All Blacks v France, 2021 NH Tour
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@crucial said in All Blacks v France, 2021 NH Tour:
@victor-meldrew said in All Blacks v France, 2021 NH Tour:
I want to see a team which is hurting after Dublin, playing as if their careers depended on it, looking pissed off at stupid mistakes and, above all, hungry.
And I can also see that happening, but just like a cricketer on the verge of being dropped, a one effort big knock will paper over the cracks for a while longer.
The appropriate analogy would be a struggling cricketer getting dropped a few times and scoring cheaply off some poor bowling just like we are likely to rack up 40 points off intercepts, dropped balls and soft turnovers (and of course a tinny Will Jordan chip and chase)
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@victor-meldrew said in All Blacks v France, 2021 NH Tour:
@kiwiwomble said in All Blacks v France, 2021 NH Tour:
@stodders thats where we we get into the pure speculation territory
whats more likely, a coach drills the team in the basics (passing, catching, tackling, which is where we're seeing a lot of deficiencies) and then these professional sportsmen just forget....or the coach is focusing on other aspects of the game (broken play, counter attack) leaving the players to get rusty at the basics
i dont know, both seem a stupid idea but i get the feeling one of the two is happening
I would have thought a professional player good enough to make the ABs would have the basics of tackling, passing and catching pretty much baked in and not need much drilling from an AB coach.
If those skills are rusty, that's down to the coaches at the lower levels and the players themselves. I'm quite sure the likes of Nonu & Smith practised passing in their own time and set their own high standards and I'm sure plenty of todays player are the same.
With respect, you’d be very wrong about that. About 2010 or so I had dinner with some friends and a newly capped AB happened to be there. We talked about him being new to the AB environmental and the difference with what he experienced with his Super franchise. He said the biggest difference was the amount of time they out into the basics - catching, passing, tackling, rucking, pushing in scrums, jumping in lineouts. He said in few short weeks in camp his basic skills had improved massively. Whereas at Super level the skills were almost assumed and a bit of afterthought, something they did as a bit of warmup before working on set piece moves and general patterns.
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@chris-b said in All Blacks v France, 2021 NH Tour:
@mariner4life We are in trouble - but, it's stuff that might be repairable in a week. After all, we had two close games vs the World Champions and shared a series with them.
UK articles after the Italy match were sniffing blood in the water and reckoning we were jaded and ripe for the taking. I didn't give that much credence at the time, because that was our B team - and we brought plenty of defensive intensity and workrate vs Ireland - but, every time we had a chance to break the shackles we fucked it up - by dropping a kick-off or an untidy exit, or an aimless kick, or a wild pass, or shit handling, or losing our own lineout throw.
We need to be brighter. I've barely got the heart to ask who tapped and ran a penalty under our own posts when we'd been pinned down there? I guess if they were looking for an element of surprise it probably worked, because it fucking surprised me!
It also surprised everyone one else in our team which is why it ended up being such a fucked option. Had we all been in the same page and not completely rooted from the defensive effort leading up to it we’d have had a staunch defensive line approaching one or two isolated Irish attackers near halfway.
Ps: It was TJ!
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@victor-meldrew true, but the basics for a good 9 is a good passing game, good kicking game, good defender, good organiser...Aaron is exceptional at 2 aspects of those skills, very good at another and pretty good at the other.
For me they would be ranked in this order:
1 Passing game
2 Organising
3 Kicking
4 defending -
@sparky said in All Blacks v France, 2021 NH Tour:
Why on earth has that clown Foster dropped Papali'i?
French by 10-14.
I love me some Dalton, but I can understand the switch. Paps has had a great year- Sam's coming back from injury, but is one hell of a solid player. Rest is a real consideration, particularly for people with a heavy workload. 5 tests in consecutive weeks means rotation.
@KiwiMurph I think the only reason they haven't figured it out is the presumption that Ardie has to be in there. That starts to drive other decisions - height, offense/defense, etc.
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@victor-meldrew said in All Blacks v France, 2021 NH Tour:
@junior said in All Blacks v France, 2021 NH Tour:
To be honest, I would completely understand if he came in now or very close to the RWC and basically went all Cantablacks (with a few key plug ins) in order to try and blag a RWC Rassie style.
Sounds like a Crusaders supporter's wet dream
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@bones said in All Blacks v France, 2021 NH Tour:
@bovidae said in All Blacks v France, 2021 NH Tour:
@pakman said in All Blacks v France, 2021 NH Tour:
Against Cyril Baille you want your best scrummager starting. It isn’t Lomax.
I've been one of most vocal supporters of Laulala, mainly for his scrummaging ability. I am certainly not suggesting Lomax starts, but Tu'ungafasi if he is dropped. In reality I expect Laulala will be retained, but his time in black must be coming to an end because of his lack of impact around the field.
Much like Franks before him, I tend to query just how good a scrummager he is. Does he never, ever, ever get penalised or FK'd? Does he absolutely dominate, or is he just mostly reliable on our own ball, but like Franks, prone to giving away the occasional penalty?
I don't disagree with you, but my comment about Laulala's scrummaging is relative to the alternatives. Ofa gets penalised regularly, as a comparison.
None of the AB props offer much around the field, which starts at SR level.
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At least with Bridge starting, he will set a target for the forwards. Likely only a few metres away after receiving the ball.
Reece was too frantic last week and made too many errors. If Ioane is to be used as a centre in the future then Clarke or Fainga'anuku need to be on the left wing.
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@bovidae I dont think he looks as comfortable on the left wing.
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@bovidae Tu'ungafasi has been a lot better than other AB props in terms of ball carrying, dominant tackling, and pace around the field - reasons why he has been the "super sub" for a long time. Still gives away at least one offside or ruck penalty each game though. We have missed his impact this year.
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@junior said in All Blacks v France, 2021 NH Tour:
@victor-meldrew said in All Blacks v France, 2021 NH Tour:
@junior said in All Blacks v France, 2021 NH Tour:
To be honest, I would completely understand if he came in now or very close to the RWC and basically went all Cantablacks (with a few key plug ins) in order to try and blag a RWC Rassie style.
Sounds like a Crusaders supporter's wet dream
Sounds like success to me,But just a bitter comment really.
Bring on Razor and dump the little fat wombat . -
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@nzzp said in All Blacks v France, 2021 NH Tour:
@sparky said in All Blacks v France, 2021 NH Tour:
Why on earth has that clown Foster dropped Papali'i?
French by 10-14.
I love me some Dalton, but I can understand the switch. Paps has had a great year- Sam's coming back from injury, but is one hell of a solid player. Rest is a real consideration, particularly for people with a heavy workload. 5 tests in consecutive weeks means rotation.
@KiwiMurph I think the only reason they haven't figured it out is the presumption that Ardie has to be in there. That starts to drive other decisions - height, offense/defense, etc.
Would this be the first time our 8 is the smallest of the loose trio? (IMaybe Ardie is slightly taller than Sam C but it would be close).
The team must really rate Shannon and no brainer to see the pace and power of Bridge return on the wing. -
@taniwharugby said in All Blacks v France, 2021 NH Tour:
@bovidae I dont think he looks as comfortable on the left wing.
Bridge? me either, ive said before im not sure why we're playing a full back type wing on the left when we've had decades of success with either a power winger (lomu, savea, ioane) or a flyer (roko)...we've always tending to play the fullback type at 14
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@bovidae said in All Blacks v France, 2021 NH Tour:
@tim said in All Blacks v France, 2021 NH Tour:
@bovidae That's what I meant. He's had almost no game time due to recovery time.
It's time for Ofa to be the starting AB TH but his role at the Blues will likely remain as the impact sub.
Bring on Ofa at half-time.
