Forwards for the All Blacks squad
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<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="Billy Tell" data-cid="568217" data-time="1459269362">
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<p>Really don't think Romano will be picked. Underwhelming ever since his injury. They'll go with retsllick Whitelock tuipulotu and someone else but not Romano. He can't even crack the crusaders starting lineup for the big games ahead of Barrett or tupou.</p>
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<p>I'm unsure why he was picked in the first place, I remember one awesome bump off of an irish front rower some years back but looks like he's been going to the same bakery as Julian Savea lately. Is he a guy who benefitted from others getting injured/going overseas ?</p> -
<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-time="1459251474" data-cid="568202" data-author="gollum"><p><strong>Todd </strong>:<br>Negatives : Never runs 60 metres breaking 6 terrible tackles fending off 3 guys & bumping off a terrible fullback in a way that he will never do ever nor has any AB loose forward ever because test match rugby doesn't have that level of shithouse D that we see in Super rugby but every year we try to select guys who do that but can't actually do what we need from a test player.<br> <br>Fixed.</p></blockquote>Showing your age Gollum, obvious haven't been watching rugby for long, or you would know Kirkie ran about 60 metres fending off at least 3-4 players, including one of the best fullbacks from the game, against probably the best rugby team to tour NZ 1971 Lions!!!! Kirkie just in case you didn't know was a loosie!!<br>Hey I have no probs with Todd in ABs, but just thought I should mention that your argument was well and truly wrong.
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<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="SammyC" data-cid="568260" data-time="1459284758">
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<p>It's not just the props that make a strong scrum, Hooker plays a huge part as do the locks.</p>
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<p>Also, I hope you're not basing your workrate comment off the NZ Herald stats? Do they even show stats for how many rucks hit? Workrate is more than looking flashy with ball in hand</p>
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<p>I know the hooker plays an important role in the scrum, it is just hard to gauge an individual's effectiveness in what is a collective outcome.</p>
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<p>I am indeed basing my comments about workrate on the NZ Herald stats (plus a couple extra from the app mentioned earlier). If there were reliable statistics about the number of rucks hit, I'd consider those too. Apart from that, there probably isn't much that information can easily be gathered on. </p>
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<p>Regardless, I actually quite like Taylor, and it was a throwaway comment not intended to be taken seriously in terms of AB selection.</p> -
<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="MN5" data-cid="568279" data-time="1459286006">
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<p>I'm unsure why he was picked in the first place, I remember one awesome bump off of an irish front rower some years back but looks like he's been going to the same bakery as Julian Savea lately. Is he a guy who benefitted from others getting injured/going overseas ?</p>
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<p>My memory is hazy, but I think he was seen as the next Brad Thorn-style lock. He was decent enough for awhile, but he just seems to be a relatively ineffective battering ram these days. Nowhere near as skilled as Retallick or Whitelock. I think Hansen will back himself to get the best out of Tuipolotu as impact from the bench, and then I think they will choose another specialist jumping lock.</p>
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<p>The real interest for the AB forwards has got to be the the 6s who can play lock or 8. That will be an interesting call.</p> -
<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="Dan54" data-cid="568282" data-time="1459286244">
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<p>Showing your age Gollum, obvious haven't been watching rugby for long, or you would know Kirkie ran about 60 metres fending off at least 3-4 players, including one of the best fullbacks from the game, against probably the best rugby team to tour NZ 1971 Lions!!!! Kirkie just in case you didn't know was a loosie!!<br>
Hey I have no probs with Todd in ABs, but just thought I should mention that your argument was well and truly wrong.</p>
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<p>Jump on Youtube and have a look at that try, no where near as good as legend would have us believe.</p> -
<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="Dan54" data-cid="568282" data-time="1459286244">
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<p>Showing your age Gollum, obvious haven't been watching rugby for long, or you would know Kirkie ran about 60 metres fending off at least 3-4 players, including one of the best fullbacks from the game, against probably the best rugby team to tour NZ 1971 Lions!!!! Kirkie just in case you didn't know was a loosie!!<br>
Hey I have no probs with Todd in ABs, but just thought I should mention that your argument was well and truly wrong.</p>
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<p>Nope, under the Mitchell and Gollum selectorial process Kirky wouldn't have been fit for test rugby. </p> -
<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="bobily" data-cid="568287" data-time="1459286588">
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<p>Gibson is actually the top NZ openside in terms of turnovers, so another positive for him there.</p>
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<p>Except that he has a touch of the Pococks in his play. I watched just him for a bit in one Blues match and all he was doing was tracking the play looking to pounce. Do that 20 times and the 2 turnovers look good on the stats but meanwhile you are asking everyone else to do the tackling.</p>
<p>Cane however is doing the tackling then looking for the turnover. In the game against the Force I reckon that with a different ref he would have got quite a few but the ref was allowing the attacking team a lot of leeway in recycling the ball. He hardly blew a 'holding on' penalty all game despite plenty of times there was a jackler over the ball. He was consistent but it doesn't help the stats.</p> -
<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="MN5" data-cid="568279" data-time="1459286006">
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<p>I'm unsure why he was picked in the first place, I remember one awesome bump off of an irish front rower some years back but looks like he's been going to the same bakery as Julian Savea lately. Is he a guy who benefitted from others getting injured/going overseas ?</p>
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<p>Seemed to me like he benefited mostly from being stuck right in the middle of an AB forwards pack at the Crusaders. Then he stepped up to international level and had a couple of moments but was never even close to BBBR or Whitelock. Similar thing happened with Bird, though he finally started to look like he was delivering on his potential last year, starting with the Maori vs Baabaas game, after Toddy sat him in the stands for pretty much the entire SR season.</p> -
<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="Unco" data-cid="568319" data-time="1459290719">
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<p>Seemed to me like he benefited mostly from being stuck right in the middle of an AB forwards pack at the Crusaders. Then he stepped up to international level and had a couple of moments but was never even close to BBBR or Whitelock. Similar thing happened with Bird, though he finally started to look like he was delivering on his potential last year, starting with the Maori vs Baabaas game, after Toddy sat him in the stands for pretty much the entire SR season.</p>
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<p>So he's nothing but another Sam Broomhall or Whitelock who's not Sam then ?</p> -
<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="Crucial" data-cid="568316" data-time="1459290082">
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<p>Except that he has a touch of the Pococks in his play. I watched just him for a bit in one Blues match and all he was doing was tracking the play looking to pounce. Do that 20 times and the 2 turnovers look good on the stats but meanwhile you are asking <strong>everyone else to do the tackling.</strong></p>
<p>Cane however is doing the tackling then looking for the turnover. In the game against the Force I reckon that with a different ref he would have got quite a few but the ref was allowing the attacking team a lot of leeway in recycling the ball. He hardly blew a 'holding on' penalty all game despite plenty of times there was a jackler over the ball. He was consistent but it doesn't help the stats.</p>
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<p>Umm, but Gibson is leading the Blues in tackles by a large margin, and is third overall in tackles in the competition(and he's played less minutes than the 2 players in front of him).</p> -
<p>Romano was pretty good when he first came into the ABs. He cleared bodies and carted the ball up - not as well as Whitelock and BBBR but a decent 3rd lock. Then he started doing that silly pass at the line (no doubt team tactics), got injured, and came back looking a bit average. .</p>
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<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="Dice" data-cid="568322" data-time="1459290850"><p>
Umm, but Gibson is leading the Blues in tackles by a large margin, and is third overall in tackles in the competition(and he's played less minutes than the 2 players in front of him).</p></blockquote>
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Take your stats and go home. He had me convinced until you came along. -
<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="Nepia" data-cid="568323" data-time="1459291011">
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<p>Romano was pretty good when he first came into the ABs. He cleared bodies and carted the ball up - not as well as Whitelock and BBBR but a decent 3rd lock. Then he started doing that silly pass at the line (no doubt team tactics), got injured, and came back looking a bit average. .</p>
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<p>He's also played bloody well the last 2 games for the crusaders. Some excellent hits on defense</p>
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<p>Carried injuries throughout last year and is apparently over them now.</p> -
<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="Dice" data-cid="568322" data-time="1459290850">
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<p>Umm, but Gibson is leading the Blues in tackles by a large margin, and is third overall in tackles in the competition(and he's played less minutes than the 2 players in front of him).</p>
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<p>Fair call then. I don't think stats are worth much and was going by the short period I watched him. </p>
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<p>So the question really is whether he is getting those turnovers after tackling first or is alternating between one task or the other.</p>
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<p>As Wayne Smith says it is the effectiveness of what is being done rather than the stat itself.</p> -
<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="Crucial" data-cid="568333" data-time="1459292494">
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<p>Fair call then. I don't think stats are worth much and was going by the short period I watched him. </p>
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<p>So the question really is whether he is getting those turnovers after tackling first or is alternating between one task or the other.</p>
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<p>As Wayne Smith says it is the effectiveness of what is being done rather than the stat itself.</p>
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<p>The only game I've watched Gibson closely is when the Blues played the Saders down here. He was a tackling machine that day, really impressed me.</p>
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<p>Especially as the rest of the blues pack (including Kaino) didnt show up to play</p> -
<p>for what it's worth (and this will probably result in you immediately dismissing him as the worst player in super rugby) but Bob Dwyer loves him some Matt Todd. He reckons that Todd's the best exponent in NZ rugby of the link role and allowing continuous rugby. High work rate, good smarts, in the right place all the time, and the skills to keep the ball moving. </p>
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<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="Bovidae" data-cid="568342" data-time="1459293039">
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<p>Romano's biggest problem is that he runs far too upright into contact. The end result is that he usually goes backwards in the tackle despite his reputation. I haven't seen him play this season so I hope he has fixed this weakness.</p>
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<p>That was Broadhurst's problem as well. Get away with it at Super level but against a fired up International team you'll get sat on your ass.</p>