Possible All Blacks 2020
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@westcoastie said in Possible All Blacks 2020:
@taniwharugby said in Possible All Blacks 2020:
@nzzp my point about the opening quarter was where we lost the game...which was a few posts back, my point about when Sam did it, I felt that we were never coming back...while I usually think we are a chance to snatch games, but in that game from about halftime, I never really had that feeling that we would steal it.
it was like watching 80min slow-motion car crash. we lost that game at the selection table.
eh, it's the swiss cheese model, but I reckon it started with the RWC being a year too late for us. A year earlier you get good Rieko, good Ben, etc. After that it was:
- selections
- tactics/strategy (not using Scott after selecting him? FFS)
- attitude/dealing with the post-ireland mental slump, lack of physicality
- mental fragility - emphasised by Sam's push
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@nzzp or a year too early...then we'd likely have had no RWC this year and still be defending champs!
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@taniwharugby and a fit BBBR ...sliding doors
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@taniwharugby said in Possible All Blacks 2020:
@junior we were too far gone for Sam's one to be considered match changing, sure MAYBE we would have gotten closer but that match was gone in the opening quarter.
I'm not saying it was match-changing. I am simply saying that we had a guilt-edged OPPORTUNITY to get ourselves back into the match - one of the very few we actually had in that match - and his stupidity cost us that OPPORTUNITY. One would expect that the Vice Captain would be smart and professional enough to realise what a crucial moment in the match that was for a team that had up to then been struggling to create any scoring opportunities and put their opposition under pressure and, therefore, that it could not possibly be wasted by doing something stupid.
Did it cost us the match? No, in and of itself, it did not.
Did he choose his own stupidity over the OPPORTUNITY for his team to get back into the match and, perhaps, burgle their way into a RWC final? You bet he did.
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@taniwharugby said in Possible All Blacks 2020:
@nzzp have to agree to disagree, watching that, while I hoped we were gonna come back as we did so many times before, I just couldnt see us doing it, we were just off our game and the opposition were dictating the way we played, similar to the last game we lost v Ireland.
Right, so that makes Whitelock's brain fade alright then...?
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@Old-Samurai-Jack said in Possible All Blacks 2020:
@Chris-B Nah, crap. Cane and Ardie should be first on the team list but combine them both with a contrasting player to make up the loosies. Cane's shoulder is one of the most devastating in world rugby. Only problem I see is finding a taller player for the vacant loosie role. I really like the look of Robinson for that role.
Yeah - but, if we had a peak Jerome Kaino available no-one would even be considering playing dual sevens.
Calling a spade a spade - that is exactly what playing Sam and Ardie is.
And we'll get away with it in most games. But, in the biggest games we probably won't - Big Pieter-Steph will win World Cups and Player of the Year and we won't!
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@Chris-B said in Possible All Blacks 2020:
@Old-Samurai-Jack said in Possible All Blacks 2020:
@Chris-B Nah, crap. Cane and Ardie should be first on the team list but combine them both with a contrasting player to make up the loosies. Cane's shoulder is one of the most devastating in world rugby. Only problem I see is finding a taller player for the vacant loosie role. I really like the look of Robinson for that role.
Yeah - but, if we had a peak Jerome Kaino available no-one would even be considering playing dual sevens.
Calling a spade a spade - that is exactly what playing Sam and Ardie is.
And we'll get away with it in most games. But, in the biggest games we probably won't - Big Pieter-Steph will win World Cups and Player of the Year and we won't!
Oh since we've got peak JK, let's throw in peak MJ and peak RM and see if Kaino even gets on the bench?
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@Bones said in Possible All Blacks 2020:
@Chris-B said in Possible All Blacks 2020:
@Old-Samurai-Jack said in Possible All Blacks 2020:
@Chris-B Nah, crap. Cane and Ardie should be first on the team list but combine them both with a contrasting player to make up the loosies. Cane's shoulder is one of the most devastating in world rugby. Only problem I see is finding a taller player for the vacant loosie role. I really like the look of Robinson for that role.
Yeah - but, if we had a peak Jerome Kaino available no-one would even be considering playing dual sevens.
Calling a spade a spade - that is exactly what playing Sam and Ardie is.
And we'll get away with it in most games. But, in the biggest games we probably won't - Big Pieter-Steph will win World Cups and Player of the Year and we won't!
Oh since we've got peak JK, let's throw in peak MJ and peak RM and see if Kaino even gets on the bench?
Kaino starts because he's a proper 6!
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@gt12 said in Possible All Blacks 2020:
Actually, peak JK with Cane at 7 and Ardie at 8 wouldn't be that bad at all.
IMHO, we'd have been better last year at the World Cup with that combination that any other we put out.
Kaino, McCaw and Read is a long street ahead of any other combo we've had in recent times - everyone playing in their proper positions.
Going back to something like Jerry, Richie and Rodders is a big step backwards!
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Agree they are the absolute gold standard, especially from 2011-2013, but 2019 Ardie Savea was possibly a better 8 than 2019 Read - he stuck around and tried his best, but he was never as good after the back surgery.
Anyway, Cane captains and starts at 7 in my team. Ardie can go play league if he isn't prepared to play 8 or off the bench.
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@Bones said in Possible All Blacks 2020:
@Chris-B said in Possible All Blacks 2020:
@gt12
I don't think any team has won a RWC playing dual opensides.This sounds like a reason that would be around the bottom of the list for me.
@Bones why is that? Big games are different in all sports. Bollocks get inverted , pressure does weird stuff . Having a balanced and experienced back row with some GODDAMN SIZE and HITTING POWER, sounds O for Awesome to me.
I've never been a fan of 2x 7's unless one of them is 6'4 and happy to play tight.
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@voodoo said in Possible All Blacks 2020:
@Bones said in Possible All Blacks 2020:
@Chris-B said in Possible All Blacks 2020:
@gt12
I don't think any team has won a RWC playing dual opensides.This sounds like a reason that would be around the bottom of the list for me.
@Bones why is that? Big games are different in all sports. Bollocks get inverted , pressure does weird stuff . Having a balanced and experienced back row with some GODDAMN SIZE and HITTING POWER, sounds O for Awesome to me.
I've never been a fan of 2x 7's unless one of them is 6'4 and happy to play tight.
1 ) Not doing something because no RWC winner has done it before sounds a bit narrow-minded to me. In 2015 had any country won the RWC with the same captain twice?
B ) In any case, it's pretty debatable if Sam Cane plays blindside that he'd just be an Openside with the wrong number.
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@Bones said in Possible All Blacks 2020:
B ) In any case, it's pretty debatable if Sam Cane plays blindside that he'd just be an Openside with the wrong number.
Well, he's started 48 tests in the 7 jersey.
Look up how many tests he's started in the 6 jersey and report back to me!
Then I'll tell you an anecdote about the time I started in the 6 jersey!
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@Chris-B said in Possible All Blacks 2020:
@Bones said in Possible All Blacks 2020:
B ) In any case, it's pretty debatable if Sam Cane plays blindside that he'd just be an Openside with the wrong number.
Well, he's started 48 tests in the 7 jersey.
Look up how many tests he's started in the 6 jersey and report back to me!
Then I'll tell you an anecdote about the time I started in the 6 jersey!
So when Nonu moved to 12 from 13 - he spent the rest of his career being out of position?
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@Chris-B said in Possible All Blacks 2020:
@Bones said in Possible All Blacks 2020:
B ) In any case, it's pretty debatable if Sam Cane plays blindside that he'd just be an Openside with the wrong number.
Well, he's started 48 tests in the 7 jersey.
Look up how many tests he's started in the 6 jersey and report back to me!
I don't remember Sir Michael Niko Jones KNZM starting many tests at blindside before 1996 either...
