2020 Rugby Championship in Oz
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@Stargazer said in 2020 Rugby Championship in Oz:
@sparky said in 2020 Rugby Championship in Oz:
@antipodean No Ash Dixon, no Luke Jacobson, no Lachlan Boshier, No Josh Ioane, no TJ Faine.
And again, no David Havili. FFS
perhaps they saw his game on the weekend....
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@KiwiMurph I’m a fan of Kirifi who hasn’t yet reached his ceiling but I would have selected Boshier in front of him. That performance against Canterbury to lift the shield alone deserves an All Blacks callup.
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@Kiwiwomble said in 2020 Rugby Championship in Oz:
@broughie hes a big bloke so im going to say he's quite a bit of food
you should all be ashamed of yourselves, this is now my most liked comment...this...is what the fern thinks is my most valuable contribution.....i should be ashamed
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Wow, just wandered into this thread for the first time since the Safa withdrawl.
Although the way it was handled deserves criticism, I think you guys are being a touch tough on the player welfare angle which is mentioned. Quite a few of the Safa players are in Europe as well as in SA. Both areas have had pretty bad outbreaks of Covid and things are so far away from normal life at the moment, it's pretty nuts.
For the single lads, I'm sure the idea of jumping on a plane to Oz for a month sounds absolutely fantastic ... I'd wonder how many would board the return flight! But for those with families, it would surely be an absolute no-go. When this was being planned, things were heavily on the improve. With the second outbreak, thats all over. If I'd been asked to go away for 6 weeks in August over the Oct/Nov time frame, I would have said "lets see how Covid pans out". If you asked me now if I'd leave my family here ... zero chance.
I find the accusation they are just worried about losing their number 1, rather callous. That stuff is so far away from important right now.
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@Yeetyaah Kirifi has the same no shit approach as Dane Coles but he’s a bloody good bloke off the field.
I’ve had a chance to work with him through my line of work and he was very professional and a hell of nice guy. Not a bad photographer outside of rugby aswell.
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@KiwiMurph He probably heard the news before the game.
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They've replaced a prop with another prop and a loose forward with another loose forward. I don't know why some were expecting more players to be added to a large squad.
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Tom Robinson not being selected is a big disappointment. He's been the form 6 for a while.
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With more experienced players returning from injury, I'm not sure why Cullen Grace and Mitchel Dunshea are in the ABs squad? Can't see them making the match day 23 this year and they would learn more playing NPC.
That would leave room for selecting additional cover at 2 or 9 or 10.
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@Canes4life fair enough.
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@Machpants the old you don't know him argument. I never said I knew him, listened to him as captain and he sounds professional.
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@sparky I assume Dunshea is in the squad because Whitelock is going through concussion protocols and Scott Barrett only just returned from injury. IMO Cullen Grace has just as much chance of playing as Akira Ioane and Dalton Papali'i. He could see game time against Argentina.
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@MajorRage said in 2020 Rugby Championship in Oz:
But for those with families, it would surely be an absolute no-go.
Been about four months since guys like Koroibete saw their loved ones due to various bubbles.
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@NTA said in 2020 Rugby Championship in Oz:
@MajorRage said in 2020 Rugby Championship in Oz:
But for those with families, it would surely be an absolute no-go.
Been about four months since guys like Koroibete saw their loved ones due to various bubbles.
You'd think the Wallabies would seriously be entertaining the idea of sending him home for the season - that might be the worst test he's ever played.
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@KiwiMurph said in 2020 Rugby Championship in Oz:
@NTA said in 2020 Rugby Championship in Oz:
@MajorRage said in 2020 Rugby Championship in Oz:
But for those with families, it would surely be an absolute no-go.
Been about four months since guys like Koroibete saw their loved ones due to various bubbles.
You'd think the Wallabies would seriously be entertaining the idea of sending him home for the season - that might be the worst test he's ever played.
And we have a few options on the wing so maybe he needs the break
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@KiwiMurph said in 2020 Rugby Championship in Oz:
@NTA said in 2020 Rugby Championship in Oz:
@MajorRage said in 2020 Rugby Championship in Oz:
But for those with families, it would surely be an absolute no-go.
Been about four months since guys like Koroibete saw their loved ones due to various bubbles.
You'd think the Wallabies would seriously be entertaining the idea of sending him home for the season - that might be the worst test he's ever played.
He started out okay, but I thought he wasn't quite the same after getting a big smashing from Jordie. Seemed to be anticipating the hits or something because he dropped the ball a few times after that
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Foster specifically mentioned Kirifi's aggressive ball-carrying and dominant tackling when asked about his selection. He still needs to work on his decision-making though.
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Out of interest does anyone know how long the AB's pre commercial airlines used to spend away from home? A boat to Europe can't have been a quick affair plus all the games they played. And they did this as amateurs. Also, the end of year tours must be 4-6 weeks away each year?
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@chimoaus It would have taken weeks to travel by boat in each direction, so the total time away was many months.
An example:
The 1924-25 Invincibles played their first tour match on 13 Sep 1924 and their last tour match on 18 Feb 1925 (32 games, Nepia played in all of them)In the early days of air travel:
For the 1972-73 to the British Isles, France and the North America, the first tour game was on 19 Oct 1972 and the last game on 10 Feb 1973 (32 games)
In the 1976 tour to South Africa, the first match was on 30 June and the last match on 18 Sep (24 games). -
@Bones said in 2020 Rugby Championship in Oz:
@Yeetyaah said in 2020 Rugby Championship in Oz:
I find Kirifi to be a bit of a dick tbh. Nothing against his playing ability, but he seems like the kinda dude that would step you out of you glanced in his direction for less than a second.
Certainly one of the oddest takes I've seen on here bro!
I reckon it’s hilarious.
Come out from under the doona @Yeetyaah 😉
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@KiwiMurph said in 2020 Rugby Championship in Oz:
@Stargazer said in 2020 Rugby Championship in Oz:
@sparky said in 2020 Rugby Championship in Oz:
@antipodean No Ash Dixon, no Luke Jacobson, no Lachlan Boshier, No Josh Ioane, no TJ Faine.
And again, no David Havili. FFS
perhaps they saw his game on the weekend....
Yeah he’s not playing well, and well behind other options at fullback. Not a surprise at all.
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@Kirwan said in 2020 Rugby Championship in Oz:
Yeah he’s not playing well, and well behind other options at fullback. Not a surprise at all.
Typical haha.
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@Stargazer said in 2020 Rugby Championship in Oz:
@Kirwan said in 2020 Rugby Championship in Oz:
Yeah he’s not playing well, and well behind other options at fullback. Not a surprise at all.
Typical haha.
Not alone in that opinion, you might be in yours though
As an Auckland fan, was pretty happy with his performance.
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@Kirwan I don't think I'm the only one who thinks "he's not playing well" is an exaggeration. I think many will agree that he had one bad game in an otherwise very good season. He's not "well" behind the other fullbacks. He may be the next to be called up if a fullback/second five goes down and they want a replacement. He might even have been in the squad if he hadn't been so unlucky with his injuries.
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I think you the only one thinking he was a chance for a call up for the RC.
BB, JB and DMac are all ahead of him. How many players have to be in front of him for you think he’s well behind?
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Oh, and Will Jordan is probably ahead of him too.
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@Kirwan If he hadn't been unlucky with injuries and had played a full SRA and North v South, he had a good chance to be in the squad from the beginning, either ahead of Dmac (who had an awful year) or Will Jordan (who wouldn't have had much game time at fullback).
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If he was a better player he might have had a chance too.
I get it, your a fan and you like cheerleading him. Just pointing out your opinion isn’t matching what the AB selectors have seeing for the past few years.
I’d expect to be mocked if I was pumping Trainor as hard you are Havilli.
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Havili was in excellent form last year but given he was a fringe AB squad player, you need a lot of things to go right to cement that spot.
He looked good again at the start of the year particularly in the Tahs and Blues games before the bowel surgery. Then the fracture.
He comes back he looks about 70-80% of the pre-injured player. Again not being a first or second choice, and coming back from injury you need the stars to align, so no surprise he didn’t get the call up. Better him playing regularly to get that game fitness up should that emergency call up come.
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@ACT-Crusader I think he's been more than 70 - 80% for the Mako. He had one bad game and has been excellent in others. But you're right, the stars have to align when you've been unlucky all year. And they clearly didn't.
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@Kirwan said in 2020 Rugby Championship in Oz:
If he was a better player he might have had a chance too.
I get it, your a fan and you like cheerleading him. Just pointing out your opinion isn’t matching what the AB selectors have seeing for the past few years.
I’d expect to be mocked if I was pumping Trainor as hard you are Havilli.
Of course you would be mocked. Trainor isn't even SR level.
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@antipodean said in 2020 Rugby Championship in Oz:
The All Blacks travelling squad for the Investec Tri Nations is as follows:
Forwards
Hookers: Asafo Aumua, Dane Coles and Codie Taylor.
Props: George Bower, Alex Hodgman, Nepo Laulala, Tyrel Lomax, Joe Moody, Karl Tu'inukuafe, and Ofa Tuungafasi.
Locks: Scott Barrett, Mitchell Dunshea, Patrick Tuipulotu, Tupou Vaa'i and Samuel Whitelock.
Loose Forwards: Sam Cane, Shannon Frizell, Cullen Grace, Akira Ioane, Du'Plessis Kirifi, Dalton Papalii, Ardie Savea and Hoskins Sotutu.
Backs:
Halfbacks: TJ Perenara, Aaron Smith and Brad Weber.
First five-eighths: Beauden Barrett and Richie Mo'unga.
Midfielders: Jack Goodhue, Rieko Ioane, Ngani Laumape, Anton Lienert-Brown and Peter Umaga-Jensen.
Outside backs: Jordie Barrett, Caleb Clarke, Will Jordan, Damian McKenzie and Sevu Reece.
So Bridge not replaced and Ngani added = Roane covering wing. Radical thought, I know.
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Not surprised Boshier missed out to Kirifi. Boshier has an awesome trick but it relies largely on how the ref will ref the breakdown. Kirifi's skillset will more easily transfer to test rugby.
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@ACT-Crusader doona? Away with your Australian slang.
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@Stargazer said in 2020 Rugby Championship in Oz:
@Kirwan said in 2020 Rugby Championship in Oz:
If he was a better player he might have had a chance too.
I get it, your a fan and you like cheerleading him. Just pointing out your opinion isn’t matching what the AB selectors have seeing for the past few years.
I’d expect to be mocked if I was pumping Trainor as hard you are Havilli.
Of course you would be mocked. Trainor isn't even SR level.
Both are fullbacks not playing well at NPC level that haven’t been selected for the ABs.
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I'm in the surprised by Kirifi over Boshier camp. Great in a shit team - better than Cane - throughout Super rugby. Lifted like class players do in big games for the shield, best on ground by a mile - with a lot of ABs on the same ground.
Also in the pick the big ginger camp. The way he throws himself around he'll be retiring due to injury in a couple of years, so better pick him now. There's no combination of other players in a forward pack that would see me selecting S Barrett ahead of him on the flank. And he doesn't shirk the tight stuff, so if he can scrum he can lock.
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I'm curious if there will be NH or SA refs for any of these games, given the Covid-19 situation. I think we may end up with only NZ and Aust refs again. Williams/O'Keeffe and Gardner could do the Bledisloe Cup games again and they can use neutral refs for the games against Argentina. The likes of Berry could be added to the refereeing pool.
The rescheduled 6N games only have European refs.
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@Bovidae I think you're right and that we'll have Australian & NZ refs only, unless Federico Anselmi has come over from Argentina and has done his quarantine. I just checked and he's not officiating games of the South American 4 Nations.
Not only the 6Nations games, but also the Autumn Nations Cup games and other test matches in Europe all have European refs only. It's strange that the RC appointments aren't published on the WR website, yet.
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With there being 2 new community cases (in Auckland I presume), will this allow the Auckland based ABs to travel to Australia? I think under the current travel bubble conditions, there can only be travel to NSW from an NZ location that has had no community cases for 3 days.
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