The Cane vs Savea Debate
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A better thread would be who should be at 8. Ardie was pretty damn good yesterday.
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@Rancid-Schnitzel said in The Cane vs Savea Debate:
A better thread would be who should be at 8. Ardie was pretty damn good yesterday.
oooh yeah, but his height! Jokes aside, he looks fairly tall here - struck me from last week
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@nzzp said in The Cane vs Savea Debate:
@Rancid-Schnitzel said in The Cane vs Savea Debate:
A better thread would be who should be at 8. Ardie was pretty damn good yesterday.
oooh yeah, but his height! Jokes aside, he looks fairly tall here - struck me from last week
He's clearly worked hard during kockdown and put on a few inches
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@nzzp said in The Cane vs Savea Debate:
@voodoo said in The Cane vs Savea Debate:
He's clearly worked hard during kockdown and put on a few inches
what did you do?
Met a security guard during hotel isolation.
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I kind of wonder how you could compare Cane and Savea directly since one is no longer subbing for the other. Perhaps the best test is to say who seems most vital/indispensable?
Currently that seems to be Cane, hard to see how Savea would be playing better than him at 7 for 80 minutes.
PS Savea had some great moments at 8 but I am still not convinced overall that he is the best international 8 in NZ but we are not really getting a chance to look at his replacement/sub/2nd in line... -
Sotutu has been the best 8 in NZ all year, and he's just a kid. Pick him.
Savea is a really good player, but quite an unusual one. A smallish guy pumping the legs and never giving up is awesome, but it isn't going to get you much traction in the early stages of a tight test with an organised defence, and we've seen that a few times now. You need a little momentum, or a little gap, or a tired defender who thinks you're already tackled to get the benefit of that - and that benefit is only going to increase when he is fresh against tiring defenders - which is part of why he's a great bench option. Same goes for his tackling. Certainly skilled enough to cover all 3 spots, and a great asset to the team.
I'd be picking a big guy - Frizz deserves his spot, and Ioane is an option too - and subbing them for Savea once they're poked. -
Savea has been playing the house down at 8 and is a big reason Cane has been able to play the way he has, and vise versa. They have complimented each other so well that it would be stupid to change just for the sake of it. Using the excuse that Savea is too small to be an International number 8 is completely bullshit. He's proven time and time again he's more than up to it, infact the make up of those loose forwards on Saturday was perfect IMO. Because of Frizzell and Cane's physicality, Savea was able to do what he does best and dominate with ball in hand. He's also made crucial plays on the other side of the ball aswell which have relieved the All Black's of huge pressure in those first two tests.
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@nostrildamus said in The Cane vs Savea Debate:
> I kind of wonder how you could compare Cane and Savea directly since one is no longer subbing for the other. Perhaps the best test is to say who seems most vital/indispensable?Currently that seems to be Cane, hard to see how Savea would be playing better than him at 7 for 80 minutes.
PS Savea had some great moments at 8 but I am still not convinced overall that he is the best international 8 in NZ but we are not really getting a chance to look at his replacement/sub/2nd in line...Get out of here with that sort of sensible logic!
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@mariner4life said in The Cane vs Savea Debate:
are the last 2 weekends Cane's best tests ever?
It certainly is in terms of a more complete game. He’s been in the ABs for almost 8 seasons, so his time is now to really elevate his game.
I do remember a game back in 2013 where he and Messam and Read were our starting loose trio and Cane showed us what could be possible.
On Ardie starting at no8, I wonder if he is part of the leadership team and he is going to be a key guy to help galvanise a few of our players. He’s made a few big plays for us in the first 2 tests so I think they will persist with it for at least the first Test in Oz.
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I don't see Savea playing much at 7 again, certainly not for the Hurricanes. He wasn't that impressive in the North-South game in that position. In the ABs, Ardie is obviously the backup to Cane in the 23 but Frizell is the player who is subbed and Savea moves to 6. That tells us what the coaches think of him.
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Something different entirely, but Ardie has expressed interest in moving overseas or to league, this year. He hasn't won a RWC, yet, so will he stay until after 2023, or will he leave when his contract expires at the end of 2021? So what happens in terms of ABs selections may impact negotiations/decisions ...
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@reprobate said in The Cane vs Savea Debate:
Sotutu has been the best 8 in NZ all year, and he's just a kid. Pick him.
Savea is a really good player, but quite an unusual one. A smallish guy pumping the legs and never giving up is awesome, but it isn't going to get you much traction in the early stages of a tight test with an organised defence, and we've seen that a few times now. You need a little momentum, or a little gap, or a tired defender who thinks you're already tackled to get the benefit of that - and that benefit is only going to increase when he is fresh against tiring defenders - which is part of why he's a great bench option. Same goes for his tackling. Certainly skilled enough to cover all 3 spots, and a great asset to the team.
I'd be picking a big guy - Frizz deserves his spot, and Ioane is an option too - and subbing them for Savea once they're poked.Plenty of time for Sotutu, I think.
We've got a couple of games against Argentina and - if we can beat the Aussies next time - we'll have a Bled dead-rubber game against them as well - I think those are the games we'll see people like Hoskins starting and a mix including Will Jordan, Akira, Aumua, Lomax, Papali'i and Grace (though not all at once).
Interesting times ahead.
Seems like we've got quite a queue in the loose forwards awaiting a shot - which might mean we have to wait till next year now to see Big Red Robinson get his chance. That's a pity, because he might be the best of all of them.
