All Blacks v France Test 3
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NZ forward pack does indeed remind me of those fairly limp efforts in the early noughties when we lost often enough vs Australia. Retallick & Read make such a difference: players like L Whitelock and Fafita just offer minimal power.
Front row - unchanged, although Karl T has been fairly impressive. They could stick Toomaga-Allen in the reserves I suppose
Locks - unchanged, no better options
Backrow - a crying shame Taufau won't get a chance. Maybe too short, but go-forward wouldn't be an issue. They should stick Frizell on the bench ahead of FafitaHalves: Give TTT a bench spot, let Mounga start
Midfield: Please, PLEASE, give Goodhue a shot. Either with SBW or else Laumape
Outsides: Naholo ahead of BFA, maybe NMS on the bench? -
At least they don't have to focus on the mental side of the game by trying to back up a good performance...
If this was RWC2019, we wouldn't see the All Blacks in the final.
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@billy-tell Absolutely, I was looking for Todd Blackadder and Dave Hewitt out there.
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@billy-tell said in All Blacks v France Test 3:
NZ forward pack does indeed remind me of those fairly limp efforts in the early noughties when we lost often enough vs Australia. Retallick & Read make such a difference: players like L Whitelock and Fafita just offer minimal power.
Front row - unchanged, although Karl T has been fairly impressive. They could stick Toomaga-Allen in the reserves I suppose
Locks - unchanged, no better options
Backrow - a crying shame Taufau won't get a chance. Maybe too short, but go-forward wouldn't be an issue. They should stick Frizell on the bench ahead of FafitaHalves: Give TTT a bench spot, let Mounga start
Midfield: Please, PLEASE, give Goodhue a shot. Either with SBW or else Laumape
Outsides: Naholo ahead of BFA, maybe NMS on the bench?He's ridiculously athletic and powerful, perhaps you mean accuracy?
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@mn5 said in All Blacks v France Test 3:
@billy-tell said in All Blacks v France Test 3:
NZ forward pack does indeed remind me of those fairly limp efforts in the early noughties when we lost often enough vs Australia. Retallick & Read make such a difference: players like L Whitelock and Fafita just offer minimal power.
Front row - unchanged, although Karl T has been fairly impressive. They could stick Toomaga-Allen in the reserves I suppose
Locks - unchanged, no better options
Backrow - a crying shame Taufau won't get a chance. Maybe too short, but go-forward wouldn't be an issue. They should stick Frizell on the bench ahead of FafitaHalves: Give TTT a bench spot, let Mounga start
Midfield: Please, PLEASE, give Goodhue a shot. Either with SBW or else Laumape
Outsides: Naholo ahead of BFA, maybe NMS on the bench?He's ridiculously athletic and powerful, perhaps you mean accuracy?
Athletic yes, but powerful? I haven't seen any evidence of it.
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@pukunui said in All Blacks v France Test 3:
@mn5 said in All Blacks v France Test 3:
@billy-tell said in All Blacks v France Test 3:
NZ forward pack does indeed remind me of those fairly limp efforts in the early noughties when we lost often enough vs Australia. Retallick & Read make such a difference: players like L Whitelock and Fafita just offer minimal power.
Front row - unchanged, although Karl T has been fairly impressive. They could stick Toomaga-Allen in the reserves I suppose
Locks - unchanged, no better options
Backrow - a crying shame Taufau won't get a chance. Maybe too short, but go-forward wouldn't be an issue. They should stick Frizell on the bench ahead of FafitaHalves: Give TTT a bench spot, let Mounga start
Midfield: Please, PLEASE, give Goodhue a shot. Either with SBW or else Laumape
Outsides: Naholo ahead of BFA, maybe NMS on the bench?He's ridiculously athletic and powerful, perhaps you mean accuracy?
Athletic yes, but powerful? I haven't seen any evidence of it.
Not tonight but he tramples tacklers for fun sometimes. Hansen said he's one of the best athletes he's ever worked with.
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@mn5 said in All Blacks v France Test 3:
@pukunui said in All Blacks v France Test 3:
@mn5 said in All Blacks v France Test 3:
@billy-tell said in All Blacks v France Test 3:
NZ forward pack does indeed remind me of those fairly limp efforts in the early noughties when we lost often enough vs Australia. Retallick & Read make such a difference: players like L Whitelock and Fafita just offer minimal power.
Front row - unchanged, although Karl T has been fairly impressive. They could stick Toomaga-Allen in the reserves I suppose
Locks - unchanged, no better options
Backrow - a crying shame Taufau won't get a chance. Maybe too short, but go-forward wouldn't be an issue. They should stick Frizell on the bench ahead of FafitaHalves: Give TTT a bench spot, let Mounga start
Midfield: Please, PLEASE, give Goodhue a shot. Either with SBW or else Laumape
Outsides: Naholo ahead of BFA, maybe NMS on the bench?He's ridiculously athletic and powerful, perhaps you mean accuracy?
Athletic yes, but powerful? I haven't seen any evidence of it.
Not tonight but he tramples tacklers for fun sometimes. Hansen said he's one of the best athletes he's ever worked with.
He runs around lots of people but i haven't really seen him display any sort of power game at any level. Certainly not on defence.
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@pukunui said in All Blacks v France Test 3:
@mn5 said in All Blacks v France Test 3:
@pukunui said in All Blacks v France Test 3:
@mn5 said in All Blacks v France Test 3:
@billy-tell said in All Blacks v France Test 3:
NZ forward pack does indeed remind me of those fairly limp efforts in the early noughties when we lost often enough vs Australia. Retallick & Read make such a difference: players like L Whitelock and Fafita just offer minimal power.
Front row - unchanged, although Karl T has been fairly impressive. They could stick Toomaga-Allen in the reserves I suppose
Locks - unchanged, no better options
Backrow - a crying shame Taufau won't get a chance. Maybe too short, but go-forward wouldn't be an issue. They should stick Frizell on the bench ahead of FafitaHalves: Give TTT a bench spot, let Mounga start
Midfield: Please, PLEASE, give Goodhue a shot. Either with SBW or else Laumape
Outsides: Naholo ahead of BFA, maybe NMS on the bench?He's ridiculously athletic and powerful, perhaps you mean accuracy?
Athletic yes, but powerful? I haven't seen any evidence of it.
Not tonight but he tramples tacklers for fun sometimes. Hansen said he's one of the best athletes he's ever worked with.
He runs around lots of people but i haven't really seen him display any sort of power game at any level. Certainly not on defence.
Agree re the defence unfortunately
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@tim said in All Blacks v France Test 3:
What we would give for Luatua at 8.
Maybe you shouldn't have been such a prick, eh Steve?
Just where is Brad Shields when you need him...
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@tim said in All Blacks v France Test 3:
What we would give for Luatua at 8.
Maybe you shouldn't have been such a prick, eh Steve?
Is that why he didn't make the team more often?
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When you have the likes of Whitelock, Crotty and Cane, 3 players who usually consistently maintain high standards playing as poorly as they did, you know things are bad, I expect BBBR only looks better as he didn't play, if he did I don't doubt he'd of been dragged down along with pretty much everyone else.
I guess the only consolation is, if it was that bad, surely they can ONLY improve next week.
With SBW fit, I expect they will slot him straight back in, which is rough on Laumape who probably deserves a start, but I'd love to see them give ALB a rest and put Goodhue alongside SBW.
If BB is not right then surely Mounga starts, maybe give BFA a week off and put Naholo on.
Not really any realistic and worthwhile changes to that pack that can be made, think it's as close to as good as we can do right now...
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@victor-meldrew said in All Blacks v France Test 3:
@tim said in All Blacks v France Test 3:
What we would give for Luatua at 8.
Maybe you shouldn't have been such a prick, eh Steve?
Just where is Brad Shields when you need him...
Dropping balls over the tryline in South Africa.
We did warn Eddie but he wouldn’t listen.
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@crucial said in All Blacks v France Test 3:
Dropping balls over the tryline in South Africa.
Highest profile he had in the whole game... bet he regrets the "I've always felt English" media bollocks after that crap Bloemfontein performance.
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@victor-meldrew said in All Blacks v France Test 3:
@crucial said in All Blacks v France Test 3:
Dropping balls over the tryline in South Africa.
Highest profile he had in the whole game... bet he regrets the "I've always felt English" media bollocks after that crap Bloemfontein performance.
To be fair, he did mention chip butties. He just needed someone to tell him to wash his hands afterwards. All that dripping makes the ball a bit difficult to hold on to.
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@taniwharugby said in All Blacks v France Test 3:
When you have the likes of Whitelock, Crotty and Cane, 3 players who usually consistently maintain high standards playing as poorly as they did, you know things are bad,
Crotty does worry me because I'm not convinced his head has been right (medically) for a while now. Would like to see SBW alongside ALB next week.
The other two, along with Moody and Franks, I'm not too bothered about - they're working their way back from playing bugger all rugby in recent times. They'll peak mid-RC.
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Bit of a different feel this close to a WC , not saying its doom and gloom , far from it ,
but the last couple , things have felt more settled selection wise
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@kiwimurph So with Squire and Taufua out, does that bring Akira into the selection frame?
They've arguably still got Whitelock, Fifita, Frizzell and Savea to cover 6/8 options.
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Beauden Barrett and Fifita out of third All Blacks Test with France - Squire, Harris in doubt
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Jackson Hemopo and Ricky Riccitelli have been called into the squad as cover ahead of next week's clash.
In fact, TVNZ reporting it's Beaudy and Fifita who are definitely out and Squire is doubtful!
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BB and Fifita have concussion, so theoretically if they pass HIA today and tomorrow they can be available, No?
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@chris-b said in All Blacks v France Test 3:
Jackson Hemopo and Ricky Riccitelli have been called into the squad as cover ahead of next week's clash.
In fact, TVNZ reporting it's Beaudy and Fifita who are definitely out and Squire is doubtful!
So where was the HIA for Fifita during the game?
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@chris-b said in All Blacks v France Test 3:
@kiwimurph So with Squire and Taufua out, does that bring Akira into the selection frame?
They've arguably still got Whitelock, Fifita, Frizzell and Savea to cover 6/8 options.
Four of the greats!
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@chris-b said in All Blacks v France Test 3:
@kiwimurph So with Squire and Taufua out, does that bring Akira into the selection frame?
They've arguably still got Whitelock, Fifita, Frizzell and Savea to cover 6/8 options.
We'd need France to get at least one red and a couple of yellows...
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Good to see them replacing Harris with Riccitelli. Like for like in terms of doing dumb, exasperating shit. What was that penalty he gave away where he just flopped on the wrong side and did his best to stay there? Love to know the thought process. Followed up a couple of minutes later with a hit long after the whistle with absolutely no point, lucky no officials watching.
What happened to no dickheads?
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@tim said in All Blacks v France Test 3:
What we would give for Luatua at 8.
Maybe you shouldn't have been such a prick, eh Steve?
We've got a noted metre eater there - for the 7 minutes he gets on the field, apparently.
Anyway, Akira was holding hit pads in the warm ups so assume Hansen will parachute him into the test team. Bahahahahahaha.
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@nepia If (as I suspect) Hansen picked Frizell partly to send a message to Akira, then his bluff has been well and truly called by the injuries.
If they don't use Akira, we're looking at something like:
Moody, Taylor, Franks, Barrett, Whitelock, Frizell, Cane, Whitelock
Tuikaunafe, Riccitelli, Tu'ungafasi, Romano, Savea
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Given presence of Franklin and Frizell in squad, not quite sure what to make of Hemopo's selection as a 5/6, notionally replacing Squire. It seems to have been an AB plan to play a 5/6 in the third, results permitting, so does this mean the two Fs haven't shown up in squad training, or that Frizell is locked in to start?
Likewise, wasn't Coltman training with the squad to cover Harris's situation? If so, why has Riccatelli leapfrogged him?
Or are they worried about food wastage?
Starting eight shaping like Moody/Taylor/Franks/SamuelW/Barrett (S)/Cane/Frizell/Whitelock (L). No power lock, which is why I think our scrum struggled a bit while Maestri was on, and a less than intimidating bunch of loosies. I suppose Cane and LukeW have played together a bit, which would makes it easier for Frizell on debut.
Fifth forward benchwarmer will be interesting, given Romero, Franklin and Hemopo to choose from.
I'd be quite tempted to give Scott Barrett a rest and start Romero. -
@chris-b What message would that send? We'll pick a guy who does less work on attack, defence on and off the ball - the only thing Frizell has over Akira is that he's experienced at sitting on his arse waiting to go on the field.
I actually hope Frizell has a superstar game this weekend because if he doesn't then I'm worried about the mental state of our coaches.
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@pakman said in All Blacks v France Test 3:
Likewise, wasn't Coltman training with the squad to cover Harris's situation? If so, why has Riccatelli leapfrogged him?
Has he leapfrogged him? I assumed he was brought in to fill the third hooker gap. Good on the guy but I'm disturbed to see him there. When he's on it looks like an over-fed toddler has invaded the pitch.
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@nepia said in All Blacks v France Test 3:
I actually hope Frizell has a superstar game this weekend because if he doesn't then I'm worried about the mental state of our coaches.
Yeah, I hope so too. This panel is in danger of building a record of knee-jerk selections that they then can't gracefully back out of.
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@marty said in All Blacks v France Test 3:
@pakman said in All Blacks v France Test 3:
Likewise, wasn't Coltman training with the squad to cover Harris's situation? If so, why has Riccatelli leapfrogged him?
Has he leapfrogged him? I assumed he was brought in to fill the third hooker gap. Good on the guy but I'm disturbed to see him there. When he's on it looks like an over-fed toddler has invaded the pitch.
I chortled extremely hard at this comment.
