AB "What could have been" XV

[Derm McCrum]

@act-crusader said in AB "What could have been" XV:

@derm-mccrum said in AB "What could have been" XV:

1. Bent

2. McCartney

3. Ah You

4. Hayden Triggs

5. Ezra Taylor

6. Nepia Fox-Matamua

7. Sean Reidy

8. George Naoupu

9. Gibson-Park

10. Joey Carbery

11. James Lowe

12. Bundee Aki

13. Jared Payne

14. Pita Ahki

15. Isa Nacewa

16. Rhys Marshall

17. Peter Borlase

18. Nathan White

19. A. N. Other

20. Jake Heenan

21. Isaac Boss

22. Tyler Bleyendaal

23. Ben Te’o

Looks like an ITM cup ‘all-star’ team. Nothing more.

Fruean, Atiga, Whopper are three guys that were there abouts, could’ve been 20+ test players and never kicked on for a range of reasons.

Jeez - no wonder no one complained when they left. Even worse, 5 or 6 of them got an Ireland cap.

[Rancid Schnitzel]

@kiwimurph said in AB "What could have been" XV:

@rotated Anscombe wasnt already signed up for overseas when he got picked up for the Chiefs. He played 2 years for the Chiefs. They played him at fullback cos they had Cruden at 10. A big part of him playing 10 for the U20s was his old man was the coach.

BB was a fullback then as well I think.?

[Rancid Schnitzel]

John Leslie? He was brilliant for Scotland. Surely better than Mayerhofler, Iremia, Ralph et al.

[cgrant]

Nick Allen. He was an outstanding 1st Five.
Dominic Bird. A towering potential. Could have won a place for the next WC if he had stayed in NZ.

[African Monkey]

@cgrant At the risk of being criticised, Bird was too soft. Loved acting like a massive bully at Mitre 10 Cup level though.

To answer the question of this thread though, I'll throw in Regan King and Brad Mika. King was pushed too early and ended up in oblivion (yes I know he was a star up north), and Brad Mika always seemed to get injured at the wrong time.

[jegga]

Henry Paul . I remember Devlin fapping about what idiots the NZRU were for not signing him , then he got owned by what was an Aussie a team with Giteau at 10 who was barely out of nappies.
Was a very good sevens player though.

[African Monkey]

@jegga That was a weird time. I remember Philemon Toleafoa was signed by the NZRU because of Sean Fitzpatrick going on about how good he was and how he was a must for the NZRU to sign. He ended up at Waikato, was useless, couldn't get a contract for the Chiefs and was never seen again.

[jegga]

@african-monkey said in AB "What could have been" XV:

@jegga That was a weird time. I remember Philemon Toleafoa was signed by the NZRU because of Sean Fitzpatrick going on about how good he was and how he was a must for the NZRU to sign. He ended up at Waikato, was useless, couldn't get a contract for the Chiefs and was never seen again.

I was trying to find that guys name, his agent certainly worked overtime getting his name out there and then when he turned up like you said he was very very average.
There was a kiwi called Van Gisbergan the poms hyped around the same time , from memory he simply continued the historical abberation of England never producing a world class fullback.*

Apart from Gsllagher who played for New Zealand and Ireland instead of England.

[Billy Tell]

@cgrant said in AB "What could have been" XV:

Nick Allen. He was an outstanding 1st Five.
Dominic Bird. A towering potential. Could have won a place for the next WC if he had stayed in NZ.

Bird. One of the must overrated players ever.

[African Monkey]

This post is deleted!

[African Monkey]

@jegga Yes the Van Gisbergen selection was just random. They went on and on about him and he played about 5 mins against Australia and that's all he saw at international rugby.

[MN5]

@billy-tell said in AB "What could have been" XV:

@cgrant said in AB "What could have been" XV:

Nick Allen. He was an outstanding 1st Five.
Dominic Bird. A towering potential. Could have won a place for the next WC if he had stayed in NZ.

Bird. One of the must overrated players ever.

He got pretty far up the pecking order to be fair

[gt12]

My effort at a 23, all playing during the full pro era (so no Monkley etc). I personally think Leonard went as far as would have, so I'm struggling to think of a better HB for the bench than Duggan? I'm tempted to switch Kahui and Fruean, but Kahui did a fantastic job at 14 during a WC, and he should really have been an AB who appeared more than 17 times. AT least he got those though...

1 Goodes
2 Elliot
3 Afoa
4 Boric
5 Broadhurst
6 Paterson
7 Holah
8 Luatua
9 Fotuali'i
10 Evans
11 Rupeni
12 Ngatai
13 Fruean
14 Kahui
15 Piutau

16 Willis
17 Mackintosh
18 Afeaki
19 Ryan
20 Blackie
21 Duggan
22 Nacewa
23 King

[Bovidae]

I never rated Paterson that highly even if there was talk about him being on the fringes of AB selection.

Duggan was bloody good but was never given a chance. He outplayed Marshall regularly in the late 1990s.

[Billy Tell]

@mn5 said in AB "What could have been" XV:

@billy-tell said in AB "What could have been" XV:

@cgrant said in AB "What could have been" XV:

Nick Allen. He was an outstanding 1st Five.
Dominic Bird. A towering potential. Could have won a place for the next WC if he had stayed in NZ.

Bird. One of the must overrated players ever.

He got pretty far up the pecking order to be fair

He got selected based on his physical stats but even the AB coaches couldn’t turn that into a top lock. Basically a modern Mark Cooksley.

[Bones]

@billy-tell said in AB "What could have been" XV:

@mn5 said in AB "What could have been" XV:

@billy-tell said in AB "What could have been" XV:

@cgrant said in AB "What could have been" XV:

Nick Allen. He was an outstanding 1st Five.
Dominic Bird. A towering potential. Could have won a place for the next WC if he had stayed in NZ.

Bird. One of the must overrated players ever.

He got pretty far up the pecking order to be fair

He got selected based on his physical stats but even the AB coaches couldn’t turn that into a top lock. Basically a modern Mark Cooksley.

That one might have flown over your head.

[Billy Tell]

@bones said in AB "What could have been" XV:

@billy-tell said in AB "What could have been" XV:

@mn5 said in AB "What could have been" XV:

@billy-tell said in AB "What could have been" XV:

@cgrant said in AB "What could have been" XV:

Nick Allen. He was an outstanding 1st Five.
Dominic Bird. A towering potential. Could have won a place for the next WC if he had stayed in NZ.

Bird. One of the must overrated players ever.

He got pretty far up the pecking order to be fair

He got selected based on his physical stats but even the AB coaches couldn’t turn that into a top lock. Basically a modern Mark Cooksley.

That one might have flown over your head.

Ah, the highly original thing where you make all sort of avian-related jokes because his name is Bird. Too complicated for mere mortals.

[jegga]

@billy-tell said in AB "What could have been" XV:

@bones said in AB "What could have been" XV:

@billy-tell said in AB "What could have been" XV:

@mn5 said in AB "What could have been" XV:

@billy-tell said in AB "What could have been" XV:

@cgrant said in AB "What could have been" XV:

Nick Allen. He was an outstanding 1st Five.
Dominic Bird. A towering potential. Could have won a place for the next WC if he had stayed in NZ.

Bird. One of the must overrated players ever.

He got pretty far up the pecking order to be fair

He got selected based on his physical stats but even the AB coaches couldn’t turn that into a top lock. Basically a modern Mark Cooksley.

That one might have flown over your head.

Ah, the highly original thing where you make all sort of avian-related jokes because his name is Bird. Too complicated for mere mortals.

I cringe when I recall the awful, awful dad jokes Jeremy Thrush was in the mix at the same time .

[Bones]

@jegga said in AB "What could have been" XV:

@billy-tell said in AB "What could have been" XV:

@bones said in AB "What could have been" XV:

@billy-tell said in AB "What could have been" XV:

@mn5 said in AB "What could have been" XV:

@billy-tell said in AB "What could have been" XV:

@cgrant said in AB "What could have been" XV:

Nick Allen. He was an outstanding 1st Five.
Dominic Bird. A towering potential. Could have won a place for the next WC if he had stayed in NZ.

Bird. One of the must overrated players ever.

He got pretty far up the pecking order to be fair

He got selected based on his physical stats but even the AB coaches couldn’t turn that into a top lock. Basically a modern Mark Cooksley.

That one might have flown over your head.

Ah, the highly original thing where you make all sort of avian-related jokes because his name is Bird. Too complicated for mere mortals.

I cringe when I recall the awful, awful dad jokes Jeremy Thrush was in the mix at the same time .

Throw in a Shag, Fox, Bear and a Tui. All sorts of fun to be had.

[cgrant]

I have forgot the name of the blindside flanker who could have won the Jonah Lomu Lookalike Contest. He used to make some barnstorming runs. After a few games for the Junior All Blacks, he flew to Japan.