@Winger said in All Blacks vs Fiji:

@frugby

Its a pity Tosi wasn't better in the scum. He was VG during super rugby but struiggled in his first test. Because he offers everything that Newell lacks around the field. And more than most TH props

I would work on Tosi's scrumaging. As Newell is unlikely to offer much else even with work. Great in the scrum but limited elsewhere

Work on his scrummaging and you are onto a winner. Hopefully he keeps improving... I'd argue that history shows that it easier to work on a prop's all-round game than scrummaging, so writing Newell off feels pretty harsh.

There have been very few guys go from being poor scrummagers to good scrummagers... Lomax is one in recent times, but feels rare.

@nzzp said in All Blacks vs Fiji:

@frugby said in All Blacks vs Fiji:

Meh. A prop being able to run with the ball won't win you games

A tight 5 who can hold and pass is critical. Part of that is running. We have gone backwards in that regard in the last few years.

The All Blacks tried to pick a mobile front row in 2019 and it backfired fairly spectacularly. Set piece is crucial, particularly with the way scrums are referred in the modern game.

I agree that the baseline should be being able to catch the ball, so Newell definitely needs to work on that, but I also think it is less of a concern when he clearly isn't viewed as a starter. He has started just 1/16 tests, and when Lomax was injured they went with Laulala and left him on the bench.

Can either Reiko or Clarke play 14, or can both only play 11?
With Clarke and Reiko you've got two big, very quick wingers.
With Proctor at 13, you've you got his provincial partnership with Jordie and a center who really looks to feed his wingers. Tempting, but probably won't happen.

@Frank Both Rieko and Clarke have played 14 before - moreso early in their respective careers.

@Winger said in All Blacks vs Fiji:

My view of who put their hand up to start

Aumua. Offers a lot more than Taylor. He just needs to be consistent with his lineout throwing game after game,
Proctor. My MOTM. I thought he was outstanding. And a real centre. I would start Proctor with Jordie in the midfield and move Reiko back to the wing.
Clarke. Back to his best. Almost a must start if fit
Ratima. Unlike many I also thought Hotham has a good game too. But would start Ratima with either Perenara or maybe Hotham as the backup
BB. To start until Jordan returns. My preference would be Love statting until Jordan returns but ...

Not good enough or a maybe
Tosi in the scrum. Shame as otherwise he was superb
Williams. As a replacement maybe
Siti Looked the goods for sure
Darry. Didn't look out of place
ALB. Another option at 2nd 5 but would definitely keep Barrett here

Aumua has been consistent with his line out throwing. He’s been good for most of this year, a real improvement compared to 2023.

My team for the first Argie game in Welly would be:

1. De Groot
2. Aumua
3. Lomax
4. S Barrett
5. Tuipulotu
6. Jacobsen
7. Papali’i
8. Savea
9. Ratima (if fit)
10. McKenzie
11. Clarke
12. J Barrett
13. Proctor
14. Ioane
15. Jordan (if fit) or B Barrett (not sold at all on Perofeta)
16. Taylor
17. Williams
18. Newell
19. Darry
20. Blackadder
21. Perenara (if fit)
22. ALB
23. Barrett or Reece

@Canes4life no love for Ratima?

@KiwiMurph said in All Blacks vs Fiji:

@Canes4life no love for Ratima?

He had a very good game. Just a shame we lost him early

@KiwiMurph said in All Blacks vs Fiji:

@Canes4life no love for Ratima?

I’d start him but thought he was badly concussed. How far away is the next game?

@Canes4life said in All Blacks vs Fiji:

@KiwiMurph said in All Blacks vs Fiji:

@Canes4life no love for Ratima?

I’d start him but thought he was badly concussed. How far away is the next game?

21 days

@canefan said in All Blacks vs Fiji:

@Canes4life said in All Blacks vs Fiji:

@KiwiMurph said in All Blacks vs Fiji:

@Canes4life no love for Ratima?

I’d start him but thought he was badly concussed. How far away is the next game?

21 days

Oh cool, have updated the team with Ratima starting and Perenara off the bench.

@KiwiMurph said in All Blacks vs Fiji:

@Canes4life no love for Ratima?

I would either start Ratima or replace with Christie

And no to Blackadder. Darry is unlikley too

@Machpants said in All Blacks vs Fiji:

Lol anthem so bad it made the news

I used that time to go to the bar.

@Kruse said in All Blacks vs Fiji:

@Machpants said in All Blacks vs Fiji:

Lol anthem so bad it made the news

I used that time to go to the bar.

It started off poorly but towards the end was better

@Kruse said in All Blacks vs Fiji:

@Machpants said in All Blacks vs Fiji:

Lol anthem so bad it made the news

I used that time to go to the bar.

Kruse is my spirit animal

@nostrildamus said in All Blacks vs Fiji:

He's not a tank though.

He looks to be at least as big as Ioane, if not bigger. Definitely not someone I would've ever thought would be considered not big enough.

@Winger said in All Blacks vs Fiji:

@frugby

Its a pity Tosi wasn't better in the scum. He was VG during super rugby but struiggled in his first test. Because he offers everything that Newell lacks around the field. And more than most TH props

I would work on Tosi's scrumaging. As Newell is unlikely to offer much else even with work. Great in the scrum but limited elsewhere

Tosi getting poor raps for his scrummaging seems based merely on scrum worsening when he came on, rather than technical observation. He was on opposite side from camera, so tricky on latter.

Another thing which changed was Darry coming on and going to TH lock. He wasn’t good there for Blues, notably against Saders, but things worked well once he and Patty T swapped sides.

Scooter is a great LH lock, but Tosi would likely have looked miles better with him behind him.

And some of our props were shown up around the field by their reolacements, boy we are lucky to have these 4, now to find more locks..

Tosi is definitely a project player. He was playing 8 a few years ago so let’s give the guy a bit of time to get used to scrummaging at international level. He’s come so far in the space of two years for the Canes so if he can show the same development for the ABs, we could have a real weapon on our hands by the World Cup.

There are times when I come here and feel like I must have watched a completely different game to others.
Thought Blackadder was good. He showed more running and linking than any loose forward in our first 3 tests. Yes, short of a gallop, but that's to be expected. Yeah, it's only an understrength Fiji. But for chrissakes people are claiming he lost the ball twice because he made ground and the cleaners didn't get there? terrible play getting yourself isolated with all that go-forward that people have been crying out for there mate, better reign it in.
Sititi looked good too, but needs an even stronger disclaimer as that's against an understrength Fiji that were beaten about 40 minutes before he even took the field.
Jacobson won some lineouts; against an understrength Fiji who weren't really competing. Doesn't really strike me as a compelling argument. I don't really see why you would pick all three of Dalton, Cane, Jacobson.
Proctor is getting raved about, but I saw several instances where he didn't find his outsides - pretty similar to those that created discussion of Ioane being dropped last week...against a far better side. I thought he played solidly, and generally a debutante choosing to hang onto the ball rather than throw a pass he's not confident of isn't a bad thing - but fuck me the provincial bias in posting is strong this year.
ALB was good.
Clarke was good.
Aumua was good.
Hope Ratima's head is okay.

@Frank said in All Blacks vs Fiji:

Can either Reiko or Clarke play 14, or can both only play 11?
With Clarke and Reiko you've got two big, very quick wingers.
With Proctor at 13, you've you got his provincial partnership with Jordie and a center who really looks to feed his wingers. Tempting, but probably won't happen.

Give Reiko and Proctor a go at center. The better distributor gets the start against SA.
Ratima-DMac-JB/ALB is strong.

Could start Reiko 13, mid game shift to wing, then Proctor on

Guys we are on an upward curve.
Post 2019 we had:
No props
No midfield
No scrum
No goal kicker

Barrett, Patty T, Vaai and Darry looking solid

Sort out 6 and 13

I thought Perofeta was good.
Devo deserves more game time

@BerniesCorner said in All Blacks vs Fiji:

Guys we are on an upward curve.
Post 2019 we had:
No props
No midfield
No scrum
No goal kicker

Barrett, Patty T, Vaai and Darry looking solid

Sort out 6 and 13

Steady on

Savea - Ratima/Roigard/Hotham sniping combo is a weapon

@MN5 Looked good to me.
Belonged

@BerniesCorner said in All Blacks vs Fiji:

@MN5 Looked good to me.
Belonged

Jury is out.

It was against Fiji. Not Ireland. Not SA. Not France…..

The game was well and truly won by the time he had a run.

I can tell by the look in the eyes from 5000 km away looking at Sky Go.
The turnover sold it

@BerniesCorner according to commentators the AB’s first in 67 minutes!

@reprobate said in All Blacks vs Fiji:

• but fuck me the provincial bias in posting is strong this year.

Provincial bias = someone having a different viewpoint to you

Regarding Proctor and not passing, Centres shouldn't always pass no matter what. my view is Proctor got it right this week. Reiko didn't last week

Stats

Lineouts - NZ 17/17; Fiji 8/10
Scrums - NZ 6/6; Fiji 7/11
Tackles - NZ 114/139 (82%); Fiji 145/200 (73%)
Penalties - NZ 8; Fiji 8
Rucks won - NZ 87/89 (97%); Fiji 72/74 (97%)

Some notable individual stats

Tackles / missed tackles

Blackadder 7/4
Proctor 7/3
Hotham 7/3
S. Barrett 6/2
Aumua 4/2

Jacobson 8/1
ALB 8/1
Reece 7/1
Williams 7/1
Bell 7/1
Newell 6/1

Sititi 8/0
Savea 7/0
Tosl 6/0

Tosi made almost as many tackles as Blackadder, Blackadder accounts for almost 20% of missed tackles.

Yeah he had a great game.

@Bones

Time to fuxk him off

@Chris-B said in All Blacks vs Fiji:

@mariner4life said in All Blacks vs Fiji:

@booboo said in All Blacks vs Fiji:

@mikedogz said in All Blacks vs Fiji:

This game is being played at 2:30pm Saturday NZ time. Right when a lot of club finals are being played.

Bummer.

Needs better coordination

we're paying a home game against Fiji in the US. The wants or needs of the NZ rugby public actually matter fuck all to the NZRU

I'm guessing this is to do with Silverlake's strategy for growing NZ Rugby and especially its revenue.

If we could get 1/100th proportion of American kids wandering round in $55 All Black caps that cost $5 to make - as there are NZ kids wandering round in NBA caps - then probably there's $50 million bucks.

These are made up numbers - but, there are 8 billion people wandering the planet and a good proportion of them would like to have a stylish black cap. NZ Rugby and Silverlake just need to work out how to make sure it has an AB logo on it.

These sort of games are a start.

You won't be far off it. A pair of Jordans 1s cost approx $40US shipped and sell for $180US or more depending on the hype.

@Bones said in All Blacks vs Fiji:

Tosi made almost as many tackles as Blackadder, Blackadder accounts for almost 20% of missed tackles.

Yeah he had a great game.

Yes but @Bones he was “busy”, “coming back from injury” and ( insert all other excuses here )

@Bones said in All Blacks vs Fiji:

Tosi made almost as many tackles as Blackadder, Blackadder accounts for almost 20% of missed tackles.

Yeah he had a great game.

Great! We agree.

@Bones said in All Blacks vs Fiji:

Tosi made almost as many tackles as Blackadder, Blackadder accounts for almost 20% of missed tackles.

Yeah he had a great game.

Or, attempted more tackles than anyone else - despite lacking match fitness and 'couldn't keep up', 'struggled with the pace'.
Meanwhile Proctor misses 3 and is the messiah who needs to urgently replace one of our best players from the WC (and I say that as a long time Ioane doubter).

Bladder was mixed out there. Not a 7 at all. His lines were poor - usually coming in the side of the ruck. Struggled to find people to tackle. Can see why you'd consider him at 6, but at 7 it's a strong no thanks from me. Our loosies are not setting the world on fire and just seem unbalanced.

Separately, folk need to slow down a bit on reaching conclusions for the backs in particular. They got time and space you don't get against good teams. ALB (who's excellent generally) looked like the second coming of Cullen. That will not map across to a team that pressures us with rush defence.

All of our weaknesses seemed to be there still; lineouts (Aumua much improved), exits, kicking, carrying in the tight. It looks easy against a side that misses 55 tackles, but I'd be very cautious of assuming we've cracked the issues that have plagued us for so long. If you were coaching against this AB side you'd be running a simple game plan based on rush defence, kicking and contesting lineouts making us try to exit.

@nzzp said in All Blacks vs Fiji:

All of our weaknesses seemed to be there still; lineouts (Aumua much improved), exits, kicking, carrying in the tight. It looks easy against a side that misses 55 tackles, but I'd be very cautious of assuming we've cracked the issues that have plagued us for so long. If you were coaching against this AB side you'd be running a simple game plan based on rush defence, kicking and contesting lineouts making us try to exit.

I thought we contested lineout in England 2 and this test not too badly.

Exits were pretty good in Fiji test. DMac was getting excellent distance more so than Auckland.