All Blacks 2021
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@booboo he can make the Canes, in fact he should be starting every week. Doesn’t help when we have Simple Jack as a coach who seems to do everything in his power to select the most average team possible.
PUJ is definitely good enough for the All Blacks and I wouldn’t be surprised one bit if his name is read out in that first squad of the year.
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@toddy said in All Blacks 2021:
@canes4life said in All Blacks 2021:
@pukunui yeah Savea has to start in the 7 jersey, we need all the experience we can get. The 6 and 8 jersey are still up in the air at this point for me but I’ve liked what I’ve seen from Jacobsen so I hope they can fit him in.
- Jacobsen 7. Savea and 8. Sotutu, with Papali’i on the bench is looking pretty good to me.
Starting loose forwards as a trio aren't abrasive enough for test footy imo. One of Ardie or Hoskins would need to drop out.
Agree. Some have said Akira and Hoskins are too similar so can’t be in a test starting side together, but to me it’s Hoskins and Ardie that play a similar game. It’s one or the other and I suspect it will be Ardie that gets the nod.
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@gt12 said in All Blacks 2021:
I think Robinson may finally be the lock/6 we've been looking for though).
Robinson needs to be used at lock for the Blues to answer this question, particularly to look at his scrummaging ability. I'm sure they'll still use Barrett off the bench.
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@act-crusader said in All Blacks 2021:
@toddy said in All Blacks 2021:
@canes4life said in All Blacks 2021:
@pukunui yeah Savea has to start in the 7 jersey, we need all the experience we can get. The 6 and 8 jersey are still up in the air at this point for me but I’ve liked what I’ve seen from Jacobsen so I hope they can fit him in.
- Jacobsen 7. Savea and 8. Sotutu, with Papali’i on the bench is looking pretty good to me.
Starting loose forwards as a trio aren't abrasive enough for test footy imo. One of Ardie or Hoskins would need to drop out.
Agree. Some have said Akira and Hoskins are too similar so can’t be in a test starting side together, but to me it’s Hoskins and Ardie that play a similar game. It’s one or the other and I suspect it will be Ardie that gets the nod.
I would put them all in the same “group”.
ie. Rodney So’oialo type athletic guys rather than tackling machines like Cane/Mccaw or hitters like Kaino/Collins. -
In a piece touting David Havili and Anton Lienert-Brown as the All Blacks’ likely starters in the midfield next month, Liam Napier of the NZ Herald had this to say about Blues centre Rieko Ioane:
“This season for the Blues he's made plenty of metres but his decision-making and instinctive ability to create and feed his outsides hasn't dramatically improved, leaving the same conundrum of where he should feature for the All Blacks.”Is this assertion supported by data? Looking at his try-involvement numbers, it’s true that not much has changed since last year. Across all Super Rugby in 2020, in 889 minutes played he provided 5 scoring passes to teammates and 1 penultimate pass in a scoring sequence for a rate of 0.5 primary and secondary try assists per 80 minutes; in 928 minutes in 2021, he has contributed 5 and 2 respectively for a rate of 0.6 per 80. It’s true that this is only a slight uptick in performance, but it’s worth emphasising that he still blows his competitors for the black 13 jersey out of the water by this metric overall: his average of 0.6 primary and secondary assists per 80 across the last 2 seasons is much higher than Lienert-Brown’s (0.2) and Braydon Ennor’s (0.3). The discussion around Rieko’s rugby continues to be one with more of a basis in perception than reality.
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@tim said in All Blacks 2021:
If Tu'ungafasi has knee problems this year, tighthead depth could be become a serious issue.
At Test Level, the most important position in the team is Tighthead Prop. The second most important is reserve Tighthead Prop.
Concerning that the ABs lack depth in the two most important positions.
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@sparky said in All Blacks 2021:
Concerning that the ABs lack depth in
the two mostseveral important positionsFTFY
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@bones said in All Blacks 2021:
ALB is our centre right? Only way I can't see that happening is if they don't select Havili.
Maybe I am wrong but there is ALB Havili, RI and PUJ (even though the Hurricanes coaching don't pick him, given their other selections that doesn't seem a black mark against him).*
NB Leicester Fainga’anuku-Robertson has praised him with potential from 12 to wing but I see him, at 21, as future centre/wing cover. Perhaps a future competitor to RI, but, as I said, very young and had a busy season.
So of those 4, DH and ALB are best distributors but DH a 12 and ALB adept and experienced at 12/13; RI and PUJ are 13s (in my eyes PUJ not so good yet at 12) and they are the flashier explosive runners with more risk and less distribution than ALB..
So DH+ALB at 12/13 with RI off the bench or possibly PUJ (who is less experienced than RI, more of a natural centre, but weaker in wing cover).
Another option is RI on bench or starting as wing or wing/cover (arguably still one of NZ's best wings), with option to move in to 13 if the centre is injured.
So I think RI has the advantage as bench player, could be highly impactful in second half of a game (but I hope PUJ gets matchtime, I like the look of him).
*I'm not sure Ennor would or could be in the conversation, not enough recent gametime I would have thought. -
@gt12 said in All Blacks 2021:
bigger
abut 2 cm and a few kilos in it at most I'd have thought, or has Flanders grown since the official stats?
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@nostrildamus said in All Blacks 2021:
@gt12 said in All Blacks 2021:
bigger
abut 2 cm and a few kilos in it at most I'd have thought, or has Flanders grown since the official stats?
@Stargazer would be the person who probably has the pics from his insta (or someone's) but he is huge this year, looks like he's been on roids.
193cm puts him at the same height as Read and I'd say he's bigger, even if the 'official' stats don't see to indicate that.
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@gt12 said in All Blacks 2021:
@nostrildamus said in All Blacks 2021:
@gt12 said in All Blacks 2021:
bigger
abut 2 cm and a few kilos in it at most I'd have thought, or has Flanders grown since the official stats?
@Stargazer would be the person who probably has the pics from his insta (or someone's) but he is huge this year, looks like he's been on roids.
193cm puts him at the same height as Read and I'd say he's bigger, even if the 'official' stats don't see to indicate that.
I was a few metres away from the Hurricanes bench last weekend and he looks a big lad.
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Is Boshier not even a lookin this year? Doesn't seem to have much AB luck..
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@nostrildamus said in All Blacks 2021:
Is Boshier not even a lookin this year? Doesn't seem to have much AB luck..
Over who?... every other main all black flanker chance has shown more than he has
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@sparky said in All Blacks 2021:
@mackerzzzz Well, it's a revisionist interpretation.......
That was part of the point...
No real point in having a team of 35 year olds.
But if you think of ages of the people I didn't pick you will see that they will all have retired or be shit old buggers.
Tu'inukuafe, coles, whitelock, smith, tj, Weber, beaudie, havili, etc.
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@antipodean him and Numia walked past me on Cuba Street a couple weeks ago and Flanders looks like a big lad. Numia was athletic as hell aswell but probably needs to put a couple of kgs on if he ever wants to reach that next level.
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Does anybody think fidow will become good at some stage?
He has the power and running skill to become a tupou...
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@canes4life I had to laugh last week when the commentators about the canes hooker with the "big boppers" beside him. Numia has got to be the smallest prop in years!
Late bloomer
