RWC Week 1: France v All Blacks
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The only positive out of all this is that Foster should be gone by October 5th.
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@BerniesCorner said in RWC: France v All Blacks:
The thing is we have some pretty good players
Some pretty shit ones too
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@Machpants said in RWC: France v All Blacks:
Prior to them, none. So yes Ryan and Schmidt are part of the selectors and coaching team, but there has been improvement with them on board.
I thought so too during the RC, but comparing this game to the loss against France in '21, we actually seem to have achieved the impossible and gone backwards in Ryan and Schmidt's departments.
Foster isn't the only problem with AB rugby, not by a long chalk.
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Going forward - discipline and handling needs to be so much better. Every time NZ looked like they were stretching France, they either dropped the ball or got isolated and pinged. You can’t let teams like France, Ireland and SA have 12 penalties to play with.
France were blowing hard at times. NZ let them off the hook with poor execution and lack of discipline. Both are fixable.
JB and SF returning will be a big boost. BBBR returning and starting with SB will add some ballast and power.
BB has to be on borrowed time now. Wouldn’t surprise me if DM gets a run at FB in Italy test.
CR to take his chance and force himself onto the bench by QF.
If TL returns by end of the pool, that’s quite a lot of changes/improvements from the 23 seen tonight.
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@BerniesCorner said in RWC: France v All Blacks:
The thing is we have some pretty good players
I think our tight 5 is massively overrated (apart from S Barrett)
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@Victor-Meldrew the first 40 mins was better than a 10 min purple patch in 21.
The second 40 was an aberration though. Serious questions need to be asked about what happened, especially given they got the try against the run of play at the beginning. 4 quick penalties in succession changed momentum massively. France scored their try by the end of it and the momentum had swung.
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@Duluth said in RWC: France v All Blacks:
@Mattasaurus said in RWC: France v All Blacks:
Akira and Sotutu ( have watched both live in NPC recently) are not lighting the NPC on fire.... really starting to view them both as flat track Auckland schoolboy players.... was hoping Akira would be stung by begin dropped and have a fire lit inside him.... but not from what I have seen in NPC so far ( as someone said earlier there is a bloody good player in him .... just not seeing it yet)--
and Sotutu miles off the pace for international rugby IMO on current formSotutu not in great from.
Akira has been great. In the Auckland player of the match polls he's had two firsts and a second.. and is clearly in the cumulative lead. Topping the stats in almost every game he plays.
Fuck even TJ was praising him for his enormous workrate in the tight and pointed out that not enough people are giving him credit
A bizarre post. I don't know how anyone watching the NPC doesn't recognise how good he is playing
I have no idea why someone like Vaai gets picked over Akira.
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@Duluth individually, maybe. But when they work as a unit, they still provide a decent platform.
Locks are still good enough. I’d like to see BBBR and SB paired up going forward.
Think EDG got schooled a bit tonight. France milked at least one penalty out of him because he allowed himself to over extend. In fairness to him, he learned from it and should have been awarded a penalty at beginning of 2nd half.
Lomax was missed. The drop down to Laulala and Ofa is quite big. Newel was disappointing, but he’s young and will be a good player for years to come.
Think NZ need to pick ST to start the games against the bigger packs. Pointless bringing him on later when you have been under the pump.
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@BerniesCorner said in RWC: France v All Blacks:
The thing is we have some pretty good players
Disagree.
We lack depth in a whole raft of areas - midfield, halfback, lock to name a few. The only area where we seem to have an abundance of talent is 11, 14 & 15 - and after BB & Jordan's performance tonight even that looks pretty thin.
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@Joans-Town-Jones said in RWC: France v All Blacks:
@sparky said in RWC: France v All Blacks:
The reality is that this AB team is very poor. I think Italy have a chance of denying us a Quarter Final spot.
They'll have to beat the other teams by more than us OR, France deliberately lose to them.
And France being France, that's quite possible. I was there that glorious Tongan night at the Cake Tin in 2011!
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@frugby said in RWC: France v All Blacks:
Anyway, I think the biggest thing we have to do, is workout what our best bench is. The best sides have great benches that bring plenty to it.
I think Sami T arguably deserves the start, so I'd go Taylor in 16. Though I don't think he is perfect, I think Williams could bring some impact. Him and Newell, so some good SR continuity. Scooter goes the 80 for me, so perhaps due to his injury issues, we use BBBR as a dynamite option for the last 20. Frizell starts 6, I think they have to call Blackadder in to the squad, or at the very least Finau. Those guys are impact options, they fill 20. Roigard in 21, ALB in 22, Fainga'anuku in 23.
No more ALB please for fuck sake.
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@Victor-Meldrew not a surprise. The u20s haven’t really had a decent vintage for a while and the talent pathways aren’t doing the job they used to, and too many players are leaving NZ to play abroad.
The sound you can hear is chickens coming home to roost.
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@stodders said in RWC: France v All Blacks:
The second 40 was an aberration though.
The whole 80 against the Boks was a aberration. I'd add we need to question why the lessons weren't learned from that.
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@voodoo said in RWC: France v All Blacks:
It’s pretty wild how dependent we have become on Frizell, Scott B and Jordie B, 3 of the dumbest blokes playing rugby 😂
Are you picking on Frizell for his off field antics ?
The Barrett reference is pretty self explanatory though !
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@Victor-Meldrew said in RWC: France v All Blacks:
@BerniesCorner said in RWC: France v All Blacks:
The thing is we have some pretty good players
Disagree.
We lack depth in a whole raft of areas - midfield, halfback, lock to name a few. The only area where we seem to have an abundance of talent is 11, 14 & 15 - and after BB & Jordan's performance tonight even that looks pretty thin.
Look Jordan had a stinker, but he has loads of credit in the bank.
As I said in a previous thread Beauden Barrett has 113 caps now. HIs first 70 were fairy tale stuff.
The last 40 or so. Absolute trash.
He is one of my favourite Allblacks of all time (I've backed him at 100/1 for top try scorer), but he is a massive problem. Not only because he is playing crap, but because accommodating him omits other players we could do with and he gets in Mo'ungas way.
Get Jordan to fullback and have a power winger in 11 or 14 with Telea on the opposite side.
