All Blacks vs Fiji 2
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It always helps when Akira's in the starting lineup. He sorted the Pumas out last year when he came in and did much the same last night. Jacobsen was also very strong and worked well with Ioane, where both were stopping the Fiji ball carriers in their tracks. I'm definitely on the Jacobsen bandwagon for the time being, he reminds me of a young Kieran Read style wise. Would like to carry Papali'i off the bench for the Aussie test as he can cover all 3 backrow positions, with the same back row.
I know its only 25 mins against a tiring Fiji pack, but Taukei'aho is certainly one to watch. He could become a regular in the matchday 23 in the not too distant future. Scott Barrett has definitely gone ahead of Tuipulotu as well in the lock department. He gives away penalties at times, but his wor in the tight is more effective than Tuipulotu at this level. Tuipulotu needs to go back to his old role in the side which is a 15-20 minute impact player as he is no starter at this level sadly.
In the backs, I like Havili at 12. He's certainly the most rounded midfielder in the country as he's light on his feet, has the ability to crash and play as another playmaker. If they're gonna keep starting Mo'unga, I feel that Havili has to start outside him. He has the ability to take the pressure off Mo'unga and they've played more than enough rugby together.
My preferred back 3 would be Rieko, Jordan and Jordie with Reece off the bench but it looks like they prefer Reece starting. Not usually a Reece fan, but he's been good against the Fijians, so he deserves a spot for now somewhere in the 23.
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@african-monkey said in All Blacks vs Fiji 2:
I'm definitely on the Jacobsen bandwagon for the time being
Yeah, his combo with Ioane looks good to me.
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@victor-meldrew said in All Blacks vs Fiji 2:
@kiwiwomble said in All Blacks vs Fiji 2:
I’ll have to look out for Jacobson next time, I thought he was pretty invisible, frizell like, but all the plaudits he’s getting suggest otherwise
The old-timers used to have a saying along the lines of: "The best forward is often the one you don't notice and rarely gets mentioned in the commentary"
Akira was similarly good today - doing loads of grunt work.
I get it, it is hilarious though, if frizell went unnoticed he’d be getting lambasted
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@kiwiwomble I noticed all our loosies last night, certainly better balance than last week.
I think alot of our problems start in jersies 1-3, just lack punch and aggression, lastb2 weekends we have looked better when our bench front rowers came on, especially Coles last week and the bench last night.
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@kiwiwomble said in All Blacks vs Fiji 2:
@victor-meldrew said in All Blacks vs Fiji 2:
@kiwiwomble said in All Blacks vs Fiji 2:
I’ll have to look out for Jacobson next time, I thought he was pretty invisible, frizell like, but all the plaudits he’s getting suggest otherwise
The old-timers used to have a saying along the lines of: "The best forward is often the one you don't notice and rarely gets mentioned in the commentary"
Akira was similarly good today - doing loads of grunt work.
I get it, it is hilarious though, if frizell went unnoticed he’d be getting lambasted
Did he go unnoticed though? Was driving players into touch, moving bodies in rucks, doing good work in the mauls and nothing made progress past him. A nice rip steal too, making up for an offside penalty just before.
Jacobson was the same, just shutting things down and continuously getting over the advantage line (Akira most notably for Saveas try).
It’s the physical starch that Frizzel has always promised but never delivered. Akira done it every time he’s played.
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@kirwan I think the second penalty he gave away was B/S too, a halfback dithering after they touch the ball can make a player look offside. At any rate, the ABs playing close to that offside line was one of the key factors in blunting the Fijian pack.
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@taniwharugby yeah Laulala is a good scrummager but offers about zero around the field. Taylor for the second year in a row is struggling to translate his Super form to Tests. Bower has actually shown improvement i've thought.
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@nepia said in All Blacks vs Fiji 2:
@kirwan I think the second penalty he gave away was B/S too, a halfback dithering after they touch the ball can make a player look offside. At any rate, the ABs playing close to that offside line was one of the key factors in blunting the Fijian pack.
Yeah one of his was correct, one the halfback had lifted the ball. Not the only mistake the ref made, he was pretty poor.
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@kiwimurph we have gone from having ball playing front rowers with great core skills to adequate scrummaging front rowers who bring little else, and this seems to flow back as to how we play as we want to play a game that is based around all our forwards being able to contribute, but they cant.
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@kiwiwomble said in All Blacks vs Fiji 2:
@victor-meldrew said in All Blacks vs Fiji 2:
@kiwiwomble said in All Blacks vs Fiji 2:
I’ll have to look out for Jacobson next time, I thought he was pretty invisible, frizell like, but all the plaudits he’s getting suggest otherwise
The old-timers used to have a saying along the lines of: "The best forward is often the one you don't notice and rarely gets mentioned in the commentary"
Akira was similarly good today - doing loads of grunt work.
I get it, it is hilarious though, if frizell went unnoticed he’d be getting lambasted
I notice Frizell. Notice him having no impact at collisions. Built like Tarzan plays like Jane.
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@taniwharugby
like this lot
Kane Hames
Tim Perry
Jeffery Toomaga allen
Owen franks -
@ploughboy fair point, aside from Owen, the others are hardly players that had good AB careers...but I'd argue when we have been at our best, we dominated up front and at least 1 (usually 2 plus Owen who was a rock at scrumtime) of our front rowers has had superb all round skills
Now our front rows are barely dominant at one facet let alone all, although are some good signs so hopefully just a blip
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@arhs said in All Blacks vs Fiji 2:
@mn5 I didn't recognise any of the songs. It was modern stuff, which the Pasifika crowd around me really got in to. Not the standard anthems much loved at the Sevens and other big matches at the venue. Did get a bit annoying at the start, but was great to see the multi-cultural crowd getting into it.
Yeah, the music was far too loud and annoying. It's never been that bad.
I assume someone from Mai FM in charge of the sounds as I wasn't familiar with the songs played either.
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One point not mentioned in this thread was that when Rieko came on to replace Jordan, Reece ran over to the right wing and Ioane was on the left. They soon switched sides so Ioane was on my side of the field. This must have been a directive from the coaches to try Rieko as a right winger. Either way, I'd be happy with this combo in Bled 1.
No idea why the covered WEL Network stand was not used. We were sitting in the uncovered section in front of this.
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@bovidae or give Reece more time on the left.
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@kirwan said in All Blacks vs Fiji 2:
@kiwiwomble said in All Blacks vs Fiji 2:
@victor-meldrew said in All Blacks vs Fiji 2:
@kiwiwomble said in All Blacks vs Fiji 2:
I’ll have to look out for Jacobson next time, I thought he was pretty invisible, frizell like, but all the plaudits he’s getting suggest otherwise
The old-timers used to have a saying along the lines of: "The best forward is often the one you don't notice and rarely gets mentioned in the commentary"
Akira was similarly good today - doing loads of grunt work.
I get it, it is hilarious though, if frizell went unnoticed he’d be getting lambasted
Did he go unnoticed though? Was driving players into touch, moving bodies in rucks, doing good work in the mauls and nothing made progress past him. A nice rip steal too, making up for an offside penalty just before.
Jacobson was the same, just shutting things down and continuously getting over the advantage line (Akira most notably for Saveas try).
It’s the physical starch that Frizzel has always promised but never delivered. Akira done it every time he’s played.
He did to me, even commented I had forgotten he was playing, so started looking for him and spotted him doing stuff but not game winning which was the level I expected from people’s comments, Already conceded I missed it rather than it didn’t happen,
was more specifically a reply to @Victor-Meldrew ’s analogy, and how it applies to some but frizell always gets criticised for not dominating, no one accepts he’s not doing the flash stuff, I even got told leading line takes and the sort (which he did a couple of times last year) isn’t enough
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@crazy-horse said in All Blacks vs Fiji 2:
@bovidae or give Reece more time on the left.
It’s a good way to build options there, let’s us move away from Bridge. And RI becomes very hand for the bench covering both wings and centre.
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@kirwan said in All Blacks vs Fiji 2:
@crazy-horse said in All Blacks vs Fiji 2:
@bovidae or give Reece more time on the left.
It’s a good way to build options there, let’s us move away from Bridge. And RI becomes very hand for the bench covering both wings and centre.
RI tends to carry the ball under his right arm anyway, so at least he doesn't have to make that adjustment.
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@kiwiwomble said in All Blacks vs Fiji 2:
@kirwan said in All Blacks vs Fiji 2:
@kiwiwomble said in All Blacks vs Fiji 2:
@victor-meldrew said in All Blacks vs Fiji 2:
@kiwiwomble said in All Blacks vs Fiji 2:
I’ll have to look out for Jacobson next time, I thought he was pretty invisible, frizell like, but all the plaudits he’s getting suggest otherwise
The old-timers used to have a saying along the lines of: "The best forward is often the one you don't notice and rarely gets mentioned in the commentary"
Akira was similarly good today - doing loads of grunt work.
I get it, it is hilarious though, if frizell went unnoticed he’d be getting lambasted
Did he go unnoticed though? Was driving players into touch, moving bodies in rucks, doing good work in the mauls and nothing made progress past him. A nice rip steal too, making up for an offside penalty just before.
Jacobson was the same, just shutting things down and continuously getting over the advantage line (Akira most notably for Saveas try).
It’s the physical starch that Frizzel has always promised but never delivered. Akira done it every time he’s played.
He did to me, even commented I had forgotten he was playing, so started looking for him and spotted him doing stuff but not game winning which was the level I expected from people’s comments, Already conceded I missed it rather than it didn’t happen,
was more specifically a reply to @Victor-Meldrew ’s analogy, and how it applies to some but frizell always gets criticised for not dominating, no one accepts he’s not doing the flash stuff, I even got told leading line takes and the sort (which he did a couple of times last year) isn’t enough
So did you notice Ioane winning lineouts? I don't think you mentioned that. And after awhile the Fijian forwards went out of their way not to run into Jacobson and Ioane. But my fave moment was Savea manhandling a Fiian forward with the ball while two Fijians held onto him and all 3 got pushed backwards. He really was physically on fire last night.
