Blackadder lacks the physicality of Kaino, Read, Messam, Vito, Squire, Luatua, Fifita, Hemopo, Ioane, Jacobson and Frizell.
You have to go back to Adam Thompson to get the same lack of physicality. At least Thompson won turnovers, had genuine pace, and was a seriously good lineout operator.
Shame about Stevenson going, (say the same about anything that takes away depth) but I maybe not as gut wrenched as a few. I always thought he was a bloody good 15 with a good punt, but maybe seemed to go missing big times in quite a few games. Very much like Akira Ioane type player, perhaps had everything but that last 2% in mind department? Just my take, so don't shoot me. I honestly thing Chiefs will be well served with ENS at 15, but I not really a Chiefs man so obviously not deep into it.
Stevenson and ENS are both better than Fihaki and Reece. Reece has had ample opportunities but is a flake under the highball and lacks the pace to be an international winger plus he's a basically a crim that got two free passes.
The double standards of these coaches boggles the mind.
I don't get why people think Ardie has been poor?
He's made the most tackles - 108 tackles at 98%.
He's made the most dominant tackles of 9.
He's won the 2nd most lineouts of 19.
He's won the most turnovers of 7.
He's 2nd for most tries.
He's 2nd for defenders beaten.
These are not just loose forward stats but stats for all All Blacks.
Sititi is an exciting talent but let's not forget that he struggled in the collisions against SA like he did in the Super Rugby final and in all those instances he was part of a losing team.
He's stood out against Australia, done OK against SA as the game developed, and failed big time against Argentina. He was a big part of that Argentina loss giving away 3 penalties in 20 minutes.
Sotutu is also a generational talent - arguably the most talented loose forward for creating tries in the last 10 years. Ultimately rugby is about scoring more tries.
I'm not a fan of Sam Cane in recent years but he cleans and is more effective at the breakdown than Blackadder.
To say Cane only tackles is rubbish.
Here are some stats for the year for the loosies ( excluding ruck counts )
Carries Per 80 Minutes
19.39 Sititi
16.79 Savea
10.85 Finau
8.09 Cane
7.87 Blackadder
4.67 Papali'i
2.63 Jacobson
Tackers Per 80 Minutes
16.17 Cane
15.74 Blackadder
14.55 Sititi
14.24 Finau
13.68 Jacobson
12.85 Papali'i
11.04 Savea
Lineouts Per 80 Minutes
4.85 Sititi
4.74 Jacobson
2.42 Savea
2.10 Blackadder
1.36 Finau
0.43 Cane
0 Papali'i
Turnovers won per 80 minutes
1.62 Sititi
0.88 Papali'i
0.6 Savea
0.52 Blackadder
0.43 Cane
0 Finau, Jacobson
Total Impacts Per 80 Minutes
tries + try assists + clean breaks + offloads + defenders beaten + turnovers won + dominant tackles
11.31 Sititi
6.8 Savea
4.75 Finau
3.15 Blackadder
2.05 Papali'i
1.7 Cane
1.06 Jacobson
Total Negative Impacts Per 80 Minutes
turnovers conceded + missed tackles + penalties conceded + (yellow cards*2)
4.98 Blackadder
4.85 Sititi
4.75 Finau
3.83 Cane
2.34 Papali'i
2.27 Savea
2.11 Jacobson
Net Impacts Per 80 Minutes ( Total Impacts - Total Negative Impacts )
6.46 Sititi
4.53 Savea
0 Finau
-0.29 Papali'i
-1.05 Jacobson
-1.83 Blackadder
-2.13 Cane
Based on those stats my loose trio:
6 Finau
7 Savea
8 Sititi
21 Papali'i
* Without consideration of rucks attended
No he hasn't. Jacobson has more impact in defense and at the breakdown than Blackadder including this year for the ABs.
Jacobson is also a better back of the lineout ball winner than Blackadder.
Rassie took over when the Boks were at their lowest nadir with Coetzee.
Robertson got a side where the bulk of the players were a whisker away from winning and RWC.
I thought Jacobson was a lot better than Cane yesterday.
Cane's defense wasn't even Super Rugby standard yesterday.
Not sure why people are calling for Cane to start again.
I don't recall a NZ 7 making so little tackles and missing so many in Super Rugby game this year.
I thought the Crusaders got away with a lot of professional fouls under Robertson and Ryan - taking their play to the edge. Maybe it flys under the NZ teams giving the dominant team the benefit of the doubt but at test level the refs aren't buying it.
@kpkanz said in All Blacks XV v Munster:
@brodean Yeah but we're talking about playing against a midweek club team. With a different coach in McMillan coaching the backline attack and a completely different midfield to work with.
I don't know why we're extrapolating the 'fluidity' of the backline as if it's telling us anything about what these guys would do in the All Blacks environment.
I blame most of the lack of 'fluidity' in the backline in the All Blacks to our current top midfield pairing anyway.
It's a scratch team that have never played before. The ABs have had 10 games to get some fluidity but we aren't seeing it.
I agree that the current AB midfield options are an issue and I think that's relevant. We should be considering players in form. Half of Razor's issues are picking players out of form.
@Chris said in All Blacks 2024:
@brodean said in All Blacks 2024:
Here are some stats for the year for the loosies ( excluding ruck counts )
Carries Per 80 Minutes
19.39 Sititi
16.79 Savea
10.85 Finau
8.09 Cane
7.87 Blackadder
4.67 Papali'i
2.63 JacobsonTackers Per 80 Minutes
16.17 Cane
15.74 Blackadder
14.55 Sititi
14.24 Finau
13.68 Jacobson
12.85 Papali'i
11.04 SaveaLineouts Per 80 Minutes
4.85 Sititi
4.74 Jacobson
2.42 Savea
2.10 Blackadder
1.36 Finau
0.43 Cane
0 Papali'iTurnovers won per 80 minutes
1.62 Sititi
0.88 Papali'i
0.6 Savea
0.52 Blackadder
0.43 Cane
0 Finau, JacobsonTotal Impacts Per 80 Minutes
tries + try assists + clean breaks + offloads + defenders beaten + turnovers won + dominant tackles
11.31 Sititi
6.8 Savea
4.75 Finau
3.15 Blackadder
2.05 Papali'i
1.7 Cane
1.06 JacobsonTotal Negative Impacts Per 80 Minutes
turnovers conceded + missed tackles + penalties conceded + (yellow cards*2)
4.98 Blackadder
4.85 Sititi
4.75 Finau
3.83 Cane
2.34 Papali'i
2.27 Savea
2.11 JacobsonNet Impacts Per 80 Minutes ( Total Impacts - Total Negative Impacts )
6.46 Sititi
4.53 Savea
0 Finau
-0.29 Papali'i
-1.05 Jacobson
-1.83 Blackadder
-2.13 Papali'iBased on the stats my loose trio:
6 Finau
7 Savea
8 Sititi
21 Papali'i* Without consideration of rucks attended
Did you make this up these stats ? were did they come from they look unbalanced to me by a long way.
They're the aggregation of Rugby Pass stats.
They look unbalanced because they don't fit your narrative.
Richie would have passed at the right time for Clarke's hat trick
Nah that's BS.
He'll never get selected again. There is an obvious feud happening between him and Ryan.
Sotutus defence has never been as bad as Canes has in the last few games. The double standards are obvious.
I don't mind if it's Fakatava or Hotham against the Wallabies but there is zero point in continuing with TJ at this stage as others have mentioned.
Sititi along with rest of the Chiefs forwards got dominated in the SR final.
Sititi grew into the game against SA after struggling with the physicality. Ultimately his efforts did not make a difference in that game.
The other two games were against Wallabies. A team which posters regularly claimed were meaningless for other players like Ioane back in 2021 even though back then the Wallabies were a lot better.
The jury is still out on Sititi but I would say that Sotutu and Sititi have different strengths anyway.
Top 5 dominant tackles per 80 minutes this season:
1.77 Luke Jacobson
1.76 Ofa Tu'ungafasi
1.75 Patrick Tuipulotu
1.4 Sam Darry
1.36 Samipeni Finau
Wallace Sititi has been great but he isn't in the top 10 for dominant tackles which is something we've come to expect from a blindside.
Yes and in test rugby I don't see Papali'i being the issue.
He does exactly what he's been doing for the Blues except there's no big 6 roughing people up at 6 for the ABs.
They need to stick with Finau who has shown he can rough people up. Something Blackadder has never done.
We've become far to conservative.
Christian Cullen would debut at 25 instead of 20 now days.
On what basis do you think he did nothing?
Finaus carry rate and tackle rate per 80 minutes were both in the top 3 for forwards and he hit rucks too.