Who gives a shit which of the reserves play? This is a 50 point walk over. You could play any of the Super Rugby teams. Oh, not the Crusaders or Highlanders though.
All Blacks
Match thread
Fiji
@booboo said in All Blacks vs Fiji:
@ACT-Crusader said in All Blacks vs Fiji:
Original squad members that haven’t played yet:
Williams, Bell, Blackadder, Proctor, Narawa, Clarke
Expect to see all of them feature.
How is Tamaiti's little bubbs?
off regulaer. breathing by itself
@sparky said in All Blacks vs Fiji:
@cgrant There are training with the squad as injury cover for players who have been injured (Patty T and Caleb Clarke).
Yes, they are training with the squad but do not belong to the squad.
Supposedly only taking 32 players over to the states so it will be interesting to see if a senior player or 2 get rest and any of the 4 extras swap places and head over.
@DaGrubster said in All Blacks vs Fiji:
The lineout is currently the worst performing part of the team.
It shows the folly of selecting Bell, a hooker who has major throwing issues and not up to AB standard, suddenly could be throwing into a lineout that is already misfiring
I guess the flip side is, they've got three weeks of work (and likely 30 minutes of test rugby this coming weekend) into the guy who's clearly earmarked as Taylor's eventual replacement - rather than investing in a guy who unfortunately is too small to ever be more than a stopgap.
Worst case scenario - if either option had to sit on the bench vs England,
I reckon the plan would have been for whichever of Taylor or Aumua started, for him to play 70 minutes.
I reckon Robertson will be looking at that coin this morning and thinking, "You bewdy, it's come up Razor again!"
I think it's a bit shit that, in a 14-test year, with 6 "home" games, we decide to play one in the US. And not even against the US. 5 tests for the year? Talk about short changing your own fans.
@sparky I'd be a bit surprised if Hotham got game time in this match.
We have TJ, Christie and Ratima all scrabbling to play - and Roigard due back at some point. I don't see too much point in giving the number five halfback a run unless injury dictates we need to.
On the other hand, I can see the point in giving Darry a run, even though he's not officially in the squad - especally if Patty T. would benefit from a week off.
Our locks are pretty short but top tier international standards. Is Darry ( who I assume is over 2 metres ) instantly going to turn things around ?
@MN5 said in All Blacks vs Fiji:
Our locks are pretty short but top tier international standards.
You'd be surprised at the heights of other international locks. Both Itoje and Martin are < 2 m. The Irish lineout won plenty of SA ball with only Ryan 2 m+.
@Bovidae said in All Blacks vs Fiji:
@MN5 said in All Blacks vs Fiji:
Our locks are pretty short but top tier international standards.
You'd be surprised at the heights of other international locks. Both Itoje and Martin are < 2 m. The Irish lineout won plenty of SA ball with only Ryan 2 m+.
Yeah fair call, perhaps I’m just thinking of the Boks with three 2 metre giants in there at the best of times.
Maybe our guys just aren’t as good
@Machpants Maybe Friday morning NZ time?
@Tim said in All Blacks vs Fiji:
@Machpants Maybe Friday morning NZ time?
We might as well call the test now.
Fiji’s test for the taking.
@ACT-Crusader So Thursday early morning then.
This game is being played at 2:30pm Saturday NZ time. Right when a lot of club finals are being played.
@Bovidae said in All Blacks vs Fiji:
Itoje
Bio
Maro ITOJE is a 29-year-old English rugby player standing at 1.95 m tall (6 ft 5 in) and weighing in at 115 kg (18 st 1.53 lb; 253.53 lb) , who currently plays for Saracens in England as lock.
