Iaone did pretty much nothing in the last game, I can barely remember him playing, except when he almost made a hash of the cross kick. I felt Savea deservedly lost his place but under the circumstances his recall made sense as does Fekitoas though he really should have been in the squat from day 1. Naholo ran hard but was completely unreliable fielding kicks.
At this stage of Reikos career , exciting in attack , but he may have a bit of downhill in him , didn't quite know how to inject himself when things werent going our way ,that may come later , with more rain forecast , jules is probably better suited to rolling the sleeves up and contributing to cart the ball over the advantage line .
My opinion anyway . -
J Barrett is the luckiest All Black since some of those Cantab nuffies of the early 2000s.
While i can understand the logic behind bringing Savea in, i still think it's fucking rough on Ioane.
Forwards better front up, but that's easier said than done when you look at who they have to beat. That's a fucking good pack.
Remember before the tour when it was widely accepted by the 3rd test the Lions would be scratching around the waterfront bars of Auckland to find enough fit Brits to make a team? Yea, look how that's fucking turned out. Even fucking Sexton has made it, while we are down to our 45th midfielder
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Dangerous, but at least they've selected from the squad. Good on them.
Savea for Ioane I think comes down to giving J. Barrett a better ride with a bail out option - plus Ioane was pretty poor last week. I like the two FBs, even though I think J. Barrett isn't ready yet and probably wouldn't have selected him in this squad.
At the end of the day, barring an SBW like meltdown, this game will be won by the guys wearing 1-10. I think we need to see BB show that he can control the game and deal with the rush D.
Two key areas for us: catching and chasing. We been poor catching high balls but if we deal with their kicking well, we'll win well. Secondly, our kick chase has been poor. If that is more organized, we should be able to put more pressure on them.
Finally, I'm hoping to see Laumape make Sexton into his little bitch - Biggar was awesomely brave for the Lions defending there, but if Sexton can't bring that level, things could get funny.
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Interesting to read that BFA has been cleared from concussion symptoms and the problem was actually an inner ear issue which caused vertigo. He's back in camp in Auckland. This being the case, would it not have been prudent to rush him back in for such a vital test?
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Jordie should be fine:
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@taniwharugby Yeah, you are right. It's such good news though. I think we have learnt one important thing from this series and that is we have great Super Rugby depth but possibly our Test level depth is not as good as we originally thought. Certain players such as BFA, Read, BBBR and Beaudie just can't be replaced.
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@akan004 Wouldn't be surprised if Rieko is a bit burnt out. In the last two months he hasn't had 1 game off and has played 2 games in Aussie, followed by 1 in Auckland, 1 in Cape Town, 1 in Auckland, 1 in Apia, 1 in Auckland (vs Lions on short turnaround), 1 for Maori in Rotorua and 2 All Black tests.
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Hansen clarifies Ioane and Naholo absence
Illness rather than form is the reason behind Reiko Ioane and Waisake Naholo being left out of the All Blacks test side for the series decider against the British and Irish Lions in Auckland on Saturday night.
"Reiko wasn't considered because he's been sick all week and hasn't been able to train with us. "Waisake while he's passed the concussion protocols doc and the selectors don't feel we should be risking a player so soon after concussion so we have given him another week to recover," said Hansen. -
@akan004 yeah for sure, although to lose both front line mid-fielders and BFA in 100 mins is gonna eat into most teams depth, especially when you wind the clock back 18 months and we had just lost 197 caps worth of experience (in the mid-field alone) as well.
Yep, we usually have someone to fill the massive gap left, we do this time, but filling them with rookies isn't how we usually do it either, which just adds a shitload more spice than I usually like
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@Nepia maybe he will make a surprise appearance in the comms box in place of Marshall?
Me oh my, I would enjoy that, yes boy!
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@taniwharugby said in All Blacks v BI Lions Test #3:
@Nepia maybe he will make a surprise appearance in the comms box in place of Marshall?
Me oh my, I would enjoy that, yes boy!
Would you guys really want that? What player has transitioned from playing to commentating well? As the Ferns's living god would we want to risk BFA in the commentary box?
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@akan004 said in All Blacks v BI Lions Test #3:
Interesting to read that BFA has been cleared from concussion symptoms and the problem was actually an inner ear issue which caused vertigo. He's back in camp in Auckland. This being the case, would it not have been prudent to rush him back in for such a vital test?
I had an inner ear issue a few years back. Was as sick as a dog for a week and remained wobbly for months.
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@booboo said in All Blacks v BI Lions Test #3:
@akan004 said in All Blacks v BI Lions Test #3:
Interesting to read that BFA has been cleared from concussion symptoms and the problem was actually an inner ear issue which caused vertigo. He's back in camp in Auckland. This being the case, would it not have been prudent to rush him back in for such a vital test?
I had an inner ear issue a few years back. Was as sick as a dog for a week and remained wobbly for months.
Just to expand on that... the point being just because they've worked out what it was and he's better doesn't mean he's fully recovered.
Am hoping he gets to be 100% a lot quicker than I did otherwise he'll be in doubt for remainder of Super Rugby and maybe RC.
Is the thought that the inner ear thing wss a result of impact?
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@Nepia said in All Blacks v BI Lions Test #3:
@taniwharugby said in All Blacks v BI Lions Test #3:
@Nepia maybe he will make a surprise appearance in the comms box in place of Marshall?
Me oh my, I would enjoy that, yes boy!
Would you guys really want that? What player has transitioned from playing to commentating well? As the Ferns's living god would we want to risk BFA in the commentary box?
Jon Preston
