2020 All Blacks Squad
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@Canes4life Plumtree is an undersized lock himself (1.95 m from the NZ U20 stats).
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@Bovidae interesting, he looks closer to the 1.98m mark in person. I guess it's better than the 1.9m that Blackwell is though.
Naitoa Ah Koui (playing for the Chiefs now) and Taine Plumtree were identical in height when they played at Wellington College together and Ah Koui is listed at 1.96m on the Chiefs site.
Anyone know any promising 2m + locks coming through? I saw Sam Darry play in the quad tournament in 2018 and he stood out.
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@Canes4life said in 2020 All Blacks Squad:
Anyone know any promising 2m + locks coming through? I saw Sam Darry play in the quad tournament in 2018 and he stood out.
Josh Lord was in the same NZSS team as Darry.
Parkinson is still young.
No surprise that the AB lineout performed better with two 2 m+ locks.
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Last years NZSS team had:
Zach Gallagher - 1.97 m
Allan Craig - 1.95 mEdit: I was also impressed with TK Howden who played for the NZBS team. He looked to have some size to him.
Obviously there won't be a U20 team this year to see who rates at the level above.
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Who is Ken Owens? And why would dual a world cup winner talk to him?
Know your role
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@mofitzy_ A lot of Crusaders players are like that. Take them out of the Crusaders enviroment and they get shown up.
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@African-Monkey a lot? Methinks that pill sounds a tad bitter.
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@Bones Yup, a lot. No, it wasn't too bitter....
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@African-Monkey said in 2020 All Blacks Squad:
@Bones Yup, a lot. No, it wasn't too bitter....
Guess a lot of All Blacks are too then.
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@Bones But on a more serious point, I don't think that what I said is an unfair criticism. A lot of those Crusaders players have struggled for various teams (Christie, Douglas, Dunshea, Hall, Grace to a lesser extent, Ennor etc,) Were or have been fairly average for their Mitre 10 Cup sides, a level you would expect them to dominate at yet seem to look very comfortable at Super Rugby level. If anything, it's a credit that the Crusaders manage to get the best out of these guys is it not?
Obviously guys like Bridge, Mo'unga and Reece haven't shone at test level like people would have hoped but that's another topic altogether.
The Crusaders are like the Storm of the NRL. They can make everyone look good.
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@African-Monkey said in 2020 All Blacks Squad:
The Crusaders are like the Storm of the NRL. They can make everyone look good.
A couple of stars and everyone else doing their roles as best as they can. Speaks volumes for the coaching and culture.
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@African-Monkey mate you named a handful of players, most of which aren't even held up to be much more than mediocre even in the crusaders! Not a lot.
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@African-Monkey said in 2020 All Blacks Squad:
@Bones But on a more serious point, I don't think that what I said is an unfair criticism. A lot of those Crusaders players have struggled for various teams (Christie, Douglas, Dunshea, Hall, Grace to a lesser extent, Ennor etc,) Were or have been fairly average for their Mitre 10 Cup sides, a level you would expect them to dominate at yet seem to look very comfortable at Super Rugby level. If anything, it's a credit that the Crusaders manage to get the best out of these guys is it not?
Obviously guys like Bridge, Mo'unga and Reece haven't shone at test level like people would have hoped but that's another topic altogether.
The Crusaders are like the Storm of the NRL. They can make everyone look good.
A bit Harsh. Christie has really only started his career,and like Grace has stood out in a forward pack that includes Dunshea and Douglas.so thats half the Crusaders Forward pack.Which is top of the NZ conference, Hall has been good for NH,Ennor had a very good Mitre 10 for Canterbury.
I think anyone can pick a few players out of every NZ SR franchise and make the same argument.Depending on where someones allegiance lies.
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@Chris Christie looked rather mediocre for 2 straight seasons of mitre 10 cup so I stand by that. Grace, yeah maybe a bit harsh there, Douglas has never impressed me outside of the Crusaders, neither has Dunshea, Ennor had a couple below par seasons for Canterbury where he barely looked interested at times and Bryn Hall looks far better for the Crusaders as he always has front foot ball there. Doesn't look as good with static ball playing outside the Crusaders.
I think you missed my point about the forwards I mentioned. They weren't up to much until they chucked on a Crusaders jersey, not for Canterbury anyway and probably wouldn't be as good anywhere else. Again, it's a credit to the Crusaders that they can get guys like this up to speed.I don't see what the big deal is with what I'm saying here.
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@African-Monkey said in 2020 All Blacks Squad:
@Chris Christie looked rather mediocre for 2 straight seasons of mitre 10 cup so I stand by that. Grace, yeah maybe a bit harsh there, Douglas has never impressed me outside of the Crusaders, neither has Dunshea, Ennor had a couple below par seasons for Canterbury where he barely looked interested at times and Bryn Hall looks far better for the Crusaders as he always has front foot ball there. Doesn't look as good with static ball playing outside the Crusaders.
I think you missed my point about the forwards I mentioned. They weren't up to much until they chucked on a Crusaders jersey, not for Canterbury anyway and probably wouldn't be as good anywhere else. Again, it's a credit to the Crusaders that they can get guys like this up to speed.I don't see what the big deal is with what I'm saying here.
It’s not a big deal but it’s an interesting discussion.
I didn’t miss your point I just hand a different perspective on it -
@African-Monkey I thought Douglas was good value when he was playing for Waikato, and captained the team too. It was that form that got the Crusaders interested.
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@Bovidae Fair. To tell you the truth I didn't think much of him at Waikato and didn't ever think he'd go on to SR. Obviously got an opportunity when the Crusaders weren't at full strength early on in 2017 and took it with both hands, fair play to him. Having said that, I feel he's been underwhelming for Canterbury. Some people play to their level I guess and I feel he may be one of them.
