NZ team of the tournament
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<p>With the Super Rugby competition now completed, who were the best NZ players (or playing in a NZ team) ?</p>
<p>My team would be ;</p>
<p> </p>
<p>B. Smith (consistenly good while McKenzie had a few average games)</p>
<p>Naholo (by default, no real standout in this position)</p>
<p>Proctor (had a very good tournament while Crotty, Faddes, Moala and Tamanivalu were far from consistent)</p>
<p>Ngatai (based on the games he played before his concussion - with Lienert Brown and Francis bubbling under, Fekitoa very disappointing)</p>
<p>Lowe or Nadolo (another position without any standout player)</p>
<p>Barrett</p>
<p>Smith</p>
<p>Luatua (Read was out of form in the early stages)</p>
<p>Savea (Cane penalized too many times IMO)</p>
<p>Dixon (despite his disastrous semi-final)</p>
<p>Retallick</p>
<p>Fatialofa (Bird bubbling under)</p>
<p>Faumuina (better than Franks on pure form)</p>
<p>Coles</p>
<p>Goodes (Moody and Crockett went missing in a few games)</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Note that this is not an AB team but the form team of the competition.</p>
<p> </p> -
<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="cgrant" data-cid="604112" data-time="1470687782">
<div>
<p>With the Super Rugby competition now completed, who were the best NZ players (or playing in a NZ team) ?</p>
<p>My team would be ;</p>
<p> </p>
<p>B. Smith (consistenly good while McKenzie had a few average games)</p>
<p>Naholo (by default, no real standout in this position)</p>
<p>Proctor (had a very good tournament while Crotty, Faddes, Moala and Tamanivalu were far from consistent)</p>
<p>Ngatai (based on the games he played before his concussion - with Lienert Brown and Francis bubbling under, Fekitoa very disappointing)</p>
<p>Lowe or Nadolo (another position without any standout player)</p>
<p>Barrett</p>
<p>Smith</p>
<p>Luatua (Read was out of form in the early stages)</p>
<p>Savea (Cane penalized too many times IMO)</p>
<p>Dixon (despite his disastrous semi-final)</p>
<p>Retallick</p>
<p>Fatialofa (Bird bubbling under)</p>
<p>Faumuina (better than Franks on pure form)</p>
<p>Coles</p>
<p>Goodes (Moody and Crockett went missing in a few games)</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Note that this is not an AB team but the form team of the competition.</p>
</div>
</blockquote>
<p> </p>
<p>Need more North Islanders in your team.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>I thought Read was good for the entire tournament, especially prior to the June test. The Crusaders had the best scrum in the NZ conference yet neither of their starting props gets into your team.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>And how many games did Proctor actually play at centre?</p> -
<p>I'd be tempted to put TJP in for Smith. Not that Smith wasn't good, probably just not as good as last year and TJP was an important part of the Canes success.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Similar maybe for DMac instead of B Smith. He definitely fell away later in the season but Dmac was pretty good early on.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Nanai probably worth a mention but maybe behind the two above. He was good all season then really good in the last couple.</p> -
<p>The team should be reflective of performance over the <u>entire</u> Super season, not just after the international break. I think DMac deserves a place in the team ahead of Naholo so move B Smith to the wing. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>TJP was average until the latter end of the season as well so A Smith should get the nod for consistency.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Otherwise it looks about right to me.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>I'll be interested to see the nominees for NZ Super rugby player of the year.</p> -
<p>I think Ben Smith at fullback and Naholo on the right wing is correct - for me DMac really carved up the more average teams but did have a tendancy to get shut down when playing the tougher teams and his defence did get exposed at points during the season. Naholo by my count played 9 out of 17 games due to injury and I don't recall a bad game amongst that lot. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>What is interesting is if you did a pre-June break team and a post-June break team, i'd suspect they would be quite different.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>I'd expect a lot more Crusaders in the pre-June break form team and more Blues in the post-June break team for example.</p> -
<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="Cantab79" data-cid="604261" data-time="1470711597">
<div>
<p>Need more North Islanders in your team.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>I thought Read was good for the entire tournament, especially prior to the June test. The Crusaders had the best scrum in the NZ conference yet neither of their starting props gets into your team.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>And how many games did Proctor actually play at centre?</p>
</div>
</blockquote>
<p> </p>
<p>Moody and Franks scrummed well but they did not look too busy on the field. Faumuina scrummed strongly and was far more effective in the loose than Franks IMO.</p>
<p>Goodes was everywhere on the park before his injury and was solid in the tight. Both were more influential on their teams' performances that is why I went for them.</p>
<p>Proctor is here by default as the other contenders had a mixed tournament. He was consistenly good when he was able to play.</p>