2025 All Blacks v France series
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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.
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@MN5 said in 2025 All Blacks Squad v France:
@nostrildamus said in 2025 All Blacks Squad v France:
Rieko Ioane.
first AND second name spelt correctly. Well done.
Baby steps. Baby steps.
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@cgrant said in 2025 All Blacks Squad v France:
Blues best player (AJ Lam) is the most unlucky. With LF probably coming in for the RC, I guess he won't be selected this year.
Isn't AJ more a 12 and LF more a 13?
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Are these stats correct? If so as big as Sititi, and CLW can play 6?
I mean, he hits hard and gets around a bit. Auckland, Otago, Canterbury... -
Lam is probably a better 13 than 12.
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@nostrildamus said in 2025 All Blacks Squad v France:
Are these stats correct? If so as big as Sititi, and CLW can play 6?
I mean, he hits hard and gets around a bit. Auckland, Otago, Canterbury...They should do weigh ins before each game like combat sports. Some of them sound extremely made up.
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@mariner4life said in 2025 All Blacks Squad v France:
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
I think there is a space there waiting for Parker. In the mean time they'll try to experiment with Vaaii. I personally think it's better than using another utility holding piece there, even if I don't like moving players from Super to international level.
Looking forward, if Holland transfers his game to the next level, Scooter's position could/should be in jeopardy.
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@gt12 said in 2025 All Blacks Squad v France:
@mariner4life said in 2025 All Blacks Squad v France:
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
I think there is a space there waiting for Parker. In the mean time they'll try to experiment with Vaaii. I personally think it's better than using another utility holding piece there, even if I don't like moving players from Super to international level.
Looking forward, if Holland transfers his game to the next level, *** Scooter's position could/should be in jeopardy.**
Barrett’s don’t get dropped they leave when they want to
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@Landers92 said in 2025 All Blacks Squad v France:
Can’t remember who it was that said it, but just a friendly reminder to the guy who said Tavatavanawai has a pot belly. He is now an All Black with a supposed pot belly. There’s still hope for us all
That was me. I wasn't against his selection btw. Just thought he might have a gut and the coaches might not like it.
Didn't realise it would be such a sensitive topic for forum members so my apologies.
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@brodean it's alright to have an incorrect assumption mate, when Beaver Donald was banging the drums for Jim I thought he would be a chance, Donald seems to have a real knack for identifying FABS, he said Roigard would be 1 before he had joined the Canes fulltime, he also predicted Norris would be a future ABs prop, if Ioane Moananu ever makes it in future then it has to be more than simply luck in throwing out names!
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Kirsty was giving him flowers on his picking today on their show.
I reckon Beaver is right with his analysis too - for better or worse the coaches have selected players to play in a certain way.
We now get to see whether there is clarity on what that style of play will be, whether they've selected correctly to implement it (80% of success according to some past AB coaches), whether they can get the group going in that direction, and of course, whether it works.
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@Mauss I think the corner has been turned for Will Jordan and we started to see in the latter part of the test season when he was consistently selected at fullback and then into this super season.
It would be a retrograde step to not have him start at fullback for the all the key games this season.
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@ACT-Crusader said in 2025 All Blacks Squad v France:
@Mauss I think the corner has been turned for Will Jordan and we started to see in the latter part of the test season when he was consistently selected at fullback and then into this super season.
It would be a retrograde step to not have him start at fullback for the all the key games this season.
My only argument against this is that I think my preferred back three combo would utilise Jordan, Clarke and Love, and I think that trio works better with Jordan on the wing and Love at fullback rather than vice versa.
While Jordan could be world class at fullback, we know for a fact that he's a world-class wing.
My preferred backline would be Roigard, McKenzie, Clarke, Barrett, Proctor, Jordan, Love, with Ratima, Tupaea and Ioane on the bench. Tavatavanawai is definitely worth a run from the reserves too, and Barrett will no doubt need a rest or two given the long season he's had.
I'm also well aware that Beauden Barrett will be somewhere in the 23, even though I don't really want him there.
