All Blacks XV 2022
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@ACT-Crusader well 12 months I expect, but I guess thats the point.
Seems plenty of straws being grasped after an interesting last 36 months or so of rugby.
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@taniwharugby said in All Blacks XV:
@Bovidae are a number of selections in this and the main squad, with no eye on the future.
I posted a few days back that I thought the team would end up a messy mish-mash of recent ABs, rewards for recent play and future prospects. I didn't quite think there would be so many projects in the squad whos selection seems to be as an incentive to stay around.
I would have preferred more focus on our locking stocks and a bit more of an eye to RWC 'backups' if we consider the main squad as fairly locked in.
To me these teams should be the Seconds with a handful along for the experience ride, but obviously the plans are a bit different here.
I just find it very weird that it is considered that the Crusaders have half of the top 6 hookers in the country, 5 of the best props and 4 of the best locks. Smacks of Jase Ryan marking his own work.
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@Duluth said in All Blacks XV:
@Bones said in All Blacks XV:
I guess Heem is someone who could really "fill a role". Only going off super, but he was a pretty safe pick in whatever position he was selected and does cover from 12 out potentially. Perhaps if they're looking at a Jordie 12 type player, he could be fairly like-for-like?
Here's my guess. They really want a midfielder/wing on the bench and they are unsure about the options in the full squad.
Ennor is a decent wing, who isn't in his best form, and hasn't played well in midfield for the ABs
LF does a couple of things well but there some gaps in his skills
RTS is raw
AJ is another option in this squad but he would need time in midfield at SR level
If none of those guys kick on, Heem might become the specialist reserve in the 23. He does that specific role better than the others right now. The others have more potential but time is running out
I don't mind Heem at all but I think something must have gone pretty badly wrong with All Black succession planning etc if the coaches did turn to him. I don't think he should have made this team. Pohipi would have been a better bet. Nankivell hasn't been playing as well as he has in the past either.
I don't like Brewis or Bell being selected as they are mainly bench players. Tyrone Thompson has to be unlucky. Ollie Norris would have been a better bet too (even though I know he's been playing a lot on the bench too, but he has more SR experience). Hodgman omission is a bizarre one.
I've liked what I saw of Gardener but Lio-Willie is a head scratcher. If it was only a couple of iffy Canterbury/Crusader selections then that would be fine, but so many really make it look like a joke honestly. It reeks of nepotism.
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im as keen to jump on the crusaders favoritism as anyone...stupid crusaders with all their winning and shit...but Lio-willie hasn't even played for them yet, he's been picked based on outperforming in an underperforming Otago team...its actually a cased of the Crusaders and AB's have seen the same promising signs in him...im just gutted the highlanders let him go
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I dont know how I managed to mangle a Socts/Irish name with a Maori pronunciation.
But for several years, in my head ,I have been pronouncing McWhannel's name with a Maori ''F'.
Been injured so often, I never heard it corrected in commentary for a few years
It was so weird to hear his name in commentary, the other day, pronounced with a 'W', rather than as Mac Fannel.
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@Kiwiwomble What does that matter if he's played for them or not yet?
It's clearly a benefit to the Crusaders as a whole when their players are all getting paid a little extra for going on this junket. They're obviously getting extra development as well, not to mention being on the fast track to the ABs.
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@Frye i guess i dont buy into the whole tin foil hat ness of just having your names associated with the crusaders...thought its was more a case of you're viewed more favorably playing in a winning team when players playing better for a loosing team get overlooked
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@Frye Yeah - even as a Crusaders' supporter, the optics look a bit wrong.
About the only rationale you can apply to the Hodgman non-selection, is they've picked de Groot, Bower and Ofa for the ABs. They've got Ross more highly rated, Moody to return - so in the here and now, Alex is (at best) their No. 6 loosehead and they're unlikely to need to turn to him next year, so they're investing in the future with Williams and Brewis. Still pretty unlucky I think.
They've got 6 midfielders (including Jordie) in the AB squad + Goodhue and Tupaea injured, so the best of the AB XV midfielders is presumably 9th in line. Heem might be 12th.
Bell has been getting rave reviews as the way of the future, so I don't mind him over Thompson (who is still a bit unlucky) - it's just all the other Crusaders being there, makes it seem a bit off.
I haven't watched much of Canterbury inb this year's NPC, but I wasn't hugely impressed with Gardiner in Super. I'm not sure I've ever seen Lio-Willie play - I guess Ryan thought it was a coup pinching him off the Highlanders.
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@ACT-Crusader said in All Blacks XV:
@taniwharugby or the ‘future’ only extends to the next 6-9 months
Haven't been following closely but I thought that was the whole idea of this squad? To work out whos next off the rank come RWC time should one (or more) of the top squad players come a cropper.
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@JK said in All Blacks XV:
@ACT-Crusader said in All Blacks XV:
@taniwharugby or the ‘future’ only extends to the next 6-9 months
Haven't been following closely but I thought that was the whole idea of this squad? To work out whos next off the rank come RWC time should one (or more) of the top squad players come a cropper.
I think it definitely is for certain positions, so the next 9 months will be critical for them because what they show in Super rugby next year might be the difference.
But for some where the current AB squad (plus guys that will come back from injury) is better served, there is an eye to the medium-longer term future.
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When I first saw team I thought it was a photos hop by a Crusaders fans and kept looking for A.N. Other non Crusader. There are about the 9 or 10 there I would not have expected in next best squad but maybe injuries account for a few of those. TUJ Moorby Stevenson McWhannell Eklund Norris Hodgman Z Sullivan Nareki Sowakula Robinson all unlucky in my view.
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@Dan54 said in All Blacks XV:
@Machpants said in All Blacks XV:
@SBW1 said in All Blacks XV:
@Tim Levi Aumua named, that means he is locked in to represent the Abs at some stage, thought he wouldn't be considered due to playing for MP. Glad he has been chosen, he is a big power centre.
He can't be called up into ABs, but this is a non capture team so no problem.
MP isn't a capture team either, so playing for either team is no problem.
Correct, but also wrong. NZR has signed an agreement with the PI Unions, as part of the set up of MP, to not pick NZ eligible players from MP for the ABs (I guess Mcclutchie would be an exception as he's not Island qualified). Otherwise it would be a sixth NZ franchise. For ABs purposes, MP is an overseas team. But it apparently that doesn't apply to non capture teams like the XV
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i think this selection puts to bed the myth that Scott Robinson is some sort of coaching savant
when you have more than half of the best players in the country, so many they can't even all get in the 23, then i expect you to win and win well.
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@mariner4life said in All Blacks XV:
i think this selection puts to bed the myth that Scott Robinson is some sort of coaching savant
when you have more than half of the best players in the country, so many they can't even all get in the 23, then i expect you to win and win well.
Aah! But he must have made them so good surely? Oh, that was Ryan?
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@mariner4life said in All Blacks XV:
i think this selection puts to bed the myth that Scott Robinson is some sort of coaching savant
I think it says the opposite and Fozzie is drinking the Razor is god coolade and anyone in the Crusader squad must be good, who knows it may turn out correct, although some players may respond better to different coaches too
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@Kiwiwomble Yeah I understand what you're saying and mostly agree.
But I do think that Ryan has a relationship with all of these guys, and that could well be influencing his decisions. And I agree with @Crucial that it's bad optics. If there's a 50/50 decision maybe then don't go with another Canterbury/Crusader?
Anyway here's Brayden Iose running over... hmm can't make that player out? Otago number 8 🤔
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@ARHS said in All Blacks XV:
When I first saw team I thought it was a photos hop by a Crusaders fans and kept looking for A.N. Other non Crusader. There are about the 9 or 10 there I would not have expected in next best squad but maybe injuries account for a few of those. TUJ Moorby Stevenson McWhannell Eklund Norris Hodgman Z Sullivan Nareki Sowakula Robinson all unlucky in my view.
a real crusaders fan would've snuck Bridge in🙂
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@FakatavaAllBlack said in All Blacks XV:
@ARHS said in All Blacks XV:
When I first saw team I thought it was a photos hop by a Crusaders fans and kept looking for A.N. Other non Crusader. There are about the 9 or 10 there I would not have expected in next best squad but maybe injuries account for a few of those. TUJ Moorby Stevenson McWhannell Eklund Norris Hodgman Z Sullivan Nareki Sowakula Robinson all unlucky in my view.
a real crusaders fan would've snuck Bridge in🙂
Luckily Schmidt looks to have protected the back selections from this sort of ridiculous provincialism.
Thought Ryan was better than this.
