AB squad for the Bledisloe Cup?
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@pukunui said in AB squad for the Bledisloe Cup?:
@Chris-B said in Crusaders v Blues:
Bearing in mind the results of that player poll about the best wing in NZ, and that most of the people being touted as the potential AB wings were playing in this game - you'd have to say that the somewhat-maligned George Bridge answered his critics.
If this was an old-school AB trial, I'd pick Bridge and Ioane as the two wings (ignoring considerations of who plays left and right).
I can’t see the AB selectors dropping Bridge even though i would like to see others selected before him.
As a counter point to the broadly held view that he was “excellent” in this game. It is worth noting that he was the one who had a bad first up tackle miss on Telea which lead to him beating Havili and Bridge having to chase him back to make the tackle the commentators were raving about.
His kick chasing efforts were also greatly aided by Telea shitting the bed in that regard.
Nice pass back inside for the Drummond try though.
But Ioane would have scored that himself...........Bridge clearly had the best game of any of the wings on display though - excepting Rieko who was also very good, but he was at centre. Talea was found a bit wanting and Clarke was largely invisible.
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@gt12 said in AB squad for the Bledisloe Cup?:
I think this is a good point, he doesn’t have or hasn’t shown a lot of versatility. As a fullback/wing, I think he should be able to go 11/14/15 and if he can’t he’s not quite good enough to hold 11.
Personally, I’d pick Rieko and Clarke because Clarke is very very good under the high ball and has so much scope to be a real weapon. However, it’s probably a year too soon so the selectors will have some choices to make, and Reece is playing very well.
I don’t like him in the team, but he’s been very good the couple of games so it’s hard to see him being dropped.
There is also Jordan. Plus Jordie is playing well.
On form, the player to leave out at 15 is Dmac; we’ll see whether Foster pulls the chain or not.
For Havili, I think last week showed he’s much better defending in traffic. He’s a very good player who is clearly international standard, but I don’t see a place him.
Word. Clarke had to be in, he is a real weapon with all the extra skills.
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@Machpants said in AB squad for the Bledisloe Cup?:
@gt12 said in AB squad for the Bledisloe Cup?:
I think this is a good point, he doesn’t have or hasn’t shown a lot of versatility. As a fullback/wing, I think he should be able to go 11/14/15 and if he can’t he’s not quite good enough to hold 11.
Personally, I’d pick Rieko and Clarke because Clarke is very very good under the high ball and has so much scope to be a real weapon. However, it’s probably a year too soon so the selectors will have some choices to make, and Reece is playing very well.
I don’t like him in the team, but he’s been very good the couple of games so it’s hard to see him being dropped.
There is also Jordan. Plus Jordie is playing well.
On form, the player to leave out at 15 is Dmac; we’ll see whether Foster pulls the chain or not.
For Havili, I think last week showed he’s much better defending in traffic. He’s a very good player who is clearly international standard, but I don’t see a place him.
Word. Clarke had to be in, he is a real weapon with all the extra skills.
Needs a touch more experience and he looks like he could be Bridge with a bit more power.
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@Crucial said in AB squad for the Bledisloe Cup?:
@Machpants said in AB squad for the Bledisloe Cup?:
@gt12 said in AB squad for the Bledisloe Cup?:
I think this is a good point, he doesn’t have or hasn’t shown a lot of versatility. As a fullback/wing, I think he should be able to go 11/14/15 and if he can’t he’s not quite good enough to hold 11.
Personally, I’d pick Rieko and Clarke because Clarke is very very good under the high ball and has so much scope to be a real weapon. However, it’s probably a year too soon so the selectors will have some choices to make, and Reece is playing very well.
I don’t like him in the team, but he’s been very good the couple of games so it’s hard to see him being dropped.
There is also Jordan. Plus Jordie is playing well.
On form, the player to leave out at 15 is Dmac; we’ll see whether Foster pulls the chain or not.
For Havili, I think last week showed he’s much better defending in traffic. He’s a very good player who is clearly international standard, but I don’t see a place him.
Word. Clarke had to be in, he is a real weapon with all the extra skills.
Needs a touch more experience and he looks like he could be Bridge with a bit more power.
And pace.
But this messed up year, is the perfect time to give him some higher level experience. First 4 internationals against Oz, ease into the international scene
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@Crucial said in AB squad for the Bledisloe Cup?:
Word. Clarke had to be in, he is a real weapon with all the extra skills.
Needs a touch more experience and he looks like he could be Bridge with a bit more power.
Clarke is young, but needs to get himself more involved if the ball isn't going his way.
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@Bovidae said in AB squad for the Bledisloe Cup?:
@Crucial said in AB squad for the Bledisloe Cup?:
Word. Clarke had to be in, he is a real weapon with all the extra skills.
Needs a touch more experience and he looks like he could be Bridge with a bit more power.
Clarke is young, but needs to get himself more involved if the ball isn't going his way.
how many games had our starting wingers in a RWC semi final played? combined? If you are good enough...
I'm pretty over the "safe" wing spot. I think the trench warfare of test rugby needs a couple of game breakers out wide.
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@Bovidae said in AB squad for the Bledisloe Cup?:
@Crucial said in AB squad for the Bledisloe Cup?:
Word. Clarke had to be in, he is a real weapon with all the extra skills.
Needs a touch more experience and he looks like he could be Bridge with a bit more power.
Clarke is young, but needs to get himself more involved if the ball isn't going his way.
Yep, and that can be an experience thing from the coaches. Give him space to get comfortable on core duties and positioning so he knows when to pick the moments to go looking for the ball.
I thought he got himself involved at a few key times the other night. Saw that he was needed to keep a possession going and took it upon himself to carry so others could reset.
He looks to my eye as potentially offering more than Bridge and also balances a squad better for options if Jordan is selected. -
Agreed.
Those WC selections are still strange - apparently Bridge was pencilled in a year out but got hardly any games.
I think Clarke is already pretty ‘safe’ to be selected and developed. He’s significantly better under the high ball than others in the same conversation (Telea) plus has the ability to be a bit special too.
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@gt12 With the benefit of hindsight, the selectors cocked up their wing selections over the final couple of years - mostly in the hope that Milner- Skudder would come right, when he never really looked like it.
They didn't foresee that Naholo might hit the age wall and fall away as badly as he did in 2019 (which they can't be condemned for), and in any case they would have thought they had money in the bank with Ben Smith and Rieko.
Not sure George would have been penciled in a year out from the RWC. He really burst into contention with that excellent second half vs Japan, and I recall some of us thought he should be added to the squad that went on to Europe after that - but of course that didn't happen.
But, even in the first 4N test in 2019 vs Argentina, they picked Jordie and Reece on the wings and Ennor as the bench cover. And Sevu, of course, hadn't even been in a Super squad at the start of the season.
I couldn't understand why Bridge wasn't starting in that game if they were serious about taking him to RWC.
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@gt12 said in AB squad for the Bledisloe Cup?:
I think @dogmeat wwnt to a talk with Foxy about that.
But I agree with your analysis - they missed the boat on the wings.
and the midfield
and 10
and 6
and a viable alternative to the dramatically declined 8
and a decent lock behind the top 2.
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@mariner4life said in AB squad for the Bledisloe Cup?:
@Bovidae said in AB squad for the Bledisloe Cup?:
Clarke is young, but needs to get himself more involved if the ball isn't going his way.
how many games had our starting wingers in a RWC semi final played? combined? If you are good enough...
I'm pretty over the "safe" wing spot. I think the trench warfare of test rugby needs a couple of game breakers out wide.
I rate Clarke, and remember how dangerous he was in the U20s when he was given the ball. My point was that in games where the ball doesn't go his way, and I include the Chiefs game in Hamilton, he becomes fairly anonymous. I am also saying his youth means he hasn't really learnt to go looking for the ball (yet), which is something the AB coaches have been asking of their wingers.
If the ABs can utilise his pace and ability to beat the first defender through his power, he becomes a huge weapon.
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@Chris-B Their biggest cock up was not just trusting their experienced guys (and playing them to get them in form) like they had throughout their tenure and instead tried to go for the NMS miracle again.
If as @gt12 states Bridge was pencilled in a year out then it's even more annoying than as a freak out after Perth, which is stupid but is kind of understandable, rather than the fact they were lining up someone to replace the best wing in the world for the previous three years.
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@booboo yea no good! you could tell by the way his leg was caught/stuck underneath that pile of bodies that it mightn't be good. I'd say he be definitely out of this weeks game. Blues will be crossing fingers toes and everything else that the 'best case scenario' pans out
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@Nogusta said in AB squad for the Bledisloe Cup?:
Blues will be crossing fingers toes and everything else that the 'best case scenario' pans out
hell yes.
Although we have the deepest bench of loosies in the comp, short comps like this can rob you of star players. If Mo'unga gets injured Saturday night, the Blues win.
Sorry for Sotutu, hopefully it's a tweak and nothing major
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@Nepia said in AB squad for the Bledisloe Cup?:
@Chris-B Their biggest cock up was not just trusting their experienced guys (and playing them to get them in form) like they had throughout their tenure and instead tried to go for the NMS miracle again.
That is the number one question I'd ask Hansen - after beating the experience drum for a decade, how come he abandoned it at the last post?
