All Blacks Squad for France
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@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.
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@98blueandgold I fully concur
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@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.
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@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.
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@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.
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@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?
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@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.
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@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.
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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.
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@98blueandgold said in All Blacks Squad for France:
@bovidae but Akira isn't competing against Him. He is a 6/lock, ABs obviously only see him as 8.
My point was that the AB selectors will always find something to justify the selection or omission of players that are not certain selections.
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@stargazer said in All Blacks Squad for France:
@mimic Different type of players, different teams, different roles. Stats only tell a small part of the story. People attach way too much importance to them. Where's that article of/about Wayne Smith about stats ....
Do they only count when they support your player? Couple of post showing nothing but meaningless lineout stats
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@chris-b said in All Blacks Squad for France:
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.
Fox strongly indicated that they see DMac filling the role BB used to under Carter, while acknowledging he isn't the finished article yet at 1st 5. Fox also made the point that DMac has been shifted to the wing if required.
I don't think you need to move BB to 15 just for the sake of it. The other thing I noticed Fox said was that some players may only get an opportunity if the series is won, so 2-0 heading into Dunners. They seem to know their preferred 23 for the 1st test.
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@mariner4life said in All Blacks Squad for France:
@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.
You all look the same to me, sorry.
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@bovidae said in All Blacks Squad for France:
@chris-b said in All Blacks Squad for France:
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.
Fox strongly indicated that they see DMac filling the role BB used to under Carter, while acknowledging he isn't the finished article yet at 1st 5. Fox also made the point that DMac has been shifted to the wing if required.
Haha "not the finished product at 10". Understatement of the century.