All Blacks Squad for France
-
I’m assuming that Akira lost out to Luke Whitelock, with Squire, and Ardie and Taufua providing 8 cover. I can’t believe he’s not there, so there must be something in his stats or workrate that they don’t like. Maybe he needs a fucking shave and a haircut? Seemed to work magic for Squire?
Frizzell seems to have taken the ‘project’ ‘amazing athlete’ 6 position of Fifita. Who, after a second look, I see is still there, there, covering lock? WTF? Jesus, the boy better be good.
I came to try to defend how these selections may have came about, but, now, I, can’t...
-
@bovidae said in All Blacks Squad for France:
Looking ahead to the 1st test vs France, based on the comments from Hansen, Foster and Fox the only question mark in the backs is who plays between Naholo and J Barrett. That will also determine the makeup of the bench (TJP, DMac and ??).
If Jordie plays, then they could stick Mo'unga on the bench. If DMac is on the bench then he's presumably covering first five and fullback.
I think, either way, the third bench player is probably a midfielder. Given that Crotty is the starting centre, I'd be inclined to pick one of the specialist centres on the bench, but I'd guess that Hansen and Co. don't think like that.
-
@gt12 said in All Blacks Squad for France:
Frizzell seems to have taken the ‘project’ ‘amazing athlete’ 6 position of Fifita.
That's my take. Barring an injury disaster in the squad I reckon he won't get anywhere near selection. They just want to get a closer look at him and see how he responds in the AB environment.
-
@marty said in All Blacks Squad for France:
@gt12 said in All Blacks Squad for France:
Frizzell seems to have taken the ‘project’ ‘amazing athlete’ 6 position of Fifita.
That's my take. Barring an injury disaster in the squad I reckon he won't get anywhere near selection. They just want to get a closer look at him and see how he responds in the AB environment.
Wouldn't the way to do that be as an attached player and not full squad member?
Why select a full squad member who you aren't going to play? They'd be better off selecting another midfielder since ours break all the time.
-
@nzzp said in All Blacks Squad for France:
@kiwiinmelb said in All Blacks Squad for France:
@mariner4life said in All Blacks Squad for France:
@tim said in All Blacks Squad for France:
@mariner4life Weak loose forwards. Cane the only top quality player.
Good thing we're only playing France, and the SANZA teams are so weak.
Now that perma-crocked Read can't be relied on, what's the plan at #8? If it's A Savea (who is a shit test player) then we're basically Australia.
If we lose either of our top locks we are fucked.
I don’t want to sound like a stuck record , the one bloke we couldn’t afford to lose was victor Vito , he should’ve been a priority to keep , couldn’t believe how he left with a minimum of fuss .
Or Luatua. Both those guys would have slotted into this lineup very nicely , thank you very much.
Wiki tells me VV is 1.92, and Luatua is 1.94
for fun, Ardie is apparently 1.88 m. Doesn't say with or without hair
Or if doing handstands
-
@booboo said in All Blacks Squad for France:
@nzzp said in All Blacks Squad for France:
@kiwiinmelb said in All Blacks Squad for France:
@mariner4life said in All Blacks Squad for France:
@tim said in All Blacks Squad for France:
@mariner4life Weak loose forwards. Cane the only top quality player.
Good thing we're only playing France, and the SANZA teams are so weak.
Now that perma-crocked Read can't be relied on, what's the plan at #8? If it's A Savea (who is a shit test player) then we're basically Australia.
If we lose either of our top locks we are fucked.
I don’t want to sound like a stuck record , the one bloke we couldn’t afford to lose was victor Vito , he should’ve been a priority to keep , couldn’t believe how he left with a minimum of fuss .
Or Luatua. Both those guys would have slotted into this lineup very nicely , thank you very much.
Wiki tells me VV is 1.92, and Luatua is 1.94
for fun, Ardie is apparently 1.88 m. Doesn't say with or without hair
Or if doing handstands
Taufua's hair towers over Hansen!
Actually, that's a nice Harry and Megan moment!
-
As much as spats between Auckland and Canterbury fans always make for enthralling reading, the most interesting tidbit was only taking 32 players on the EOYT. England at Twickenham and Ireland at Dublin is 2 tough games, but possibly a masterstroke of planning. I should be moaning about AI's non-selection, instead I'm strangely just "meh". Glad Goodhue made it, so Bidwell was only half right. Canes fans are lucky Lam signed an extension, that guy could command serious money in France on his current form. As for Shields being an AB, I'm not buying that - I really hope England don't beat NZ with Shields scoring a try and a man of the match performance, would be just a little sickening.
-
@nepia as I said I'll pick Akira over Flavell but ABs have players they look for in certain positions and probably look at more than stats. They have a pretty good track record
-
@98blueandgold said in All Blacks Squad for France:
I'll pick Akira over Flavell
Classic anti-Massey bias.
-
@bovidae but Akira isn't competing against Him. He is a 6/lock, ABs obviously only see him as 8.
-
I actually prefer Ioane at 6, but Umaga didn't select another 8 option, so he will get no time there.
-
@marty not saying I agree, just pointing out what ABs are probably thinking
-
@98blueandgold said in All Blacks Squad for France:
@nepia as I said I'll pick Akira over Flavell but ABs have players they look for in certain positions and probably look at more than stats. They have a pretty good track record
Troy Flavell is defintely getting a bit long in the tooth to make an impact in today's game.
-
I don't see why Taufua coukdn't be perfectly adequate 7 cover off the bench. He pretty much plays the same role as recent AB 7s which is high work rate. Tackle like crazy and do a bit of ball carrying and support work. If anything he is more suited to that role than 6 or 8.
One of the big problems we have in the loose forwards is that Squire seems to have been made out of the same material as Crotty.
-
@chris-b so how tall is Thorin Taufua? 187cm?
-
@duluth said in All Blacks Squad for France:
@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
All Blacks' website says 1.82m.
-
Crusaders have used Taufua a lot in the lineout this year I think?
Conversely, the highlanders hardly ever use Luke Whitelock as a jumper.
-
@sammyc said in All Blacks Squad for France:
Crusaders have used Taufua a lot in the lineout this year I think?
Conversely, the highlanders hardly ever use Luke Whitelock as a jumper.
Line-outs won by ABs loosies this season (on own throw):
A Savea (playing at 7 ) 0
Cane (playing at 7 ) 1
Whitelock (playing at 8 ) 1
Squire (playing at 6 ) 3
Frizell (playing at 6 ) 8
Taufua (playing at 8 ) 8 -
@stargazer Akira (injury cover AB) close to 20 lineout wins I think
-
@kiwimurph said in All Blacks Squad for France:
@stargazer Akira (injury cover AB) close to 20 lineout wins I think
I saw a stat that had Akira with 16 Lineout wins.
-
@stargazer said in All Blacks Squad for France:
@sammyc said in All Blacks Squad for France:
Crusaders have used Taufua a lot in the lineout this year I think?
Conversely, the highlanders hardly ever use Luke Whitelock as a jumper.
Line-outs won by ABs loosies this season (on own throw):
A Savea (playing at 7 ) 0
Cane (playing at 7 ) 1
Whitelock (playing at 8 ) 1
Squire (playing at 6 ) 3
Frizell (playing at 6 ) 8
Taufua (playing at 8 ) 8Very damning for someone as tall as Ardie not to have won a single lineout.
-
@mimic said in All Blacks Squad for France:
@kiwimurph said in All Blacks Squad for France:
@stargazer Akira (injury cover AB) close to 20 lineout wins I think
I saw a stat that had Akira with 16 Lineout wins.
Yes, Akira has 16 line-out wins.
-
Weird to see people saying Whitelock and Mounga aren't up to it. They've been brilliant and fill me with far more confidence than say...Fifita and DMac.
Weird squad though.
My only thought on Frizzell is maybe they see him as a lock/6 that has potential to be more grunty than Fifita?
Think I would have taken Lam over an NMS who's living off his breakout season.
Very happy they chose TTT.
Did I see Mounga shifting to fullback yesterday? Please yes.
-
@mn5 said in All Blacks Squad for France:
@tim said in All Blacks Squad for France:
Wynne Gray with some cutting insight:
Rugby has changed immensely since the 1987 RWC, the game we thought was fast then is very different from the one we see now.
Christ he's an old bore. He makes Phil Gifford look good.
Looking forward to seeing Frizell play cos I sure as shit haven't thus far.
Most surprising statement in the whole thread.
-
@bones said in All Blacks Squad for France:
Mounga aren't up to it
Did I miss that? I thought the prevailing fern wisdom (which I share) was that he was a significantly better 10 than DMac.
-
Line-outs won by ABs locks (on own throw):
S Barrett 30
Fifita 23
S Whitelock 19
B Retallick 18 -
@bones No, that was Hunt (who made an incredible break from that position, almost leading to a try). That was when Mataele left the field injured and Havili moved to the right wing.
Mo'unga has, however, regularly played at fullback for Canterbury.
-
@stargazer dammit.
-
@mn5 it gets caught in his hair
-
@98blueandgold I fully concur
-
@pukunui said in All Blacks Squad for France:
I don't see why Taufua coukdn't be perfectly adequate 7 cover off the bench. He pretty much plays the same role as recent AB 7s which is high work rate. Tackle like crazy and do a bit of ball carrying and support work. If anything he is more suited to that role than 6 or 8.
Interesting you say that. Akira has more tackles*, line breaks, tackle busts and won more turnovers (and pilfers) compared to Taufua (and every other #8 in NZ).
*Only Luke has more tackles than Akira, but Luke is known for his tackling, not so much his ability with the ball.
-
@taniwharugby said in All Blacks Squad for France:
@no-quarter what about who they select is arrogance?
They've picked a guy who currently can't make the grade at Super level if his squad is fit, over a guy that has been consistently outstanding all season and who also put in a dominant performance against the Lions.
I have to assume they've done that because they believe they can make Frizell a world beater at the top level, despite other coaches not picking him in their starting team at the level down.
Seems... a little arrogant and stupid. This is the ABs, pick the best available players for fuck sake.
-
@no-quarter said in All Blacks Squad for France:
@taniwharugby said in All Blacks Squad for France:
@no-quarter what about who they select is arrogance?
This is the ABs, pick the best available players for fuck sake.
I don't reckon it is. Reckon there's some development allowed for in this squad.
-
@booboo said in All Blacks Squad for France:
@no-quarter said in All Blacks Squad for France:
@taniwharugby said in All Blacks Squad for France:
@no-quarter what about who they select is arrogance?
This is the ABs, pick the best available players for fuck sake.
I don't reckon it is. Reckon there's some development allowed for in this squad.
Why on earth wouldn't they want to develop such an obvious talent like Akira ASAP?
-
@no-quarter said in All Blacks Squad for France:
@booboo said in All Blacks Squad for France:
@no-quarter said in All Blacks Squad for France:
@taniwharugby said in All Blacks Squad for France:
@no-quarter what about who they select is arrogance?
This is the ABs, pick the best available players for fuck sake.
I don't reckon it is. Reckon there's some development allowed for in this squad.
Why on earth wouldn't they want to develop such an obvious talent like Akira ASAP?
Don't get me wrong. Am big fan of Akira. Would have had him in my squad easy.
But to my mind Frizell, Taufua and Savea wouldn't make the top team right here right now if this was the RWC squad.
-
-
@no-quarter still dont see it as arrogance.
Maybe they (with thier super duper analytical stuff) see Frizzel as having more upside than Akira, similarly they see Savea over Todd...both of which I disagree with, but I still dont agree with the arrogance call.
-
I think Todd's reliability and readiness counts against him, they know he can come in straight away and be useful so they will pick "potentially more potential" Savea over him. But quite frankly, how long before the Savea experiment just becomes another experiment? Has he really been improving at international level?
I do wonder about Ione-is he actually competing against Savea or Taufua? Frizell??
As to height, if Taufua is about Richie's height (who infrequently played 6 or 8 in emergency) that doesn't seem to be a problem to me, but given his low to the ground powerful frame perhaps 6 would be more suitable than 8 for Taufua? **Not sure how well he goes at the back of the scrum.
Am a bit sad not to see some of Ben Lam in action.
Also suspect NMS (one of my fave players) is a bit lucky, hopefully some of his speed has returned.. -
@bones said in All Blacks Squad for France:
@tim might have only been m4l but I thought I saw it a couple of times.
Wait on, i never said that.
Post 348 of 727