2025 All Blacks v France series

[SouthernMann]

@zedsdeadbaby said in 2025 All Blacks v France series:

Well this makes the loose forward mix for the first test very interesting.

It would be perhaps unlikely Jacobson will play too.

So are we looking at Finau, Kirifi, Savea with Lio-Willie off the bench?

Or does Vaii start at six..

[Kiwiwomble]

id be happy i they wanted to be brave and give CLW a run, we're talking about a light French team

[zedsdeadbaby]

@SouthernMann said in 2025 All Blacks v France series:

@zedsdeadbaby said in 2025 All Blacks v France series:

Well this makes the loose forward mix for the first test very interesting.

It would be perhaps unlikely Jacobson will play too.

So are we looking at Finau, Kirifi, Savea with Lio-Willie off the bench?

Or does Vaii start at six..

That could happen…Holland debut off the bench at ‘home’

[brodean]

Good to see Razor has no hard feelings about the Papali'i headbutt.

[canefan]

@brodean said in 2025 All Blacks v France series:

Good to Razor had no hard feelings about the Papali'i headbutt.

After Wallace being ruled out, he should probably be in the squad proper. That's a lot of green players in the back row, and I'm not sure Luke will be ready to go judging by the look of him in the final

[chchfanatic]

@brodean pretty sure that didn’t happen.

[AmberArmy]

Papali’i coming in ahead of Blackadder is another blight on the current selectors…

[Callcentre Spunk]

@AmberArmy said in 2025 All Blacks v France series:

Papali’i coming in ahead of Blackadder is another blight on the current selectors…

[KiwiMurph]

@chchfanatic said in 2025 All Blacks v France series:

@brodean pretty sure that didn’t happen.

The headbutt was so strong Razor has no memory of it

[mariner4life]

where are all these sick new usernames coming from?

[nzzp]

@mariner4life said in 2025 All Blacks v France series:

where are all these sick new usernames coming from?

unleash the AI

[Chris B.]

The selectors are really going hard on the loose forward positions being interchangeable and not being wedded to who's playing where.

I was thinking when they named their original five that actually they had three people who could play each position.

6. Finau, Sititi, Jacobson
7. Kirifi, Savea, Jacobson
8. Sititi, Savea, Jacobson

But with CLW coming in - if Luke is ruled out and Dalton also comes in, really we'd have:

6. Finau (I guess Dalton at a pinch)
7. Kirifi, Savea, Papali'i
8. CLW, Savea

[AmberArmy]

@Chris-B which makes it very hard to fathom why Blackadder hasn’t been brought in. Something is definitely off there.

[Bones]

Think you guys are forgetting the 4 locks that cover 6.

[Tim]

@Chris-B It was mentioned in the Herald a couple of times this year (and by @george33) that Papalii had increased his weight to have more impact in collisions, so he may be looked at as a seven and six cover.

[AmberArmy]

Yes, but id argue that Blackadder has been playing far better and covers exactly the same things.

[chchfanatic]

Blackadder and Bell both been training with ABs this week.

[booboo]

@Number-10 said in 2025 All Blacks v France series:

Down vote

[antipodean]

@AmberArmy said in 2025 All Blacks v France series:

@Chris-B which makes it very hard to fathom why Blackadder hasn’t been brought in. Something is definitely off there.

Razor thinks Ethan lacks impact. So that would suggest he's down the pecking order and may have been told to address that in the NPC?

[MN5]

@nzzp said in 2025 All Blacks v France series:

@mariner4life said in 2025 All Blacks v France series:

where are all these sick new usernames coming from?

unleash the AI