All Blacks Squad for France
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@cgrant said in All Blacks Squad for France:
Is it the weakest AB squad since 2004 ?
2009 June team was worse (at the time = picks like Read, Nonu/Smith combo, Jane and Thorn look better now).
The new caps were Ross, Latimer, Masaga, G Whitelock, Bryn Evans, Aled De Malmanche, Crockett and eventually Owen Franks.
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@cgrant said in All Blacks Squad for France:
Is it the weakest AB squad since 2004 ?
Almost certainly - and it's making the selectors work bloody hard. The loss of the big 5 after the 2015 (Woodcock, Mealamu, McCaw, Nonu, Smith) was covered by Coles, Whitelock, Kaino, Read, Smith and Smith over the last couple of seasons. now Coles and Read are out, throw in a few injuries, and suddently the depth is really exposed.
Last year will have been good for us looking at the future, forcing us to blood new players. However, this team will be tasty this year - no locked in centres, little depth in locks, and no idea about the blind/8 combos.
This is our proper rebuild, right now. Need to get this right to be competitive at the 2019RWC. I think we can do it, but at the top level there isn't much between the top sides, and if we're slightly off our mental game it's over rover.
Going to be a bloody good series against France, and looking fowrard to the RWC immensely.
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Is this the first squad in since the naming if the 2011 WC squad that we can actually have some conversation and debate over?
Squad selections has been a predictable borefest for 7 years and now they biff this 'fern-like' Hand Grenade into the mix.
No Akira! How dare they blindside us with this doosy!!
And my humilator moment is that when I read the squad last night, I had never even heard of Frizzel!
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On Akira's selection, I'm wondering whether they've had one of those strange "Group Think" committee discussions, where someone has a downer on him and they eventually talk themselves around to a point where, beyond logic, they're not going to pick him.
I wonder if you got Hansen in a closed room with a few expert interrogators and asked him to defend Frizzell over Akira whether he could do a convincing job.
Frankly, there would have to be something beyond the playing field IMO - even if it's just that they think he needs a rest.
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@nzzp I will say that it's a good thing they looked beyond Kaino at the EoYT, so that's a head start. The problem is replacing Read who is a shadow of his PoTY version. I'll be astonished if following back surgery he attains those heights again.
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@antipodean said in All Blacks Squad for France:
@nzzp I will say that it's a good thing they looked beyond Kaino at the EoYT, so that's a head start. The problem is replacing Read who is a shadow of his PoTY version. I'll be astonished if following back surgery he attains those heights again.
One more reason why I don't get no Akira.
He's pretty clearly the young 8 with most potential. Even Squire is already 27, so will be 28 at the next WC and won't be around in 2023.
@Chris-B could be right in that they may just want him to have a rest (which I'd be happy about if that is true, because he'll get the benefit of the camp and a rest) but my feeling is that there is a no dickheads, training, or work-rate problem that he has not addressed to their happiness.
My guess is that they'll hold off on him until he shows enough change there, then he'll get plenty of time. I'm wondering if that is going to happen before the WC though. Now seems the time to get him involved, if you think he is part of that campaign.
I'd love to see Read back and at his best, but few have come back to even play at a high level after that type of surgery... for that reason alone, we should be stacking up 8s.
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@gt12 I saw a snippet of Rieko's interview at the squad announcement. He was asked if it was bitter sweet and said Akira was happy to be there, knew what he had to work on and once he got some planning around that, he'd be fine.
So it seems there definitely is something missing and publicly at least, his younger brother agrees.
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@gt12 If it was the no dickheads rule, you'd think they wouldn't have him in the camp - unless the non-selection is sending him a pointed message to sharpen up, while they still want to have him in their plans.
I guess there's a fair amount of utility among the loosies selected - with Whitelock, Taufua and Squire all able to play both 6 and 8, but I'm tending to think they'll use Whitelock and Taufua as their No. 8s (and Ardie) - in which case I can see them being chosen over Akira. And Squire and Fifita were already ahead in the pecking order at six.
It's Frizzell over Akira that I find inexplicable. I guess Shannon can play lock at a pinch (I'm pretty sure he's started there for the Mako), but it's a fucking big stretch that he could do so in international rugby.
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@chris-b said in All Blacks Squad for France:
On Akira's selection, I'm wondering whether they've had one of those strange "Group Think" committee discussions, where someone has a downer on him and they eventually talk themselves around to a point where, beyond logic, they're not going to pick him.
I wonder if you got Hansen in a closed room with a few expert interrogators and asked him to defend Frizzell over Akira whether he could do a convincing job.
Frankly, there would have to be something beyond the playing field IMO - even if it's just that they think he needs a rest.
Chris or any other NZ based ferners, did the guys on Sky ask Shag about the rationale behind Frizzell's selection? I have only listened to Devlin interviewing Shag and Foster and he was more keen to ask them about the silly royal wedding than any meaningful questions relating to the squad.
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I'm reading that Shannon Frizell is Welsh-qualified through his dad, as his brother Tyson played League for Wales.
The Welsh-qualified sensation being tipped for the All Blacks
Shannon Frizell has impressed for the Highlanders - and he could play for Wales now
Tipped as a New Zealand Test star in the making, the physical back-rower has already made an impression in a handful of starts for the Highlanders in Super Rugby after staring for Ta$man at provincial level.
Yet, he is also eligible to play for Tonga, his country of birth, and Wales, through his dad Andrew - who hails from Swansea.
The younger brother of Rugby League World Cup winner Tyson, who played for Wales before switching allegiances to Australia, Shannon has already made a mark on the national stage in New Zealand.
But I'm also reading that Tyson and Shannon Frizell are adopted/step brothers.
So something doesn't compute .....
NRL star Tyson Frizell has revealed how immigration laws stopped him from growing up with his younger brother.
That younger sibling is Highlanders flanker Shannon Frizell.
Tyson Frizell, 26, grew up in Australia with his parents but Shannon, 24, spent his childhood in Tonga.
Immigration laws prevented Shannon from settling in Australia with his adopted family.
"It is something that is pretty common in Tongan culture, to adopt a kid from another family, but he wasn't able to come over and live with us," Tyson Frizell told NRL.com.
I'd be shocked, shocked, that WoL would bang out an un-researched story .....
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From a Stuff article:
Hansen admitted Frizell was in this group because of what they saw in his future, rather than necessarily his present. "We've lost Jerome Kaino who has been around a long time, and provided a lot of positive intent when he carried, when he cleared rucks and tackled. If you think back to Jerry Collins, Jamie Joseph, Cowboy Shaw in that 6 role, they are the type of players we've had."Shannon comes in with a similar style. He's very energetic and he wants to be in your grill in a positive way with his intentions when he's tackling and cleaning. We have to take our time developing him and see where we get to."
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@akan004 said in All Blacks Squad for France:
@rapido I don't think they are step brothers. Same parents. Tyson moved to Australia with the folks and Shannon was adopted by his aunty I think and remained in Tonga.
Ah, ok. I had read it as being the othr way round . That makes some sense.
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That article is confusing, was he adopted in or out of the family? If he was adopted in then he wouldn't be eligible for Wales would he? If he was adopted out then I assume his birth certificate was changed to remove the birth parents (which I wouldn't thought would have been a high priority in the culture) which would be why he couldn't travel to Oz?
Hopefully, if he is adopted in, which doesn't seem the case according to @akan004 then we find out that he has a NZ parent so he's not another poach.
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"While his 26-year-old brother grew up with his parents in Australia, Shannon grew up in Tonga with his adopted family, and started playing rugby."
