All Blacks Squad for France
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@nepia are you new here?
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@kiwimurph said in All Blacks Squad for France:
It would have been interesting to see what would have happened if Cruden never blew out his ACL in 2015.
Or if Troy Flavell hadn't stomped on Greg Smith back in 03 and been labelled a thug and a liability...
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Sooooo....When is the team named?
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Got tickets for the Wellington game - stoked this is game two in the series... but also a smidge worried... because France!
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The turning point was that second test of the series against Wales. Cruden played meh in the first half and then BB came in in the second half. His display was outstanding and the selectors have never looked back since.
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Here is a forward pack consisting of unavailable players for the June series :
Hames
Coles
Moli
Bird
Scrafton
Seu
Gibson
ReadThis could compete with most packs (Australia, Scotland, Wales, Italy, Argentina, Fiji, Samoa, Tonga, Japan ...).
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In the midfield the tricky position is the long term 13. All the contenders play 12 as well, and at twelve the problem is who to leave out.
For me Crotty is inferior to ALB at 13. Goodhue is the incumbent Great White Hope, so I'd shoot for him and ALB.
SBW is a lock at 12.So, for me, second 12 comes down to choice between Crotty, who always makes BB better at 10, and Laumape, who provides old fashioned grunt. I'd go for the former, but suspect it won't come down to that.
At 10, if the go for three, there are two slots potentially available. Can't see Mo'unga not being there.
DMac is not an international 10 and I don't think he ever will be. Very content to see him as a back up 15 -- but would have to get past Jordie. If there is a third 10, it needs to be a specialist.
We need a big hitting 6/8 to even up the loosie balance. If Squire not fully fit we are exposed. None of Fifita/Ioane/Taufua/Whitelock strike me as defensive enforcers.
Have mainly watched Blues and Chiefs this year -- is there any emerging big hitter? Frizell is big and was highly impressive against Blues (know that's not saying that much!), but haven't seen enough of him to know how dominant his D is.
When is team named?
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@pakman said in All Blacks Squad for France:
When is team named?
@kiwimurph said in All Blacks Squad for France:
Tune into the All Blacks social media channels at 9.30am on Sunday May 20 to see who is named in the 33-man squad to take on France in the Steinlager Series in June.
Basically, the team will be named about 1 second before Crucial posts it on TSF
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@bones said in All Blacks Squad for France:
@pakman if whitelock doesn't strike you as a defensive enforcer, it would appear you're not watching him play.
Haven't seen a lot of him. to be honest. He is certainly a very accurate tackler, but I don't recall seeing him make dominant tackles in the style of JK or Squire.
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Maybe the choice of the Nr.12 jersey could be linked to the best mean to neutralize Matthieu Bastareaud and his 130 kgs. The French forwards will probably win at least 50% of the possession so I guess Bastareaud will charge relentlessly in midfield. SBW could be the best answer against him.
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@cgrant I concur - mostly. It seems both Crotty and SBW spend a fair amount of time out injured these days and will need to be managed carefully prior to the TRC and through the SR finals. I think we will see Goodhue and Laumape spend time in the centres, Laumape is developing into a Nonu-esque type of player, and Goodhue I can see will eventually succeed Crotty. t's a pity Aso is out injured and Procter seemingly not in the mix, as I think that would have added extra extra spice to the competiton for places.
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@wairau said in All Blacks Squad for France:
@pakman said in All Blacks Squad for France:
When is team named?
@kiwimurph said in All Blacks Squad for France:
Tune into the All Blacks social media channels at 9.30am on Sunday May 20 to see who is named in the 33-man squad to take on France in the Steinlager Series in June.
Basically, the team will be named about 1 second before Crucial posts it on TSF
I have to wait for the embargo to finish.
I won't be sitting at the computer 10.30 on a Saturday night for this one
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@pakman said in All Blacks Squad for France:
@bones said in All Blacks Squad for France:
@pakman if whitelock doesn't strike you as a defensive enforcer, it would appear you're not watching him play.
Haven't seen a lot of him. to be honest. He is certainly a very accurate tackler, but I don't recall seeing him make dominant tackles in the style of JK or Squire.
Geez man, you only need to watch the most recent highlanders game for plenty of evidence of dominant tackling. He's been doing it all season and it's very noticeable.
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Luke Whitelock is listed as making the highest amount of dominant tackles so far this season on the Vodacom rugby stats app. Ardie is the 3rd kiwi on the list so it should probably be taken with a huge grain of salt.
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@pakman said in All Blacks Squad for France:
@bones Didn't see the Lions game, but, on the basis that Whitelock is a big hitter, putting him at 6 with Cane and Ioane would have quite good balance.
Not a tall backrow is it? That's right, I want everything, no compromises.
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@antipodean True. With Whitelock and Cane coming in around 1.90 and Akira at 1.94 that is quite a short trio. Squire and Fifita are 1.96. It does make quite a difference. Also, I don't think Whitelock, Cane or Akira are used regularly in the lineout.
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@toddy said in All Blacks Squad for France:
@antipodean True. With Whitelock and Cane coming in around 1.90 and Akira at 1.94 that is quite a short trio. Squire and Fifita are 1.96. It does make quite a difference. Also, I don't think Whitelock, Cane or Akira are used regularly in the lineout.
Not sure about the other two but Akira is used regularly in the Blues lineout.
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@shadowtrooper said in All Blacks Squad for France:
@cgrant I concur - mostly. It seems both Crotty and SBW spend a fair amount of time out injured these days and will need to be managed carefully prior to the TRC and through the SR finals. I think we will see Goodhue and Laumape spend time in the centres, Laumape is developing into a Nonu-esque type of player, and Goodhue I can see will eventually succeed Crotty. t's a pity Aso is out injured and Procter seemingly not in the mix, as I think that would have added extra extra spice to the competiton for places.
Have to say I'm quite frustrated with the midfield at the moment.
SBW is a lock when healthy but doesn't have the speed or agility he once had. Crotty is a better 12 than 13 certainly.
The NZ SR form 13's seem to barely get a mention - Proctor and Rob Thompson. IMHO, both are playing better than ALB and the "great white hope" Goodhue and both offer more around the park.
ALB is having a better year than last year but not as good as Proctor and Thompson. Again, IMHO, both Proctor and Thompson are better defenders and offer more in attack.
In terms of combinations, I think we could do a lot worse than starting Laumape and Proctor and have SBW on the bench for impact given his match fitness will be much lower than all the others in the running.
Personally, I think it's a little early for Goodhue, who is a terrific prospect, but I prefer the maturity of both Proctor and Thompson.
My $0.02 worth anyway.
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@roninwc said in All Blacks Squad for France:
ALB is having a better year than last year but not as good as Proctor and Thompson. Again, IMHO, both Proctor and Thompson are better defenders and offer more in attack.
ALB has been there and looked exceptionally good at the top level. Suffered from 'second season' syndrome - but if they pick him, it's because he has characteristics that are known and the coaches think will be able to deliver.
Personally I haven't seen enough Super this year to comment more sensibly
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@kiwimurph yeah, just had a quick look and Akira has 17 lineout wins this year, Whitelock 3, Squire 3, Cane 1 and Fifita 17
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@kiwimurph said in All Blacks Squad for France:
@toddy said in All Blacks Squad for France:
@antipodean True. With Whitelock and Cane coming in around 1.90 and Akira at 1.94 that is quite a short trio. Squire and Fifita are 1.96. It does make quite a difference. Also, I don't think Whitelock, Cane or Akira are used regularly in the lineout.
Not sure about the other two but Akira is used regularly in the Blues lineout.
Akira does everything for the Blues.
@roninwc I've been well impressed by what I've seen of Thompson this year. Our stocks in the midfield don't look as bad as some were worrying about a year or two ago.
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@chris-b said in All Blacks Squad for France:
@roninwc If Proctor is only the 90kgs he's billed as on the Hurricanes website, then his size is against him as a test midfielder.
He might have been 90kg when he came out of school, but I doubt he'd be that light now - rugby player's weights are so suss sometimes.
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@nepia said in All Blacks Squad for France:
rugby player's weights are so suss sometimes
As are players heights
Which reminds me, I looked up Taufua's height recently and he was listed as being taller than I thought he would be.
Then I did a quick check of the archive versions of the crusaders website
2013 - 1.82m (21yrs)
2014 - 1.82m (22yrs)
2015 - 1.82m (23yrs)
2016 - 1.85m (24yrs)
2017 - 1.87m (25yrs)
2018 - 1.87m (26yrs)It's not particularly important, but its worth noting how bullshit these stats can be
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@chris-b said in All Blacks Squad for France:
@duluth The phone book he stands on has got thicker!
different haircuts. If he wants to be a test player he needs to get it stand up on end like a certain openside
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@mariner4life said in All Blacks Squad for France:
@chris-b said in All Blacks Squad for France:
@duluth The phone book he stands on has got thicker!
different haircuts. If he wants to be a test player he needs to get it stand up on end like a certain openside
I still reckon Daniel Braid was the king of bullshit height stats.
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@Duluth holy shit if he keeps growing at that rate he'll catch up to Ardie.
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wasn't Ofisa Tonu'u one who always had his weight listed about 20kgs under what he actually weighed?
Back then a 100kg halfback wasn't really the norm.
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I was surprised to see Ardie was 1.9m? on the weekend. No idea if his height has crept up as well.
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@taniwharugby said in All Blacks Squad for France:
wasn't Ofisa Tonu'u one who always had his weight listed about 20kgs under what he actually weighed?
Back then a 100kg halfback wasn't really the norm.
No matter how fat he got Piri Weepu never got over 94 kg either.
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@chimoaus said in All Blacks Squad for France:
I was surprised to see Ardie was 1.9m? on the weekend. No idea if his height has crept up as well.
You're obviously new here
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ALB for me is a so-so Super player and a better test player. He is a good support player and keeps the ball alive better than any other 13. When he is paired with either SBW or Crotty he has looked very good for ABs. In saying that i still think SBW and Crotty is best mix but if either goes down ALB at 13 and either t 12 works. Also remember ALB is only turning 23 this year. conrad Smith didn't even play ABS until he was 24!
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i think alb been handicapped by who he has been partnered with at the chiefs
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@nepia said in All Blacks Squad for France:
@duluth I wish I grew 5cm in my 20s.
I did, but it wasn't up
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