The Silver Fern

Caleb Delaney with the Nr.6 jersey, his best position IMO, the one which could (should ?) lead him to higher honours.

Who is Junior Fifita ?

Injured maybe ?

I have been impressed by James Thompson lately. He is a big guy who can win the hard yards. Is he still contracted by the Blues ? The Steelers use him as a lock but I remember he had played on the blindside with the Blues.

The forwards were good in the set phases but, despite Sititi's good performance, didn't win the hard yards. Taylor made plenty of good runs but it was mainly in broken play. I think Mighty Williams is too much concentrated on his core duties : he should be used as a battering ram as he has the power to break tackles.

A lot of talented blindside LF are emerging : Haig, Wrampling, Suafoa, Smith (on potential) and I would add Delaney and Stodart to this list. The latter's running is abrasive. I don't know much about his defensive talents, though. McCurran, who is currently playing as a Nr.8 for the Mooloos, is a former opensider. He has been very impressive so far. I hope he gets a SR contract and I would like to see him with the 7 jersey at a higher level than NPC.

No way Lomax will be released for this game. He needs a rest after his unusual long period of time on the field against SA.

Midfielders I'd like to see in the AB XV for their next tour : Thomas UJ, Tanielu Telea, AJ Lam and Narawa (it's only the NPC level but he's impressive in his new role). Higgins maybe ?
Tavatavanawai could bring something different too.

TJP and BB are well past it. They have been great All Blacks but their current form is too low. Once again, BB's bad habit to kick away hard won possession cost the game. Another turning point was Scott Barrett's knock on when the pressure was on the Boks' line. Now that the RC is lost, Razor should try the likes of Proctor, Love and Tosi (the latter from the bench) to add more attacking threat. One missed tackle apart, I like what I saw of Sititi. His example shows that playing young guns is sometimes worth the risk.

I have the feeling that Tosi will leapfrog Newell in the pecking order before the EOYT, as the latter is nowhere to be seen in the loose. It would bring size upfront to compensate (partially) for the lack of size of the loose forwards. At lineout time, it's better to have a tall prop lifting a smallish LF than a small prop lifting a smallish LF.

Kolose is a colossus.

Fears : Jordan under Pollard's bombs - lineout because of the smallest ever FL trio of the professional era - lack of speed on the wings.
Hopes : quick ball for DMac as Ratima's passing is sharper than TJP's - Scrum should work even better thanks to its cohesion (same starting front five) - Pollard less dangerous than Feinberg with ball in hand.

Mathis is talented but his size could limit his aspirations. He should convert to 2nd five : he has speed to burn and good hands.

Riccitelli's try should not have been allowed as he lost contact with the players in front of him when the maul split in two.

Positives : scrum, lineout, slick back play
Negatives : breakdown, discipline, dumb decisions when it mattered, shocking performances by a few players. I haven't to name them, everybody can guess who.

Ref was a disBrace. Every 50/50 call was against the ABs. The non tackle on Darry and then the penalty against Ardie were just incredible. That said, the ABs were poor during the second half, particularly BB, Finau and Jordan. Why did BB kick away so many hard won possessions with just a few minutes to play and ABs trailing by 4 points ?
From an experienced player, that was just insane !

Very poor refereeing. Incompetent or biased ?

A Tavatavanawai - Narawa duel in midfield should be interesting to watch.

The North Harbour left wing has some serious wheels too.

No draw option available ?