Bledisloe 2
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@Unco said in Bledisloe 2:
@Chris-B. said in Bledisloe 2:
@No-Quarter Wouldn't surprise me if Jules has done his dash. He's got Rieko and Naholo ahead of him as power wingers and Dagg and NMS as second fullback type wings, plus Jordie pushing Ben Smith towards a wing, plus DMac and Havili in the back three frame - and big Seta shifting outwards from a congested midfield and who knows who else emerging from the pack. It's not a situation where you want to be pushed out.
I don't think Ardie's under too much threat until the selectors decide they want more muscle on the bench. He brings something very different to that bench role - though I don't really see him displacing Sam Cane to start any time soon.
You say Ardie "brings something very different" but what exactly does he bring? In theory Ardie seems like he'd be the perfect impact player coming off the bench but in reality, he doesn't really seem to impact a whole lot.
As Hansen said the other day, he adds speed. I think he brings some good aggression too - often see him keep his feet and drive on with legs pumping - though doubtless a bigger specialist blindside forward could do that equally well or better.
To state the obvious, they're pulling the big physical blindside and shifting to two opensides for the final 20 minutes or so, so the ploy is evidently to lift the tempo against tired legs and run the opposition off their feet.
Last year it seemed to work pretty well and people were talking about the big advantage our bench gave us. This year it hasn't been so effective and against the Lions that wasn't surprising, because they had a bunch of frontline test players sitting on their bench. I've got no idea what happened on Saturday night, but it wasn't impressive.
If they're going to stick with the two opensides plan then Ardie's probably the right man for the job. If we end up with Read, Kaino, Squire and Ioane all playing high quality test footy then they might go down another path.
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@dogmeat said in Bledisloe 2:
There was no booing in the 70's ...
You mustn't have been at Eden Park whenever North Auckland was challenging for the Shield then I'm guessing.
but was when I came back to NZ in the 90's
I'm old so don't boo ...
I blame satellite tv/internet. Then professionalism. I'm old too. Maybe too old too. When athletes were amateurs supporters restrained themselves & self-policed better. But when athletes are making good money, fans givem the blowtorch. That's international pro sports - team sports especially.
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I can recall booing the opposition at Okara park in the late 80's. But once the game was over I was running out onto the field to get as many autographs as I could
I remember my mum telling me to stop yelling at the ref about gold watches. -
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@Salacious-Crumb I was at EP for those matches and Okara when Akl won it back
Along with the booing we also seem to have lost the ironic/sarcastic clapping. Colin Farrell used to get a lot of that....
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@akan004 said in Bledisloe 2:
Coleman has been ruled out. Arnold is back in to partner Simmons. They are truly screwed.
I noticed the replacement is the 21 year old Izack Rodda who played for the Reds? Anyone know much about him? Appears to be pretty green with 12 Super Rugby caps?
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@chimoaus He has a heap of potential. The guy is massive and physical and will be a very good lock in the future but he is nowhere near ready for Test match rugby at this stage. He struggled to keep up with the pace of some of the Super Rugby games this year so am a bit surprised that Cheika has him in the Wallaby squad already.
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@taniwharugby said in Bledisloe 2:
at least Kqwuaiyde isn't playing, so a chance maybe?
They should get the ground DJ to play a pre-recorded clip of a silent crowd over the PA system. Surely that's the way we roll in this country? Any stadium atmosphere issue can be addressed by a DJ whacking something through the PA.
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I remember a Waikato-Auckland game at Rugby Park in the early 1990s when Auckland was near unbeatable. Fox was taking forever to kick a penalty as the crowd was yelling and screaming at him. When there was finally a moment of silence someone in the crowd yelled out "hurry up Fox, the ball will go flat". We all pissed ourselves with laughter. The bastard still got the penalty goal though.
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@Milk yeah I still remember being at Twickers in 2002 when ABs played England and they were having a moment of silence for Remembrance Day and some fucker shouted out 'All Blacks' in the middle, then some other knob shouted 'ENNGGLAAND'
Very disappointing...but then asking people not to boo probably isn't gonna get them to stop.
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@taniwharugby said in Bledisloe 2:
@Milk yeah I still remember being at Twickers in 2002 when ABs played England and they were having a moment of silence for Remembrance Day and some fucker shouted out 'All Blacks' in the middle, then some other knob shouted 'ENNGGLAAND'
Yeah, when someone yells out during a moment of silence it makes me realise that there are some people on this earth who I'll never be able to relate to.
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