Comedy gold from the Walrus
-
@nepia said in Comedy gold from the Walrus:
@rancid-schnitzel said in Comedy gold from the Walrus:
@nepia said in Comedy gold from the Walrus:
@act-crusader said in Comedy gold from the Walrus:
15 Stephen Larkham
As someone with ACT in the name I'm unsure why you would include Larkham in this team? He was a fullback who converted to 10 not the other way around.
And a damn good fullback at that. I remember there was a fair bit of controversy when he was moved to 10 because he was considered such a good 15.
Yep, there were also few doubters about his abilities as a 10 too due to his seeming lack of kicking skills back then.
Isn't it hailed as a Macqueen master stroke but the reality is they had no one else at the time?
I recall it being the considered a massive risk. No one else had done the job properly. Flatley, Drahm and Edwards were wildly inconsistent. They'd even given Horan a go at 10. Knox (ACT) was probably the best Aus 10 in 1997, but wasn't selected until the final game.
Just thinking back, Larkham was a really farking good 15.
-
@sparky not sure the RWC was the 'pinnacle' until probably 1999, that said, even now I am not sold that you can judge players career on thier RWC performances.
Plenty of our great players never managed to win a RWC, but I dont judge them on that.
Blanco was a favorite of mine growing up, but I'm not ashamed to say that when Cully hit the scene, he was my fave player, up there with McCaw, BBBR. I worked in a sports shop at the time, and when suppliers gave us promotional stuff, the Cully stuff got the most prominant place in the store.
In thier respective eras, in thier positions, peerless, you could argue Blanco may have become a better player had he playe din the professional era, or Cully with all his natural talent would have been an even bigger 'freak' as an amateur.
-
@taniwharugby said in Comedy gold from the Walrus:
@sparky not sure the RWC was the 'pinnacle' until probably 1999, that said, even now I am not sold that you can judge players career on thier RWC performances.
Plenty of our great players never managed to win a RWC, but I dont judge them on that.
Blanco was a favorite of mine growing up, but I'm not ashamed to say that when Cully hit the scene, he was my fave player, up there with McCaw, BBBR. I worked in a sports shop at the time, and when suppliers gave us promotional stuff, the Cully stuff got the most prominant place in the store.
In thier respective eras, in thier positions, peerless, you could argue Blanco may have become a better player had he playe din the professional era, or Cully with all his natural talent would have been an even bigger 'freak' as an amateur.
I saw Cully on TV and live throughout his career. The guy was a physical freak and would have been great in any era
-
@canefan said in Comedy gold from the Walrus:
@taniwharugby said in Comedy gold from the Walrus:
@sparky not sure the RWC was the 'pinnacle' until probably 1999, that said, even now I am not sold that you can judge players career on thier RWC performances.
Plenty of our great players never managed to win a RWC, but I dont judge them on that.
Blanco was a favorite of mine growing up, but I'm not ashamed to say that when Cully hit the scene, he was my fave player, up there with McCaw, BBBR. I worked in a sports shop at the time, and when suppliers gave us promotional stuff, the Cully stuff got the most prominant place in the store.
In thier respective eras, in thier positions, peerless, you could argue Blanco may have become a better player had he playe din the professional era, or Cully with all his natural talent would have been an even bigger 'freak' as an amateur.
I saw Cully on TV and live throughout his career. The guy was a physical freak and would have been great in any era
Couldn't agree more. Having him and Jonah playing at the same time was beyond awesome.
-
@mn5 said in Comedy gold from the Walrus:
@canefan said in Comedy gold from the Walrus:
@taniwharugby said in Comedy gold from the Walrus:
@sparky not sure the RWC was the 'pinnacle' until probably 1999, that said, even now I am not sold that you can judge players career on thier RWC performances.
Plenty of our great players never managed to win a RWC, but I dont judge them on that.
Blanco was a favorite of mine growing up, but I'm not ashamed to say that when Cully hit the scene, he was my fave player, up there with McCaw, BBBR. I worked in a sports shop at the time, and when suppliers gave us promotional stuff, the Cully stuff got the most prominant place in the store.
In thier respective eras, in thier positions, peerless, you could argue Blanco may have become a better player had he playe din the professional era, or Cully with all his natural talent would have been an even bigger 'freak' as an amateur.
I saw Cully on TV and live throughout his career. The guy was a physical freak and would have been great in any era
Couldn't agree more. Having him and Jonah playing at the same time was beyond awesome.
It was beyond criminal that the Canes could hitch a halfway decent pack and a quality 10 to those two. We were totally stacked in the backs then
-
@victor-meldrew said in Comedy gold from the Walrus:
I can't leave out JPR Williams - along with Cullen and Blanco the best 15's I've seen - who had probably the best defence of the lot
Good enough to play a test at 7 for Wales
-
On Cullen, this was the first match I saw him play (a curtainraiser to a Waikato-Otago game in 1993). I really only remember 2 things about the game: (1) the Northern Region U19s won big, and (2) Cullen was the best player on the field. Not many future ABs in either team (2 each). A typo for the Central no.14 too I see.
-
@bovidae said in Comedy gold from the Walrus:
On Cullen, this was the first match I saw him play (a curtainraiser to a Waikato-Otago game in 1993). I really only remember 2 things about the game: (1) the Northern Region U19s won big, and (2) Cullen was the best player on the field. Not many future ABs in either team (2 each). A typo for the Central no.14 too I see.
James Kern probably has to pay for pints of CD in Christchurch unlike the guy who scored the winning try in 98.
-
@canefan said in Comedy gold from the Walrus:
@mn5 said in Comedy gold from the Walrus:
Gone too soon 15....feel free to add
1
2 Dave Gallagher
3 John Drake
4 Aaron Hopa
5 Dylan Mika
6 Jerry Collins
7 Ruben Kruger
8 Sione Lauaki
9 Joost Van der Westhuizen
10
11 Jonah Lomu
12
13
14 Norm Berryman
15 Jarrod CunninghamMy loose forward reserve in this team would be Akira Ioane I assume he must have passed away as I don't watch the blues and haven't seen him in black. Could have been a great AB
-
@nepia said in Comedy gold from the Walrus:
@act-crusader said in Comedy gold from the Walrus:
15 Stephen Larkham
As someone with ACT in the name I'm unsure why you would include Larkham in this team? He was a fullback who converted to 10 not the other way around.
As a schoolboy and in ACT club rugby he was a utility back and played in different positions. Got a shot on the wing for the Wallabies as well. He has played some 15,10 and even 12 at national level.
-
@act-crusader said in Comedy gold from the Walrus:
@nepia said in Comedy gold from the Walrus:
@act-crusader said in Comedy gold from the Walrus:
15 Stephen Larkham
As someone with ACT in the name I'm unsure why you would include Larkham in this team? He was a fullback who converted to 10 not the other way around.
As a schoolboy and in ACT club rugby he was a utility back and played in different positions. Got a shot on the wing for the Wallabies as well. He has played some 15,10 and even 12 at national level.
Pffft, we're not talking about schoolboy and bum fuck Canberra club rugby here!
-
Point is that whilst Macqueen gets plaudits for moving Larkham to 10, those that had seen him play earlier in his career knew that Bernie had an array of skills that would translate to running the cutter. It was hardly the shock that people make out.
The concerns about his kicking game were pretty laughable given some of the other guys playing 10 in Australia at the time weren’t much better than Larkham.
-
@act-crusader said in Comedy gold from the Walrus:
Point is that whilst Macqueen gets plaudits for moving Larkham to 10, those that had seen him play earlier in his career knew that Bernie had an array of skills that would translate to running the cutter. It was hardly the shock that people make out.
The concerns about his kicking game were pretty laughable given some of the other guys playing 10 in Australia at the time weren’t much better than Larkham.
I think Nepia's point is that while the other players in that team were decidedly ordinary when played out of position, Larkham was anything but.
Edit: Kahui was actually a good winger, but the point is that Larkham broke through as a 15 and was first selected for the Wallabies in that position.
-
-
@crucial For me, Jeff Wilson was at his best on the Right Wing supporting the break or the kick ahead.
08:35 is IMHO the best try of all time. The South African defence does not much wrong, but Wilson scores untouched. Timing of the pass from Cullen and the execution of the kick from Wilson at pace are both perfect.
-
@sparky I agree. That's why I suggested that in @ACT-Crusader s 'Out of position' XV he be put in place of Larkham at 15.
Those decisions in 99 really were crazy but in a way were ahead of their time. We don't blink an eye at interchangeable fullback/wings these days and select many players on their ability to perform in multiple roles.
-
@crucial said in Comedy gold from the Walrus:
Those decisions in 99 really were crazy but in a way were ahead of their time. We don't blink an eye at interchangeable fullback/wings these days and select many players on their ability to perform in multiple roles.
The Larkham move would have been a lot more interesting if Australia had not been ridiculously blessed with non-first-five goalkickers during his tenure. Burke, Mortlock, Roff, Eales all legitimately held their spot as starters and plenty of utility guys were coming off the bench (Rogers, Flatley, Giteau, Walker). In another era that flaw would have put them in a much more compromising position.
It's hard to even imagine but - if say Carter was every bit the player he was but without the ability to goal kick how different selections and some players careers would have been during his tenure.
-
@crucial said in Comedy gold from the Walrus:
@sparky I agree. That's why I suggested that in @ACT-Crusader s 'Out of position' XV he be put in place of Larkham at 15.
Those decisions in 99 really were crazy but in a way were ahead of their time. We don't blink an eye at interchangeable fullback/wings these days and select many players on their ability to perform in multiple roles.
Hmmm... Wright, Timu, Umaga were all happily lining up at the back or on the wing well before 99....
-
@bones said in Comedy gold from the Walrus:
@crucial said in Comedy gold from the Walrus:
@sparky I agree. That's why I suggested that in @ACT-Crusader s 'Out of position' XV he be put in place of Larkham at 15.
Those decisions in 99 really were crazy but in a way were ahead of their time. We don't blink an eye at interchangeable fullback/wings these days and select many players on their ability to perform in multiple roles.
Hmmm... Wright, Timu, Umaga were all happily lining up at the back or on the wing well before 99....
Jeff Wilson was the first one that sprung to mind when I read that.
