I'll have to rewatch it but Samsoni was attracting several defenders at a time, not going backwards and solid with ball security, given last week they gave Akira a lot of 2 tackler attention it would be rather mouthwatering to see them both on the field.

@taniwharugby said in Northland MOTM v Tasman:

Caird, Goodhue and Olsen.

Special mentions for Cooper, Uluilakepa, Nock.

Several others also stepped up.

That is a completely different side to the table running around in rounds 1 and 2

Same but with special mention also for Pryor. Much better boys!

@kirwan pretty sure he wasn't if you actually watched the game closely.

@antipodean said in All Blacks MOTM vs Aus III:

@canefan said in All Blacks MOTM vs Aus III:

@antipodean said in All Blacks MOTM vs Aus III:

@junior said in All Blacks MOTM vs Aus III:

@victor-meldrew said in All Blacks MOTM vs Aus III:

@gt12 said in All Blacks MOTM vs Aus III:

Under Shag, Cane got left out of the starting line-up of a WC semi-final.

Yeah, the one bloke who would have caused England serious problems from the word go.

That loss still rankles with me - and not just for the Cane omission. Some of the dumbest play I've seen from an AB team for years, mainly from the senior players

It’s taken me a long time to accept that Sam Whitelock might be a decent captain after his facepalm to Farrell late on, which effectively ended what little glimmer of hope we might have had of pinching that match

I don't blame him for that - it was a ridiculous intervention by the referee.

Farrell was being a prick. But he bit the bait

That's not in contention. It's the bullshit reversal from Owen that's the issue.

I agree. But in the current climate the retaliator almost always gets pinged. So we can argue but at the end of the day he needs to keep his discipline there

@nzzp said in Auckland MOTM v Tasman:

Ruru. Then I couldn't figure out anyone else

I think there was some candidates in the pack in particular

The props were on top in the scrum but didn't get much reward from the ref. Scrafton seems to be in good form. The loosies were mostly good until the lack of possession resulted in some missed tackles. Choat in particular got through a lot of work on defence (14 tackles no misses)

@kev I could have swapped out Reihana for Macilai.

Reihana looks a classy player, often saw him come in and talking to the forwards, which is impressive for a young guy in his 2nd match.

Aaron, Akira and Codie.

@higgins said in Northland MOTM v Wellington:

You got pummelled by fifty, did you have any?

I had to think for 3 days. First time I have ever considered not voting. Hard to look good when when we you are surrounded by incompetence.

Scrafton was very good.

@bones said in All Blacks MOTM vs Aus I:

Whitelock, Paps, Smith.

May rewatch but they seemed to be the only ones without a glaring mistake.

Penalty in front of the ref, didn't see a mistake, unnecessary forward pass.. ah oops answered. Anyway, apart from mistakes, good selection although I thought Sam came more into the fore later on. Nugget was mostly excellent, again but I worry about our replacements..

Hoopah carries that team.
Would be interesting to see if they fell apart without him.

Havili, Reece and Ioane.

Plenty of candidates out there tbh.

@bovidae said in All Blacks MOTM v Fiji:

@old-samurai-jack said in All Blacks MOTM v Fiji:

Coles, Whitelock, and Havili.

I would have voted for Havili as well but a YC is always a strike against a player in my book. So BBBR as the third choice by default.

I didnt choose him here but I thought JB was solid and BB good (apart from conversions).

@no-quarter said in All Blacks MOTM v Tonga:

Guys, for fuck sake, it's Rieko, not Reiko

Sorry, but I'm a bit dyslexic, KO?

(I'll get my coat)

Gave it to Plummer (for his goalkicking at the end), Gibson (for his try), and Eklund (for covering that Nareki chip).

Not a true reflection of how things went but fuck it, they'll last forever in my memory!

Current standings

15 Dalton Papali’i
12 Tom Robinson
9 Akira Ioane
6 Hoskins Sotutu
5 Finlay Christie
5 Otere Black
3 Patrick Tuipulotu
3 Bryce Heem
3 Kurt Eklund
3 Jonathan Ruru
3 Caleb Clarke
2 Gerard Cowley-Tuioti
2 Zarn Sullivan
2 Nepo Laulala
1 Rieko Ioane
1 Stephen Perofeta
1 Josh Goodhue

Current standings

14 Dalton Papali’i
12 Tom Robinson
8 Akira Ioane
6 Hoskins Sotutu
5 Finlay Christie
5 Otere Black
3 Bryce Heem
3 Kurt Eklund
3 Jonathan Ruru
3 Caleb Clarke
2 Zarn Sullivan
2 Nepo Laulala
1 Rieko Ioane
1 Gerard Cowley-Tuioti
1 Stephen Perofeta
1 Josh Goodhue

Current standings

12 Dalton Papali’i
12 Tom Robinson
8 Akira Ioane
6 Hoskins Sotutu
5 Otere Black
3 Bryce Heem
3 Kurt Eklund
3 Jonathan Ruru
3 Caleb Clarke
2 Zarn Sullivan
2 Finlay Christie
2 Nepo Laulala
1 Rieko Ioane
1 Stephen Perofeta
1 Josh Goodhue

Current standings

12 Dalton Papali’i
11 Tom Robinson
8 Akira Ioane
6 Hoskins Sotutu
5 Otere Black
3 Kurt Eklund
3 Jonathan Ruru
3 Caleb Clarke
2 Finlay Christie
2 Nepo Laulala
1 Rieko Ioane
1 Stephen Perofeta
1 Josh Goodhue

Current standings

12 Dalton Papali’i
10 Tom Robinson
8 Akira Ioane
5 Otere Black
3 Kurt Eklund
3 Jonathan Ruru
3 Caleb Clarke
2 Finlay Christie
2 Nepo Laulala
3 Hoskins Sotutu
1 Rieko Ioane
1 Stephen Perofeta

Current standings

12 Dalton Papali’i
8 Akira Ioane
7 Tom Robinson
5 Otere Black
3 Jonathan Ruru
3 Caleb Clarke
2 Finlay Christie
2 Nepo Laulala
2 Kurt Eklund
1 Rieko Ioane
1 Stephen Perofeta
1 Hoskins Sotutu

I didn't vote but would like to point out that Blake Gibson was favoured to start by the coaches over Akira Ioane, who nearly had top metres despite coming off the bench. TSF don't seem to rate Gibson well for the match either, does he have a concealed secret weapon or is a vital but well-hidden cog in Rangi's master plan?

I wanted to vote for no one.

Where’s the James Blackwell option? I can’t find him to vote for him?

Current standings

6 Akira Ioane
4 Otere Black
3 Tom Robinson
2 Finlay Christie
2 Nepo Laulala
2 Kurt Eklund
1 Dalton Papali’i
1 Jonathan Ruru
1 Stephen Perofeta

Current standings

6 Akira Ioane
4 Otere Black
1 Dalton Papali’i
1 Jonathan Ruru
1 Stephen Perofeta

@dan54

I like how Black and Plummer are splitting some of the responsibilities. For instance most of the cross field kicks came from Plummer.

I want to see genuine 2nd 5/8ths return to the game. Plummer at the Blues and Havili at the Crusaders might signal a change in tactics of NZ teams

The second playmaker at fullback is useful but I think it's easy to get caught out on defence when there's a quick turnover

@tim probably an outside shot at best given I think he is only in the WTG, but Rob Rush could fill that role.

@duluth said in Super Rugby MOTM Polls:

@hooroo said in Super Rugby MOTM Polls:

I’m saying that come mid season I will prolly be interested again

Wait for a win streak and then jump on the bandwagon 😉

I mean I’ll interested in Super Rugby by mid season. Chiefs will either be good or bad. That’s is very normal

@nzzp said in MOTM v Netherlands... err... Argentina II:

@nostrildamus said in MOTM v Netherlands... err... Argentina II:

@Dan54 said in MOTM v Netherlands... err... Argentina II:

I thought Laulala, Akira and perhaps Moody in that order? I been a huge critic of Akira, but he stepped up last night, and hope he keeps to that standard. Thought Cane went well again, backs were generally ok without looking that flash. Jordan scored a couple of smart tries where his pace showed, but it bit hard to give him points when he only on a while and had 2 touches even if they were good.

good? good? You must have been some player if that only counts as good.

woah, you're really fanboying on WJ. Good player, but two intercepts and a linebreak doesn't make him Cullen. He's a really good player, but we haven't seen it yet at the top level

Oh I'm really an Akira fanboy (but others here have been doing the work for me!)

@Tim nah some surgery booked (shoulder?)

Current voting prior to the final:

20 Rayasi
11 Choat
6 AJ Lam
6 Plummer
5 Sullivan
5 Adams
4 R Ioane
4 Ruru
3 S Tuipulotu
3 A Ioane
3 Whetton
3 Tu'ungafasi
1 Scrafton
1 Funaki
1 Ta’avao

Goodhue and nock for me and Olsen very good also

Current voting after 10 rounds

17 Rayasi
10 Choat
6 AJ Lam
6 Plummer
4 Adams
4 R Ioane
3 Sullivan
3 Ruru
3 S Tuipulotu
3 A Ioane
3 Whetton
3 Tu'ungafasi
1 Scrafton
1 Funaki

@mariner4life said in AB MOTM v Argentina I:

The crushing disappointment and righteous public anger of 2007 forged the success of the next 8 years. And that anger built up over 20 years!

Do we really have to do that again?

Can't we just cut the weak link (s) now please? Really, please!

Went with Rayasi, Scrafton and Sullivan.

@kev think thats a good thing too!!

I gave the game a 2nd look and came away thinking Ta'avao and Adams were our two best in this match. For some big boys, they cover so much ground.

I didn't realize just how good Ta'avao was on first watch. Not only was he one of our busiest players, but along with Adams, he was also our most physical player. He had some nice skillful touches too.

What made his performance even more impressive was that this was his first match since September and he played the whole 84 minutes. Just a massive effort.

I couldn't possibly vote for Rieko simply because of the showboating try which was a carbon copy of the first test except he was lucky enough to keep control.

Epitomised the teams performance. All puff No Huff.

Give it to Jordan Poor bastard did nothing was only on the field 30 seconds and probably won't even remember his test debut.

Akira, Whitelock, Savea