First post here on SF btw. So far not ideal preparation but hopefully the situation can galvanise us. Given the forwards at this stage are in effected, I would go with a backline of;
Bench:
Fakatava, M’unga, Fainga’anuku
Pretty decent and plenty of go forward
Foster could go on to set more records than any other All Blacks coach. What an achievement!
Who else likes the look of our bench this week? Plenty of impact with the likes of Jordan, Fakatava, Taukei’aho, Ross and PGS.
Early doors but interested to hear which players are seen as the World Cup bolters;
For mine so far, Shaun Stevenson is a standout on current form and his achievements last year.
@antipodean btw, I’m a big A Smith fan, but his box and clearing kick game for Highlanders and ABs last couple of seasons has been poor
Foster just needs time. They will learn and grow from this experience
@Unite agreed, but I’ll take an win
Hunt is woefully bad
@Hooroo all good mate. I am not into the whole banter or trolling, just keen to share and hear views of passionate AB's and NZ rugby followrs
@Tim slightly offside though. We need to punch in close more before going wide
@Bones there's a wine thread? show me the vino to that one
As always this will come to who wins up front. A big test that will answer questions about our team, is JB the answer at 12, is DP our new 7 and can RM run the cutter under genuine pressure?
Withy has been good
@FakatavaAllBlack I think that's it at present. If you drop Cane, it is either Wihtelock or Savea. Otherwise we go for a Taine Randall selection.
@KiwiMurph cheers Mate!
@FakatavaAllBlack point being he was made Captain before his time and never had the full support of the elder statesmen of the dressing room. Very good player though.
@Chris can’t disagree
@Crucial as I said, I don’t care how Marshall looks. What we don’t have on this is context. Therefore I am drawing conclusions from other factors including lack of performance and lack of character.
@Chris though you can coach defence. You can’t coach a guy to break the line if he doesn’t have the attributes.
@Crucial I look forward to to hearing this press release tomorrow, which will be canceled for mental health reasons 😝