@majorrage said in Bledisloe II:

@mariner4life said in Bledisloe II:

@crucial said in Bledisloe II:

@mariner4life said in Bledisloe II:

@crucial said in Bledisloe II:

@mariner4life said in Bledisloe II:

@crucial re laumape why play an inferior player for 2/4 of the game? That doesn't make sense

Depends on whether they view him as inferior and the gameplan in mind. I doubt they have him in the squad to carry bags and would be looking to put him on the field.

He's inferior

I have to agree. I'm an ALB fan. I just wonder if the attack may look at a change up in tactic to unsettle the Wobs rush defence. Tell Laumape to do the one thing he probably isn't inferior at which is hard angled running (at Beale/Foley)

I completely understand the reasoning there. I just think it's silly to pick a guy because he likes running in to people really hard.

The early version of Nonu was just that.

Which may go someway to explaining that it took until 2008 for Nonu to become a regular starter.

Having said that, I do really like Laumape and want to see him get a shot. He's pretty bloody quick too, so could well be fighting out ALB for his place. Which means he may get a shot this weekend on the bench.

Noun had and used a step in his early days at 12.

@hydro11 said in Bledisloe I:

I think the Aussies have to stick with Pocock/Hooper. It gives them something different. Ireland struggled to deal with it big time. They have two locks in their team, no reason they should be losing so much set piece ball. They didn't really play badly last night. Just conceded too many penalties. We win games without ball and field position so when you give it to us, you lose by 25.

For me, they worked well in first 30. Seemed that when Hopper ran out of puff things got a lot easier for us. Of course, that could be just coincidence!

@booboo said in Bledisloe I:

@antipodean said in Bledisloe I:

Disappointing lack of histrionics but satisfactory level of lemon sucking face.

TBF Cheika gave class reply when asked about Naholo tackle.

Pocock disrupted us in first half, but only noticed one turnover in second. Couldn't see what changed, but seeing his tackle count could it be that ABs ran straight at him in second?

@mariner4life said in Bledisloe I:

@taniwharugby said in Bledisloe I:

@nepia who knows, I mean if Cully knew how to carry the ball properly, how different that game may have been and all our views on 15s at 13!

shit communicator too

Are we speaking about the same legend who was known by his teammates as 'beer bottle'?

@taniwharugby said in 2018 Rugby Championship:

@pakman travelling fans is a huge plus the Euro comps have on us...I cant imagine there'd be too many (if any) Kiwi/Aus/SA fans that would follow thier team around Super rugby,

Not sure you'd get many fans that would follow thier Int team through TRC either, maybe to SA or Arg as a Kiwi, but highly unlikely to go to both and to Aus as well.

My mates and I who are still in NZ would love to be three hours away from an AB Bok away game or Argie away game. As is, it probably necessitates at least a week, and probably seeing a non-AB game to make it worthwhile.

I'm in London, but an Argentinian boys week has been mentioned in late night ranting over beers!

Living in U.K. It has to be said that the 6N has one incontestable advantage over TRC. That is how close the venues all are. It would be like having Oz, Boks and Argies playing out of Christchurch, Seednee and Breesbayen.
Means rugby weekends are very doable (and bloody good fun!).
Quality wise things are a step down. Jones (S) merely needs to compare the results of his fatherland in 6N (v. good) against those versus Blacks/Boks/Womabts (abysmal) to refresh his memory of the natural order!

@booboo said in Chiefs 2019:

@cgrant said in Chiefs 2019:

I don't know whether there is surplus at loosehead. Hames is not sure to recover from his concussion while Tim Perry, though sound, is not a worldclass prop. That leaves Karl T and Joe Moody there, compared to the tight head where the queue looks longer (Franks, Ofa T, Laulala, JTA and maybe Fidow for the long term).

Lindenmuth?

Agree with logic, but having two world class scrummagers is about all one can expect on each side. We have two/three at LH and one/two at TH. Laulala has NMS syndrome and Ofa and JTA are holding operations at scrum time.

BTW Franks has been a weapon since getting back to full fitness. Messed the Beast up properly against the Sharks. He will be badly missed.

@sammyc said in TRC squad:

@pukunui said in TRC squad:

Surely Todd would have asked Hansen if he was in their plans before he signed in Japan. I was under the impression that Hansen said something to that effect when it was first announced. Could be wrong.

Spoke to friend of mine last week that knows Matt Todd pretty well.

He received an offer from japan that was too big not to consider. He had 2 weeks to make up his mind.

So he contacted Hansen and told him the situation. Essentially wanted to know if he was in the plans for AB selection, if so he’d turn down the offer, was very specific that he only had 2 weeks.

2 weeks passes and Hansen hasn’t made contact so he signs the contract.

2 weeks after that Hansen calls and says we want you in NZ. By this time the contract is signed and it’s too late.

Before I get accused of Canterbury bias or some bulshit. I’m not apportioning blame either way, just reporting what I was told

I suspect the selectors may be smarting from the Bus 'crash'?!

I see some difference between the Todd situation and the Luatua one.

In Todd's case he has the misfortune to be seen as similar to Cane, but less effective in some areas the selectors value, such as dominant tackling. So, like Holah, despite being a superb player, he's never going to get a start and doesn't really fit with the policy of bench adding something different, so loses out there to Savea (A). TWM would, though, very much want to know he was there if Cane broke his arm. Not sure when the Japan sojourn ends (I may have missed it!), but if he is available for EOYT there is not a lot lost on either side from missing TRC.

Regards Luatua, Hansen clearly sees him as exceptional. Not just an excellent player, but showed up well in AB gym tests. Almost certain he was earmarked as the long term replacement for Read, but until then Read is going to play as many minutes as the selectors think they can safely get out of him. So again, almost impossible to give SL any surety that he'd have got much AB game time had he stayed. Irony being Read's back, means he'd have been first choice for Frog tests!

@act-crusader said in 2018 Rugby Championship:

So I’ve seen him listed as 5’11, 5’11 1/2 and 6’0

Whichever is right is neither here nor there, but it would be a bit of a shock if the Boks picked a flanker that size. Don’t really have a view of it either way but it’s not unusual when it comes to the Boks that there are debates about size of loose forwards.

I think back to Heinrich Brussow, 5' 11" and never lost to ABs in his prime, having the wood on Ritchie. When selected in 2015 it was claimed that for a few years he had lost effectiveness because of too much muscle! Interesting article:

I always did a little cheer after 2011 when the Yaapies overlooked HB for a 6' 5" 17 stoner.