RWC Week 1: France v All Blacks
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if we can avoid any cards, then I think we will be fine, then a bit of luck and who knows.
Up front, with the personel we have, we need to avoid getting into an arm wrestle, so we need to play smart, play slightly wider than we tend to, kick long and chase, and fuck off with the 2 phases left, 2 phases right BS, the French forwards will eat that up.
Get past the French game with no bans or further injuries and the landscape changes as we have time for BBBR, SF, TL, JB (assuming he is unavailable) to be ready for the 1/4.
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@Duluth said in RWC: France v All Blacks:
@mariner4life said in RWC: France v All Blacks:
@Duluth said in RWC: France v All Blacks:
If you are going to say things like this you need to be accurate about player sizes
which, to be fair, is impossible because rugby treats everything like a closely guarded secret.
I don't believe a single height or weight stat that ANY fan hangs anything on.
No I believe my eyes more than the stats. However he was making claims based on the size of players. Dalton is not small
Good gracious me - is Dalton a good ball carrier (as in being the tip of the spear in the pod carrying the ball into a brick wall) able to move bodies at the ruck, tackle well and be a viable line-out option?
That's what we require from a 6.
If you can believe your eyes in that he's better than that compared to Frizzel, Finau, Blackadder or whoever the French put up against him then ok you have a point.
Granted some players can be smaller and have brute physicality (Sammy T was a great example of this) but Papps is not.
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@nzzp said in RWC: France v All Blacks:
@Machpants said in RWC: France v All Blacks:
Rather he is the only one in the squad that might possibly do the role that the coaches want the 6 to do.
absolutely agree with this.
My critique of the coaches is you rely on a player finding incredible form to paper over cracks that have been visible for the whole RWC cycle. Ardie is an insanely good player, Cane is a rock, but together they cause headaches.
That's the frustrating part of it - you could have Cane at 7 and Savea at 6 with a big 8 and the balance would be a lot better too.
In all of NZ rugby we've been unable to find a big 6 or a big 8 that was any good for years...
Frizzell has shown some promise this year - finally. Finu did too in the 1 chance he had, but they left him at home for a 5th winger.
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@Windows97 Moving the goalposts
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The Fern is way more fun when everyone sets out their stalls on provincial lines
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@Kiwiwomble said in RWC: France v All Blacks:
@Chris this is what a lot of my critiques come down too, i struggle to get my head around the big picture that fozzie is working towards to the point im not sure he has one. it really does feel like he's rated everyone and then just picked the best 32 players, thats how we ended up with only 3 locks and 5 wingers
my rudimentary understand of a squad selection, you pick your prefered 23...then go through and say if that guy is injured...what do we do, who do we need to cover...and then if the best person to cover is a different type of player then you need back up game plans etc....an you build it up
and it doesnt feel like fozzie has given it that much throught
There must be key positions that need dedicated replacements. If you were a coach, you would list them in order of importance and work out which positions impact the overall team the most and base your squad off that.
You could argue every position is important and needs a good replacement however certain positions like Wing can be covered at a pinch by Fullbacks, Centres etc. Your Blindside Flanker has evolved into a very important role as they need to be the perfect mix of tight and loose. They need to jump in the lineout, clean rucks, aggressive D and powerful offence.
The loose trio is more about balance than individuals, you simply cannot have 3 players who are all Cane types who tackle non stop but offer little on attack. Ardie is unique in that he is well balanced but just a little short for the lineout work. If you have Cane and Ardie you have to have a Frizell, Ioane, Finau type player at 6.
The fact these selectors thought an extra winger was more important than the blindside/lock is a massive error in my mind.
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@Duluth Hardly - Papps doesn't have any of the requisite skills to bring balance to the loose forward trio (through no fault of his own I might add, he's been played hopelessly out of position).
I was pretty clear what those skills were in my first post.
Cane and Savea present an unbalanced loose forward combination, adding Papps makes it even more unbalanced, how heavy Papps is pales into comparison with the other obvious issues.
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@chimoaus said in RWC: France v All Blacks:
The loose trio is more about balance than individuals, you simply cannot have 3 players who are all Cane types who tackle non stop but offer little on attack. Ardie is unique in that he is well balanced but just a little short for the lineout work. If you have Cane and Ardie you have to have a Frizell, Ioane, Finau type player at 6.
I agree with all of that.
But the squad is done now. So what's the best choice from inside the squad?
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@Duluth said in RWC: France v All Blacks:
@chimoaus said in RWC: France v All Blacks:
The loose trio is more about balance than individuals, you simply cannot have 3 players who are all Cane types who tackle non stop but offer little on attack. Ardie is unique in that he is well balanced but just a little short for the lineout work. If you have Cane and Ardie you have to have a Frizell, Ioane, Finau type player at 6.
I agree with all of that.
But the squad is done now. So what's the best choice from inside the squad?
Scott Barrett, but he is also the best choice at lock. So yeah the options are two players not suited, oh well
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@Windows97 said in RWC: France v All Blacks:
Jacobsen - but he got exposed cruelly against SA.
We can now watch Papps get cruelly exposed against France.
Good times...
Jacobson was not alone in getting exposed when they were down to 14 for most of the game
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@Chris said in RWC: France v All Blacks:
Ahh Ok still we need back up power players imo in the squad.
Sounds like you are advocating for someone like Akira
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@No-Quarter
He hasn't convinced me he is a true power player often enough.If he did definitely. -
@Chris said in RWC: France v All Blacks:
When you lose an experienced guy who has been your power player and you lose him from your pack then you do become very vulnerable.
Should we not have an alternative to a power player at 6, like another one in the squad or a power 8 in the squad.
Or are we just hoping the one we have can play every game without an injury or slump in form.
Surly if the no1 game plan is to have a power forward in your LF trio you would have some back ups, instead of having to change your game plan to accommodate a non power Loosie.
Otherwise we are playing a certain game plan without the right tools at times.that comment from Foster is hilarious after he's selected 5 wingers and left Finau out.
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There's quite a lot of panic happening across a few threads, particularly around positions 6 and 12. This just highlights how much the NZRU have f'd up over the last four or so years, most notably not hiring a coach that knows how to get the best out of his players and even more importantly someone that knows how to grow depth across the board.
The biggest disappointment is how inconsistent and meh the ABs have become since the mighty heights of 2015. I know we had a rock star team full of AB greats back then, but how the hell did we get to this point only 8 years later where we literally have no depth in key positions. We have no quality depth at 12, we've still got an unbalanced loose trio, our locks are dinosaurs, we have an uninspiring captain, and despite the odd promising performance, the ABs have lost their ruthlessness.
I hope we can pull something out of the bag this weekend to get some confidence for the rest of the tournament because it could be a hard watch and a pretty swift exit if we don't get shit right fast.
And no, Akira Ioane is not and never will be our answer to 6.
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@Canes4life I wouldnt say I am panicked, I would say more resigned to our fate, the last 4 years have been a tough ride, and expectations are low, a quarter final exit is definitely on the cards and I wont be too surprised, that being said, I dont think we are very far off making the final either, and if we get there, it's all on.
