All Blacks vs Pumas I
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As much as winning against the Wallabies in Australia is good, I’ve been looking forward to playing the other 4Ns teams to test some of our patterns and combinations against something different.
Our depth will be tested with regular starters and key players in Cane, Whitelock, Smith, Mo’unga, Coles not there.
It’s possible that Taylor and Savea could miss with HIA protocols and precautions.
I thought Bower was excellent. Physical in the tackle, some nice support play and soft hands. But I think they probably had Laulala penciled in for the Argies start.
Not sure what they do at hooker.
Starting locks as Perth. Scotty cut out the errors, other than that your work rate is superb. Brodie building. Vaai has definitely bulked up, but he looked well off match ready. Hopefully better for an actual run.
Akira, Papali’i, Jacobsen - Blackadder off the bench.
I’d start TJ.
Same backline but if Jordie is out, DMac in and I’d put Tups on the bench with Bridge.
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@act-crusader said in All Blacks vs Pumas I (yay we’re not playing the Aussies again):
I’d start TJ.
That kick aside, he looked pretty bad. His passing was bad, as it has been for years.
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Without Smith I’d give TJ and Weber a start each against the Pumas and give the young Blues ranga a go off the bench for at least one of them.
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We will have to make a few changes because of injuries to Ardie and Codie, possibly a suspension for Jordie Barrett too. That's quite a few enforced changes already. I'd be tempted to make minimal other changes and give combinations a chance to glue together a bit more.
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If Argentina play like they have against Wales and SA, these two games will be more of the same. Different style but still shit, sadly. It's all really marking time until we hit the world number 1 lion taming world champs - duh duh duuuuum (dramatic music)
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@arhs said in All Blacks vs Pumas I (yay we’re not playing the Aussies again):
Thought Weber much better than TJ.
We've come to expect poor passes from TJ but he looked slower than he usually is, highlighted by not backing himself when Akira passed to him. Like a few other players he looks underdone.
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@machpants said in All Blacks vs Pumas I (yay we’re not playing the Aussies again):
If Argentina play like they have against Wales and SA, these two games will be more of the same. Different style but still shit, sadly. It's all really marking time until we hit the world number 1 lion taming world champs - duh duh duuuuum (dramatic music)
The big, bad Boks!
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@sparky said in All Blacks vs Pumas I (yay we’re not playing the Aussies again):
@machpants said in All Blacks vs Pumas I (yay we’re not playing the Aussies again):
If Argentina play like they have against Wales and SA, these two games will be more of the same. Different style but still shit, sadly. It's all really marking time until we hit the world number 1 lion taming world champs - duh duh duuuuum (dramatic music)
The big, bad Boks!
I hope the players don’t think about the Boks the way some posters do on here. They’ll lose the game before walking on the field if that’s the case.
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@tim said in All Blacks vs Pumas I (yay we’re not playing the Aussies again):
Blackadder got caught out in defence several times. No thanks.
I think our defensive alignment particularly in the forwards went off the boil when the subs came on.
A lot of new ABs learning their roles.
It’s a big challenge for our coaches when we don’t have the mix of experienced guys coming off the bench.
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@act-crusader It may be mostly inexperience. Papalii got caught out the same way early on. Can't afford to be caught out that way again.
Jacobsen to 8 and Sotutu off the bench is a better choice.
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@act-crusader said in All Blacks vs Pumas I (yay we’re not playing the Aussies again):
@tim said in All Blacks vs Pumas I (yay we’re not playing the Aussies again):
Blackadder got caught out in defence several times. No thanks.
I think our defensive alignment particularly in the forwards went off the boil when the subs came on.
A lot of new ABs learning their roles.
It’s a big challenge for our coaches when we don’t have the mix of experienced guys coming off the bench.
I think you are being too nice, that bench is quite experienced as a bench, they should be at least defensively not built of cardboard. I'd sack the AB defense coach (and the Wallaby one too, their slap tackles on Akira for example, were laughable).
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Something is not right with our bench, we have dropped our level and intensity in all matches this year when our bench came on.
It used to be a strength, but now a weakness.
Not sure if its the balance of the players, the quality or the plan they've been given when they come on, but things def not good enough.
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@taniwharugby We haven't seen our first-choice 23 this year due to injuries. Some of these bench players are the 3rd or 4th rated in their positions, others are newbies.
For example, Moody and Tuungafasi haven't played. Ofa can still have his problems in the scrum but is experienced. Coles is missing too.
If fit, I am expecting Savea to play at 7 in one of these Arg tests so there will be some tweaking of the loose forward combinations.
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@taniwharugby said in All Blacks vs Pumas I (yay we’re not playing the Aussies again):
Something is not right with our bench, we have dropped our level and intensity in all matches this year when our bench came on.
It used to be a strength, but now a weakness.
Not sure if its the balance of the players, the quality or the plan they've been given when they come on, but things def not good enough.
in all seriousness it might at least partially be because some of those bench players have been "promoted", Savea and DMac for example were often very good off the bench, now we also have some former starters often on the bench (BB)...and it just seems to be taking too long to settle down
