All Blacks v Pumas 1
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And so it has proven, with just the one injury-enforced change to the 23, with Stephen Perofeta coming on to the bench for a potential test debut to replace the crocked Beauden Barrett (neck injury). Otherwise it’s exactly the same group that got the job done so impressively in Jo’burg.
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@Bovidae said in All Blacks v Pumas 1:
Hopefully a good win, and then the opportunity to make changes for the next test.
can i ask why? is it just to see your favourite players get a run?
I have come around to just picking the best team every test (especially with the rest weeks).
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@taniwharugby said in All Blacks v Pumas 1:
@FakatavaAllBlack said in All Blacks v Pumas 1:
@ARHS hope to see Sotutu back in the 23..
Nope...biggest head scratcher really.
All Fozzies eggs in the Savea basket, luckily so far he is pretty durable and goes for 80 most often, but doesnt help with Sotutus development.
I dont get why it is a head scratcher. He's being left out as he is in direct competition with one off the world's best players. Yes, he needs some development time but we aren't in a position to offer it at the moment while sorting out the blindside.
Timing is one of the biggest luck factors in selection. There's always other factors in play -
@mariner4life said in All Blacks v Pumas 1:
@Bovidae said in All Blacks v Pumas 1:
Hopefully a good win, and then the opportunity to make changes for the next test.
can i ask why? is it just to see your favourite players get a run?
I have come around to just picking the best team every test (especially with the rest weeks).
Largely agree except in the case of lock, where our depth is minimal.
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@mariner4life said in All Blacks v Pumas 1:
@Bovidae said in All Blacks v Pumas 1:
Hopefully a good win, and then the opportunity to make changes for the next test.
can i ask why? is it just to see your favourite players get a run?
Nope. I'm thinking more on the bench (e.g., Sotutu, Fakatava) to see what they can do, as an alternative. Picking the same team every week is great until you have injuries and the replacement comes in cold.
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@Crucial the fact he has had zero minutes in 6 tests (assuming no warm up injuries this week) is the head scratcher, but hey, if you cant appreciate that, all good.
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@mariner4life said in All Blacks v Pumas 1:
@Bovidae said in All Blacks v Pumas 1:
Hopefully a good win, and then the opportunity to make changes for the next test.
can i ask why? is it just to see your favourite players get a run?
I have come around to just picking the best team every test (especially with the rest weeks).
Plus we need our best side out there because we actually have to build some confidence and fight for the win. 2 wins in 5 and all that….
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@taniwharugby said in All Blacks v Pumas 1:
@Crucial the fact he has had zero minutes in 6 tests (assuming no warm up injuries this week) is the head scratcher, but hey, if you cant appreciate that, all good.
The first of those tests was the only option to try out players and in that the 'risk' was taken of two loose forwards on the bench. When would you have played him?
Yep, he has had the shitty end of the selection stick but I honestly can't see when he was going to get time so far. Like Perofeta who has had to wait for an injury.
No participation medals available here and I think the selectors recognise that hence the mention and praise from Foster for staying prepared to play and that showing in his NPC game.
I'd be pretty sure that they hope to cement this 23 then start working on the odd squad member game time. -
@Crucial said in All Blacks v Pumas 1:
The first of those tests was the only option to try out players and in that the 'risk' was taken of two loose forwards on the bench. When would you have played him?
Yep, he has had the shitty end of the selection stick but I honestly can't see when he was going to get time so far.vs the Springboks last year he was on the bench and came on to replace Akira Ioane (who was 6) with Blackadder at 7 and Ardie at 8.
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@Crucial imagine if Ardie went down at training this week?
Sotutu would likely have to start at 8 as the only specialist, and has played how many minutes of NPC since his last super match?
Again, is putting alot on Ardie, who right now is playing the house down, but we dont want to burn him out either, pretty sur ehe is same age as So'oialo was when his form fell off a cliff, so IMO needs to be managed better.
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@KiwiMurph said in All Blacks v Pumas 1:
@Crucial said in All Blacks v Pumas 1:
The first of those tests was the only option to try out players and in that the 'risk' was taken of two loose forwards on the bench. When would you have played him?
Yep, he has had the shitty end of the selection stick but I honestly can't see when he was going to get time so far.vs the Springboks last year he was on the bench and came on to replace Akira Ioane (who was 6) with Blackadder at 7 and Ardie at 8.
Last year he got 2 full games (Italy, USA), 11 minutes against SA, 66 against Argentina, and 67 against Fiji.
From that he has been preferred to Jacobsen (who he often shared with), and the promise of Grace. Who knows what his place would be if Blackadder was around. -
@taniwharugby Ardie’s only 28. I don’t think he’s playing any more minutes than what Read was playing at the same age. Rodders form drop only came in his last season as an AB (when he was 30).
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@taniwharugby said in All Blacks v Pumas 1:
@Crucial imagine if Ardie went down at training this week?
Sotutu would likely have to start at 8 as the only specialist, and has played how many minutes of NPC since his last super match?
Again, is putting alot on Ardie, who right now is playing the house down, but we dont want to burn him out either, pretty sur ehe is same age as So'oialo was when his form fell off a cliff, so IMO needs to be managed better.
Isn't building on the last game a priority here? Resting Savea would upset so much of the patterns etc that they had been building toward.
Akira covers 8 as well as 6 and if both went down then SB to 6. -
he's a professional rugby player in his prime, asked to play 2 games in 3 weeks. He's not an audit senior in busy season. Play the man. If he breaks, we bring the next guy in.
This only becomes an issue really if you lose like 8 guys at the same time, on like a thursday.
Rotation is highly over rated.
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@Bovidae said in All Blacks v Pumas 1:
@mariner4life said in All Blacks v Pumas 1:
@Bovidae said in All Blacks v Pumas 1:
Hopefully a good win, and then the opportunity to make changes for the next test.
can i ask why? is it just to see your favourite players get a run?
Nope. I'm thinking more on the bench (e.g., Sotutu, Fakatava) to see what they can do, as an alternative. Picking the same team every week is great until you have injuries and the replacement comes in cold.
Yep, with Weber and TJP no longer in the picture, we have one 33-year-old veteran halfback, one reasonably new 26-year-old and one rookie of 22. The rookie needs game time, in case one of the other two goes down with injury. I hate the thought of Smith getting injured and all we have is 8-cap Christie (who is okay, but not more than that) and Fakatava, who has a higher ceiling but has only had 37 minutes in the black jersey. I hope Fakatava gets game time in the second Puma test.
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so we should deliberately play a worse team now in case we might have to play a worse team later?
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@mariner4life Who are you replying to?
