All Blacks v Tonga
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I think Rieko's shift to centre has come a few years too early. We are far better off utilising his pace off the mark, power and footwork on the wing while he is still young.
He was carrying an injury in 2019 and then seemed to want to move in after that, but he appears to he back to fill fitness now. If I was the AB coaches I'd be saying to him we need you on the wing, but behind the scenes we will continue to develop you as a centre and move you in during the 2nd half in tests where appropriate to gain experience there.
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@no-quarter not a fan of moving players in from the outsides during a game, that's a defence risk, much prefer the other way. Last year Rieko would've been perfect off the bench, but he's too dangerous now to leave out.
Would be interesting to see him in combination with Havili.
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@pukunui said in All Blacks v Tonga:
I actually had a similar thought during the game. That maybe Bridge would make a better midfielder than wing. Similar style to Crotty. Not particularly fast or dynamic but just dare i say it…..safe.
Don't give Foster ideas. The last thing we need is 5 more years of experimentation at 12 & 13.
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@crazy-horse said in All Blacks v Tonga:
For the big games I think our best hooe is for one of the two new 12s to demand selection so ALB can be at 13 and Rieko at 11.
I think Reiko has grown a lot at 13 and if DH gets chance at 12 against Fiji and does well, I can see the midfield choice being ALB, RI, DH and a fit Goodhue.
ALB would be first pick, but what is his position and best partner in midfield?
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@victor-meldrew would like to see more of Peter umaga jenson aswell
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@jk said in All Blacks v Tonga:
@tim said in All Blacks v Tonga:
NZ TAB has the spread at 79.5 points. If the weather's good they should cover that easily.
Opened at 73.5 mate.....quick to snap that up
And the -99.5 at $9 was a steal too on reflection! Think it closed around $6-7
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@pukunui said in All Blacks v Tonga:
@chris-b said in All Blacks v Tonga:
@pukunui said in All Blacks v Tonga:
The fact he was given a rating of 9 in that player rating article just demonstrates the poor quality of journalism in NZ.
Though to be frank, it's more accurate than the collective pile-in that went on on here. Reading this thread you would have thought you were watching a meltdown of Colin Farrell proportions.
Yeah maybe, but a group of unpaid, old/youth adjacent blokes posing as experts on an internet forum should be given a bit more slack than someone claiming to be a sports journalist.
A 5 or 6 is probably fair when compared to what others got.
So the score of 9 was 3-4 too high.
Tsf probably 3-4 too low if the comments reflect a score of 1 or 2.He was given Equal lowest 6 on the stuff version
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Well was a game of popcorn rugby in the end and felt rather sorry for Tonga. you would hope that things might change in the future so they can field their best team but unfortunately we all know that wont happen anytime soon...
Things just went from bad to worse for Tonga and for some reason kept kicking the ball when they couldn't even win their own lineouts - let alone one against the throw.
Hard to take much out of it for the AB's but I was impressed by the forwards ability to offload and despite the dreadful tackling the support play was excellent, someone would make a break and there would be 3,4,5 players there in support.
Good to see young players get a go and perform and while you can say "it's a good start" we still have no idea how they will perform under pressure.
Good mental strength from the AB's to keep the donut, which is probably the most pleasing aspect of the game you can take out of a game like that..
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@windows97 said in All Blacks v Tonga:
Good to see young players get a go and perform and while you can say "it's a good start" we still have no idea how they will perform under pressure.
True. Even I couldn't find a reason to really shit on Finlay's debut. But all players should've performed well given the unfortunate state off the opposition.
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@mn5 said in All Blacks v Tonga:
@mikethesnow said in All Blacks v Tonga:
Scroll up. I already shared this.
Oh, so NOW you're all anti- people posting images that other people have already done?
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@mn5 said in All Blacks v Tonga:
@mikethesnow said in All Blacks v Tonga:
Scroll up. I already shared this.
Fuck I went back over 100 posts
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@kruse said in All Blacks v Tonga:
@mn5 said in All Blacks v Tonga:
@mikethesnow said in All Blacks v Tonga:
Scroll up. I already shared this.
Oh, so NOW you're all anti- people posting images that other people have already done?
At least it wasn't that mike had already shared it...
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@kruse said in All Blacks v Tonga:
@mn5 said in All Blacks v Tonga:
@mikethesnow said in All Blacks v Tonga:
Scroll up. I already shared this.
Oh, so NOW you're all anti- people posting images that other people have already done?
I’m glad you see the irony….anyway don’t you have movies to watch ?
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@mn5 said in All Blacks v Tonga:
@kruse said in All Blacks v Tonga:
@mn5 said in All Blacks v Tonga:
@mikethesnow said in All Blacks v Tonga:
Scroll up. I already shared this.
Oh, so NOW you're all anti- people posting images that other people have already done?
I’m glad you see the irony….anyway don’t you have movies to watch ?
<shoulders slump>.... yeah, I watched fucking Primal last night. I need some time to recover my wits, so to speak.
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I think the coments from the Tongan management need to be read by a fair few people https://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/rugby/all-blacks/300349673/why-tongan-rugby-players-paid-for-quarantine-costs-ahead-of-all-blacks-test
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@machpants happy to hear NZR helped out and full credit to those players that are paying for quarantine out f their own pocket jst for the honour of playing for their nation
pretty shit thats how bad things are for the PI national teams
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@machpants you gotta love Stuff that the photo they use of Ben T is him getting a YC 6 years ago for the Mooloo.
