All Blacks v France Test 3
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worst team since the cantablacks
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@kiwimurph said in All Blacks v France Test 3:
@bovidae ok but Squire, Taufua and Fifita are injured...
Which confirms that they see Akira as a no.8 and he is behind Whitelock and Frizell in their eyes.
I'm not saying I agree with them.
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@mariner4life fortunately (well right now anyway) the French team aint that shit hot either....
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@bovidae said in All Blacks v France Test 3:
@kiwimurph said in All Blacks v France Test 3:
@bovidae ok but Squire, Taufua and Fifita are injured...
Which confirms that they see Akira as a no.8 and he is behind Whitelock and Frizell in their eyes.
I don't think I'd conclude that. As above, I wouldn't be surprised if Frizell has never played a minute of first class rugby at No. 8.
I think Hemepo is ahead of Akira mainly because he can cover lock (probably more effectively than Fifita was) - and probably partially because they are somewhat set against playing Akira in this series.
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@chris-b said in All Blacks v France Test 3:
@bovidae said in All Blacks v France Test 3:
@kiwimurph said in All Blacks v France Test 3:
@bovidae ok but Squire, Taufua and Fifita are injured...
Which confirms that they see Akira as a no.8 and he is behind Whitelock and Frizell in their eyes.
I don't think I'd conclude that. As above, I wouldn't be surprised if Frizell has never played a minute of first class rugby at No. 8.
The discussion is the continued selection of Whitelock ahead of Ioane (at no.8) not whether Akira provides the best cover from the bench (which he doesn't). Hemopo has also been selected ahead of Franklin as he covers 6.
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@kiwimurph said in All Blacks v France Test 3:
Happy to see Frizell there - i'd rather see someone who has a really high ceiling be given a crack rather than the underwhelming options that have been seen previously (Squire, Fifita).
How do you know he has a high ceiling? Hopefully he does, but nothing in his rugby so far suggests that - it's telling that he plays for Ta$man and @Chris-B doesn't even fluff him.
I didn't even know that Hemopo had been brought into the squad until yesterday. The selectors are loving on the Highlanders at the moment ... but at least Hemopo plays and is a Kiwi.
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@nepia said in All Blacks v France Test 3:
@kiwimurph said in All Blacks v France Test 3:
Happy to see Frizell there - i'd rather see someone who has a really high ceiling be given a crack rather than the underwhelming options that have been seen previously (Squire, Fifita).
How do you know he has a high ceiling? Hopefully he does, but nothing in his rugby so far suggests that - it's telling that he plays for Ta$man and @Chris-B doesn't even fluff him.
I didn't even know that Hemopo had been brought into the squad until yesterday. The selectors are loving on the Highlanders at the moment ... but at least Hemopo plays and is a Kiwi.
I disagree. He looked a special athlete vs the Blues when he scored a hat-trick (yes yes it's only the Blues and i'm taking that into consideration).
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@kiwimurph said in All Blacks v France Test 3:
@nepia said in All Blacks v France Test 3:
@kiwimurph said in All Blacks v France Test 3:
Happy to see Frizell there - i'd rather see someone who has a really high ceiling be given a crack rather than the underwhelming options that have been seen previously (Squire, Fifita).
How do you know he has a high ceiling? Hopefully he does, but nothing in his rugby so far suggests that - it's telling that he plays for Ta$man and @Chris-B doesn't even fluff him.
I didn't even know that Hemopo had been brought into the squad until yesterday. The selectors are loving on the Highlanders at the moment ... but at least Hemopo plays and is a Kiwi.
I disagree. He looked a special athlete vs the Blues when he scored a hat-trick (yes yes it's only the Blues and i'm taking that into consideration).
remember when Fifita scored that try against Aregentina, and people were falling over themselves to suck him off? Look how that turned out.
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@kiwimurph said in All Blacks v France Test 3:
@nepia said in All Blacks v France Test 3:
@kiwimurph said in All Blacks v France Test 3:
Happy to see Frizell there - i'd rather see someone who has a really high ceiling be given a crack rather than the underwhelming options that have been seen previously (Squire, Fifita).
How do you know he has a high ceiling? Hopefully he does, but nothing in his rugby so far suggests that - it's telling that he plays for Ta$man and @Chris-B doesn't even fluff him.
I didn't even know that Hemopo had been brought into the squad until yesterday. The selectors are loving on the Highlanders at the moment ... but at least Hemopo plays and is a Kiwi.
I disagree. He looked a special athlete vs the Blues when he scored a hat-trick (yes yes it's only the Blues and i'm taking that into consideration).
OUCH!
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Interesting to hear Hansen talking about possibly shifting Frizell to No. 8. I don't recall him ever playing there for the Mako - it's a position that's been occupied by Squire, Samu and Taufua over most of the past few seasons. Be doubtful that he's played there for the Highlanders either given their options.
"She's pretty big job, Steve"!
Yeah, but he's a "special athlete".
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I've liked what I've seen of Frizzel. Took notice last year in a few games for Ta$man in NPC and then in particular for Highlanders v Blues.
Fifta is an amazing athlete. But he's a good-times player.
Frizzell is a grunter.
So they're both projects IMO. But bringing them in different directions. Frizzell up to being a test level 6 rather than NPC Lock/6, Fifta bringing 'down' to be a tighter and gruntier test level 6/8.Still think it's a huge surprise that Frizzell got picked this year already after such a small body of work, but I agree there's a potential test 6 in there. But it's a risk.
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@mariner4life said in All Blacks v France Test 3:
@kiwimurph said in All Blacks v France Test 3:
@nepia said in All Blacks v France Test 3:
@kiwimurph said in All Blacks v France Test 3:
Happy to see Frizell there - i'd rather see someone who has a really high ceiling be given a crack rather than the underwhelming options that have been seen previously (Squire, Fifita).
How do you know he has a high ceiling? Hopefully he does, but nothing in his rugby so far suggests that - it's telling that he plays for Ta$man and @Chris-B doesn't even fluff him.
I didn't even know that Hemopo had been brought into the squad until yesterday. The selectors are loving on the Highlanders at the moment ... but at least Hemopo plays and is a Kiwi.
I disagree. He looked a special athlete vs the Blues when he scored a hat-trick (yes yes it's only the Blues and i'm taking that into consideration).
remember when Fifita scored that try against Aregentina, and people were falling over themselves to suck him off? Look how that turned out.
Exactly. Which is why I'm happy they are giving Frizell a chance.
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@kiwimurph said in All Blacks v France Test 3:
@nepia said in All Blacks v France Test 3:
@kiwimurph said in All Blacks v France Test 3:
Happy to see Frizell there - i'd rather see someone who has a really high ceiling be given a crack rather than the underwhelming options that have been seen previously (Squire, Fifita).
How do you know he has a high ceiling? Hopefully he does, but nothing in his rugby so far suggests that - it's telling that he plays for Ta$man and @Chris-B doesn't even fluff him.
I didn't even know that Hemopo had been brought into the squad until yesterday. The selectors are loving on the Highlanders at the moment ... but at least Hemopo plays and is a Kiwi.
I disagree. He looked a special athlete vs the Blues when he scored a hat-trick (yes yes it's only the Blues and i'm taking that into consideration).
This is exactly why I'm not a fan of this move - you're rating him on one game. What did he do in all the other games he played this year, and by games I mean short cameos.
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@nepia said in All Blacks v France Test 3:
@kiwimurph said in All Blacks v France Test 3:
Happy to see Frizell there - i'd rather see someone who has a really high ceiling be given a crack rather than the underwhelming options that have been seen previously (Squire, Fifita).
- it's telling that he plays for Ta$man and @Chris-B doesn't even fluff him.
That's not telling.
You'll struggle to find any fluffing of Ta$man players for the ABs by me.
Perry, Havili, Squire, Frizell - maybe a bit for Taufua, but I've a feeling he was planning to play in Japan rather than for the Mako this year.
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If the French somehow manage to slow this down, and their clever/experienced/tested combo midfield manage to pluck our raw pairing, they could win this. Esp if DMac starts trying to fix problems by crazy stuff. But if our boys get on a roll it'll be another shellacking - basically I have no idea what's going to happen. Nice to feel a little nervous ahead of this test, unlike the last two
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@mariner4life said in All Blacks v France Test 3:
@kiwimurph said in All Blacks v France Test 3:
@nepia said in All Blacks v France Test 3:
@kiwimurph said in All Blacks v France Test 3:
Happy to see Frizell there - i'd rather see someone who has a really high ceiling be given a crack rather than the underwhelming options that have been seen previously (Squire, Fifita).
How do you know he has a high ceiling? Hopefully he does, but nothing in his rugby so far suggests that - it's telling that he plays for Ta$man and @Chris-B doesn't even fluff him.
I didn't even know that Hemopo had been brought into the squad until yesterday. The selectors are loving on the Highlanders at the moment ... but at least Hemopo plays and is a Kiwi.
I disagree. He looked a special athlete vs the Blues when he scored a hat-trick (yes yes it's only the Blues and i'm taking that into consideration).
remember when Fifita scored that try against Aregentina, and people were falling over themselves to suck him off? Look how that turned out.
Turns out we already had a bunch of wingers.
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@bovidae said in All Blacks v France Test 3:
@chris-b said in All Blacks v France Test 3:
@bovidae said in All Blacks v France Test 3:
@kiwimurph said in All Blacks v France Test 3:
@bovidae ok but Squire, Taufua and Fifita are injured...
Which confirms that they see Akira as a no.8 and he is behind Whitelock and Frizell in their eyes.
I don't think I'd conclude that. As above, I wouldn't be surprised if Frizell has never played a minute of first class rugby at No. 8.
The discussion is the continued selection of Whitelock ahead of Ioane (at no.8) not whether Akira provides the best cover from the bench (which he doesn't). Hemopo has also been selected ahead of Franklin as he covers 6.
I don't see why you would conclude that this confirms that they see Akira as an 8 and especially that they see Frizell ahead of him there?
Or do you mean Frizell is ahead of him at 6? That's not very surprising, since he was selected in the full squad ahead of Akira.
I reckon they see capability in all of Whitelock, Squire, Taufua and Akira to play both 6 and 8 - but they probably prefer less experienced guys at 6 and more experienced guys at 8. If these were our four options I reckon Whitelock and Taufua would be the 8s at present.
I'm pretty surprised that Hansen is mentioning the prospect of Frizell shifting to 8.
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@chris-b At this stage I wouldn't be surprised if Hansen started mentioning Frizell at 10 - he's the golden child, young Toeava x 1000.
@machpants said in All Blacks v France Test 3:
If the French somehow manage to slow this down, and their clever/experienced/tested combo midfield manage to pluck our raw pairing, they could win this. Esp if DMac starts trying to fix problems by crazy stuff. But if our boys get on a roll it'll be another shellacking - basically I have no idea what's going to happen. Nice to feel a little nervous ahead of this test, unlike the last two
DMac will only start doing crazy stuff if our pack puts in a powder puff performance like last week. Hopefully they all go hard as this is the big chance for some of them to show their stuff.
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@jaycee said in All Blacks v France Test 3:
Joe Moody (33)
Codie Taylor (31)
Owen Franks (97)
Samuel Whitelock (98) - captain
Scott Barrett (18)
Shannon Frizell
Ardie Savea (24)
Luke Whitelock (4)
Aaron Smith (73)
Damian McKenzie (14)
Rieko Ioane (15)
Sonny Bill Williams (46)
Jack Goodhue
Waisake Naholo (18)
Ben Smith (65)Hmm. Anyone of those in the backrow you could probably have confidence in if surrounded by experience/ first choice players. As a collective, if the French aren't dreaming of mistresses, wine and sunshine, we could be in for a torrid time of it.
Which leads us to the elephant in the room; five-eighth. I get the felling SBW and Goodhue will have to do a lot of straight running.
This could also be the Test for BFA to show he still has what it takes at this level after looking decidedly outclassed on the wing.
If the French don't put int he same effort as last week, under a dry roof, this could become a rout, which will mask a lot of problems evident only a week ago.
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hopefully Dmac has been watching some re-runs of when SBW was outside Cruden for the Chiefs.
