All Blacks squad - The Rugby Championship
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@Kiwiwomble get SBW in to work on off loads...
But is a valid point, our off load game has fallen off a cliff in recent years
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@antipodean said in All Blacks squad - The Rugby Championship:
@kev said in All Blacks squad - The Rugby Championship:
@antipodean said in All Blacks squad - The Rugby Championship:
@TheMojoman said in All Blacks squad - The Rugby Championship:
@reprobate said in All Blacks squad - The Rugby Championship:
@No-Quarter said in All Blacks squad - The Rugby Championship:
@Chris-B said in All Blacks squad - The Rugby Championship:
@KiwiMurph I reckon we might see Jack Goodhue in the midfield - and perhaps Rieko back to the wing.
I like the idea of Goodhue and Rieko together, even though I haven't rated Goodhue at 12 in the past. Just think they might compliment each other well, Goodhue very organised on defense and good at putting his outsides away, while Rieko is always a massive threat with ball in hand and is a very good tackler.
That's a great and established combination... with Jack at 13 where he plays well and Rieko at 11 where he plays well.
Therein lies the problem, chop and change. If Rieko is the long-term 13 then play him there and select around him. Otherwise you get to the RWC and we still don’t know who our best centre pairing are.
That's always gone well. For those barracking Goodhue, remember for all his benefits he's about as fast as a one legged prop.
Conrad Smith / Joe Stanley? It’s all about balance. Midfield is much more about option taking and defence than top pace. If you have the right wings and fullback you don’t need your centre to be be the line breaker. With BB, Havili and Reiko we have the wrong mix. Backline defence and option taking was poor. As much as Reiko’s pace is great he always looks to run before passing.
To be fair, Joe played in a very different era - there was plenty of space on the field. Conrad ran like a bundle of brooms, but I suspect was quicker than Josh. Rieko's pace in that channel with the slightest bit of room is a real point of difference on attack (see his try against France for example). And on defence he covers ground very quickly. Once he gets better at making defensive decisions he'll be best in the world IMO.
Don't disagree, but he needs to develop those extra skills soonish (he's on the right track) in case he loses his pace. Like you say, his point of difference right now is his extra pace. We may very well be seeing with J Barrett what happens when pace goes and you haven't mastered the subtle skills of the position, I would hate to see the same thing happen to RI.
Edit: Meant BB not JB.
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@taniwharugby said in All Blacks squad - The Rugby Championship:
@Kiwiwomble get SBW in to work on off loads...
But is a valid point, our off load game has fallen off a cliff in recent years
yes, fallen of a cliff...but we're still heavily relying on the idea of trying to score from anywhere on the park...doesnt add up
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@taniwharugby said in All Blacks squad - The Rugby Championship:
@Kiwiwomble get SBW in to work on off loads...
But is a valid point, our off load game has fallen off a cliff in recent years
And the tacklers are better at stopping it too. The Irish were very well drilled and got multiple people into the tackle repeatedly
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@antipodean said in All Blacks squad - The Rugby Championship:
@kev said in All Blacks squad - The Rugby Championship:
@antipodean said in All Blacks squad - The Rugby Championship:
@TheMojoman said in All Blacks squad - The Rugby Championship:
@reprobate said in All Blacks squad - The Rugby Championship:
@No-Quarter said in All Blacks squad - The Rugby Championship:
@Chris-B said in All Blacks squad - The Rugby Championship:
@KiwiMurph I reckon we might see Jack Goodhue in the midfield - and perhaps Rieko back to the wing.
I like the idea of Goodhue and Rieko together, even though I haven't rated Goodhue at 12 in the past. Just think they might compliment each other well, Goodhue very organised on defense and good at putting his outsides away, while Rieko is always a massive threat with ball in hand and is a very good tackler.
That's a great and established combination... with Jack at 13 where he plays well and Rieko at 11 where he plays well.
Therein lies the problem, chop and change. If Rieko is the long-term 13 then play him there and select around him. Otherwise you get to the RWC and we still don’t know who our best centre pairing are.
That's always gone well. For those barracking Goodhue, remember for all his benefits he's about as fast as a one legged prop.
Conrad Smith / Joe Stanley? It’s all about balance. Midfield is much more about option taking and defence than top pace. If you have the right wings and fullback you don’t need your centre to be be the line breaker. With BB, Havili and Reiko we have the wrong mix. Backline defence and option taking was poor. As much as Reiko’s pace is great he always looks to run before passing.
To be fair, Joe played in a very different era - there was plenty of space on the field. Conrad ran like a bundle of brooms, but I suspect was quicker than Josh. Rieko's pace in that channel with the slightest bit of room is a real point of difference on attack (see his try against France for example). And on defence he covers ground very quickly. Once he gets better at making defensive decision he'll be best in the world IMO.
We keep selecting players on the basis they will be something different to what they are. Reiko can get lost on defence and passing is not his first instinct. No doubt better now than he was. How many line breaks against the Irish? The Irish let their systems and structure beat the player - yet we still want to think our players are somehow going to break the game open from all over the park. Just wishful thinking. What I do remember in the last test was space on the outside for an early pass. Not only did he not give the pass straight away, he held and was tackled with the ball. Pie in the sky to say he will be the best centre in the world because clearly he isn’t close to that at the moment.
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@nzzp possibly, but Irelands off-load game was pretty good (possibly more a reflection on our defence...?) all in all, most of our game is pretty disjointed and out of whack, predictable and stale.
Def need some new ideas in there, especially in defence, if our defence gets stronger again, it will pressure the other teams attack more too, which in turn will likely create oppotunities anyway.
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@taniwharugby said in All Blacks squad - The Rugby Championship:
@nzzp possibly, but thier off-load game was pretty good...all in all, most of our game is pretty disjointed and out of whack, predictable and stale.
Def need some new ideas in there, especially in defence, if our defence gets stronger again, it will pressure the other teams attack more too, which in turn will likely create oppotunities anyway.
hell yes. give them the ball on half way, bend, bend, bend, scramble on your line is a dangerous proposition.
though in the last test it was more give the ball back on half way, get picked apart until linebreak appears in a few phases, concede points
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@mariner4life straight through our passive defence...
While I am not convinced Fozzie is right to take us forward, I think the biggest issue right now, is our defence.
The attack can come back to a little luck, and if you are playing poorly, you dont get any!
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@taniwharugby What a good defence does is keep you in games even if your attack isn't clicking.
Our defence isn't keeping us in the grind because we give up early tries so are on the back foot immediately.
We then continue to leak points.
Good defence can also frustrate teams and lead to errors which create counter attack opportunities.
England's attack wasn't working on the weekend either but they held Australia to 17 points and won the series.
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@KiwiMurph said in All Blacks squad - The Rugby Championship:
Good defence can also frustrate teams and lead to errors which create counter attack opportunities.
yep, and then as confidence builds, passes start to stick...all intertwined!
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the other damning part for the ABs is, our game is set up to punish poor kicking and turnovers. We can't generate any fucking turnovers because we cannot win a collision in defense, we are constantly scrambling. Ireland not only kept the ball, they consistently got quick ball when they wanted it.
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@taniwharugby said in All Blacks squad - The Rugby Championship:
I think the biggest issue right now, is our defence.
It's a huge issue. Although for me it's the second worst behind the general play of the tight forwards
Coventry or Ryan & Ellison or McGrath could make an impact
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@mariner4life We seemed to have a little more success in test 1 (i.e. when Schmidt was involved) with counter rucking to generate turnovers, something the Blues under Schmidt also did.
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@KiwiMurph said in All Blacks squad - The Rugby Championship:
@mariner4life We seemed to have a little more success in test 1 (i.e. when Schmidt was involved) with counter rucking to generate turnovers, something the Blues under Schmidt also did.
We also defended well in test 1?
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When's the squad named? The first game is only two and a half weeks away.
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@nostrildamus said in All Blacks squad - The Rugby Championship:
@KiwiMurph said in All Blacks squad - The Rugby Championship:
@mariner4life We seemed to have a little more success in test 1 (i.e. when Schmidt was involved) with counter rucking to generate turnovers, something the Blues under Schmidt also did.
We also defended well in test 1?
well, we scrambled on our line, but there was some damning signs in hindsight that we sort of ignored while gazing giddily at the 42 points
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@antipodean said in All Blacks squad - The Rugby Championship:
When's the squad named? The first game is only two and a half weeks away.
was just wondering that, and you imagine they will leave at least a week before hand
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@Kiwiwomble reckon Fozzie will wanna go early, get away from all the noise here...
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