How would you define the AB's game style at the moment?
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@taniwharugby That's because refs are scared to penalise the All Blacks who know they can get away with nefarious and cynical means to win Tests...
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@antipodean Yup, read on a French site recently that our AB cheats are still sacrosanct and above the law, and therefore unpunishable by refs because we "own" World Rugby. They didn't explain how exactly we own WR, but obviously everyone agreed. That was after the France XV game. Apparently, PT did not only deserve red, but the ABs were constantly offside, obstructed every French player and almost every pass was forward, and the ref did nothing about it.
Obviously, the comments also included several rants about how their poor players had to endure a commercialised fake ritual before every game without the right to respond.
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@stargazer These Frogs are ungrateful shits aren't they? Perhaps its time for Ze Germans to look South-West for their holidays again...
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@antipodean I wouldn't joke about that.
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@stargazer don't worry, they're too fat to fight.
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@stargazer said in How would you define the AB's game style at the moment?:
@antipodean I wouldn't joke about that.
As long as they just leave a towel on a sun lounger it's fine, annoying, but fine.
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Our line is breached easily and often these days. The defense scramble well but I don't remember so many line breaks against us in the one season. Im getting to that point in my life though, where Im remembering a "golden age"...
There have been some big personnel changes, Coles, Moody and Ben Smith out of selection at different parts of the season have not helped our cause. But we absolutely missed Retallick the most. So its hard to say we have a particular style of play when I feel for much of this season we have been forced to rejig in key areas. You could argue they're all key areas I suppose. But I felt like we were playing helter skelter rugby for much of the season. Certainly in the later stages of the season.
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@stargazer I always found French fans to be really respectful, almost awestruck when playing the ABs.
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@taniwharugby said in How would you define the AB's game style at the moment?:
@stargazer I always found French fans to be really respectful, almost awestruck when playing the ABs.
The Interent is different:
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@taniwharugby Most French fans that I've met indeed are. But this is the internet. There were also very negative comments about their own team, but I guess there are always people trying to blame the opponent or refs for their own team's failures (just as on any site or forum, even the Fern sometimes
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I dont speak French, so very easy to avoid those sites
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We are passive in defense and let the opposition cross the advantage line too easily. And we're always vulnerable at breakdown as we seem to under commit players to win the ball. When defending in our own 22 we always seems to give away penalties/cards. And we seem to kick too much. Makes for a frustrating watch in 2017.
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@tewaio said in How would you define the AB's game style at the moment?:
We are passive in defense and let the opposition cross the advantage line too easily. And we're always vulnerable at breakdown as we seem to under commit players to win the ball. When defending in our own 22 we always seems to give away penalties/cards. And we seem to kick too much. Makes for a frustrating watch in 2017.
What I don't get is why, having made a load of tackles, when we finally get the pill back we go maybe two phases before kicking it to the oppo so we can have another five minutes without the ball. It's as though they're regarding these games largely as tackle practice.
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@pakman said in How would you define the AB's game style at the moment?:
@tewaio said in How would you define the AB's game style at the moment?:
We are passive in defense and let the opposition cross the advantage line too easily. And we're always vulnerable at breakdown as we seem to under commit players to win the ball. When defending in our own 22 we always seems to give away penalties/cards. And we seem to kick too much. Makes for a frustrating watch in 2017.
What I don't get is why, having made a load of tackles, when we finally get the pill back we go maybe two phases before kicking it to the oppo so we can have another five minutes without the ball. It's as though they're regarding these games largely as tackle practice.
It's about getting Cane the recognition he deserves.
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@antipodean said in How would you define the AB's game style at the moment?:
@crucial said in How would you define the AB's game style at the moment?:
@pakman said in How would you define the AB's game style at the moment?:
Interview of Steve Hansen in UK's Times indicates that ABs are holding a few things back this year. It would appear have gone into certain games with instructions NOT to a particular tactic, e.g. box kicks. Trying to make team adaptable and keep other teams from working them out too much, I guess.
So I guess on the weekend he told TJP to pass like crap and BB to stand flat footed then shovel the ball out to see how well they coped with it?
I have to admit though, they only played the direct game for a short period to get the needed points than backed off again.It's clear to me that they know what to revert to in order to take control of a game. Hansen has stated clearly that they're trying to broaden their game.
I recall the chicken little episodes during the RWC despite him telling everyone they had a plan. Part of me is convinced that following the extraordinary success of 2016, combined with injuries this year, they're keeping it as simple as possible.
I don't know if it is wishful thinking but I tend to agree.
The talk at the moment is the the NH teams have worked out how to play against the ABs. The rush defences, starving them of ball etc etc.
Going into games with a plan to find ways to win even if the opposition is doing all of that is smart thinking.
As for giving the ball back. Yes, that is frustrating, but the ABs also know that the one thing that cant be planned for is the transition to attack after an error. If you manage to repel the invaders long enough then kick it back to them a say 'have another crack' they get frustrated and force the issue. We feed off those resultant errors like Gerry Brownlie at a buffet.
What has also been noticable is the very sparse use of set plays (which we are very good at).
On the weekend the call was made to put the game to bed using one and a similar thing happened in the Scotland game.
One thing that was learned as far back as 2003 is to keep your powder as dry as possible. -
@crucial Agree. As a long time watcher I've also thought I've noticed that at Twickenham, which has more cameras than a bull can s***, ABs have been especially loathe to reveal their hand.
And I simply can't believe that these tactics (tackle practice) are the what the coaches consider their A game.
Time will tell.
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@pakman said in How would you define the AB's game style at the moment?:
@crucial Agree. As a long time watcher I've also thought I've noticed that at Twickenham, which has more cameras than a bull can s***, ABs have been especially loathe to reveal their hand.
That will make things very interesting next year.
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@tewaio said in How would you define the AB's game style at the moment?:
We are passive in defense and let the opposition cross the advantage line too easily. And we're always vulnerable at breakdown as we seem to under commit players to win the ball. When defending in our own 22 we always seems to give away penalties/cards. And we seem to kick too much. Makes for a frustrating watch in 2017.
Agree. The NH teams as well as the Lions seem to have mastered the rush defence a lot better than the SH teams. It was noticeable how much quicker Scotland's line speed was compared to ours. I don't know why we aren't trying to focus on this as it puts the opposition under so much of pressure.
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@akan004 said in How would you define the AB's game style at the moment?:
@tewaio said in How would you define the AB's game style at the moment?:
We are passive in defense and let the opposition cross the advantage line too easily. And we're always vulnerable at breakdown as we seem to under commit players to win the ball. When defending in our own 22 we always seems to give away penalties/cards. And we seem to kick too much. Makes for a frustrating watch in 2017.
Agree. The NH teams as well as the Lions seem to have mastered the rush defence a lot better than the SH teams. It was noticeable how much quicker Scotland's line speed was compared to ours. I don't know why we aren't trying to focus on this as it puts the opposition under so much of pressure.
Interesting that (from memory) NZ XV were quite dominant in tackles against French XV. And not so keen on 'tackle practice'?
