All Blacks vs Pumas I
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Bridge played OK. He bumped off a couple of players, was fairly physical....if his last name was Clarke the Fern would be ecstatic about his performance.
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@old-samurai-jack said in All Blacks vs Pumas I (yay we’re not playing the Aussies again):
Bridge played OK. He bumped off a couple of players, was fairly physical....if his last name was Clarke the Fern would be ecstatic about his performance.
If his name was Clarke he would have scored at least one of those chances.
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@kirwan Are you taking the piss? Bridge has a far better nose for the scoreline than Clarke.
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@old-samurai-jack said in All Blacks vs Pumas I (yay we’re not playing the Aussies again):
@kirwan Are you taking the piss? Bridge has a far better nose for the scoreline than Clarke.
Must have had a blocked nose tonight. 😉
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@old-samurai-jack said in All Blacks vs Pumas I (yay we’re not playing the Aussies again):
Bridge played OK. He bumped off a couple of players, was fairly physical....if his last name was Clarke the Fern would be ecstatic about his performance.
I don’t mind Bridge’s game normally but he looks low on confidence to me. Needs to find some of that 2019 mojo back.
On the other hand Reece is playing with a huge amount of it. Has a huge work rate on both sides of the ball and has become a very reliable player.
It will be interesting to see whether he or Jordan gets the start vs the Boks. I’d go with Reece.
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@old-samurai-jack said in All Blacks vs Pumas I (yay we’re not playing the Aussies again):
@kirwan Are you taking the piss? Bridge has a far better nose for the scoreline than Clarke.
If there are no defenders anywhere near him, he’s put in the gap, and his team mates point at the try line.
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@old-samurai-jack said in All Blacks vs Pumas I (yay we’re not playing the Aussies again):
Bridge played OK. He bumped off a couple of players, was fairly physical....if his last name was Clarke the Fern would be ecstatic about his performance.
And if his last name was Masaga, @Nepia would be losing his shit over how hungus he was.
He played a great game for a centre on debut.
I'm going to be very interested if he starts adding a distribution game to his improving carry ability.
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@bones said in All Blacks vs Pumas I (yay we’re not playing the Aussies again):
@old-samurai-jack said in All Blacks vs Pumas I (yay we’re not playing the Aussies again):
Bridge played OK. He bumped off a couple of players, was fairly physical....if his last name was Clarke the Fern would be ecstatic about his performance.
And if his last name was Masaga, @Nepia would be losing his shit over how hungus he was.
He played a great game for a centre on debut.
I'm going to be very interested if he starts adding a distribution game to his improving carry ability.
Hungus Bridge, although I was actually a fairly big fan of Hungus Masaga.
No one begrudged Bridge's initial selection as the new Ben Smith, but he didn't turn out to be the new Ben Smith sadly.
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@antipodean said in All Blacks vs Pumas I (yay we’re not playing the Aussies again):
This has been a towelling much worse than the scoreboard suggests.
As predicted
Argentina are Italy standard at best at the moment
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@daffy-jaffy some good comments in there from Fozzie about the Argies and how they play and the defensive focus. Puts some of our attack into perspective somewhat.
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@mikethesnow said in All Blacks vs Pumas I (yay we’re not playing the Aussies again):
@antipodean said in All Blacks vs Pumas I (yay we’re not playing the Aussies again):
This has been a towelling much worse than the scoreboard suggests.
As predicted
Argentina are Italy standard at best at the moment
Their attack is tier 2 standard but defensively they do some things at a very high level. They fan pretty well and are hard at the ball. For a team that not long ago were final 4 RWC quality, their sense of attack and the old flair they had seems a distant memory.
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Posting this here, but it could be a new thread...
We still have to play the Saffas but I've been pretty happy with the performance in the last 2-3 games. There's been a real step change in the AB performances and play - they have started to look and play like a settled team.
Play has become much more precise with far fewer mistakes overall - plenty of evidence of cool heads under pressure, though there's too many penalties. I've noticed the senior player stepping up, talking to each other and the team tweaking tactics when things aren't going well. The team looks way more confident when things aren't working out and that's with a different captain each week. I don't know how much of this is down to Foster or the senior players, but it's good to see. Perhaps Sam Cane is having a big influence in the background?
Foster clearly has his A team and is building experience with the second-stringers who are stepping up to the mark. That said, I just don't get George Bridge's selection or how he's playing and the goal-kicking is a worry.
After what seems to have been years of buggering around, we have some solidity in midfield with ALB providing the stability and organisation and Havilli growing into his role. Starting to look like a long-term partnership. Reiko is a winger that can cover at centre and really seems to have got his mojo back - his play at 13 today was the best I've seen from him in that position. Jordie is playing in his right position (though I'm happy with either JB or DMac). With Nugget unavailable, TJP & Webber have done pretty well and 10 looks good with either BB or Ritchie. Thought TJP had one of his best games in Black today.
Pretty much the same for 6/7/8 which seems to be playing as a unit - regardless who plays. Akira has really come of age and got his head together - Fozzie deserves credit for that. And Sam Cane? I think he'll be an automatic choice at 7 for a few tests and having two seriously hard players at the breakdown could be something really good to look forward to.
BBBR looks back to his best and Scott Barrett is playing better than ever. He was immense today and has a huge motor. Know bugger-all about the front row so won't comment. (yeah, i know, it's not the Fern style..)
All in all, way more comfortable with the way things are heading. The team looks to be playing as a unit and with way more intelligence and control than last year. If we carry on like this and beat the Boks, I think we can give Fozzie some credit for where the team has ended up.
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Quoting Planetrugby here:
"One small statistic from the match is quite remarkable – in 80 minutes New Zealand made more passes in centres (63) than either the Lions or South Africa managed in three Tests earlier this year."
That Lions series was serious shithouse watching
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Try highlights with the Oz commentary -
