2025 All Blacks v France series
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Loved the interview with Blackadder on the news. Seemed upbeat and said with a smile on his face that missing out on the ABs is life and he'll crack on. Almost want him to have an injury free run and get back into the side, love that positivity. Havili, however seemed a little downcast at not making it.
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@Canes4life said in 2025 All Blacks Squad v France:
Loved the interview with Blackadder on the news. Seemed upbeat and said with a smile on his face that missing out on the ABs is life and he'll crack on. Almost want him to have an injury free run and get back into the side, love that positivity. Havili, however seemed a little downcast at not making it.
Maybe EB knows he'll make the RC side.... Ugh
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@antipodean said in 2025 All Blacks Squad v France:
@Dan54 said in 2025 All Blacks Squad v France:
@antipodean said in 2025 All Blacks Squad v France:
How is Narawa injury cover for ALB? On what planet does that make any sense?
Well he is a wing/centre, so really probably there to cover both.
Playing centre at NPC isn't a qualification on your CV to cover that position in Test rugby. I'd have a different opinion if he'd spent some time there during the SR season and acquitted himself well.
Well he has played centre for Chiefs too.
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@Mr-Fish said in 2025 All Blacks Squad v France:
Have also seen a few rumours floating around that Blackadder is heading overseas so that could be a factor if it's true.
I see what you did there
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@Chris-B said in 2025 All Blacks Squad v France:
@reprobate said in 2025 All Blacks Squad v France:
@nzzp said in 2025 All Blacks Squad v France:
@Chris said in 2025 All Blacks Squad v France:
@nzzp said in 2025 All Blacks Squad v France:
@canefan said in 2025 All Blacks Squad v France:
@reprobate said in 2025 All Blacks Squad v France:
@canefan said in 2025 All Blacks Squad v France:
@nostrildamus said in 2025 All Blacks Squad v France:
I can see how they like Norris, he's a physical presence around the field. I hope they can help him refine his scrummaging.
Shame Ah Kuoi wasn't looked at as lock/6, small for a lock but quite athletic and hardworking methinks.
It's interesting the views on Blackadder in the final, he was a workhorse as always but didn't look that impactful or dominant or particularly speedy to my eye, but I wasn't looking particularly out for him.
If I had time I'd like to go back to see if the Chiefs when off the boil as LJ got hit/off the field, the loosies looked far more effective early on I thought.I kept an eye on him, you are correct. and 30 carries for 0.8m is a disgrace
Not sure where you are getting those stats from, but was it you who watched him closely in the semi and managed to miss the game high 30 odd tackles?
Someone posted that during the game. As for the tackle count, he may have got 30 odd, but I didn't notice them as they lacked dominance
Tackle counts are not that important. Racking up numbers hitting one off defensive players and being late to attacking rucks doesn't really help win games. It's just avoiding errors. Safe boring players are great, but if you have too many (if any) you can just beige your way out of any impact and dynamism.
So defence doesn’t count then someone can make one tackle per game at that’s all good.
You're twisting what I said. Defence is critical. Tackle counts in isolation are not a yardstick for effectiveness.
EB cops plenty, but not for workrate or commitment. But pointing at a tackle count and saying 'see, awesome' is just not justified. Particularly when players (Clarke) steamroll you the week before
Nobody on here says awesome about EB - I'm about his staunchest defender on here, and all I say is I don't understand him being rubbished all the time when he performs strongly.
Dominant tackle % Opta stats Super rugby this year:
Parker 14.6%
Finau 11.8%
Savea 7.3%
EB 5.4%, same as CLW.
Kirifi 4.6%
DP 4.3%
LJ 3.8%
Sititi 2.2%Taking into account how many tackles EB makes, it's actually Parker then Finau then him - in terms of dominant tackles per minute.
I'm in agreement with you on Ethan and I don't agree at all with those who argue he's busy but ineffective. In the final four weeks of Super rugby, he went up against four of the other top five teams and basically outworked all the loosies in all of them. Significant contributor to our title. Notable on Saturday night that Rob subbed Tom Christie and switched Ethan to openside to bring on Grace.
I reckon it's pretty undeniable that he's got the biggest motor of any loosie in NZ and that's quite phenomenal when you consider he's predominantly a blindside. He can cover 7 (obviously, from Saturday night), but he's not fast enough to play there in big tests.
So he's a smallish 6 with a massive motor - in cycling parlance, I reckon he equates to George Bennett - guys they talk about with big diesel engines - they can climb with everyone, but they don't have the dynamism to actually break away from the pack. And Ethan's not even fast for his size.
I also don't think he's a great lineout option.
What I hope Razor is looking at it is what ACT is suggesting, big dynamic blindsides who are dominant lineout options - Finau and Parker - guys who are going to empty the tank for 55 minutes and get subbed. I also suspect he's toying with the idea of 6-2 splits, which again negates Ethan's strength.
If you're going to deploy Ethan for 55 minutes, he's going to come off with the tank still half full - it's negating his core strength. He's a better match if you're picking Hoskins at 8 and planning to sub him.
I hear what you're saying and have considered that myself, but in the end I decided that I just don't know if it is true - and I'm not sure you can know unless you try it - because I think there's a fairly substantial individual element in there i.e. just because someone has an exceptional workrate over 80 mins does not mean that they can't do even more over 50 minutes. Or to put it another way, someone with a bit shit workrate over 80 minutes is not necessarily going to have a far better workrate over 50, it's going to vary by individual.
The potential combos are really interesting though, and I really think we need to be working towards a 6-2 bench, especially as we look to have an extra good lock now, and as always good loosie depth. Kirifi 40 then Savea on and take over as captain, allowing Barrett to be subbed? Finau and Parker a half each? Sititi & Sotutut? Samisoni flat out carrying up the guts for 40 then Taylor to finish? I do kinda feel like the guy with the biggest motor could be a part of that answer: if you're subbing 6 forwards then the two staying on being e.g. Holland and Blackadder would give a hell of a team work ethic over the 80.
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"Sotutut" that particular
typoplayer has sailed, it would seem. -
This post is deleted!
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@antipodean Finau will feature in the series for sure, but not necessarily at 6 in Test One.
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@sparky said in 2025 All Blacks Squad v France:
@antipodean Finau will feature in the series for sure, but not necessarily at 6 in Test One.
What position do you think he'd play instead? He's a blindside flanker who would only move to lock in an emergency.
It's unfathomable that a blindside flanker (the only genuine one in the squad) would make way for a player out of position in the first Test if he's fit.
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If they were set on starting a lock at 6 they would have selected more than 4 of them.
Both Barrett and Vaai are proven failures at 6 at test level as well
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@reprobate As Razor himself said, Ethan's likely to be in and around the squad later in the year. I'll be surprised if that's not true.
I'm waiting with interest to see how they deploy their loose forwards and what the results are.
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@Chris-B said in 2025 All Blacks Squad v France:
@reprobate As Razor himself said, Ethan's likely to be in and around the squad later in the year. I'll be surprised if that's not true.
I'm waiting with interest to see how they deploy their loose forwards and what the results are.
Seems unlikely that he will remain fit after his recent injury free streak
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@booboo said in 2025 All Blacks Squad v France:
@gt12 said in 2025 All Blacks Squad v France:
Vaaii getting some time at 6, I feel like they may have missed a trick by skipping over Ah Kuoi, but hard to complain.
All
4of my preferred 6s are Chiefs ...Actually 6 ...
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@ploughboy said in 2025 All Blacks Squad v France:
@brodean said in 2025 All Blacks Squad v France:
It's concerning that the Chiefs have the most forwards with 6 after they failed to do a job against the Blues and Crusaders.
wasn't the starting 8 that was the prob was replacement probs and lock
The Crusaders got the lead early in the 2nd quarter and kept it for the remainder of the game.
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@KiwiMurph said in 2025 All Blacks Squad v France:
@1kiwi said in 2025 All Blacks Squad v France:
@SouthernMann said in 2025 All Blacks Squad v France:
George Bell. Canterbury's third string hooker. Boys needs to go aomewhere that he won't be stuck on the bench.
Bell will be duking it out with Moananu in a couple years time I believe as it wouldn't surprise me if Codie Taylor either hangs up his boots or heads overseas after the next world cup.
Moananu really should leave. He can't even crack the Crusaders 23 where he looks to have an AB level ceiling.
Have posted in another thread. He is in chats with the Blues, not a signed and sealed thing though. One to keep an eye on with how it could unfold. Makes zero sense to stay in red and black if George Bell is sticking around(and also now that the bias seems to be gone)
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Will be interesting to see the match day 23.....
Front row is good - well earned Norris
Locks I am happy - plenty of grunt in there - pleased with Holland selection
I am still mildly concerned about the balance of the loosies, it does depend where they play Ardie I guess--- but very happy Du’Plessis is in there.Halfbacks I am happy with those 3
10s no surprises but an injury could open up the door for opportunities for some of the young fellas on the edge of the squad.
Midfield looks good, Rieko is surely a wing now.
Outsides - happy enough, CC pretty lucky I feel. And nice to see Love in there
anyway bring on the first test - lets see how they go.
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Rieko Ioane.
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@nostrildamus said in 2025 All Blacks Squad v France:
Rieko Ioane.
first AND second name spelt correctly. Well done.
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@Chris-B said in 2025 All Blacks Squad v France:
@reprobate As Razor himself said, Ethan's likely to be in and around the squad later in the year. I'll be surprised if that's not true.
I'm waiting with interest to see how they deploy their loose forwards and what the results are.
Ethan will have a fair bit of competition
CLW has been chosen as injury cover - Lakai and Parker will return from injury later this year....
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I like the squad selection, mostly because it seems like a turn away from ‘how do we not lose games?’ to ‘how can we actually win them?’. When you want to play a high-speed, movement-based game, you need to have the ball, and having Savea, Kirifi and Tavatavanawai in your squad (top 3 breakdown steals in Super Rugby) at least gives you an opportunity at consistently playing that game.
If I were to hazard a guess on how this will impact the game plan, I suspect they’ll want to start with a possession game, using big carriers through the middle. That means starting Taukei’aho, Williams, Sititi and Savea. I wouldn’t at all be surprised to see Vaa’i in the 6-jersey and Finau wearing 20. I would also guess they want to control possession by having experienced kickers at 10 and 15, which would mean Barrett and McKenzie both starting with Jordan on the right wing. (FYI, I am not saying good kickers, the emphasis is on experienced)
A bench of Taylor, Norris, Tosi, Tuipulotu, Finau, Kirifi, Ratima and Tavatavanawai/Tupaea would mean mobility, breakdown prowess and counter-attacking ability in the final 30 minutes. McKenzie thrives directing attack in broken play so he could shift to 10 while Jordan would move to 15.
Again, not saying that this is how they’ll play or line up, of course, but at least there’s some clear outlines of how they could attack the game, rather than just pick players who’ll work hard and hope that they produce some magic somehow.
