2021 Crusaders
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@stargazer said in 2021 Crusaders:
I'm trying to figure out who a certain player is, but my memory is completely failing me. Who's the player to the right (in last year's away jersey opposite Blackadder)? I also see Brendon O'Connor in that clip.
That’s Tom Saunders
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@mofitzy_ I think he has been better in black than people are giving him credit for. They magnify a missed tackle in the SF against England, and forget the things he's done well (including a brilliant tackle on Kolbe in the first RWC pool match).
Mo'unga himself has said that he plays best when he gets freedom and can play what's in front of him, so reasonably unstructured rugby. I'm not overlooking his work-ons, but I think the ABs coaching & game plans, being chained to a (too) dominant BB behind him, maybe having the wrong players around him, may have something to do with how he has played for the ABs as well. I'd love to see how he plays in black when he's unleashed, with players like Havili & Jordan next to and behind him.
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There is an article on stuff today about how he plays best when he's under presssure. Personally this is something I haven't really seen at test match level. It seems to be whenever we have a tough game he makes multiple mistakes in his kicking around the field.
I don't have too much of a problem with his tackling. Any first five will probably miss a few, but it really is a momentum killer when you finally get a penalty to get out of your half, only to boot it dead.
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@bobily2 said in 2021 Crusaders:
I don't have too much of a problem with his tackling. Any first five will probably miss a few, but it really is a momentum killer when you finally get a penalty to get out of your half, only to boot it dead.
To be honest - I don't have much problem with that (Richie kicking the ball dead).
He's very, very aggressive/ambitious with his line kicking from penalties (Mitch Hunt equally so).
I think that philosophy comes from Razor. You're so much better off having a lineout five metres out than 10 metres out - every metre further is exponentially less likely to score from a lineout drive.
The flip side of that is that you're going to miss touch more frequently - than someone who is equally accurate, but more conservative. But, your team is going to score more tries when you hit.
It reminds me of those old days in rugby league where they'd get a penalty and basically boot it parallel to the tryline, because of how frightened they were of missing touch.
Brain dead.
I presume they've worked out that it's better to miss one in 10 and go 40 metres downfield with 9 others? I hardly watch league these days.
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@bobily2 said in 2021 Crusaders:
There is an article on stuff today about how he plays best when he's under presssure. Personally this is something I haven't really seen at test match level. It seems to be whenever we have a tough game he makes multiple mistakes in his kicking around the field.
I think he may actually play well under pressure at test level, if he's not restrained too much by the game plan/structures imposed by the coaches. He didn't have that freedom for the ABs most of the time. I think we can only know how well he plays at test level, if they change that (and as I said, a few different selections around him). "Mo'unga unleased" is definitely something I'd like to see, but don't think it's going to happen under Foster.
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@chris-b said in 2021 Crusaders:
@bobily2 said in 2021 Crusaders:
I don't have too much of a problem with his tackling. Any first five will probably miss a few, but it really is a momentum killer when you finally get a penalty to get out of your half, only to boot it dead.
To be honest - I don't have much problem with that (Richie kicking the ball dead).
He's very, very aggressive/ambitious with his line kicking from penalties (Mitch Hunt equally so).
I think that philosophy comes from Razor. You're so much better off having a lineout five metres out than 10 metres out - every metre further is exponentially less likely to score from a lineout drive.
The flip side of that is that you're going to miss touch more frequently - than someone who is equally accurate, but more conservative. But, your team is going to score more tries when you hit.
It reminds me of those old days in rugby league where they'd get a penalty and basically boot it parallel to the tryline, because of how frightened they were of missing touch.
Brain dead.
I presume they've worked out that it's better to miss one in 10 and go 40 metres downfield with 9 others? I hardly watch league these days.
How often has it worked out in tight games? I think I remember at least 3 times in tough games he's kicked it dead, not to mention other kicking mistakes in those games too. I think there are times for high risk plays, but I don't think you can rely on them when it matters.
There are going to be some games where momentum is against you, and in those situations a penalty and a chance to get up the field can halt that and swing things around (regardless of whether you score off that play or not). However, one thing that will assure you'll stay under the pump is kicking the ball dead.
If you get fifty penalty kicks to touch each game then maybe it works out better off, but if you're playing England or South Africa, you might only get 3 or 4 good attacking opportunities the whole game and to have one of those wasted makes quite a big difference.
Perhaps this is one of those strategies that works out a bit better at SR level than a Championship clincher, or RWC playoff game.
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@stargazer A lesson that has stuck with me.
After we lost the 1991 RWC game to Australia, Simon Poidevin said that he knew he could just ignore Fox and Bernie McCahill and chase straight for Craig Innes, because the former two were just going to shovel it onwards. Kieran Crowley also offered little running threat.
I have a strong recollection as the game was slipping away that Foxy actually sold a dummy and ran and the field opened up in front of him, because this was so totally unexpected.
Infortunately, Foxy's little legs carried him along about as fast as Granddad's Model T and the cover mowed him down.
You need to have lots of threats, so that the defence can't just double team your few big weapons.
A problem with the selections of the past few years is that our backline threats have diminished compared to the hey-days of Nonu, Savea, Ben Smith, younger SBW, Beaudy, etc.
Things are moving in the right direction - if we have Clarke, Jordan and Beauden as our back three. If Rieko would come right at centre, he can offer more attacking threat than ALB or Jack, and there might even be a role for Laumape.
All of which should provide Richie with more space to work his magic.
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@bobily2 I don't know the stats, but in my view if you're going to kick aggressively, then you've got to do it all the time.
It doesn't make sense to reduce your chances of scoring when you're in a tight game - unless, Richie really is affected by the pressure and it becomes more likely that he will fuck it up.
Maybe someone can be induced to keep a record of RM's line-kicking for the AB season so we can see whether it happens. Don't let Richie read it though!
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@stargazer said in 2021 Crusaders:
@bobily2 said in 2021 Crusaders:
There is an article on stuff today about how he plays best when he's under presssure. Personally this is something I haven't really seen at test match level. It seems to be whenever we have a tough game he makes multiple mistakes in his kicking around the field.
I think he may actually play well under pressure at test level, if he's not restrained too much by the game plan/structures imposed by the coaches. He didn't have that freedom for the ABs most of the time. I think we can only know how well he plays at test level, if they change that (and as I said, a few different selections around him). "Mo'unga unleased" is definitely something I'd like to see, but don't think it's going to happen under Foster.
Yes, I'd definitely be interested in how he goes with Robertson developing the game plan. At the very least, he offers quite a different style of playmaking to DMac or Barrett, which has potential to be quite valuable for changing up the approach if our tactics aren't working.
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@chris-b said in 2021 Crusaders:
@bobily2 I don't know the stats, but in my view if you're going to kick aggressively, then you've got to do it all the time.
It doesn't make sense to reduce your chances of scoring when you're in a tight game - unless, Richie really is affected by the pressure and it becomes more likely that he will fuck it up.
Maybe someone can be induced to keep a record of RM's line-kicking for the AB season so we can see whether it happens. Don't let Richie read it though!
I think this is probably the case in general. Some of those games where you know you're on the back foot and you can see the loss coming (France 2007, England 2019, Ireland in the US) it seems like any high-risk play doesn't work out favourably.
But yes, the stats would definitely be helpful. In another 15 years we will have high-tech simulations where we can run 1000 games and see what works out better.
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@chris-b I definitely have the impression that all the bad/missed kicks in last year's test matches have been attributed to RM, while several of them weren't his. A bit of the same myth as tackling; he isn't as bad as people make him out to be.
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@stargazer said in 2021 Crusaders:
@bobily2 said in 2021 Crusaders:
There is an article on stuff today about how he plays best when he's under presssure. Personally this is something I haven't really seen at test match level. It seems to be whenever we have a tough game he makes multiple mistakes in his kicking around the field.
I think he may actually play well under pressure at test level, if he's not restrained too much by the game plan/structures imposed by the coaches. He didn't have that freedom for the ABs most of the time. I think we can only know how well he plays at test level, if they change that (and as I said, a few different selections around him). "Mo'unga unleased" is definitely something I'd like to see, but don't think it's going to happen under Foster.
my opinion is that we are not going to be able to play to his strengths, and open that 10 channel up for him unless we change our thinking in the forward pack. Big munter ball runners who can get defenses back-peddling. And lots of them.
And like Chris said, some genuine pace at 13.
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@mariner4life I wonder how a midfield of Havili and Rieko would go. A good communicator and defence organiser (a bit in the Crotty mould), combined with fast ball-running centre (if he can learn how to pass to wingers).
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@stargazer said in 2021 Crusaders:
@mariner4life I wonder how a midfield of Havili and Rieko would go. A good communicator and defence organiser (a bit in the Crotty mould), combined with fast ball-running centre (if he can learn how to pass to wingers).
it sounds handy to me. Especially if he plays 12 all year next to Mounga and continues to play well.
But to use a point i have raised before, it depends on the game plan we want to play.
