I prefer Todd over Savea myself. I still haven't seen what Savea offers apart from fresh legs off the bench, seems highly visible but generally ineffective but maybe I have missed his work in tight..
I think I also prefer Todd for a bench position now.

Overtakers when you are doing the speed limit then they settle in and drive slower than the speed you were driving..

@milk said in All Blacks Squad for France:

McKenzie at 22-years-old is already the most-rounded attacking 10 in New Zealand. His passing is superior to Barrett and his running game is more dangerous than Mo’unga.

And his mistakes are more spectacular than Quade Cooper's.

@MiketheSnow said in Argentina Two: Newcastle, 28 November:

NZ have the personnel and motivation to double single digit their detractors

Something about this sentence sounds rather rude and unsettling. Just can't put my finger on it.

Given the above, I'll rephrase my question: what is missing from RM-BB (10:15) that requires JB at 14? To my eyes he is playing like a slow wing not a fb/wing, not fending correctly, not using his cannon that much and not having to take many high balls (which other wings are good at too). He really looks like he is taking the place of a winger and I have not seen what he brings to the table to offset that? Long-range penalties and conversions? I have not got the figures here but I suspect his kicking success has not been 80% perhaps not even over 70%.

This number 6 looks handy, Mr Foster. Where'd you find him?

@pakman - A bit concerned that Owen Franks will have lost his pace when he returns.

Yes he may not score so many tries for the ABs from now on..

Frizell is big enough, fast enough, but does he seize his opportunities or does he wait for the opposition? Over the last few years I've found the ABs to be too reactive and passive, wait, absorb, then run away once their superior fitness (and handling) starts to shine. Only problem is the other teams can now go 80, are just as skilled and drilled, and if they are more aggressive (Wallabies, Poms), they can overrun the ABs who have no plan B (unless you count bring on BB and hope he gets lucky).
To Foster's credit, I don't see him as relying on Plan B because I did not see Plan A on the weekend.
They need to change 6 to a cunning, hardnosed bastard. And it was clear as daylight when Sotuto charged onto the field that they chose the wrong 8. They need midfielders who are good in their position (Reiko could be, Goodhue was slow but good at 13 so they moved him to 12 where he can be slow and not so good).
They need to choose the best 15. DM is a great sub because no one has a clue what he is going to do (but the unpredictability is more of a liability when he starts). And perhaps they could consider wingers as wingers. Sure they got away with 15 at 11 or 14 in the past but those fullbacks were rather special. Jordie might be faster than he looks (long strides, but, frankly, looks like about as speedy and elusive as an overweight goose) but he didn't seem comfy and hungry at wing. Bridge, Bridge was our Jonah Lomu? In times of trouble, when you need someone to get us over troubled water, well he isn't that Bridge. The opposition must like him though because they kept running at him. At least he is popular. Wonder why.
So I'd count 6, 8, 11, 12, 14, 15 as clearly the wrong selections.
6/15. 40%. What team can paper over those cracks?

I don't remember Cane carrying this well at int level for some time.

@salacious-crumb said in Scotland v Australia:

I did n't see this test. How did Tongan Thor go?

He lost his hammer.

@canefan just didn't have the physical presence for me.

@catogrande said in Coronavirus - Overall:

@mikethesnow said in Coronavirus - Overall:

One of my biggest concerns is the longer the lockdown the more ‘acccepted’ it becomes that indoors in your home is safe, outdoors is dangerous.

I get this. I don’t want to be in a perpetual mask wearing society.

But you get to wear theatrical capes and rather sick throwing daggers! Hugo Weaving was well before his time.

@kirwan said in Re: Movie review thread...:

@mokey said in Re: Movie review thread...:

@kirwan oh yeah, the visuals were good. But I'm looking at it from a writing and story perspective, so goal, motivation, conflict angle. Batman's reason to have a beef with Superman was pathetic, and then got resolved super quickly (with safe word Martha, lol) I'm guessing a lot of Lois Lane's stuff got edited out because badass reporter got reduced to stupid damsel getting rescued, rinse repeat. It was such a long movie and yet in terms of story it felt wickedly shortchanged. We didn't need the bat origin story for the billionth time, yet that soaked up a good 10 mins at the start. Also needed far better set up of Wonder Woman than a few random shots of her in a plane, at an atm, taking the tech gadget at the party.

Yep, Lane had more investigation on the Africa incident and ties that part of the story together. In the theatrical cut that subplot makes no sense at all.

The bat origin redo was serving two purposes, the obvious establishment of Wayne's mother's name, but also setting the casting of Wayne parents for the upcoming Flash movie he was planning. That was going to be based on the Flashpoint comic series where in one reality Bruce Wayne is killed in Crime Alley and Thomas becomes the (very violent) Batman and Martha becomes his Joker. It's why they had two name actors.

Also less clear in the shorter version is Lex has been pushing/manipulating Batman for years to make him more paranoid and more violent. The basic plan is for Batman to be killed by Superman and for humanity to see Superman has Lex sees him, which is a outsider/alien that will reduce humanity to his sheep (basically).

The much criticised scene ("Why did you say that name!) was poorly executed but the thought process behind it was sound. Hearing his mother's name was supposed to jolt Batman back his core beliefs, he was fighting crime to prevent what happened to his parents happening to anyone else. Not branding criminals, killing people, etc.

And it was also supposed to make Bruce see Superman as a person, not as an alien entity that might rule over the human race. Could that have been done better? Sure. But it is character development, no matter how clumsy he is at it.

And to be honest, I cut him some slack for how well the fight sequences were done. The most comic accurate Batman every seen, and coming up with a lot of gotchas about people recognising Batman (the voice alteration) and how Batman could compete with Superman.

All framed in a Frank Miller view of the comics.

The Wonder Woman stuff was just a teaser for her origin film. He's said when asked about that is he didn't want to handcuff the director of that film, so deliberately kept her character mysterious.

Probably his biggest problem with these films is he has packed them with homages and nods to the comic book fans (right down to famous panels), he was also rushing to set up a DC universe to compete with Marvel (which he should have taken more time with). The side effect of that is there is assumed knowledge, and important aspects glossed over.

Add in the studio demanding 30mins to an hour be cut so they can show more screenings in a day, then you get a bit of a mess.

The Directors cut is a much better film, but probably not enough to make you like it.

The new four hour Justice League is due next month. Using only 30mins of the theatrical cut, and not a single shot from the sex pest Joss Wheddon. I can't wait

that's a fine explanation for why I hated the movie plus fills me in on infuriating huhs? when watching... it could have been so much better but no I still don't think Affleck is right for Batman, in fact, who has really played him well?

@mn5 said in Re: Movie review thread...:

@antipodean said in Re: Movie review thread...:

Every time I see Gerard Butler in a new movie I instantly think bargain bin at Blockbuster.

He’s actually utterly shite and has about as much range as a cork gun.

His acting repertoire is indeed quite Spartan.

@mokey said in Royal drama:

Publicity hating Meghan and Harry are going to do a prime time special sit down with Oprah.

Then I hope Harry reminds everyone his family changed their name 100 years ago to avoid racism. And cancel culture. Mr Drumpf would understand.

https://www.themonarchists.com/the-house-of-windsor-1917/

@catogrande I thought Jocks (and the Irish and the Welsh) are colonials?
https://randompublicjournal.com/2016/05/30/notes-on-the-colonisation-of-scotland/
Then again you were Rome's colonials...so as the wheel turns..

Your alcohol area contains a gunsafe? Not sure that would be a good idea in my house but the Cossack-themed house parties would really go off with a bang.

@NTA said in 50 Years of Star Trek - RIP:

Only 4-5 years later, to your post:

Live long and prosper and the Vulcan greeting are Jewish. As was Nimoy and Shatner (by descent), allegedly.
Christians believe "Bread and Circuses” had a Christian theme/message.
Islam, on that I have no data.

@Snowy said in Grumpy Old Man:

@Paekakboyz said in Grumpy Old Man:

@Snowy back to the basement you go!!

Cellar! It's a cellar!

Back on topic - people who call my "wine" cellar a basement!

Wine cellar: basement with exorbitent prices. Or, a mate-proof lock.

@JC said in Speights in the UK?:

@Bones His time at Waikato overlapped with mine.

ah that old Hamiltonian gene pool. Still not very big, I see.