Ireland vs All Blacks (2018)
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Was a good game of rugby to watch. Loved seeing the ABs under huge pressure two weeks in a row. Just an English foot away from being a complete horror of EOY tour.
Thought Ardie and Scott Barret were the pick of the forwards while the midfield defended strongly. We really need a plan b when plan a (Bbbr) doesn't play well.
Beaudy continues to struggle but I didn't think RM looked much better. Just played a different game that Ireland took in their stride. Heaps of flat and short passes but they never seemed like scoring.
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@mn5 said in Ireland Vs All Blacks:
Reads whinging to the ref is pretty embarrassing.
.....and I don't recall an AB debut half as eagerly anticipated as Akira Ioanes. Ever. His fern legend is the stuff Charlie Ngatai could only dream about.
Test debut (to be all pedant), it wouldn't be half as anticipated if Hansen had just thrown him a bone in the early season matches or against Japan.
If ref wasn't complaining to the ref we'd likely be complaining too - Barnes actually put both Read and Best in their place ... which was quite funny.
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@nepia said in Ireland Vs All Blacks:
Barnes actually put both Read and Best in their place ... which was quite funny.
That is one of the problems with Barnes. He is an arrogant, know all.
Yes, refs need to control, but they need to listen too.
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@nepia yep, gotta be in the eR of the ref or people will moan he isn't talking to the ref enough.
Yea I'm not a fan of Barnes style, but he was pretty consistent today.
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@taniwharugby said in Ireland Vs All Blacks:
@nepia yep, gotta be in the eR of the ref or people will moan he isn't talking to the ref enough.
Yea I'm not a fan of Barnes style, but he was pretty consistent today.
In typical Barnes fashion there were a few 'flat' passes missed - yet a perfectly fine pass was pulled up.
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@nepia haha yeah that was very funny (given his history with forward passes) and I reckon if he'd let it go, we had won the ball and were looking good down the right side..but yeah, you come to expect him to not know what a forward pass is.
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@snowy said in Ireland Vs All Blacks:
@nepia said in Ireland Vs All Blacks:
Barnes actually put both Read and Best in their place ... which was quite funny.
That is one of the problems with Barnes. He is an arrogant, know all.
Yes, refs need to control, but they need to listen too.
Yep when he shot down Read in particular that was funny as fuck and unfortunately made our captain look a bit of a tool.
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In a year the last few games may seem like a distant memory but it seems more and more likely we are seeing the wheels come off. 3 halves of rugby without a try isn't AB rugby, win or lose. If this is keeping the powder dry, there better be a ton of powder or we are setting ourselves up for not only a world cup failure but an Aussie-like slide down the rankings.
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Barnes was really good except that imaginary forward pass. Common sense with the aerial battle and thought he didn't let the crowd get to him too much. Those penalties in the last part of the 1st half were so dumb from the ABs they should have been yellow for "retarded play".
Akira is not being picked exactly because of the nature of the game last night. If that comment needs further explanation then you need to go back and watch Akira play without the blinkers on.
It is obvious to most except us AB fans that the team is in decline. Some of the pre-game analysis from the more knowledgeable NH punters was spot on. -
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Isn't it funny how we all watch the same game, but come to very different conclusions?
I thought DMac was about our best player for the first 50 minutes. He was good under the high ball, despite a lot coming his way, and with heaps of pressure. He did the bulk of the heavy lifting at first receiver in that half as well, with Barrett playing the ranging role. He took the line on repeatedly, and made their defense nervous most times (hence the reason a bloke built like a halfback was the only one not getting smacked), and that take of the chip and offload to Barrett was glorious. He also kicked quite well. I was actually disappointed when the coaches did their "sub by numbers" and took him off.
Whereas we get the curious case of Scott Barrett. He's getting a heap of love, and did play a good game. But my opinion, he played a good game as a sort of 3rd lock, tight and tough and good at set piece. The problem there is he was playing blindside, and i thought his lack of foot speed cost us. Now, that's not really his fault, he's not a quick guy, and asking him to play that way is unfair. But, with Read getting pretty fucking slow, i thought our loose forwards were smashed around the park. Watch how often their 3 loose forwards turned up out wide and had free rein at the breakdown because our guys couldn't get there in time. Ardie had a lot to do as by far the quickest forward we had.
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I'd say the reality is most AB fans have been acutely aware of the slide since we lost to then barely scraped by SA and got extremely lucky with England. Realistically we could have lost all those games.
If the loss to England a few years back was a pebble under the towel, this is a stalagmite.
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@unite said in Ireland Vs All Blacks:
I fail to believe that they are keeping their powder dry. Just not good enough today.
I wouldnt count on it , but there is the possibility they are keeping tactics for later ,
But they still wanted to win today , no doubt about that
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@nepia said in Ireland Vs All Blacks:
In typical Barnes fashion there were a few 'flat' passes missed - yet a perfectly fine pass was pulled up.
If you are referring to the Irish pass that was an AR call. I'm happy to blame Barnes though.
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@bovidae said in Ireland Vs All Blacks:
@nepia said in Ireland Vs All Blacks:
If you are referring to the Irish pass that was a AR call. I'm happy to blame Barnes though.good, pointed call:
Fall of Rome? Barnes fault.
9/11? Fark it, Barnes fault.
Donald Trump? Wayne-O, you bastard
I kind of like this game
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Even if the tactics were way off, there are serious selection questions. The selection of NMS is emblematic in my mind of the backwards nature of the current selection process. It's an unwillingness to admit that a guy doesn't become a completely different player once he puts on a black jersey.
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After the last 7 days, 2018 suddenly feels a lot like 1998, with the distinct difference being that back then we spent most of the year playing much better sides.
Obviously all observations and theories come with the massive caveat that i have absolutely no idea what plan the coaches are working to (if indeed there is one) that might affect performances, tactics, and outcomes.
However, this is a sports forum, and it's a place for us, the great unwashed, to cast our theories out as if we know all, and should be listened to.
Tactics Tim
What the fuck are our tactics? From the outside our plan looks like we spend 60 minutes trying to wear teams out, and then hammer them in the last 20. Our attack has been fucking basic all year, and suddenly looks old-school Boks-esque in that we spend a lot of time smacking in to teams, trying to bash them in to submission. And yet we don't pick personel suited to that game plan. Edge runners, tall blokes, and static props; backed up by a no power midfielder except a dude who hasn't run a crash ball in 2 years.Remember 2003 when we murdered everyone from turnover? Well there are a lot of times when it looks for all the world like that is our only go-to at the moment. Crash ball or punish bad kicks.
This presents a huge problem when the opposition kick well, and you can't generate a turnover because our excellent counter-ruck game has disappeared.
So that raises the question, have we run out of ideas, or did we just spend a year deliberately under-playing our hand?
Defense
Okay what is the go here? We are not playing rush, okay no worries. We have this strange sort of defense where we take a few quick steps then sit back. There also seems to be a point where if they get the ball outside a certain point, we back off and wait for support. We leak a lot more linebreaks and metres than i remember us ever giving up. We're not giving up scores though, because we usually still scramble as well as anyone. We also have started falling off tackles as we start looking for the ball instead of completing the tackle first, worrying about the rest later. That may be linked to the distinct lack of turnover ball mentioned above.Set Piece
Our nice point of difference. Scrum is good (creaked today, but at worst shared the honours i thought) and our lineout is in the main deadly.Players
Well now, the big question, do we have the guys int eh right spots to play the way we want? The bigger question, do the coaches have the stones to drop a big name who may not be fitting what they want? Is there a clear path in their mind for next year? And is that path realistic? or does it rely on a player "coming good" like it did in 2015?That last World Cup actually fills me with a little more confidence. A year out some dudes looked done who were very much not. And we looked like shit as late as the Group stages, but that was part of the plan (apparently).
I really just want to talk about the loose forwards at the moment. Our best 7 broke his neck, and may not make it back. Our next best 7 has been playing bloody well, but is a completely different player. Our captain and only test 8 option is going alright for the main, but is running on what look very old legs. He's slipped in to a tight role i think because he can't play the wide game any more. Who plays 6 is as undecided as any position on the field, hell we have an entire thread on it where few agree. I want to talk about balance. I spoke below about the distinct lack of speed today, and to me, this is our issue. We want to play wide, but do we have the players in these crucial spots to do it? If our first choice trio is Cane, Read, and Squire, that's not real quick. S Barrett off the bench isn't quick either. It's for that reason i can see why Fifita was stuck with for so long, he actually has the wheels to balance that trio out. He's just not good enough. Read's lack of pace actually rules out a few guys for that spot in my eyes, unless Savea is playing, and we change the way the guys operate.
I also wouldn't mind a decent fucking ball runner somewhere in the 13 forwards we pick. One guy who can repeatedly dent the line in the tough stuff. We don't have that at the moment. Our best guys are locks, and that's not ideal, too bloody tall!
In conclusion for this long rambling brain dump, this year was shit, and we have some glaring fucking holes that i can see from the cheap seats. The optimist in me says this year was a holding period to get us through to the ultimate goal next year, while not losing ranking or the Bledisloe. The other option is we have finally got stale/complacent/caught up to. It's far from doom and gloom, we pushed a very good #2 side in the world playing at home right to the wire. It's just not what we are used to.
