2025 All Blacks v France series
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Sounds like Razor won a bet for saying the word sing or singing at least 4 times in an interview.
Wanting to play with pace, great to hear that.
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@ploughboy said in 2025 All Blacks v France series:
williams,newell and sititi carryed injurys into final.none should have played
Disagree. I'm glad they played. It was a final. Super Rugby needs to be important. It's not just a trial for test rugby.
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@MN5 said in 2025 All Blacks v France series:
@canefan said in 2025 All Blacks v France series:
@Duluth said in 2025 All Blacks v France series:
He uses a lot of hairspray to keep that combover in place
Razor better get his selections right and the team better gel or else they could get Munsoned vs this inexperienced French side.
I just hope he and the ABs don't get complacent. There's a lot of depth in French rugby and this side could well be tough opponents.
That said, a close-fought series where we blood new player/combinations would be exactly what's needed.
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@Victor-Meldrew said in 2025 All Blacks v France series:
@MN5 said in 2025 All Blacks v France series:
@canefan said in 2025 All Blacks v France series:
@Duluth said in 2025 All Blacks v France series:
He uses a lot of hairspray to keep that combover in place
Razor better get his selections right and the team better gel or else they could get Munsoned vs this inexperienced French side.
I just hope he and the ABs don't get complacent. There's a lot of depth in French rugby and this side could well be tough opponents.
That said, a close-fought series where we blood new player/combinations would be exactly what's needed.
The key will be to strike early but make sure there's enough spare players who are fit and ready to go.
7-10 will be crucial. I just hope the players are in the right frame of mind.
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@KiwiMurph said in 2025 All Blacks v France series:
@ploughboy said in 2025 All Blacks v France series:
williams,newell and sititi carryed injurys into final.none should have played
Disagree. I'm glad they played. It was a final. Super Rugby needs to be important. It's not just a trial for test rugby.
I'm in two minds on it, and my opinion reflects that.
I think Super rugby needs them out there.
But, if the medical staff would have held them back if the team had another week, they shouldn't be out there. Especially in William's and Sititi's case, where the back-ups can do a job.
The NBA finals showed what happens when you gamble with your body.
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Unavailable due to injury:
Asafo Aumua;
Ofa Tu’ungafasi;
Sam Darry;
Peter Lakai;
Stephen Perofeta.
...
Tamaiti Williams
Fletcher Newell
Wallace Sititi
Luke JacobsonSo, by my calcs, we're 9 down. Any I'm missing?
How many are the Frogs missing?
Throw in
Lord
Blackadder (maybe) -
@booboo said in 2025 All Blacks v France series:
Unavailable due to injury:
Asafo Aumua;
Ofa Tu’ungafasi;
Sam Darry;
Peter Lakai;
Stephen Perofeta.
...
Tamaiti Williams
Fletcher Newell
Wallace Sititi
Luke JacobsonSo, by my calcs, we're 9 down. Any I'm missing?
How many are the Frogs missing?
Throw in
Lord
Blackadder (maybe)Is Anton Lienert Brown available?
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@nonpartizan said in 2025 All Blacks v France series:
Is Anton Lienert Brown available?
He participated in full contact training on Sat and should be available for selection soon. I'd say the 2nd or 3rd test is more likely.
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@MN5 said in 2025 All Blacks v France series:
@pakman said in 2025 All Blacks v France series:
I couldn't bring myself to listen to more than 10 seconds of these two but Ioane on the wing sounds ok to me. More compelling than an out of sorts Clarke and a short, slow Reece.
The optimism over Rieko on the wing is doing my head in. Sure, maybe he'd go great, but it has been years since he played there, it's a position where players fall off cliffs at a young age, and he hasn't been displaying elusiveness or pace while playing at centre. It's in no way a sure thing, or even a good bet.
Caleb Clarke on the other hand, was genuinely good at international level last time the ABs played. -
@reprobate I have similar concerns, when you look at the old footage of reiko playing wing , his pace looks electrifying, I’m not sure he’s got that anymore.
It might be like Julian savea or Joe rok in their twilight years compared to the early years . -
Doubt he's lost much pace at all. I'd say he's still top 3 for pace in the squad.
The team that was selected for most of the games last year I believe was Razors preferred combo. He had many opportunities to select both ALB and Proctor more last year and he didn't.
Proctor didn't even feature in the match day 23 in Europe. ALB is coming back from injury. Every other midfielder is primarily a 12.
So I think Rieko is still in pole position to play most of the season at 13.
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@brodean said in 2025 All Blacks v France series:
Doubt he's lost much pace at all. I'd say he's still top 3 for pace in the squad.
The team that was selected for most of the games last year I believe was Razors preferred combo. He had many opportunities to select both ALB and Proctor more last year and he didn't.
Proctor didn't even feature in the match day 23 in Europe. Every other midfielder is primarily a 12.
So I think Rieko is still in pole position to play most of the season at 13.
Razor has had a whole off-season to think about his selections and even admitted he could have been a bit more innovative with some of his selections last year. I think we'll start to see some subtle changes in his preferred 15, starting with 13.
I wouldn't be surprised if Ioane started the 1st test at 13 and shifts to 11 later in the game, however, I do think Proctor will start at least one of the three tests. If Proctor can take his opportunity with two hands, I think Razor will begin to see him as the preferred 13 moving forward. I feel by the EOYT if Proctor remains injury free, he will become the incumbent 13 for the ABs.
I'd also like to see Tupaea start one of the three tests at 12, I think he definitely deserves an opportunity to push for that starting role as well. Jordie hasn't exactly locked down that position yet either.
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With ALB unlikely to be available for the first test, QT is the only genuine 12/13 utility option and I think Razor gave the strong indication that the option to go with a player like QT over Havili was because of that utility. I think he’s our best bench option (in a 5/3 split).
TNT is an interesting one because many pundits have been saying “he plays wing”. So a 12/wing option that doesn’t cover 13. Centre isn’t a position to be throwing makeshifts at so we need two very solid options available. 2nd 5 is where we could take more a calculated risk (but we shouldn’t need to by selecting QT).
There is certainly options and we could get some new and exciting combos to shake things up a bit.
