All Blacks 2023
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@Frank said in All Blacks 2023:
I like his analysis, but find him unfunny and his accent sucks.
I tend to think he regularly sees patterns where there are none, plus he is offensively ugly. The unfathomable ugliness makes it worth watching until the end, though.
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@Billy-Tell said in All Blacks 2023:
I’m reserving judgement. A ¼ final exit to Ireland…
I like your confidence that you’ll beat France
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@Smuts said in All Blacks 2023:
@Billy-Tell said in All Blacks 2023:
I’m reserving judgement. A ¼ final exit to Ireland…
I like your confidence that you’ll beat France
? We’re not losing to Italy so regardless of the French we’ll be in the ¼ finals. Whether that is you guys, Ireland or Scotland only time will tell….
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@Billy-Tell said in All Blacks 2023:
@Smuts said in All Blacks 2023:
@Billy-Tell said in All Blacks 2023:
I’m reserving judgement. A ¼ final exit to Ireland…
I like your confidence that you’ll beat France
? We’re not losing to Italy so regardless of the French we’ll be in the ¼ finals. Whether that is you guys, Ireland or Scotland only time will tell….
Fair point. It could be either the Scots or the mick who qualify for QF4.
I admire your confidence that you’ll beat France and that the Irish will beat the Scots.
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Jacobson an absolute lightweight at this level
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@Steven-Harris said in All Blacks 2023:
Jacobson an absolute lightweight at this level
That’s why I’m glad he played and not finau. We have the proof. There is still time to change the 33. And they should.
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@Billy-Tell said in All Blacks 2023:
@Steven-Harris said in All Blacks 2023:
Jacobson an absolute lightweight at this level
That’s why I’m glad he played and not finau. We have the proof. There is still time to change the 33. And they should.
This is Foster. Fat chance of him dropping anyone from the original selection. He's too loyal and stupid to make the tough calls.
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Not really sure where to put this, but we are going to be seriously light at lock in the first couple of years after the World Cup. Scooter will be there, and hopefully Lord keeps improving, but I'm unsure Vaa'i will ever be the answer at test level.
The next tier (Strange, Walker-Leawere, Dunshea, Parkinson & Tuipulotu) don't fill me with any joy either. Holland is an All Black in waiting, but don't think he is available until EOYT 2025. Will be interesting to see what happens there.
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What would I change for France? I’d bring McKenzie in at 15 ahead of BB. We are stuck for a centre on the bench unless we really think Leicester can cover centre. Forwards Taylor in, frizzell in.
Other than that we can’t really change the cattle. Discipline, knowing how to win a scrum and lineout, territory and exits are fixable.
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On tonight’s evidence things to fix: scrums, lineouts, handling, positional play against the kick and game management by the senior players.
Those are big things to fix just before a RWC.
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@sparky said in All Blacks 2023:
On tonight’s evidence things to fix: scrums, lineouts, handling, positional play against the kick and game management by the senior players.
Those are big things to fix just before a RWC.
Think you could cover the first two by saying we played the majority of that game without Barrett, and Lord went early + Taylor also not there... on that last point, the fact it wasn't a meaningful game probably explains a portion of it.
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@sparky said in All Blacks 2023:
On tonight’s evidence things to fix: scrums, lineouts, handling, positional play against the kick and game management by the senior players.
Those are big things to fix just before a RWC.
I’ve lost all optimism tbh. I actually think we can beat France. But not the matches that matter. That was extremely impressive from SA. All the ingredients to win a RWC on display.
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@sparky said in All Blacks 2023:
@frugby We looked shaky in those areas when Barrett was on the field. We can’t expect to avoid cards in the whole of the RWC. Cards are part of Rugby now.
Barrett was only on the field for what 28 minutes of that game? Scrum seemed to hold early on? Thought Coles throwing was an issue in the first half, whereas Taukei'aho simply had nobody to throw to/poor calls.
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@Billy-Tell I think the scrum is the absolute key for us. The whole game plan relies on dominance or at least advantage there. South Africa turned the tables on us in that area tonight. Will other sides be able to do the same?
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@Billy-Tell really, I didnt think they were that impressive, just did the basics, sure they didnt need to get out of 3rd gear, but it also looked like they were struggling, was only once the fatigue of playing down a man started taking its toll they made more inroads.
Thats not trying to pump our game, I just dont think they did anything more than what was required, be thankful we didnt play Scotland, otherwise we would def had another record gone, any team in the top 8 woulda beaten us playing like that.
MOst stuff seems easy enough to fix, but will it be a patch up and enough to run deep into the comp...
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I'm not less dejected about the world cup than before, because the chances of a collective fuck up of that proportion are not high
But
It's very clear we are desperately lacking in on-field smarts and leadership. Today the game was crying out for a pragmatic approach. We hadn't had thr ball at all, finally got.pur hands on it, and the right call was to be a bit pragmatic, play some phases and just work in to the game. Instead we just went right on chucking 50/50s.
Sam Cane is the easy target. But if Richie McCaw himself turned around and saw Ardie Savea, Richie Mounga, Jordie Barrett and 2023 BBarrett as the guys to settle it down I reckon he would struggle.
If I can steal from The Replacements, we get caught in quicksand. If one thing goes wrong we try something to get past it. If that goes wrong we try harder. And we keep doing it until we are over our head.
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Today didn't feel like south Africa last year where we had no plan that would hurt them. Today was us unable to enact a plan thanks to a constant stream of individual errors.
