Māori All Blacks v Scotland

[Mauss]

@Bovidae said in Māori All Blacks v Scotland:

Only one Kiwi in the 23.

That team is a lot less experienced than I thought it'd be. No Darge, Fagerson, Ritchie, Gilchrist, Steyn, Graham, Rowe, Jordan, Redpath, ...

It's still a decent side that's selected - I always felt like Josh Bayliss was a bit underrated by Townsend - but you'd have to say that the Māori ABs are definite favourites. It's hard to pinpoint any areas where the Scottish team would have a clear edge on the MABs. I figured they would seriously pressure the breakdown with Ritchie and Darge, but Onyeama-Christie and Bayliss aren't close to the same quality there.

So no real clue what Townsend's plan is. The backline has a few good ball players with Hutchinson, Paterson and Smith, so at the very least they should be good to watch.

For the Māori ABs, I think Cullen Grace showed once again against the Japan XV that he’s not really a number 8. A decent option at blindside but can’t really be trusted, I feel, with the responsibilities that come with being at the back of the scrum.

It’s good that he gets another shot at it but I’m guessing if there was another obvious option at 8 in the squad – Broughton has been injured for most of the season so they don’t seem to think that he’s ready – he might not have started this game. It’s unfortunate that Malachi Wrampling-Alec is injured because I would’ve liked to have seen what he could do at this level.

[Bovidae]

Scotland look to be giving all players an opportunity, and will probably play a stronger team against Fiji.

[Piranha]

They need to beat Fiji and Samoa for the World Ranking points to get into the top 6 (currently 7th) for the World Cup draw, so the plan is obviously just to give most of the 2nd string a game in this one since it doesn't matter in terms of World Rankings.

[nostrildamus]

Māori ABs, ABs .. playing NZ teams doesn't seem to be the drawcard it used to be ...

[Duluth]

Kicking off soon

[African Monkey]

Great start! Sammy Nock on his home turf.

[KiwiMurph]

Day footy how good

[taniwharugby]

@KiwiMurph weather holding out...was shitty last night, thunderstorm cut power to most of whangarei last night for about an hour.

[Bones]

I hate this new "thing" where guys are allowed to dive past a ruck, go off their feet and make a "steal".

[Bones]

Did Nock take a knock? Really slow to get up from that last ruck, it's only 13 minutes in.

[Steven Harris]

Scots forwards are very clinical at breakdown
and they put a ton of heat when the MABs have the ball
Crowd in Whangarei strangely quiet

[KiwiMurph]

Looks like Scotland might have the wind

[Bones]

Wait, what? Diving on an emerging ball does exist then?

[Steven Harris]

💯..sun will be an issue in the 2nd half

[Steven Harris]

Scotland 9 is very good

[Piranha]

Scotland have built way more depth in the past 2-3 years with Glasgow becoming a consistent top team in the URC, not one of this 15 would start a Six Nations game.

Wasn't long ago the was nothing outside the best 10 players.

[KiwiMurph]

@Steven-Harris said in Māori All Blacks v Scotland:

Scotland 9 is very good

And there he goes

[Bones]

What the hell Forbes. Yuck

[Steven Harris]

That’s a try all day ,what the hell are we looking at ?

[taniwharugby]

@Steven-Harris interesting kicking style, very short and punchy