Bledisloe II
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@wreck-diver said in Bledisloe II:
Gowden didn't pull any punches "Cheika must pay the price for a team whose appalling skill level makes a mockery of the professional footballer tag, and arrogant, holier-than-thou attitude does not warrant any respect from those sick and tired of a pedestrian outfit who constantly makes fools of themselves in the big games."
Just caught up with that article and even though it is written in a slightly sensationalist manner Growden makes some good points. Cheika's style isn't working. The players say they all buy in but to me they come across as puppets of the coach.
See how on the weekend, straight after the game Cheika was waffling on about letting things get to them when decisions didn't go their way. Personally, I couldn't see that. I didn't see any heads hanging or noticeably frustrated players but I'll give him the benefit of knowing the players better than I do.
What I did notice though was players talking to media a day later quoting this back as one of the issues but saying it came out as a player run hard look at what happened. Hmm looks to me like they were led by the nose to those conclusions. Not to mention that their coach is the worst in test rugby at visibly showing that decisions against him frustrate him. If he wants calmer heads on the field he needs to look in the mirror at the example he sets.
I don't think they really have the rugby brains in that team to self analyse but the coach then gets shown up as a fail because it is all on his shoulders.
I have no idea whether here are better options in the wings. I haven't seen any evidence of Larkham being what is needed but maybe he just needs the opportunity. If you had to pick from the current Super Rugby coaches you'd probably consider Wessels who at least manages to get some silk purses from sows ears occasionally -
@crucial said in Bledisloe II:
@wreck-diver said in Bledisloe II:
@mariner4life @Crucial Laumape came in as cover for SBW. Williams is back in training so Laumape for me goes back to Manawatu to work on his communication with his 1st 5. Doesnt play this weekend again maybe Tokyo.
I do admit that my theories are based on SBW not being available (thought he wasn't going to be if they are making noises about Aso).
If SBW comes back in then he's the direct replacement for Crotty.I do find it interesting Hansen talking about Aso, while he is injured, when SBW by all accounts is ready to come back and they have Laumape already in as cover...maybe they see Aso as this mid-field/wing player more than others?
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The All Blacks coach, a long-time admirer of the hard-running and uncapped Hurricanes player, said a day after the Bledisloe Cup defeat of the Wallabies in Sydney that Aso was in the running to provide cover after Ryan Crotty's head injury at ANZ Stadium. But the 23-year-old told Radio Sport yesterday he won't be available until at least November.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/sport/news/article.cfm?c_id=4&objectid=12110411
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@crucial said in Bledisloe II:
A question for the scrum club. In those early ones where Franks was just lying flat on the ground yet the Convicts were penalised, was that from the loosehead sliding up over his back? If so, it was a very good spot from Peyper because it looked like the only one going to ground was in black.
I commented on this during the match and was perplexed as to why Peyper didn't swap to the other side of the scrum to have a look.
Thinking back he penalised Kepu more that Robertson. Don't even know if he penalised Robertson.
In my non-front row eyes Franks was getting a schooling.
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@majorrage said in Bledisloe II:
@mariner4life said in Bledisloe II:
@crucial said in Bledisloe II:
@mariner4life said in Bledisloe II:
@crucial said in Bledisloe II:
@mariner4life said in Bledisloe II:
@crucial re laumape why play an inferior player for 2/4 of the game? That doesn't make sense
Depends on whether they view him as inferior and the gameplan in mind. I doubt they have him in the squad to carry bags and would be looking to put him on the field.
He's inferior
I have to agree. I'm an ALB fan. I just wonder if the attack may look at a change up in tactic to unsettle the Wobs rush defence. Tell Laumape to do the one thing he probably isn't inferior at which is hard angled running (at Beale/Foley)
I completely understand the reasoning there. I just think it's silly to pick a guy because he likes running in to people really hard.
The early version of Nonu was just that.
Which may go someway to explaining that it took until 2008 for Nonu to become a regular starter.
Having said that, I do really like Laumape and want to see him get a shot. He's pretty bloody quick too, so could well be fighting out ALB for his place. Which means he may get a shot this weekend on the bench.
People forget that back in the early days the knock on Nonu was that he was a greedy one trick pony who couldn't pass the ball. Amazing how he turned out a brilliant distributor, so there is opportunity for Laumape if he is willing to put in the work
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Regarding the calls to dump Cheika. Not sure he is doing that much worse than you'd expect.
The comparative record of recent Aus coaches is, thank you Mr Lassen.co.nz/pickandgo:
Coach P W D %
Cheika 49 25 2 53.06%
Mackenzie 22 11 1 52.27%
Deans 74 43 2 59.46%
Connolly 25 16 1 66.00%
Jones 57 33 1 58.77%
McQueen 43 34 1 80.23%overall 579 303 17 53.80%
So Cheik is basically running at the Wob's historical average.
(McQueen a ridiculous outlier.)
Which reinforces the question, as Crucial mentioned above, who is going to do better?
The last coach to win the Bled was Eddie (won 2-0 in 2001).
I'd dump him as he's a bad look for rugby with no immediate prospect for improvement.
But only if there is a better, or at least equal candidate.
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@mikethesnow listened to Craig Dowd on the radio yesterday and he felt that the ref got a few of the scrum penalty calls wrong and felt NZ was not as dominant at scrumtime as people thought.
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@booboo said in Bledisloe II:
Regarding the calls to dump Cheika. Not sure he is doing that much worse than you'd expect.
The comparative record of recent Aus coaches is, thank you Mr Lassen.co.nz/pickandgo:
Coach P W D %
Cheika 49 25 2 53.06%
Mackenzie 22 11 1 52.27%
Deans 74 43 2 59.46%
Connolly 25 16 1 66.00%
Jones 57 33 1 58.77%
McQueen 43 34 1 80.23%overall 579 303 17 53.80%
So Cheik is basically running at the Wob's historical average.
(McQueen a ridiculous outlier.)
Which reinforces the question, as Crucial mentioned above, who is going to do better?
The last coach to win the Bled was Eddie (won 2-0 in 2001).
I'd dump him as he's a bad look for rugby with no immediate prospect for improvement.
But only if there is a better, or at least equal candidate.
Why isn't Dwyer included? His record must have been decent from 90 onwards.
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I’m in two minds about dumping Krusty
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/sport/news/article.cfm?c_id=4&objectid=12110541
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@rancid-schnitzel said in Bledisloe II:
@booboo said in Bledisloe II:
Regarding the calls to dump Cheika. Not sure he is doing that much worse than you'd expect.
The comparative record of recent Aus coaches is, thank you Mr Lassen.co.nz/pickandgo:
Coach P W D %
Cheika 49 25 2 53.06%
Mackenzie 22 11 1 52.27%
Deans 74 43 2 59.46%
Connolly 25 16 1 66.00%
Jones 57 33 1 58.77%
McQueen 43 34 1 80.23%overall 579 303 17 53.80%
So Cheik is basically running at the Wob's historical average.
(McQueen a ridiculous outlier.)
Which reinforces the question, as Crucial mentioned above, who is going to do better?
The last coach to win the Bled was Eddie (won 2-0 in 2001).
I'd dump him as he's a bad look for rugby with no immediate prospect for improvement.
But only if there is a better, or at least equal candidate.
Why isn't Dwyer included? His record must have been decent from 90 onwards.
I only went back as far as McQueen, partly because that is the era Wob fans look at with rose tinted eye patches as being the norm.
The Lassen site actually has coach's records from the professional era (96 onwards) which is what I used (adjusted for draws not just wins), but I chose to ignore him as he is pretty forgettable.
Dwyer was back in the shamateur era.
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@booboo said in Bledisloe II:
@jegga as a NZer I'm happy to keep him. But if I was the ARU I'd be considering options.
I’ll miss him acting like a caged chimp in the coaches box but 2007 taught us even a complete also ran of a coach can get lucky .
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@booboo said in Bledisloe II:
@rancid-schnitzel said in Bledisloe II:
@booboo said in Bledisloe II:
Regarding the calls to dump Cheika. Not sure he is doing that much worse than you'd expect.
The comparative record of recent Aus coaches is, thank you Mr Lassen.co.nz/pickandgo:
Coach P W D %
Cheika 49 25 2 53.06%
Mackenzie 22 11 1 52.27%
Deans 74 43 2 59.46%
Connolly 25 16 1 66.00%
Jones 57 33 1 58.77%
McQueen 43 34 1 80.23%overall 579 303 17 53.80%
So Cheik is basically running at the Wob's historical average.
(McQueen a ridiculous outlier.)
Which reinforces the question, as Crucial mentioned above, who is going to do better?
The last coach to win the Bled was Eddie (won 2-0 in 2001).
I'd dump him as he's a bad look for rugby with no immediate prospect for improvement.
But only if there is a better, or at least equal candidate.
Why isn't Dwyer included? His record must have been decent from 90 onwards.
I only went back as far as McQueen, partly because that is the era Wob fans look at with rose tinted eye patches as being the norm.
The Lassen site actually has coach's records from the professional era (96 onwards) which is what I used (adjusted for draws not just wins), but I chose to ignore him as he is pretty forgettable.
Dwyer was back in the shamateur era.
Doh. I thought Jones was the shock jock one. Of course it's Steady Eddie.
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Nothing will happen before the World Cup but we will keep seeing these types of articles if they keep losing.
The pressure will ratchet up if they lose to the Boks or Argies at home more so than what happened on the weekend.
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@mariner4life said in Bledisloe II:
@crucial said in Bledisloe II:
@mariner4life said in Bledisloe II:
@crucial said in Bledisloe II:
@mariner4life said in Bledisloe II:
Given how good Smith was at fullback i am loath to move him. The selectors picked wingers, use them. If they aren't good enough why did you pick them?
So are you think NMS comes in?
Yep. That's the bed they made
I wouldn't argue with that, just wonder how they are planning on using JB and fitting him into longer term plans. He isn't a winger and they don't rate him as a midfielder.
He's the 2nd best fullback. He needs to wait until Smith can't play.
BFA stinking up the joint on the wing and then playing that house down at 15 has hurt Jordie's chances of making the 23. But our wing options are so dire at the moment. I'm pretty torn on who they should play as I don't think NMS should be in the squad at all, but as you say they picked him so it'd be pretty silly not to play him given injuries.
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@crucial said in Bledisloe II:
So are you think NMS comes in?
While this seems to be the logical choice I'm not so sure now after Hansen's comments about NMS. He said that game-time was the best thing for him right now.
I'm in the camp that prefers BFA at fullback but if NMS has been told to stay at Manawatu for another week than it's either JB or DMac at fullback. DMac is definitely the better impact player of the two so would probably remain on the bench. He's also been used on the wing previously if there was a backline reshuffle.
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@bovidae said in Bledisloe II:
@crucial said in Bledisloe II:
So are you think NMS comes in?
While this seems to be the logical choice I'm not so sure now after Hansen's comments about NMS. He said that game-time was the best thing for him right now.
I'm in the camp that prefers BFA at fullback but if NMS has been told to stay at Manawatu for another week than it's either JB or DMac at fullback. DMac is definitely the better impact player of the two so would probably remain on the bench. He's also been used on the wing previously if there was a backline reshuffle.
If you are right about NMS then i totally agree with your selections. It's also a black mark on the selectors if they have picked a squad, but don't actually want some to play. If NMS isn't good enough, then he shouldn't be there.
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I agree that Smith is the best fullback ,
But the selectors have a duty to pick the best team , or in this case the best back 3 available as a collective unit .
Got a sneaky suspicion we might see dmac not Jordie start this one , with Richie given a bench spot
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I'd be awfully surprised if they selected anything other than the best possible team. Time for opportunities will come against Argentina, especially at home.
