Springboks v All Blacks I
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What's most frustrating about that game is our pack actually matched up well physically. We got absolutely no change at all from Angus for the first 30 minutes, with zero penalties our way to the five or six he gave the Boks. Yet despite that we were still well in the game and started working our way back into it when he finally started reffing both teams.
But our structure with ball in hand, fucking hell, just clueless. A symptom of this is how bad our 10s are playing at the moment. Beauden commands the ball at 10 but then has no idea what to do with it. Then Mo'unga comes on and just goes missing. By that I mean he will take the ball at first receiver at set piece, then is unsighted for the next 2 - 4 phases as random players take the ball at first receiver, before popping up deeper and wider looking for space that isn't there. That shit may work at SR but at test level where you are up against organised rush defenses that pressure you and force mistakes, the 10 has to be directing play as much as possible.
That doesn't come down to the players though, the fact that our 10s play SO differently within the same team really shows they are just trying to do what they think will work, rather than trying to implement a specific gameplan. The fact that Foster took charge of the backs is fucking damning really.
On other aspects of the game, I thought the way Angus reffed the scrums really benefitted the Boks. He seemed to want no resets, and instead blow penalties against who he deemed was the cause of the issue, and decided early on that the Boks had the dominant scrum so favoured them even though neither team really got any ascendancy in terms of pushing the other pack backwards. That gave them a big leg up throughout the game.
ST was really good, it's a bit scary how much better he is than CT and Coles now. Subbing him off was a costly mistake, a tired ST was a lot better than an erratic Coles who made some costly errors deep in their half when we needed points.
I don't have too much to add on the rest of the side other than the obvious fact that this team is in a serious rut now, and it's clear the players don't buy into the direction set by Foster. I'm not sure I'll bother watching next week, as it's a pretty big effort to get up when you have young kids, and there's little to get excited about at the moment. NZR are bearing the fruit of their incredibly poor decisions and are going to have to wear significant damage to the brand and legacy until they can move Foster on. Depressing times for ABs fans.
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@Higgins said in Springboks v All Blacks I:
@BerniesCorner said in Springboks v All Blacks I:
Awesome Silverlake timing
The value of their shareholding will have diminished so greatly that if won't cost that much when it comes to taking up any buy back options there might be in the contract.
Maybe that was Robinson's master plan...get the money from silverlake, abs tanking, our value goes to hell, we buy the shares back at a 50th of what we sold them...bam, get that powder out, rwc 2023 baby!
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I don't know if this has already been said but that BB collision was such a terrible look for the game and despite all the emphasis on head contact from tacklers we had 3 concussions last night from other things. Bad ones too.
For the last one I am pointing a finger at the deliberate SA tactic of throwing players in the air to disrupt without catching and Gardner for not stopping it early on.
When Arendsee took out JB in the air without any chance of a catch the line was drawn on the wrong side of acceptability and it was only a matter of time before another incident. Almost every time he went up it was just flinging himself into the zone and making it look like an attempt to catch.
These are the things that WR and refs need to get right out of the game, even if it is to remove aerial contests. Total negligence IMO. -
@No-Quarter said in Springboks v All Blacks I:
On other aspects of the game, I thought the way Angus reffed the scrums really benefitted the Boks. He seemed to want no resets, and instead blow penalties against who he deemed was the cause of the issue, and decided early on that the Boks had the dominant scrum so favoured them even though neither team really got any ascendancy in terms of pushing the other pack backwards. That gave them a big leg up throughout the game.
Is there any rule on how long the ball stays in the scrum. I mean good on SA for milking the penalty but those first few it just seemed we waited ages until the AB's finally went backwards. Like is it a tug of war contest or is there some rule if the scrum is stable the 9 has to use it. I guess we would do the same if we had dominance and just shows another weakness of our game. It just seemed inevitable watching that wait long enough they get a penalty.
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For us.
Credit to the defence which was hugely improved, and the first half forward pack that actually matched them I thought. Yes they had slight advantages in their strength areas, but we did well elsewhere, and I was impressed we were holding. At half time considering the way the game played out I thought we were probably pretty happy with the score
But the entire backline should not be able to look their forwards in the face. Just absolute shit. Smashed in the kicking game and the catching game. As threatening as teen pop sensation in attack. No where to be seen when support was needed. And big errors at bad times.
BBarrett is playing shit. How the fuck does a dead loss like D Havili not only get picked, but guaranteed 80 minutes? Why can't we put up contestable kicks? Why can't we catch? Just rubbish
Then the bench? Fuck Dane Coles. Error. 2 lost lineouts. Frizzell scores a try but ends up net zero points.
The only time our attack looked threatening was in the first half when the fancy short passes were going nowhere so SBarrett said "fuck it" and just smashed on to the ball. Everyone followed and we suddenly looked dangerous. Oh wait, the 3 inside balls we threw all game worked too.
We can't apply pressure because we can't kick. We can't catch. And we can't keep thr ball because we don't make ground.
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Is JB injured? How is BB?
Interesting to see the divergence of opinion on Cane, Akira (every match!), Richie. I was surprised how we seemed much more urgent when Christie appeared. -
Much hurting and learning bullshit no doubt...
Watching them, there is no passion or urgency and not a cohesive combo amongst them at the moment.Boks comfortably the better team.
ST and Ardie aside forwards pretty anonymous.. ABs noticeably passive compared to the Boks.
Cane spoke well afterwards... Poor bastard..Taine Randell in my mind.
No combo's in the backs still.. Defence and attack pretty ordinary
Ethan DG and Christie were good off the pine.
Rinse and repeat next week I suspect.
Would like to see some changes.. Doubt we see too much.
Very few should feel comfortable in the starting line up. -
Ouur forwards issue on attack is we have completely abandoned power. Every set of phases today was all quick hands to try and find space even in close. Runners like savea, Ioane, and others trying to sidestep their way through. Absolutely no thought to smashing on to the ball at an angle to find a seam.
So we don't make ground. Their is constant pressure. We lose collisions, and we run out of players.
Hence the turnovers.
And thrn thr backline is either BB going nowhere himself or a fucking rubbish Havili cut out to a winger standing still on the chalk. Who gets tackled. Did our centre even touch the ball??
That was as bad as I have ever seen an AB side "attack"
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@No-Quarter I just watching through the game again and I think you are being a little tricky with the truth. For example in the 20-30 minute period Beaudie received the ball as 1st receiver at either set piece or phase play only 3 times. Plenty of other players getting it at first receiver.
Beaudie is either in the second line or out the back during that period also.
He did some good things but he made some poor errors last night even with good ball. This is not even about pushing Mo’unga or any other player, but Beaudie hasn’t looked in control for a while and it sucks because he’s been a great player to watch. Ever since he was a rookie he’s been a high risk high reward player, but he learned to do that with control and and patience. He hasn’t played with control for a while now.
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What do we make of A Smith at the moment? Still the world's best 9 or is it the poor performing forwards making him look out of form? He just seems to be missing that spark? His pass is still accurate but I wonder if we need more. He did run through the ruck in Irish 1 but he rarely threatens on attack.
Maybe it is just the mental space this team is in and must be hard for blokes that were part of the hey day of AB's rugby to now be staring down the barrel of one of the worst teams ever.
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@chimoaus said in Springboks v All Blacks I:
What do we make of A Smith at the moment? Still the world's best 9 or is it the poor performing forwards making him look out of form? He just seems to be missing that spark? His pass is still accurate but I wonder if we need more. He did run through the ruck in Irish 1 but he rarely threatens on attack.
Maybe it is just the mental space this team is in and must be hard for blokes that were part of the hey day of AB's rugby to now be staring down the barrel of one of the worst teams ever.
He's not what he was... Mitigation is he's playing behind a passive pack.. But I'd still be happy to see him ride the pine next weekend as hes not performing well enough currently.
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@chimoaus if he has no running game, or doesnt have the ability to take the running option when it is there (are we even creating these) then it leaves pass or kick, makes it easier for the opposition to defend, especially when you look at field position, it often rules out the kick option, so you know he will pass, its just whether it is to the 1st man or the 3rd man, but either way, easy to pick off
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'As a halfback, it is pretty noticeable': Aaron Smith on All Blacks' breakdown issues
The breakdown was an area that plagued the All Blacks at home against Ireland at times and has been a key work-on for Ian Foster's team.
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@chimoaus said in Springboks v All Blacks I:
What do we make of A Smith at the moment? Still the world's best 9 or is it the poor performing forwards making him look out of form? He just seems to be missing that spark?
He hasn’t been the worlds best halfback for a while (Dupont)
I think he’s half a yard slower than he used to be. That makes the breakdowns last a beat longer.
Christie looked good when he came on. He makes slightly more errors but he is so fast at getting to each breakdown and that gives the defence less time to set and disrupt
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@mariner4life bang on. All 3 posts. This feels like the logical end point of your 1st round win in 2019. A team reliant on sensational individual moments from its outside backs.
You got two solid forward carries both in the first half. One from a prop early on and one from Scott Barrett who had his best game in black that I can remember. But both him and this iteration of Cane are just short of test quality. ST and Ardie were class.
From an outside perspective, I can’t see what Akira offers. But whatever it is, it isn’t enough to overcome the lack of balance in your loose trio.
Thoroughly enjoyed Cole’s work. Hands like two bags of limp dicks. Havilli an answer to a question no one’s asking. And Jordan won’t want to watch that tape ever again.
Thought the red-headed stepchild went well though.
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@Smuts agreed on all points
I said after that 2019 game we lost everywhere but 5 brilliant minutes. We can't find those minutes any more, so all that's left is the losing.
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@taniwharugby said in Springboks v All Blacks I:
@chimoaus if he has no running game, or doesnt have the ability to take the running option when it is there (are we even creating these) then it leaves pass or kick, makes it easier for the opposition to defend, especially when you look at field position, it often rules out the kick option, so you know he will pass, its just whether it is to the 1st man or the 3rd man, but either way, easy to pick off
Only three all Blacks had zero runs, Lomax, Smith, and Christie. That's just dumb rugby, if you never run at 9 that takes a lot of pressure off the defenders. This is obviously a tactical coaching decision, and(like most of Foster's crap) totally ineffective
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@ACT-Crusader said in Springboks v All Blacks I:
@No-Quarter I just watching through the game again and I think you are being a little tricky with the truth. For example in the 20-30 minute period Beaudie received the ball as 1st receiver at either set piece or phase play only 3 times. Plenty of other players getting it at first receiver.
Beaudie is either in the second line or out the back during that period also.
He did some good things but he made some poor errors last night even with good ball. This is not even about pushing Mo’unga or any other player, but Beaudie hasn’t looked in control for a while and it sucks because he’s been a great player to watch. Ever since he was a rookie he’s been a high risk high reward player, but he learned to do that with control and and patience. He hasn’t played with control for a while now.
Dare we say it - ever since he went to Japan.
