All Blacks v France Test 3
-
NZ forward pack does indeed remind me of those fairly limp efforts in the early noughties when we lost often enough vs Australia. Retallick & Read make such a difference: players like L Whitelock and Fafita just offer minimal power.
Front row - unchanged, although Karl T has been fairly impressive. They could stick Toomaga-Allen in the reserves I suppose
Locks - unchanged, no better options
Backrow - a crying shame Taufau won't get a chance. Maybe too short, but go-forward wouldn't be an issue. They should stick Frizell on the bench ahead of FafitaHalves: Give TTT a bench spot, let Mounga start
Midfield: Please, PLEASE, give Goodhue a shot. Either with SBW or else Laumape
Outsides: Naholo ahead of BFA, maybe NMS on the bench? -
At least they don't have to focus on the mental side of the game by trying to back up a good performance...
If this was RWC2019, we wouldn't see the All Blacks in the final.
-
@billy-tell Absolutely, I was looking for Todd Blackadder and Dave Hewitt out there.
-
@billy-tell said in All Blacks v France Test 3:
NZ forward pack does indeed remind me of those fairly limp efforts in the early noughties when we lost often enough vs Australia. Retallick & Read make such a difference: players like L Whitelock and Fafita just offer minimal power.
Front row - unchanged, although Karl T has been fairly impressive. They could stick Toomaga-Allen in the reserves I suppose
Locks - unchanged, no better options
Backrow - a crying shame Taufau won't get a chance. Maybe too short, but go-forward wouldn't be an issue. They should stick Frizell on the bench ahead of FafitaHalves: Give TTT a bench spot, let Mounga start
Midfield: Please, PLEASE, give Goodhue a shot. Either with SBW or else Laumape
Outsides: Naholo ahead of BFA, maybe NMS on the bench?He's ridiculously athletic and powerful, perhaps you mean accuracy?
-
@mn5 said in All Blacks v France Test 3:
@billy-tell said in All Blacks v France Test 3:
NZ forward pack does indeed remind me of those fairly limp efforts in the early noughties when we lost often enough vs Australia. Retallick & Read make such a difference: players like L Whitelock and Fafita just offer minimal power.
Front row - unchanged, although Karl T has been fairly impressive. They could stick Toomaga-Allen in the reserves I suppose
Locks - unchanged, no better options
Backrow - a crying shame Taufau won't get a chance. Maybe too short, but go-forward wouldn't be an issue. They should stick Frizell on the bench ahead of FafitaHalves: Give TTT a bench spot, let Mounga start
Midfield: Please, PLEASE, give Goodhue a shot. Either with SBW or else Laumape
Outsides: Naholo ahead of BFA, maybe NMS on the bench?He's ridiculously athletic and powerful, perhaps you mean accuracy?
Athletic yes, but powerful? I haven't seen any evidence of it.
-
@pukunui said in All Blacks v France Test 3:
@mn5 said in All Blacks v France Test 3:
@billy-tell said in All Blacks v France Test 3:
NZ forward pack does indeed remind me of those fairly limp efforts in the early noughties when we lost often enough vs Australia. Retallick & Read make such a difference: players like L Whitelock and Fafita just offer minimal power.
Front row - unchanged, although Karl T has been fairly impressive. They could stick Toomaga-Allen in the reserves I suppose
Locks - unchanged, no better options
Backrow - a crying shame Taufau won't get a chance. Maybe too short, but go-forward wouldn't be an issue. They should stick Frizell on the bench ahead of FafitaHalves: Give TTT a bench spot, let Mounga start
Midfield: Please, PLEASE, give Goodhue a shot. Either with SBW or else Laumape
Outsides: Naholo ahead of BFA, maybe NMS on the bench?He's ridiculously athletic and powerful, perhaps you mean accuracy?
Athletic yes, but powerful? I haven't seen any evidence of it.
Not tonight but he tramples tacklers for fun sometimes. Hansen said he's one of the best athletes he's ever worked with.
-
@mn5 said in All Blacks v France Test 3:
@pukunui said in All Blacks v France Test 3:
@mn5 said in All Blacks v France Test 3:
@billy-tell said in All Blacks v France Test 3:
NZ forward pack does indeed remind me of those fairly limp efforts in the early noughties when we lost often enough vs Australia. Retallick & Read make such a difference: players like L Whitelock and Fafita just offer minimal power.
Front row - unchanged, although Karl T has been fairly impressive. They could stick Toomaga-Allen in the reserves I suppose
Locks - unchanged, no better options
Backrow - a crying shame Taufau won't get a chance. Maybe too short, but go-forward wouldn't be an issue. They should stick Frizell on the bench ahead of FafitaHalves: Give TTT a bench spot, let Mounga start
Midfield: Please, PLEASE, give Goodhue a shot. Either with SBW or else Laumape
Outsides: Naholo ahead of BFA, maybe NMS on the bench?He's ridiculously athletic and powerful, perhaps you mean accuracy?
Athletic yes, but powerful? I haven't seen any evidence of it.
Not tonight but he tramples tacklers for fun sometimes. Hansen said he's one of the best athletes he's ever worked with.
He runs around lots of people but i haven't really seen him display any sort of power game at any level. Certainly not on defence.
-
@pukunui said in All Blacks v France Test 3:
@mn5 said in All Blacks v France Test 3:
@pukunui said in All Blacks v France Test 3:
@mn5 said in All Blacks v France Test 3:
@billy-tell said in All Blacks v France Test 3:
NZ forward pack does indeed remind me of those fairly limp efforts in the early noughties when we lost often enough vs Australia. Retallick & Read make such a difference: players like L Whitelock and Fafita just offer minimal power.
Front row - unchanged, although Karl T has been fairly impressive. They could stick Toomaga-Allen in the reserves I suppose
Locks - unchanged, no better options
Backrow - a crying shame Taufau won't get a chance. Maybe too short, but go-forward wouldn't be an issue. They should stick Frizell on the bench ahead of FafitaHalves: Give TTT a bench spot, let Mounga start
Midfield: Please, PLEASE, give Goodhue a shot. Either with SBW or else Laumape
Outsides: Naholo ahead of BFA, maybe NMS on the bench?He's ridiculously athletic and powerful, perhaps you mean accuracy?
Athletic yes, but powerful? I haven't seen any evidence of it.
Not tonight but he tramples tacklers for fun sometimes. Hansen said he's one of the best athletes he's ever worked with.
He runs around lots of people but i haven't really seen him display any sort of power game at any level. Certainly not on defence.
Agree re the defence unfortunately
-
-
@tim said in All Blacks v France Test 3:
What we would give for Luatua at 8.
Maybe you shouldn't have been such a prick, eh Steve?
Just where is Brad Shields when you need him...
-
@tim said in All Blacks v France Test 3:
What we would give for Luatua at 8.
Maybe you shouldn't have been such a prick, eh Steve?
Is that why he didn't make the team more often?
-
When you have the likes of Whitelock, Crotty and Cane, 3 players who usually consistently maintain high standards playing as poorly as they did, you know things are bad, I expect BBBR only looks better as he didn't play, if he did I don't doubt he'd of been dragged down along with pretty much everyone else.
I guess the only consolation is, if it was that bad, surely they can ONLY improve next week.
With SBW fit, I expect they will slot him straight back in, which is rough on Laumape who probably deserves a start, but I'd love to see them give ALB a rest and put Goodhue alongside SBW.
If BB is not right then surely Mounga starts, maybe give BFA a week off and put Naholo on.
Not really any realistic and worthwhile changes to that pack that can be made, think it's as close to as good as we can do right now...
-
@victor-meldrew said in All Blacks v France Test 3:
@tim said in All Blacks v France Test 3:
What we would give for Luatua at 8.
Maybe you shouldn't have been such a prick, eh Steve?
Just where is Brad Shields when you need him...
Dropping balls over the tryline in South Africa.
We did warn Eddie but he wouldn’t listen.
-
@crucial said in All Blacks v France Test 3:
Dropping balls over the tryline in South Africa.
Highest profile he had in the whole game... bet he regrets the "I've always felt English" media bollocks after that crap Bloemfontein performance.
-
@victor-meldrew said in All Blacks v France Test 3:
@crucial said in All Blacks v France Test 3:
Dropping balls over the tryline in South Africa.
Highest profile he had in the whole game... bet he regrets the "I've always felt English" media bollocks after that crap Bloemfontein performance.
To be fair, he did mention chip butties. He just needed someone to tell him to wash his hands afterwards. All that dripping makes the ball a bit difficult to hold on to.
-
@taniwharugby said in All Blacks v France Test 3:
When you have the likes of Whitelock, Crotty and Cane, 3 players who usually consistently maintain high standards playing as poorly as they did, you know things are bad,
Crotty does worry me because I'm not convinced his head has been right (medically) for a while now. Would like to see SBW alongside ALB next week.
The other two, along with Moody and Franks, I'm not too bothered about - they're working their way back from playing bugger all rugby in recent times. They'll peak mid-RC.
-
Bit of a different feel this close to a WC , not saying its doom and gloom , far from it ,
but the last couple , things have felt more settled selection wise
-
