AB squad for the Bledisloe Cup?
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@sparky said in AB squad for the Bledisloe Cup?:
@Tim said in AB squad for the Bledisloe Cup?:
As the days tick down to Ian Foster's first All Blacks squad naming on August 30 there is no shortage of selection debates. The loose forwards, where Lachlan Boshier and Dalton Papalii continue to shine, and outside backs, with rookie Blues wing Caleb Clarke leading the charge, will be hotly contested among the 35 man squad.
Props: Moody, Tu'inukuafe, Laulala, Tu'ungafasi, Lomax, Hodgman
Hookers: Taylor, Coles, Aumua
Locks: S Whitelock, Tuipulotu, Parkinson, Cowley-Tuioti
Back Row: Cane (c), Savea, Frizell, Grace, A Ioane, Papali'i, Sotutu (Bolshier if Grace, Papali'i or Sotutu still injured).
Half Backs: A Smith, Perenera, Drummond
First Five: Beauden Barrett, Mo'unga
Midfield: ALB, Goodhue, R Ioane, Ennor
Back Three: C Clarke, Reece, Jordan, J Barrett, Bridge, McKenzieThat forward pack covers the bases, but might need to lose a loosie.
I'd like to see ALB and TJ Faiane picked at 12 and Goodhue and PUJ at 13.
Then Roane, Reece, Clarke and Jordan on wing, with Jordie and DMac at back.
Hard on Bridge, but for me it's him OR Jordan at this stage. Ennor also knocking at door.
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@pakman I don't see the point in DMac, but I can see they might select him in the hopes they can get him right. Unless he covers third halfback....
Ennor has had a pretty forgettable SRA. Roane is his immediate competition and has proven far more capable. Remember when he was carving up super rugby as a wing, with Goodhue carving up at centre? Yeah seems Robertson forgot.
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@Bones said in AB squad for the Bledisloe Cup?:
@pakman I don't see the point in DMac, but I can see they might select him in the hopes they can get him right. Unless he covers third halfback....
Ennor has had a pretty forgettable SRA. Roane is his immediate competition and has proven far more capable. Remember when he was carving up super rugby as a wing, with Goodhue carving up at centre? Yeah seems Robertson forgot.
Good case for Bridge over DMac, but I'm guessing they'll look to inject some X-factor.
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@Bones said in AB squad for the Bledisloe Cup?:
I don't see the point in DMac, but I can see they might select him in the hopes they can get him right
Selection isn't objective, every rugby fan has a bias towards a team they support. Do you think Foster cheers for the Chiefs?
I fully expect some close calls to fall the way of Chiefs players. DMac makes it and I can't see Boshier missing out (he's probably competing with Papali'i for a spot)Not a criticism of Foster I would have said a similar thing if Robertson was coach. It's unavoidable.
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I think every squad people post should be prefixed with either 'what I'd pick' versus 'what will be picked' often a big difference. We've got a coach who got in on a ‘continuity and experience’ ticket, I can see him picking a ‘continuity and experience’ team - recently the ABs coaches went for form rather than experience. Maybe that didn’t work so well at RWC in their minds. Expecially after many years of trusting experience did so well for them? So I think we will see very conservative selections, but I hope they are bold
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@Duluth said in AB squad for the Bledisloe Cup?:
@Bones said in AB squad for the Bledisloe Cup?:
I don't see the point in DMac, but I can see they might select him in the hopes they can get him right
Selection isn't objective, every rugby fan has a bias towards a team they support. Do you think Foster cheers for the Chiefs?
I fully expect some close calls to fall the way of Chiefs players. DMac makes it and I can't see Boshier missing out (he's probably competing with Papali'i for a spot)Not a criticism of Foster I would have said a similar thing if Robertson was coach. It's unavoidable.
Tell me about it. I'm still clinging to the hope that Vaea Fifita can add some more test appearances this year.
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@pakman said in AB squad for the Bledisloe Cup?:
@Bones said in AB squad for the Bledisloe Cup?:
@pakman I don't see the point in DMac, but I can see they might select him in the hopes they can get him right. Unless he covers third halfback....
Ennor has had a pretty forgettable SRA. Roane is his immediate competition and has proven far more capable. Remember when he was carving up super rugby as a wing, with Goodhue carving up at centre? Yeah seems Robertson forgot.
Good case for Bridge over DMac, but I'm guessing they'll look to inject some X-factor.
Does X-factor mean heart palpitations? If DMac makes the squad on current form, All Black jerseys are forever cheapened.
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From The Australian today (paywall but see the crux of it below)
Although New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has dismissed the prospect of a trans- Ta$man bubble starting anytime soon, Rugby Australia officials are still pressing ahead with plans that will see the Wallabies and All Blacks play their four scheduled Tests after periods of self-isolation. Ardern said on Monday Australia’s coronavirus community transmission levels, heavily influenced by the new outbreak in Victoria, were too high to contemplate opening the borders. Open borders would have been very much Option A as far as the Bledisloe Cup series was concerned, but officials on both sides of the Ta$man are still proceeding with what they consider an acceptable Option B. That would entail the All Blacks going into a New Zealand Warriors-style quarantine – the Kiwis did their two-week isolation in a bubble at Tamworth ahead of the NRL competition – before the October 10 Test in either Sydney or Perth and the October 17 Test in Brisbane. Almost immediately, the Wallabies would have to fly to NZ to be there for two weeks before playing the All Blacks in the remaining two Tests on November 7 and 14. Unless the pandemic has eased sufficiently for the borders to be open by that time, the Wallabies would locate somewhere where they could access their hotel, training field and gym all within a controlled “clean” environment. -
@KiwiMurph The presumption in Wayne Smith's article is QLD doesn't shut the border.
BTW imagine being stuck in Tamworth for two weeks.
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@antipodean If that happens Aus would look at 2 games in Sydney I imagine.
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@Chris said in AB squad for the Bledisloe Cup?:
I think there is a lot more Covid activity ramping up in Australia that will be the determining factor, and if New Zealand and Australia want to emilate that sort of UK carnage.
No full travel bubble is necessary. Players should do quarantine, but with government help in the form of regular testing and being given a place to quarantine where they can train. The model is the arrangements that were put in place for the West Indies Cricket team to play in England.
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@Machpants said in AB squad for the Bledisloe Cup?:
Or the Ozzies play them all over here, only they quarantine (their country fucked up, not ours) and we can have full crowds.
If they can share revenue then that could be an option.
I think RA would rather have two games here (one in Bris, one in Syd perhaps) so at least they can pull in some cash.
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@antipodean said in AB squad for the Bledisloe Cup?:
@Bones said in AB squad for the Bledisloe Cup?:
@antipodean yuuuuuck
You DMac fanbois...
Agree. He is making way too many mistakes to be an AB this year.
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@broughie said in AB squad for the Bledisloe Cup?:
@Nepia not from what I have seen but each to their own. Remember he is playing for the lowly Chiefs.
Terrible might have been an overstatement on my part, I think he's been busy but not really effective, but I don't think he's up in the same bracket as Sotutu, MMT and Akira. He was good on Saturday though.
