AB squad for the Bledisloe Cup?
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@junior said in AB squad for the Bledisloe Cup?:
@kev said in AB squad for the Bledisloe Cup?:
@Stargazer I’m with you. Haven’t read any posts but presumably ragging on about how Bridge is average. Personally I think he is all class. There is a reason why the Crusaders win all the time. Their whole team does their job and their players make better decisions more often. Something other franchises can only aspire too. The Blues are repeat offenders in this regard.
No one on this forum has said that Bridge is a shit player. He's decent under the high ball, runs decent support lines, runs fast enough in a straight line and is generally a low error player. He'd probably be a great right wing. The problem is that he plays on the left and he's currently keeping out two of the more dynamic and powerful ball runners in NZ rugby at time when we are lacking a bit in dynamic and powerful runners in NZ rugby. Remember all those breaks and extra yards Bridge made last year against England when we couldn't get any go forward anywhere else on the park? Yeah, me neither.
Garbage. Bridge is CONSTANTLY roasted on TSF and labelled a boring 'skinny white boy' and now 'safe white boy'.
He won't keep anyone out if their form and pressure warrants usurping him. Clarke may be in that position.
As for it being Bridges' fault we didn't put England under pressure, well, this is a helluva thing to put on a winger when the rest of the team is playing like a bag of assholes.
A far better comparison for Bridge as opposed to Caleb Ralph, is Doug Howlett. Both quick, both relatively safe players, great finishers and both can cover fullback.
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@kev said in AB squad for the Bledisloe Cup?:
@Stargazer There is a reason why the Crusaders win all the time. Their whole team does their job and their players make better decisions more often. Something other franchises can only aspire too. The Blues are repeat offenders in this regard.
Yes cos if the history of Super Rugby has taught us anything it's that Crusaders have a production line of world class wingers and the Blues really struggle with producing wingers....
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@Machpants I mean, what do you mean about the Fern not having learned lessons and how does that relate to poeple saying Ardie is a 7?
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@Old-Samurai-Jack said in AB squad for the Bledisloe Cup?:
@junior said in AB squad for the Bledisloe Cup?:
@kev said in AB squad for the Bledisloe Cup?:
@Stargazer I’m with you. Haven’t read any posts but presumably ragging on about how Bridge is average. Personally I think he is all class. There is a reason why the Crusaders win all the time. Their whole team does their job and their players make better decisions more often. Something other franchises can only aspire too. The Blues are repeat offenders in this regard.
No one on this forum has said that Bridge is a shit player. He's decent under the high ball, runs decent support lines, runs fast enough in a straight line and is generally a low error player. He'd probably be a great right wing. The problem is that he plays on the left and he's currently keeping out two of the more dynamic and powerful ball runners in NZ rugby at time when we are lacking a bit in dynamic and powerful runners in NZ rugby. Remember all those breaks and extra yards Bridge made last year against England when we couldn't get any go forward anywhere else on the park? Yeah, me neither.
Remember all those breaks and extra yards any All black made? Bit tough when your pack is scuttling backwards
Yeah, but that's why a guy like Clarke or Ioane is gold - they can both beat a man from a standing start and even when going backwards. Sometimes, that's all you need to then buy the rest of your team the time and space to create opportunities to score points.
Yes, it's a bit harsh on Bridge because he wasn't the only one on the park who failed to go forward at all. But, unfortunately for him, he gets picked on because he's the one keeping out a couple of the few guys who can do what we sorely missed. To my mind, Reece is far and away the bigger problem but he's not the one keeping those guys out. That's why I say that Bridge should make a switch to the right wing, because he'll definitely get selected ahead of Reece (but maybe not ahead of Jordan now).
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@shark said in AB squad for the Bledisloe Cup?:
Both quick, both relatively safe players, great finishers and both can cover fullback.
He looks like he should be playing fullback to me. That's not going to happen at the Crusaders so we'll probably never know
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@shark said in AB squad for the Bledisloe Cup?:
@junior said in AB squad for the Bledisloe Cup?:
@kev said in AB squad for the Bledisloe Cup?:
@Stargazer I’m with you. Haven’t read any posts but presumably ragging on about how Bridge is average. Personally I think he is all class. There is a reason why the Crusaders win all the time. Their whole team does their job and their players make better decisions more often. Something other franchises can only aspire too. The Blues are repeat offenders in this regard.
No one on this forum has said that Bridge is a shit player. He's decent under the high ball, runs decent support lines, runs fast enough in a straight line and is generally a low error player. He'd probably be a great right wing. The problem is that he plays on the left and he's currently keeping out two of the more dynamic and powerful ball runners in NZ rugby at time when we are lacking a bit in dynamic and powerful runners in NZ rugby. Remember all those breaks and extra yards Bridge made last year against England when we couldn't get any go forward anywhere else on the park? Yeah, me neither.
Garbage. Bridge is CONSTANTLY roasted on TSF and labelled a boring 'skinny white boy' and now 'safe white boy'.
He won't keep anyone out if their form and pressure warrants usurping him. Clarke may be in that position.
As for it being Bridges' fault we didn't put England under pressure, well, this is a helluva thing to put on a winger when the rest of the team is playing like a bag of assholes.
A far better comparison for Bridge as opposed to Caleb Ralph, is Doug Howlett. Both quick, both relatively safe players, great finishers and both can cover fullback.
When has Bridge ever covered fullback?
And what is it with you bloody Cantabs and your complete absence of reading comprehension? Is it because you've all only got one eye?
I never said that he was solely to blame for England beating us (that's Scott Barrett's fault, obvs) - I said that he gets a hard time because he was keeping out one of the few guys in our team last year with the ability to beat a man. If Ioane played on the right wing, then Reece would be copping it.
And yes, you can have a go at your backs for not having power and the ability to beat a man when your entire nation of forwards don't have that either. It needs to come from somewhere and we had at least one guy sitting in the stands who could bring that.
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Wow some knickers in a twist on this thread.
But yeah nah. Bridge is seriously underwhelming when compared to a long line of dynamic AB wingers. Especially on the left wing.
Caleb Ralph is the perfect comparison. A good rugby player who will end up with lots of tries to his name but not even in sight of the top echelon of AB wingers.I think people are being a bit sensitive over what is some pretty tame criticism in this case.
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@shark said in AB squad for the Bledisloe Cup?:
Bridge wasn't keeping out any dynamic left wingers last year. Ioane had gone right off the boil and played himself out of the team while Clarke was nowhere near the team.
That's a bigger myth than Tony Woodock's scrummaging ability!
He was perfectly fine in the few AB games he played last year (despite being injured) and would have brought exactly what was needed had the selectors not shat the bed after Perth and changed half the team. Anyone would have looked great in that Eden Park match and had Rieko been selected to play in it we wouldn't even be having this debate (we'd probably be World Champions too).
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@junior said in AB squad for the Bledisloe Cup?:
@shark said in AB squad for the Bledisloe Cup?:
Bridge wasn't keeping out any dynamic left wingers last year. Ioane had gone right off the boil and played himself out of the team while Clarke was nowhere near the team.
That's a bigger myth than Tony Woodock's scrummaging ability!
He was perfectly fine in the few AB games he played last year (despite being injured) and would have brought exactly what was needed had the selectors not shat the bed after Perth and changed half the team. Anyone would have looked great in that Eden Park match and had Rieko been selected to play in it we wouldn't even be having this debate (we'd probably be World Champions too).
What? Mind blown! So if Rieko had been playing we would have won the World Cup. WTF?
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@junior you're very clearly attributing our lack of momentum against the Poms as much to a left winger as any other player or unit in the team. Which is absolute horse shit.
And then all the revisionists jump on the bandwagon and start claiming Ioane would have made a difference, or perhaps some other powerful left winger who was around the squad, which is who exactly??
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My impression of Bridge this season was the talk of him being slow and unable to beat a defender was pretty unfair. Was very surprised to see him breaking tackles fairly often and I remember at least one try where he basically just went head down and powered over dragging one or two defenders with him.
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Is there a better site than rugbypass for stats? Not sure these are all that complete or accurate...
Super Rugby | Super Rugby New Zealand | RugbyPass
Discover the thrill of Super Rugby with RugbyPass, your resident rugby experts. Here you’ll learn about the Super Rugby teams and see upcoming Super Rugby fixtures.
Super Rugby | Super Rugby New Zealand | RugbyPass
Discover the thrill of Super Rugby with RugbyPass, your resident rugby experts. Here you’ll learn about the Super Rugby teams and see upcoming Super Rugby fixtures.
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@Bones said in AB squad for the Bledisloe Cup?:
My impression of Bridge this season was the talk of him being slow and unable to beat a defender was pretty unfair. Was very surprised to see him breaking tackles fairly often and I remember at least one try where he basically just went head down and powered over dragging one or two defenders with him.
Fake news. Need videos to prove it. Preferably with some arrows and lines to highlight the raw power and speed.
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@pukunui said in AB squad for the Bledisloe Cup?:
@Bones said in AB squad for the Bledisloe Cup?:
My impression of Bridge this season was the talk of him being slow and unable to beat a defender was pretty unfair. Was very surprised to see him breaking tackles fairly often and I remember at least one try where he basically just went head down and powered over dragging one or two defenders with him.
Fake news. Need videos to prove it. Preferably with some arrows and lines to highlight the raw power and speed.
It took me 2 days to make the last one, I'm not falling into that trap again.
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Here's a quote from a piece during the RC last year:
Rieko Ioane hasn't scored a try in four tests – a relative drought when you have 22 tries from 22 starts – and didn't look like getting one against the Springboks in Wellington.
The Blues wing laboured through 60 largely unproductive minutes on Saturday – replacement hooker Dane Coles ran for more metres – before being replaced by Crusaders wing George Bridge.
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