ABs v Scotland
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@chester-draws said in ABs v Scotland:
@mokey said in ABs v Scotland:
Apart from the first half against France, this has been a pretty rubbish NH tour by AB standards.
Well, very recent standards maybe.
We've not lost yet, and I've seen a few losses on NH tours in my time. Um, like last year.
I do get why people are unhappy with the level of errors currently in the AB game but in terms of scorelines, we haven't really shellacked teams on a NH tour since about 2010.
I quite enjoyed this match, the crowd was great, the intensity was good, the Scots were very good (but not magnificent) and the AB's when the held on to the ball showed they are still capable of being astonishing.
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two guys were binned, I thought a couple more could have walked, not for the in air collision, that was nothing, but for the infringements at the breakdown as we were looking to score late on.
Hames definitely won a scrum penalty by driving in and up, and that was a big turning point. (I've watched it again now)
I was more responding in kind to the lighthearted leg pulling, but you did ask
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@rocky-rockbottom I'm all for the game being more competitive, but through other teams catching up, not us dropping back (I know that sounds arrogant, but we have been poor this year at parts of the game we usually dominate - silky skills, counter attack, off loads, handling, last 20)
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@nepia looked more like Squire that did more pushing on Cane, Crockett kinda leaned on him...but the Crockett card is an odd one, he was carded for playing the 9 without the ball, the 9 had his hands on the ball.
Whether the 9'is allowed time to roll it, Polish it or whatever, the call he played the 9 without the ball was blatantly wrong.
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@rapido said in ABs v Scotland:
That interception by Hogg when we were putting in the final pass to dot down under the post. Whoever was that support runner (Cane?) give yourself an uppercut now, and next time give your self 2m of depth.
Unnecessarily flat supporting line butchers another try.
The flat supporting line has been a problem for a number of years. TJ is the worst at it and I think a try was disallowed against Wales last year at Eden Park because he was so flat that the pass was forced to be thrown forward. The same thing could have happened in Dunedin this year with Read's final pass to him. I don't know why the coaches are not fixing this fairly basic issue.
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I think I am ready to abandon Naholo. By my count he gave away 3 needless and stupid PK's for almost no reason whatsoever.
He has talent to burn, but he doesn't have it in the top 6 inches. Unless he can sort his brainfarts out he's not of All Black standard.
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"@talisker said in ABs v Scotland:
@booboo
It would take a lot longer to answer properly than half past two on a Sunday morning allows.
The short answer is that using "Jock" isn't cool "Rolled gold rubbish, talisker, you are making it up.
The term is as old as "Pom" and maybe older, it has been around as long as "Kiwi" and "Mick" (for Catholics) and "Frog".
Do keep updating your records, though, on raaaacist, hurty terminology. It must be a fascinating obsession to be sure, it will keep you indoors and at a good distance from normal society.
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@stargazer Jebus man, just give up the denial! That's two Sundays in a row I've logged in and the first post(s) are yourself white knighting Crusaders/Canterbury players.
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@stargazer watch what? And what is nonsense?
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@bones The nonsense is your comment that I'm white knighting Crusaders/Canterbury players. I don't give a rat's arse about Crockett; I was just stating a fact in response to an incorrect comment from @antipodean saying that Cane got yellow carded because Crockett shoved him over the ruck. My response was that that was wrong; Crockett was there but he wasn't to blame for Cane's YC. I said that if there's anyone else to blame for that YC but Cane himself, it would be Squire. If you want to check that fact, you can watch the highlights video at around the 60 minutes 50 seconds mark. If antipodean had made the comment about Fifita or Ofa or whoever, I'd have pointed out the facts the same way.
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@stargazer oh I think you're confused - I'm not disputing any facts fella. Just pointing out the fact you're often first on the scene if thems Chch lads are being criticised!
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@stargazer Yes, that must be exactly it. I am so sensitive at always seeing @Stargazer have to defend and promote those poor lads.
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That’s a good Scotland team. It’s not often that I’d select any members for the ABs but I’d definitely have one or two of them in black. Bad handling was really the only reason why they didn’t win that.
Which really tells the story this year. It’s just a shitty AB team.
Firstly, I’m not convinced it’s very well led - Barrett should not be vice captain and is just struggling to push us around the field. Secondly, there is a lack of key personal skills - clearing out arriving players and height when running with the ball are two that I noticed, plus later on pushing flat (forward) passes, which is just fucking terrible, and of course catching and holding the ball. Between forward passes and bad catching we took our foot off their throat two to three times in the first half. Thirdly, decision making - a clear pattern of shitty option taking and/or shitty execution. A good example is about 12 minutes in when we break them down with a nice midfield break, followed by Barrett choosing to grub ahead directly into the only Scottish player covering - who goes on to take exactly the right option by kicking to the corner.
Much of the problem is with personnel - either because of new or developing combinations. However, much of it is also self inflicted - there appears to be no effort to get any territory, and the kicking game is fucking terrible - compared to where we were two years ago. That’s mainly on Barrett, but also Smith, and we miss another option (McKenzie doesn’t seem to help at all, which is fucking strange given that’s one of his few strengths). I wonder whether Nonu had been kicking more than I thought, as it could be that we are not only missing his option taking, but even his kicking. Well played to SBW with better option taking though, especially as he seems to have worked out when to use the grubber.
I have no idea how Naholo wasn’t carded. That’s a YC all day and he has form for that too. For every special thing he does, he does two fuckups. I don’t see his Value.
Good news: Cane (I though unlucky to be carded), Hames, Whitelock, SBW (why was he subbed?) and of course Ioane - he was outstanding. Our scrum - except for the one scrum where we bet on it and fucked it up. Our starting line out - except when we throw to the back, where the throwing needs work. The midfield is slowly getting better, but I still don’t like the combination with Barrett.
Mixed bags: Taylor great at times but also with one bad throw and a fucked up try due to his late pass, Fifita - some reasonable runs but also a lack of accuracy, such as his dropped ball off a kick off, and not finishing the tackle which led to the first Scot try. McKenzie who did well to get his try, and was great with a super accurate pass for Barrett’s try - but really doesn’t offer much from the back and chooses bad options from kick receipts.
Getting worse: Squire, with the classic Fifita hungus right when we had them broken down, Crockett (For fucks sake, that was fucking terrible), Harris, and Naholo, who I don’t think did one good thing all night.
Funnily enough, had we nailed passing, catching, cleaning out etc I think we could have won by 20 or more but with all the little inaccuracies plus the lack of territory we end conceding too many points, despite pretty good scrambling defense (last 4 minutes aside).
