AB's v Wales
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Never in doubt.
Wales played a little better than I thought they would. We played about expected. Some really good stuff and some messy.
On Barnes, usually don’t mind his reffing, but today I thought his reffing of the breakdown was all over the show. I thought we were robbed of a number of penalties when we were on the ball and Wales never released. He finally gave Todd one, but I counted at least 4 others previous to that, that were similar but went unrewarded.
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Thought Cane, Ioane and Todd all excellent.
Whitelock (S) and ALB very good. ALB seems to be building some excellent rapport with Ioane, but maybe could lose a few pounds. Nice cameo for Lima.
Our kick receipt was dire: a real weakness.
Pat T and Laulala were pretty anonymous and scrum improved noticeably when they left. Only noticed Squire after halftime. Ofa did add some impetus, but Wales controlled him well.
Naholo and SBW a mix of very good and bad. Dmac mainly good.
I'd say Crotty at 13 is excellent defensively and he keeps backline in shape. Offensively things were better with ALB.
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I think moving forward I would start ALB, just seems to offer more on attack than Crotty, plus he does not get injured. Crotty is very good and does tough stuff but ALB (when he starts) makes us look more fluid.
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@pakman said in AB's v Wales:
I'd say Crotty at 13 is excellent defensively and he keeps backline in shape. Offensively things were better with ALB.
Maybe that’s because while Crotty was still there we didn’t have any possession to be offensive with.
SBW seemed to play a better game with ALB there though. Much more direct, and in fact once he got over his early yips I thought he was v good today. He really put his body on the line a couple of times including one dive on a bobbling ball that was incredibly ballsy.
I like the back row combo of Cane-Todd-Squire. All three out in some punishing work on defence in the second half and as a unit they seemed very quick to ball carrier and breakdown. We need to find ways to have Cane and Todd on the field together. I’m amazed at how hard Cane was going at the end considering what he’d done in the previous 80mins.
The highlight for me was calling for another scrum when our senior lock was off the field and we’d just won a penalty from the previous 7 v 8 scrum, and scoring off it. That’s got to mess with the opposition’s heads. Old Aura must be on 250+ caps by now.
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@98blueandgold said in AB's v Wales:
I think moving forward I would start ALB, just seems to offer more on attack than Crotty, plus he does not get injured. Crotty is very good and does tough stuff but ALB (when he starts) makes us look more fluid.
Interesting. I'd say ALB was the biggest regresser this year. Was good in game 1 v Samoa and game 17 v Wales. Not good in between.
He'll get plenty of chances next 2 years anyway.
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@rapido i agree he has regressed, but is that because he has not started? i have said before if he is not playing 60min + there is not much point having ALB in squad, I would have Laumape for impact.
Crotty is very good, but either Crotty ALB or my pick Sonny and ALB for me is better. ALB is just more athletic, has offloading game etc. Game seems to flow more when he is playing. But there will be a reason the coaches don;t start him. -
@stargazer said in AB's v Wales:
Great try saving tackles from BB and Todd.
Todd missed the tackle not long before right in front of our posts that put us under pressure too.
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@act-crusader said in AB's v Wales:
On Barnes, usually don’t mind his reffing, but today I thought his reffing of the breakdown was all over the show. I thought we were robbed of a number of penalties when we were on the ball and Wales never released. He finally gave Todd one, but I counted at least 4 others previous to that, that were similar but went unrewarded.
And Todd could have been penalised there, as he had his hands on the ground first. The breakdown is still a mess so I don't envy the refs.
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@chimoaus said in AB's v Wales:
Is there a motm thread this week?
Read my mind because I want to vote for the Canes. There was definitely more than one on the field. A McAwe-esque performance.
Rieko is amazing - all the skills and speed needed from a wing but some extras like a centre.
Also thought ALB was really good.
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@jc I also thought there was a massive lift when Todd came on. Cane plays like a 7/6 anyway and Squire maybe is better at 8 (I thought LW was very quiet, slow for test rugby? and Squire was quiet in first half). Poor Pat T, could not get into it, but Sam Whitelock was magnificent, like Cane. And Naholo was great (like Ione). Strange we don't normally rely on our 2 wings so much especially considering how slow the ball was in the midfield (you can decide if that was the fault of 9 10 or 12).
NB Taylor was very good, again. OTA still worries me when he comes on, big tough unit be can be brainless at times.
But our 15 still worries me, not always well placed, some strange kicks and does not have the mass for dominant tackles. If he is going to be a 10, sub him on at 10. 15 won't prepare him for 10. -
@rocky-rockbottom
Scotty B > Pat T -
Since when do we need fullbacks to make dominant tackles?
Compared to Dagg, McKenzie is a tackling genius.
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WTF? Another one?
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/rugby/news/article.cfm?c_id=80&objectid=11948058&ref=rss
"That might be four cases we've had and all of them have been vaccinated," Hansen said. "I learnt something the other day about that – they combined the vaccines with the measles and it's not so effective. If you're between the ages of eight and 30 you're vulnerable so I'm just missing out."More reason for concern:
Hansen also confirmed captain Kieran Read continued to battle the debilitating disc issue in his back which ruled him out of the Welsh test and confined him to a bed during the backend of the week. -
