No Papalii or Jordan? What's this guy smoking?

Only watched the 2nd half. What happened to Parkinson? Injured?

Darren Nicholson said:

I am bewildered that we select Fafita, and not give an opportunity to A Ioane. Why not at least give him a run off the bench?

Agreed, especially when you consider an average player like Luke Whitelock gets a spot. NMS's selection is also a ridiculous one. The guy has lost so much of pace it's not funny. Granted the three wise men have done an exceptional job over the years but they are not perfect and do make some bad calls every now and again.

The All Blacks squad for Argentina and South Africa is:
FORWARDS
-Coltman, Harris, Taylor

• Franks, Perry, Ta’avao, Tu’inukuafe, Tuungafasi
• S. Barrett, Tuipulotu, S. Whitelock,
• Cane, Fifita, Frizell, Hemopo, Read, Savea & L. Whitelock
  BACKS
• Perenara, A. Smith, Tahuriorangi
• B. Barrett, McKenzie, Mo’unga
• Crotty, Goodhue, Lienert-Brown, Williams
  -J. Barrett, Ioane, Milner-Skudder, Naholo & B. Smith
  NOTE
  Captain Kieran Read won’t travel to Argentina
  “We always had a plan to manage Kieran’s long haul travel this year, following his return to rugby after back surgery, so he’ll miss the trip to Argentina and re-join the squad in South Africa for the Test against the Springboks.” - ABs coach Steve Hansen

@hooroo All these guys who are now earning millions via the T20 circuit have Martin Crowe to thank imo. It was his Cricket Max format that sparked the idea that an even shorter version of the game than ODIs was possible.

@unite said in All Blacks v Springboks:

@akan004 said in All Blacks v Springboks:

Copied this from Nigel Yalden's facebook page re BBBR.

"Trust me mate, he's had a scan, even they say he hasn't. Reliably informed that he spend most of yesterday's training session running and down stair in Westpac Stadium. Picking that would jar the buggery out of any shoulder, so can't be too bad - we are inquiring though mate."

Any more news from Nigel RE BBBR?

Nothing new per his fb page.

Some fair enough points you raised, but I still maintain that the pressure experienced in the last ten to fifteen minutes in a tight Test is far more intense than at the 40th minute mark. Added to that, this Aussie team seems incapable of keeping up with us in the last quarter of the game unlike the Boks and the BIL. I'm not saying we are a bunch of no-hopers who crumble under pressure , but I think there are signs that this team may not be as composed as some of our prior teams. I may very well be wrong but I think it's fair to raise this as a discussion point.

@mariner4life I am judging how a team responds to pressure, and therefore looking at the tight games is the only way to get a true gauge of that.

@mariner4life How have I cherry picked? I have simply gone through the close games over the last two years and reported the results. Granted we were down to 14 against the BIL but we were also up by 9 points in that game heading into the last 20 minutes. Should have closed that out. Ditto with Auckland the next week.

Bear in mind, we have had three poor results at home over a 15 month period. That's unheard of in recent times. Not as sweet as you make it out to be.

Should we be concerned about our inability to win the close games? Contrary to the bs spouted by the media that this team has hardly been tested and placed under pressure, they actually have been under pressure quite often in recent history.

Over the last two years, this team have only managed to get the positive outcome 50% of the time in tight contests, not what you would expect from an AB team, especially one with so much talent. Here's a list of the games during that time that could have gone either way.

Wellington 2017 (loss to the BIL)
Auckland 2017 (draw with the BIL)
Dunedin 2017 (beat Australia)
Durban 2017 (beat the Boks)
Brisbane 2017 (loss to Australia)
Edinburgh 2017 (beat Scotland)
Cardiff 2017 (beat Wales)
Wellington 2018 (loss to the Boks)

That's played eight, four wins, one draw and three losses.