All Blacks v France I
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Ardie Savea’s 50 minutes at openside
The international game, both past and present, has seen a plethora of player-types occupying the 7-jersey in Test rugby. When asked in 2008 by World Rugby what exactly constituted an openside flanker, Josh Kronfeld gave a typically blunt answer: “You’ve got to have good handling skills, good vision, be a bit of mongrel. You want to be able to be doing stuff, grovelling on the ground as well as doing the airy fairy stuff upright with the ball in hand so you have to be pretty well rounded in terms of your rugby skills.”Within this broad range of skills, each seven will look for their own identity, whether it be through jackalling (Pocock), disrupting the breakdown (McCaw), being a defensive stopper (Dusautoir, Cane) or being a link-man on attack between forwards and backs (Michael Jones). Looking at Ardie Savea’s game, it is clear that he mostly belongs to this latter tradition of the offensive openside, who excels through his vision and support in attack.
This support play was quickly apparent against the French and was a feature throughout the game. In the 15th minute, from a scrum around the halfway line, the ABs break the line through a tidy set-piece move from midfield. After a quick recycle and with McKenzie at first receiver, Savea has positioned himself on the former’s inside shoulder, in perfect position for an inside pass and a potential linebreak. McKenzie chooses to go outside, though, the pass eventually being intercepted by an alert Attissogbe.
But what about some of these other core facets of openside play, the mongrel and the grovelling on the ground? Here, I think it’s fair to say that Savea was selective yet impactful. The breakdown, during Savea’s stint at openside, was relatively safe and quick, with 62% of the ruck speed between between 0-3 seconds. Only two ruck turnovers were conceded, both to diminutive winger, Gabin Villière. One, in the 6th minute, when Holland and Barrett couldn’t shift him and once more in the 45th minute, again beating Scott Barrett to the ball after a Roigard linebreak.
Was Savea at fault for these turnovers? Yes and no. Again, Savea was selective rather than omnipresent at the breakdown but he was effective when and where he cleaned. Here, in the 38th minute with the ABs on attack in the French 22, Savea puts in a strong shoulder, cleaning out a well-positioned Guillard, and preventing a certain turnover.
At other points, he was able to effectively slow down the French ball, by wrapping up the opposition ball carrier and disrupting the momentum of the French attack.
Savea worked well together with Lio-Willie during the first half, often combining in defence and attack as dual menaces around the ruck area
So why was he partially at fault for the Villière turnovers? While Savea certainly tried to fulfil his openside responsibilities to Test standard, during the opening stanza of the second half especially, he lost control of the balance between these responsibilities and his own specialty, the carrying game.
After another gruelling series of carries through the middle early in the second half, it quickly becomes apparent that Savea has overexerted himself. So when Cam Roigard wants to put pace in the attack by going for the quick tap, Savea no longer has the energy to follow him.
Savea, seen here farthest on the right, can’t keep up with the AB attackThe final 5 minutes of Savea’s stint at openside also equal his weakest. After being unable to keep up with Roigard, he compounds his fatigue-induced, erratic play by, first, being unable to close the defensive gap for the van Tonder linebreak, and then second, when defending the try-line in the subsequent phase, Savea allows Woki to go underneath him for the score.
Herein also lies the biggest ‘learning’ (apologies, I couldn’t resist!) for the flanker/number 8-hybrid. Savea hasn’t played openside at Test level for a number of years. Looking at this game, I think it’s reasonable to suggest that he has both the tools and the brain to ultimately be effective in the position. But what he will need to do, however, is make sure he finds the proper balance between his carrying game and his openside responsibilities, being careful not to blow his engine when racking up the carries into a crowded defence.
Having more carriers on the field - like Williams, Sititi and Taukei'aho - should at least help with this, so Savea isn't tempted to take up too much of the carrying load on his own shoulders. Then again, Savea needs to be smarter as well, and self-regulate his energy levels.
Tldr; Savea can be a 7 at Test level, in my view, as he has the tools and brain for the position but will need to be careful not to overexert himself with his carrying game, neglecting his openside duties.
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@mariner4life said in All Blacks v France I:
Firstly, pretty fun game of football. Both teams came yo play open footy when ever possible, and we got a lot of ball movement because of it.
Good mature win in the end. Take the points, recognise your dominance, grind it out.
Cheers to the French, a lot of those kids can fucking play.
For us, my main takeaway is, guess what, fotm means something. The guys who did good did good in super too. Those who battled? Guess what.
Same main weaknesses. Can't kick, can't hurt their ruck. Lose the air.
Some of our shape was gorgeous
I loved when we played direct
Set piece good.So many positives for week one.
What is this positive sorcery?
Did you miss the memo that it’s all doom and gloom. -
@pakman said in All Blacks v France I:
Plaudits to French XV.
Some uncommented on elements.
EDG very good at basics.
Vaa’i/Holland/Finau markedly more dynamic than the staring combo with Scooter.
Starting loosies didn’t gel. RD doesn’t give you much cleaning and only occasional jackalling, so the trio requires someone who does. Finishing 3 better but I’d say Paps/Finau/RD would have been much more balanced.
Back three much more dangerous with DMac at 15 and WillJ at 14.
The French close in defence had so much more ‘stopping power’ than ours. AND seemed to be well below head height.We saw the starting back 3 for all of 90 seconds together. I know we are into snap judgments and all that…..
Ardie is an interesting one because for Moana this season he did attack the breakdown like he did years ago. He was a real nuisance once it hit the deck. On attack the trio looked good I thought. We got a lot of quick ball which in my view meant players were doing well at ruck time.
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@ACT-Crusader Wasn’t only a reference to this match.
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@mariner4life It’s not the correct / incorrect that bothers me. It’s the watching the game in hundredths of a seconds inevitably leads to massive inconsistency. Just rewind the tape until you see something you don’t like. Or don’t. Or do. Or don’t.
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@mariner4life said in All Blacks v France I:
Negatives?
Our spine are dumb and why we struggle. 9, 10, 15. No control at all, no feel for tempo. Flat out, always. Playing for them must be exhausting.
Proctor was average at 13, but he'll he saved by the fact his most likely replacement was worst on ground. Ioane is cooked, get rid.
What the fuck do you fo either Ardie Savea? With ball in hand few are better. But in a test team? He's do selfish. He will actively avoid attacking rucks, so he can get the next run. At 7 he made no dent in the French breakdown.
I think it's a worry that the main problems I see are guys you know will get selected every week
Ioane does look cooked. Doesn’t pass or look to setup those around him. Was just running straight at defenders.
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@kev said in All Blacks v France I:
@mariner4life said in All Blacks v France I:
Negatives?
Our spine are dumb and why we struggle. 9, 10, 15. No control at all, no feel for tempo. Flat out, always. Playing for them must be exhausting.
Proctor was average at 13, but he'll he saved by the fact his most likely replacement was worst on ground. Ioane is cooked, get rid.
What the fuck do you fo either Ardie Savea? With ball in hand few are better. But in a test team? He's do selfish. He will actively avoid attacking rucks, so he can get the next run. At 7 he made no dent in the French breakdown.
I think it's a worry that the main problems I see are guys you know will get selected every week
Ioane does look cooked. Doesn’t pass or look to setup those around him. Was just running straight at defenders.
He is at that age unfortunately. How come other countries wingers last longer than ours ?
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@MN5 said in All Blacks v France I:
@kev said in All Blacks v France I:
@mariner4life said in All Blacks v France I:
Negatives?
Our spine are dumb and why we struggle. 9, 10, 15. No control at all, no feel for tempo. Flat out, always. Playing for them must be exhausting.
Proctor was average at 13, but he'll he saved by the fact his most likely replacement was worst on ground. Ioane is cooked, get rid.
What the fuck do you fo either Ardie Savea? With ball in hand few are better. But in a test team? He's do selfish. He will actively avoid attacking rucks, so he can get the next run. At 7 he made no dent in the French breakdown.
I think it's a worry that the main problems I see are guys you know will get selected every week
Ioane does look cooked. Doesn’t pass or look to setup those around him. Was just running straight at defenders.
He is at that age unfortunately. How come other countries wingers last longer than ours ?
I think it’s usually our so called power wingers who might start to drop away athletically and to go with that , there might be younger guys demanding pick me
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@MN5 said in All Blacks v France I:
@kev said in All Blacks v France I:
@mariner4life said in All Blacks v France I:
Negatives?
Our spine are dumb and why we struggle. 9, 10, 15. No control at all, no feel for tempo. Flat out, always. Playing for them must be exhausting.
Proctor was average at 13, but he'll he saved by the fact his most likely replacement was worst on ground. Ioane is cooked, get rid.
What the fuck do you fo either Ardie Savea? With ball in hand few are better. But in a test team? He's do selfish. He will actively avoid attacking rucks, so he can get the next run. At 7 he made no dent in the French breakdown.
I think it's a worry that the main problems I see are guys you know will get selected every week
Ioane does look cooked. Doesn’t pass or look to setup those around him. Was just running straight at defenders.
He is at that age unfortunately. How come other countries wingers last longer than ours ?
Cos they offer other skills - Rieko doesn't kick and doesn't have an aerial game
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@kiwiinmelb said in All Blacks v France I:
@MN5 said in All Blacks v France I:
@kev said in All Blacks v France I:
@mariner4life said in All Blacks v France I:
Negatives?
Our spine are dumb and why we struggle. 9, 10, 15. No control at all, no feel for tempo. Flat out, always. Playing for them must be exhausting.
Proctor was average at 13, but he'll he saved by the fact his most likely replacement was worst on ground. Ioane is cooked, get rid.
What the fuck do you fo either Ardie Savea? With ball in hand few are better. But in a test team? He's do selfish. He will actively avoid attacking rucks, so he can get the next run. At 7 he made no dent in the French breakdown.
I think it's a worry that the main problems I see are guys you know will get selected every week
Ioane does look cooked. Doesn’t pass or look to setup those around him. Was just running straight at defenders.
He is at that age unfortunately. How come other countries wingers last longer than ours ?
I think it’s usually our so called power wingers who might start to drop away athletically and to go with that , there might be younger guys demanding pick me
We had two of the best in Ben Smith and Corey Jane. Emoni Narawa looks like that type of balanced player.
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The focus on Rieko Ioane is frankly ludicrous. He's the least of our worries.
The loose forwards remain unbalanced, the defence again lets in too many tries and is just soak tackles. Support play is poor and we can't convert opportunities due to a lack of composure.
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@Nepia said in All Blacks v France I:
On the TMO, the much vaunted and favoured Saffas got a try rubbed out due to an obstruction that was probably less obvious than ours last night. It's just the way the game is reffed these days.
I genuinely have fallen out of love with the game.
I watch it on muscle memory alone these days.
The Lions tests are going to be a debacle. I can feel it in my waters.
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@Frank said in All Blacks v France I:
Rieko came on the scene with insane athleticism.
Fast, strong and elusive.Since then, he has not improved his kicking game, aerial game or passing game.
Yes.
In rugby as in any sport players whose best attributes are athleticism, speed etc age badly if they don't add to their repertoire because once they lose a bit of pace they can't reinvent themselves.
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@brodean said in All Blacks v France I:
The focus on Rieko Ioane is frankly ludicrous. He's the least of our worries.
The loose forwards remain unbalanced, the defence again lets in too many tries and is just soak tackles. Support play is poor and we can't convert opportunities due to a lack of composure.
We have no Pieter Steph and no Harry Wilson.
Lads who genuinely cherish a tackle and winding up for a big carry respectively.
Our loosies do both their defending and attacking from standing starts. There is no spite.
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@Jet said in All Blacks v France I:
@Nepia said in All Blacks v France I:
On the TMO, the much vaunted and favoured Saffas got a try rubbed out due to an obstruction that was probably less obvious than ours last night. It's just the way the game is reffed these days.
I genuinely have fallen out of love with the game.
I watch it on muscle memory alone these days.
The Lions tests are going to be a debacle. I can feel it in my waters.
I'm prepping for a spell out of the game if the NPC coverage decreases, plus I'm annoyed at Stan who are going to raise prices for English soccer coverage.
I'm tempted to go full angry old man and send strongly worded emails.
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Good post Mauss.
He has the tools but I don't think its in his nature. It's difficult to teach an old dog new tricks and I feel that at 31 that's his instinct.
The carry stats are wrong and where I think we struggled in the game. The highlighted should not be carrying that much considering their roles.
Top Carries
18 Ardie Savea
17 Damian Mckenzie
15 Will Jordan
14 Beauden Barrett
13 Fabian Holland
