All Blacks 2025
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@Chris said in All Blacks 2025:
All speculation its not what I hear, very destructive talk.
The Captain will be Scott Barrett 100%.It most probably will be because at the end of the day Razor gets to make the decision. Doesn’t mean the players don’t gravitate and look to someone else though… and that’s a fact. Nothing destructive at all.
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Unpopular opinion ..
Tupou Vaa'i has captaincy potential.
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@Bones said in All Blacks 2025:
Although after a post just above I now have serious doubts Barrett and Ioane will even be selected.
Well, not on SR form.
Barrett the incumbent captain so can't see him getting dropped. Maybe, like Roigard last night, he'll start to come right. Ditto for Reiko starting in Test 1, but if Proctor isn't given good game time/starts a French Test, I'll be pretty pissed off.
Assuming Billy does start and is a success, who's the 12? Jordie or QT? That's the interesting question for me.
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@Victor-Meldrew said in All Blacks 2025:
@Bones said in All Blacks 2025:
Although after a post just above I now have serious doubts Barrett and Ioane will even be selected.
Well, not on SR form.
Barrett the incumbent captain so can't see him getting dropped. Maybe, like Roigard last night, he'll start to come right. Ditto for Reiko starting in Test 1, but if Proctor isn't given good game time/starts a French Test, I'll be pretty pissed off.
Assuming Billy does start and is a success, who's the 12? Jordie or QT? That's the interesting question for me.
Barrett, absolutely. Robertson won't want to change the backline too much (and he should already be thinking about reinstating McKenzie at 10, but who knows what he'll do there).
Wouldn't mind seeing Barrett at fullback with Tupaea at 12 on occasion but given Barrett will need some rests after a non-stop season, that's probably unlikely.
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My 23 to play France.
- T. Williams
- C. Taylor
- T. Lomax
- T. Vaa'i
- S. Barrett
- S. Parker
- A. Savea
- W. Sititi
- C. Ratima
- D. McKenzie
- L. Carter
- J. Barrett
- B. Proctor
- S. Reece
- W. Jordan
- S. Taukei'aho
- E. De Groot
- F. Newell
- F. Holland
- P.Lakai
- C. Roigard
- R. Love
- Q. Tupaea
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@sparky said in All Blacks 2025:
My 23 to play France.
- T. Williams
- C. Taylor
- T. Lomax
- T. Vaa'i
- S. Barrett
- S. Parker
- A. Savea
- W. Sititi
- C. Ratima
- D. McKenzie
- L. Carter
- J. Barrett
- B. Proctor
- S. Reece
- W. Jordan
- S. Taukei'aho
- E. De Groot
- F. Newell
- F. Holland
- P.Lakai
- C. Roigard
- R. Love
- Q. Tupaea
Think that's an excellent line-up - would personally have Taukei'aho starting with Taylor on the bench, simply because I think Taukei'aho is a better starter than finisher, particularly when it comes to hitting lineouts. That does pose the problem where all your best carriers are starting, mind you.
Also think it's probably quite far from the line-up we'll actully see...
No Blues just one year after they dominated the Super Rugby final might raise a few eyebrows though.
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@KiwiMurph said in All Blacks 2025:
@Bones said in All Blacks 2025:
It's confusing - you'd think coaches would identify this and work with him on it, but something's not clicking there and he can't be ignoring them otherwise he'd be dropped, right?
Same goes for a complete lack of kicking game. Rieko's been playing test rugby for a decade and hasn't developed even a hint of a kicking game. I can probably count on one hand the number of times I've seen Rieko ever kick the ball.
Would love for him to line up behind a ruck and chance his arm at a 3 pointer……..
Just so we could say Doppy scored a Droppy.
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@Mr-Fish Taukei'aho was superb tonight and his try driving through Ardie Savea was world class. I'm a big fan.
It's a tough call, but Codie Taylor has been the glue for the Crusaders all year. He executes everything brilliantly and creates time and space for the players around him that makes them look good. By a whisker, I think he deserves more game time.
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@Landers92 said in All Blacks 2025:
@Chris said in All Blacks 2025:
All speculation its not what I hear, very destructive talk.
The Captain will be Scott Barrett 100%.It most probably will be because at the end of the day Razor gets to make the decision. Doesn’t mean the players don’t gravitate and look to someone else though… and that’s a fact. Nothing destructive at all.
The captain is also supported by the leadership group who endorse that selection and they have including Ardie so no issue.
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I'd probably also have Roigard starting. Have to value combinations but realistically, McKenzie should be playing 80 minutes at 10, so you're not going to be seeing much of the Roigard-Love combination regardless. Roigard is the better halfback than Ratima and has an excellent kicking game. Ratima tends to do better when his team have a bit of momentum.
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@ARHS said in All Blacks 2025:
Why unpopular?
Because Tupou Vaa'i
It's nit been popular to rate him.
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@Victor-Meldrew said in All Blacks 2025:
@Bones said in All Blacks 2025:
Although after a post just above I now have serious doubts Barrett and Ioane will even be selected.
Well, not on SR form.
Barrett the incumbent captain so can't see him getting dropped. Maybe, like Roigard last night, he'll start to come right. Ditto for Reiko starting in Test 1, but if Proctor isn't given good game time/starts a French Test, I'll be pretty pissed off.
Assuming Billy does start and is a success, who's the 12? Jordie or QT? That's the interesting question for me.
I wouldn’t mind seeing Tupaea and Proctor together. They scored very similar tries this weekend, have the ability to beat players through sheer smarts and footwork.
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@Mr-Fish said in All Blacks 2025:
I'd probably also have Roigard starting. Have to value combinations but realistically, McKenzie should be playing 80 minutes at 10, so you're not going to be seeing much of the Roigard-Love combination regardless. Roigard is the better halfback than Ratima and has an excellent kicking game. Ratima tends to do better when his team have a bit of momentum.
I agree, I think we’ll see Love coming off the bench at 15 and Jordan moving to the wing if anything. Who knows though, injuries always play a hand so wouldn’t be surprised if Love gets a run at 10 at some point. We also need to build depth so would be cool if he got a start in the last French test if we have the series wrapped up by then.
