All Blacks vs England I
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@Bovidae said in All Blacks vs England I:
MacDonald talking about the backs:
“Consistency-wise, I think [Proctor] would have been one of the hardest working midfielders. He’s a very accurate defender and he’s an effective attacker"
When I read that I kept thinking so why didn't they select A J Lam over still recovering from injury Havili?
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@nostrildamus said in All Blacks vs England I:
@Bovidae said in All Blacks vs England I:
“Consistency-wise, I think [Proctor] would have been one of the hardest working midfielders. He’s a very accurate defender and he’s an effective attacker"
This has been blindingly obvious for 2 years. It would be nice if Leon would provide a bit more insight - though I never found his comments as Blues coach especially enlightening.
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@nostrildamus Rangi probably doesn't like AJ Lam either....
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@African-Monkey said in All Blacks vs England I:
@nostrildamus Rangi probably doesn't like AJ Lam either....
What are Lam's weaknesses? I haven't seen enough of him to know but everything I have seen recently looks test-material..
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@nostrildamus said in All Blacks vs England I:
@African-Monkey said in All Blacks vs England I:
@nostrildamus Rangi probably doesn't like AJ Lam either....
What are Lam's weaknesses? I haven't seen enough of him to know but everything I have seen recently looks test-material..
At times on the wing defensively he could be a bit passive - he seems to defend better in the middle of the park - once he shifted to 12 his defensive was terrific
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@nostrildamus said in All Blacks vs England I:
@African-Monkey said in All Blacks vs England I:
@nostrildamus Rangi probably doesn't like AJ Lam either....
What are Lam's weaknesses? I haven't seen enough of him to know but everything I have seen recently looks test-material..
inepexperience. He's only had half a season at 12.
Ther'es a stronger argument to bring him into the wider squad than Havili
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Interesting to see BOK hanging with the ABs.
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@nzzp said in All Blacks vs England I:
@nostrildamus said in All Blacks vs England I:
@African-Monkey said in All Blacks vs England I:
@nostrildamus Rangi probably doesn't like AJ Lam either....
What are Lam's weaknesses? I haven't seen enough of him to know but everything I have seen recently looks test-material..
inepexperience. He's only had half a season at 12.
Ther'es a stronger argument to bring him into the wider squad than Havili
I totally agree.
I can see they want experience in the team and a few fresh talents in the wider squad but it surely makes more sense to have the conservative already been ABs in the forwards, and the reserves being inexperienced but fit - this doesn't to me explain the Havili decision.
If he is experienced and good enough he needs to be starting, otherwise if his fitness and or form is shaky, bells start ringing when Rangi says DH just needs a few games, AB games are surely more than refresher games. -
@nostrildamus I rated Havili at 12 when he came in - but he disappeared and got found out against bigger teams (SA).
If you play him against Fiji, he'll look a million dollars. But you know what you'll get against Ireland, SA, France or England on a good day. And it won't look pretty.
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@nzzp said in All Blacks vs England I:
@nostrildamus I rated Havili at 12 when he came in - but he disappeared and got found out against bigger teams (SA).
If you play him against Fiji, he'll look a million dollars. But you know what you'll get against Ireland, SA, France or England on a good day. And it won't look pretty.
Exactly! A shame, on form he seems a smart player. But I don't think the ABs can afford to have a 12 who only shines against lower tier teams.
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@Snowy said in All Blacks vs England I:
Desire hopefully.
There were times under Foster when they didn't seem to care that much.
I think it was more a lack of focus than desire. Too often they'd get themselves back into a game only for someone to do something seriously dumb or get the collective wobbles - the 2019 SF being a classis example.
That started to improve and has to be one of Robertson's main areas of improvement IMHO
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@antipodean said in All Blacks vs England I:
Perhaps three playmakers to really confuse the opposition.
As long as it doesn't confuse us as well....
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@nostrildamus said in All Blacks vs England I:
@Bovidae said in All Blacks vs England I:
MacDonald talking about the backs:
“Consistency-wise, I think [Proctor] would have been one of the hardest working midfielders. He’s a very accurate defender and he’s an effective attacker"
When I read that I kept thinking so why didn't they select A J Lam over still recovering from injury Havili?
I agree here, if Proctor is nursing his ribs then surely you bring in someone like Lam who can cover 12 and 13, instead of Havili who just covers 12 and has injury issues of his own.
Again it’s a conservative selection which have been holding the ABs back for a few years now.
Can’t we just select the best players ffs. Bring back the Probables vs Possibles game to sort some of these selections out.
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@Canes4life said in All Blacks vs England I:
it’s a conservative selection
I'm not even sure it's conservative if you're selecting someone who's hardly played, under an injury cloud and never exactly set the world on fire anyway. I could understand if it was someone crucial like Savea, DMac or Jordie.
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@Bones said in All Blacks vs England I:
@Canes4life said in All Blacks vs England I:
it’s a conservative selection
I'm not even sure it's conservative if you're selecting someone who's hardly played, under an injury cloud and never exactly set the world on fire anyway. I could understand if it was someone crucial like Savea, DMac or Jordie.
Maybe/maybe not but it’s a selection based on familiarity, most of those AB coaches would have worked with Havili for a long time so instead of going with an in form player like Lam who’s been destroying defences lately, they’ve based their selection on Havili’s history which to me is the wrong move. Proof will be in the pudding I guess.
If injuries strike and we are forced to start all of Christie, Perofeta, Havili and an aging BBarrett in the same backline, teams like South Africa will be shaking in their boots.
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@nzzp He isn't physical enough to be a test 12. He can play there at the level below, but he didn't enjoy the contact side of things against bigger sides as you pointed out.
He always looked like a fullback playing out of position with others always being preferred at test and domestic level.
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