The Silver Fern

@Mr-Fish said in NZ First Five Crisis:

@cgrant said in NZ First Five Crisis:

Plummer is a stop gap if DMac gets injured. Jacomb and Simpson won't be ready before two or three years. They are the most promising 1st Fives right now. I am not on the Godfrey's bandwagon. He is more a fullback than a 10 IMO. Harkin looks fine at NPC level (so do Jacomb and Simpson). Let's see how these young guys perform at SR level (which is no more the best competition, BTW) to have a clearer view.

Jacomb is 23 and was NPC POTY after leading Taranaki to a title last year. Yes, he's not played an awful lot of Super Rugby - but he's certainly ready for some lower level international matches. Get him on the EOYT and he can play against Japan and Italy.

It's crazy that so many good players don't get a chance to play international rugby well past the age that they had breakout seasons

Imagine if Little and Horan had to wait until they were 23 to play for Australia for the first time

@Kiwiwomble maybe recruited by Razor.... 😉

@SouthernMann said in QF - Brumbies v Highlanders:

@KiwiMurph said in QF - Brumbies v Highlanders:

You need to put things in perspective

Highlanders had very young 10s - missing by fair their best midfield back, missing by far their best 8 in Renton.

Teams struggle to win in Canberra. They were undefeated there all season.

100%. No issue with saying we gave it good bloody go. Then in the second half, the team with several international players at home ran over the top of us. Compare the two teams and about five of our guys would make their team.

Bang on mate.

Incredibly tough to watch at the time and I let it get the better of me but take a few steps back and let the result for a bit and you do have to remind yourself of the bigger picture. Did bloody well to be there and to be honest, I can’t imagine many of us saw us finishing 6th once the slump started on the Aussie tour.

All eyes on the future, 2 or 3 solid signing and another year in the jersey for a lot of the young boys and we should expect a similar(if not better) table finish but hopefully more convincingly and also have some closer loses. The loses we had against NZ sides really got away from us so if we could close that gap and really push for 2026 then I’d be over the moon.

Huge emphasis on bigger picture.

@Frank said in Blues v Highlanders:

@Kirwan said in Blues v Highlanders:

One of the best moments of the game for me (as an Akira fan) was watching him smash a Clan forward backwards, get up and drive through the ruck and then steal the ball. His work clearing bodies at the ruck this year has been top drawer.

Huge workrate, as normal.

What do you think Foster and (possibly Razor) see as his drawbacks?

It's hard to answer, as was said above his workrate has consistently been above a player like Frizzell who the coaches seemed to love. At the height of "he's lazy" he was often playing 80mins, and the last defender on the line on breaks, our main maul defender, etc. Never agreed with the laziness call.

The head patting, giving lip, probably doesn't help how he's perceived, but it's extremely rare for him to be penalised for that. And one of my favourite players was Sean Fitzpatrick, and AI isn't in the same league at being annoying as he was. At least I've missing him having his ear bitten in complete frustration.

He's not been helped with coaches putting him wide to make use of his handling and running skills against the backs. With Cotter keeping him tight he's been shining. Big defender, good in the lineout, covers two positions and has great link play.

Could be his year.

@Machpants said in Moana Pasifika v Highlanders:

MP 15 been very good

He’s David Havili’s brother. William Havili is the best player in the MP backline this year in the absence of their stars they lost to the Highlanders (Tavatavanawai) and Crusaders (Aumua). The MP forwards have been a bit better this year but they’ve lacked a killer punch in the backs that they had with Aumua & Tavatavanawai. If only those guys had this year’s MP forwards giving them front-foot ball, MP would’ve had a few more wins.

@Bones

add in the 'bad passes' maybe?

That was 13 (Highlanders) v 12

@Stargazer this is gold aye. I could be wrong but I think Peter has had the better of Thomas in all the games they've faced each other in professionally. I wonder if we'll ever see them on the same side again.

@booboo said in AB RWC Squad:

@nostrildamus said in AB RWC Squad:

Foster in that article
"He's good, he's realistic… They always feel gutted because they want to give their best and Scott's at the top of the tree when it comes to that.
He's fine, we just go back into process mode now and just try and take the emotion out of it."

Foster doesn't seem to think SB has a tendency to be carded?

Obviously. Because that's exactly what he said ...

Just confirming as that is my reading too but if he doesn't think SB has a weakness re: cards (perhaps his one big major flaw) and going into this tiddlywinks RWC that is a crucial concern ...I am speechless!

@Nogusta there you go was really hoping Caleb stayed at least

I got a new cap and jacket in the online sale but looks like they’re clearing everything out, makes me wonder if we’re moving on from Gilbert?