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@Steven-Harris said in Chiefs v Force:
@Chris-B just does his basics well great lineout option as well
Finau was supposed to be the guy who replaced Frizzell but for me all those hits on small outside backs has not need been seen on bigger bodies .
He's already a better replacement, Frizell couldn't even execute hits on the small outside backs let alone the bigger bodies.
@reprobate said in All Blacks 2025:
@Machpants said in All Blacks 2025:
@Victor-Meldrew said in All Blacks 2025:
@Darren said in All Blacks 2025:
DMac offers something different, some excitement at 10, which so far Razor doesn't seem to like his players having.
I dunno. I often get so excited when BB is at 10, I end up throwing things at the TV
Stop. It. With. The. Fucking. Kicking!
Yes, I know it barely makes sense, but that's what's normally frothing out when beaudy kicks away possession again, with some stupid chip or attempt at kick pass.
He is a true connoisseur of both the aimless kick and the low percentage kick. Not to mention the Sexton slow shovel it along.
It was actually a pleasant change to see him being rubbished for taking a poor option to run it back last week.
Decent fullback, crap 10. Since forever.
Was he? It seems like was all deflected to Ioane who ran back to help out, secured loose ball, and dropped it while trying to pass with a defender on him. It was also his fault that the Blues scrum gave away a penalty.
@nzzp said in All Blacks 2025:
@Nepia get that, but none of those had to deal with modern defenses that are elite.
Defence has got much much better since the 2010sSo I'd argue he was up there, albeit against better organized defenders
Yeah, and those guys didn't have the conditioning and sports science available since 2010 to balance that out. 
He also played in an era of more tries scored per match, especially when you compare with a guy like Kirwan.
@nzzp said in All Blacks 2025:
@Nepia said in All Blacks 2025:
@Canes4life said in All Blacks 2025:
@reprobate said in All Blacks 2025:
@Canes4life said in All Blacks 2025:
@reprobate said in All Blacks 2025:
@Canes4life said in All Blacks 2025:
@canefan said in All Blacks 2025:
@MN5 said in All Blacks 2025:
@canefan said in All Blacks 2025:
@MN5 said in All Blacks 2025:
@Canes4life said in All Blacks 2025:
@nostrildamus said in All Blacks 2025:
I'm not going to criticize the coaches for playing Sititi at 6 because he actually did bloody well there.
I'll be upset if they bring back DH, though. Does some good things at Super level but at international level he either isn't a quality long-term 12 against top sides or they haven't used him properly. It is not like they don't have other 12s to try out.I agree, Havili doesn't have the size or style for international footy. We need a 12 that can consistently get us over the advantage line against top teams. This is exactly why I think Lam would go well as an international 12 for us, he has the acceleration and power to burst through tackles, but he also has the silky skills to put others away if required.
Yeah but he has amazing utility value
The difference when Jordie took over was dramatic. Just a bigger body who could get us moving forward. He hasn't kicked on, which is probably as much to do with tactics as anything
He’s big without being massive and doesn’t have the raw power of De Allende, Esterhuizen, Aki etc.
Good skills, good goal kicker.
A definite step up from Havilli but found wanting when compared to our last long term 12 ( as everyone is to be fair )
Nonu is in the GOAT conversation. In fact half the team probably is, for their positions. We were so spoiled by the 2012-2017 team
When you go through that 2015 WC Final team, we had so many players who were arguably the best we'd ever seen in those jerseys from a NZ perspective. Rettalick, Whitelock, McCaw, Kaino, Read, Smith, Smith, Smith, Carter, Nonu, Coles, prime Savea and Milner-Skudder, with the likes of prime Beaudy and SBW on the bench. That team was the best WC team ever assembled in my view and it's unlikely we'll see anything like it ever again.
The ABs haven't reached anywhere near that quality of side since, infact I'd go far as to say if the 2015 side met the side of 2025, they'd put 50+ on them with absolute ease.
All those combinations created over a long period of time is exactly what we are missing today.
Just about all of that is true, but prime Savea was definitely pre-2015 - flash of former glory against the Frogs notwithstanding.
Aye? Savea was in top form all year for the Canes prior to the ABs apart from a botched try in the final. He fell apart post 2015.
No way bro, he was dropped from the first few tests that year to go to fat camp.
He was still playing good footy and played bloody well in the WC so I’m still calling him prime Savea, especially the way he trampled on all those French players to score. You don’t do that unless your at the top your game.
He was shit in 2015, that one French game is held up as him being not, but it doesn't change the fact he was. Savea's prime was extremely short, unlike his bro, who's had a much longer prime.
His peak was as high as you get. He had the ability to run through a set defensive line and make people look ridiculous. Amazing.
But well past his best by 15, France knockout aside
To be a pedant, of wings, I don't think his peak was as high as Lomu, Rupeni and Kirwan, so not as high as you get, but still pretty high. Anyway, I'll stop pedanting now. 
@Canes4life said in All Blacks 2025:
@reprobate said in All Blacks 2025:
@Canes4life said in All Blacks 2025:
@reprobate said in All Blacks 2025:
@Canes4life said in All Blacks 2025:
@canefan said in All Blacks 2025:
@MN5 said in All Blacks 2025:
@canefan said in All Blacks 2025:
@MN5 said in All Blacks 2025:
@Canes4life said in All Blacks 2025:
@nostrildamus said in All Blacks 2025:
I'm not going to criticize the coaches for playing Sititi at 6 because he actually did bloody well there.
I'll be upset if they bring back DH, though. Does some good things at Super level but at international level he either isn't a quality long-term 12 against top sides or they haven't used him properly. It is not like they don't have other 12s to try out.I agree, Havili doesn't have the size or style for international footy. We need a 12 that can consistently get us over the advantage line against top teams. This is exactly why I think Lam would go well as an international 12 for us, he has the acceleration and power to burst through tackles, but he also has the silky skills to put others away if required.
Yeah but he has amazing utility value
The difference when Jordie took over was dramatic. Just a bigger body who could get us moving forward. He hasn't kicked on, which is probably as much to do with tactics as anything
He’s big without being massive and doesn’t have the raw power of De Allende, Esterhuizen, Aki etc.
Good skills, good goal kicker.
A definite step up from Havilli but found wanting when compared to our last long term 12 ( as everyone is to be fair )
Nonu is in the GOAT conversation. In fact half the team probably is, for their positions. We were so spoiled by the 2012-2017 team
When you go through that 2015 WC Final team, we had so many players who were arguably the best we'd ever seen in those jerseys from a NZ perspective. Rettalick, Whitelock, McCaw, Kaino, Read, Smith, Smith, Smith, Carter, Nonu, Coles, prime Savea and Milner-Skudder, with the likes of prime Beaudy and SBW on the bench. That team was the best WC team ever assembled in my view and it's unlikely we'll see anything like it ever again.
The ABs haven't reached anywhere near that quality of side since, infact I'd go far as to say if the 2015 side met the side of 2025, they'd put 50+ on them with absolute ease.
All those combinations created over a long period of time is exactly what we are missing today.
Just about all of that is true, but prime Savea was definitely pre-2015 - flash of former glory against the Frogs notwithstanding.
Aye? Savea was in top form all year for the Canes prior to the ABs apart from a botched try in the final. He fell apart post 2015.
No way bro, he was dropped from the first few tests that year to go to fat camp.
He was still playing good footy and played bloody well in the WC so I’m still calling him prime Savea, especially the way he trampled on all those French players to score. You don’t do that unless your at the top your game.
He was shit in 2015, that one French game is held up as him being not, but it doesn't change the fact he was. Savea's prime was extremely short, unlike his bro, who's had a much longer prime.
@Bones said in Best performing uncapped players in SR?:
@Nepia said in Best performing uncapped players in SR?:
@sparky said in Best performing uncapped players in SR?:
Xavier Roe at Half Back.
Wait, what? I know he's been starting a lot but his service has been painfully slow., he's a lean down look around type. He's like a non ginga Christie.
That team sure does have an excellent attack considering they suffer such terrible service then.
Well DMac can sometimes work wonders with slow ball, and Ratima comes on too.
@Crazy-Horse Pffft, I didn't read the parameters of the discussion, I was just rating him in a vacuum.
@canefan said in Current depth at 10:
@sparky said in Current depth at 10:
@SBW1 There have been talks to try and get RM back since Robertson became ABs Coach. The snag is that RM really likes living and playing in Japan and seems content to represent Tonga at the next World Cup. It would be foolish to assume he's coming back.
Makes us look desperate almost begging him to return. We need to move on and build with what we have
Yep, he's not DC, he's not even peak AC or BB either. I'm not sure he's even 2003 era Carlos. He seems to be the only player in this country who is rated on his Super career rather than his AB career.
The moment he left he should never have been mentioned again. If Razor wanted him he should have convinced him to stay. It's pretty embarrassing all round.
@sparky said in "Joey Manu":
@SBW1 It sounds as though NZR ain't interested.
I don't get the age profile bit, we've favoured aged midfielders for decades now, plus we took on an aged Benji and a reasonably aged RTS, and of those three I think Manu is better equiped to make the transition.
@george33 said in Chiefs 2025:
@Chris ok, Reece is my first thinking
If only that twat would hurry up and piss off.
@taniwharugby said in All Blacks 2025:
I suspect those that want Razor to fail are the marginal 'fans' that are not unlike those who wanted Henry to fail after ousting Deans.
Vast majority of fans want him to succeed, want him to return us to the top of the pile, and last year, he made it hard with some calls many saw as bias or bonkers, there will always be some provincial lines that blur calls too.
I'd say this year will give us a much better picture of whether he is upto the task or not, if we cant start to climb back up after the slide that started around 2016/2017, might be time to start supporting the Warriors....
Wait, aren't the entire country already supporting the Warriors and no one is supporting rugby, or have the media been lying to me the last two years?
To your original point are there people who want Razor to fail? Being disappointed in his first year, especially considering the hype train around him and being disappointed with his selections don't necessarily transition to wanting him to fail. I think we all want him to succeed, and quite frankly shut the fuck up about the overrated 10 playing overseas.
As to those teams, a lot of yuck in those. Weird that uber Cantab Hinton is in the pro Sotutu camp though. Also Cully selecting Barrett at 6, he hasn't even been outstanding at lock this year (yes I know he had one really good game, but lets not pretend he's had a good season so far - hopefully he's saving himself for the tests) and a certain match in 2019 with a much younger version shows the folly of playing him there.
BB must have incriminating photos of all the journos in NZ, they're all his marketing team.
@sparky said in Best performing uncapped players in SR?:
Xavier Roe at Half Back.
Wait, what? I know he's been starting a lot but his service has been painfully slow., he's a lean down look around type. He's like a non ginga Christie.
@MN5 said in All Blacks 2025:
@canefan said in All Blacks 2025:
@Crazy-Horse said in All Blacks 2025:
@canefan said in All Blacks 2025:
@MN5 said in All Blacks 2025:
@No-Quarter said in All Blacks 2025:
Fihaki and Bell are shaping up as two of the most biased AB selections of all time. Neither with any runs on the board bar age grade stuff, and now both have 5 or 6 players easily ahead of them this year. Bell is not even the best hooker at the Crusaders and Fihaki has the worst stats of any NZ winger that is in the frame by some distance.
I'm expecting more of the same from Razor this year.
Havilli and Blackadder want you to hold their beers
Shane Philpott too (RIP), Ben Blair, George Bridge. Many more, enough to fill the whole bar
Bernie McCahill, Mike Clamp, Marty Berry....
I thought we were talking about Cantablacks. Lots of other guys who were less deserving of the jersey than others. Mark Carter was another
Christ here we go.
Carter had one Bledisloe Cup game where he was immense. There’s been far less deserving ABs than him.
He made one outstanding tackle on Lynagh and we moved the best 7 to ever play the game to accomodate him. Not sure he was immense in the rest of the game.
In all honesty I can't remember at all how he went in the other tests he played so not going to argue there.
Was one hell of a tackle though.
Death of a Unicorn: This is a batshit maybe horror comedy. I don't watch horrors so think it was listed as a black comedy but all the trailers were horror. Anyway it was a fun way to spend an hour and a half. Stars Paul Rudd, Jenna Ortega, Richard E Grant, Tea Leoni, Will Pouter and Noho Hank from Barry.
@Bones said in TV Serieseseses:
Black Snow S2 has started well, but has anyone ever seen Travis Fimmel and Charlie Hunnam in the same room?
They really need to play brothers in a show. Although TBH I think they're looking less similar as they age, but that might be the characters - of both stood next to each other with short back and sides then it might be twins again.
I assumed Black Snow was a one and done mini series. Where is it airing outside of Oz?
@MN5 said in Movie review thread...:
@Nepia said in Movie review thread...:
@MN5 said in Movie review thread...:
@Nepia said in Movie review thread...:
Novocaine: Jack Quaid from The Boys plays a guy who can't feel pain, and therefore has to be wary in life. For reasons he has to become John Wick, Liam Neeson, the Stath despite having none of the skills. Was a pretty fun film. Also stars Amber Midthunder from Prey.
A Working Man: I genuinely like most of Staths action movies, even if they're mostly the same movie. But this was one was pretty bad.
Warfare: A US Seal team gets into a firefight in a house they're in while supporting some marines. It goes a bit pear shaped. I thought this was a good war film, reminded me a lot of Black Hawk Down. Stars the main kid from Reservation Dogs, Will Poulter and a bunch of other familiar faces. Written by one of the members of the real life team.
This whole review is a complete contradiction. Can you go into more detail so I can be sure to avoid the movie ? cheers
Let's use this analogy, if his movies were songs then most of them, although they're pretty much the same song are written and performed by the Beatles. This one was written and performed by Nickleback. In other words best to avoid, but in all honesty don't listen to me, if you don't mind lesser Stath then you'll likely be entertained, I wasn't for the most part.
Still doesn't work as I tend to avoid the Beatles and Nickelback.
Statham is good as a smart ass geezer in an ensemble cast. I've never found a movie of his I enjoy with him as the lead.
Then why are we having this conversation? It's a Stath action movie, of course he's the lead.
@MN5 said in Movie review thread...:
@Nepia said in Movie review thread...:
Novocaine: Jack Quaid from The Boys plays a guy who can't feel pain, and therefore has to be wary in life. For reasons he has to become John Wick, Liam Neeson, the Stath despite having none of the skills. Was a pretty fun film. Also stars Amber Midthunder from Prey.
A Working Man: I genuinely like most of Staths action movies, even if they're mostly the same movie. But this was one was pretty bad.
Warfare: A US Seal team gets into a firefight in a house they're in while supporting some marines. It goes a bit pear shaped. I thought this was a good war film, reminded me a lot of Black Hawk Down. Stars the main kid from Reservation Dogs, Will Poulter and a bunch of other familiar faces. Written by one of the members of the real life team.
This whole review is a complete contradiction. Can you go into more detail so I can be sure to avoid the movie ? cheers
Let's use this analogy, if his movies were songs then most of them, although they're pretty much the same song are written and performed by the Beatles. This one was written and performed by Nickleback. In other words best to avoid, but in all honesty don't listen to me, if you don't mind lesser Stath then you'll likely be entertained, I wasn't for the most part.