@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
All Blacks
Match thread
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 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:
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
@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 kickerBarrett, Patty T, Vaai and Darry looking solid
Sort out 6 and 13
Steady on
@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.
@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.
@ACT-Crusader McKenzie exits fine. Better than Mo'unga and Barrett (B), so that is a clear improvement from last year. Perofeta is only okay, and the wingers Telea, Reece, Clarke are not good. Narawa has a long boot, I think? but is down the pecking order by the looks. Jordie can obviously kick it a long way.
McKenzie dropping back to do most of it makes sense, but it inevitably turns into forceback a fair bit, and if he has to chase a kick then we get left with Perofeta/Telea/Reece returning fire. Might be able to adjust the tactics slightly so that Jordie drops as the other option.
I have a sneaky feeling the coaches/selectors are going to be fairly happy with Blackadder's game. A few plays went though him, either off the lineout or out the back of the ruck and he was pretty accurate in what he was required to do. He was on hand to support the ball carrier a fair bit as they went into contact, and he was a general nuisance at ruck time. He didn't show he was the second coming, but none of the 6.5s have screamed 'pick me' or 'drop me', and Blackadder is no exception.
@Crazy-Horse exactly this. better link play than anyone else has shown so far.
Although I guess if link play was a priority then you'd pick Hoskins.
@reprobate said in All Blacks vs Fiji:
@Crazy-Horse exactly this. better link play than anyone else has shown so far.
Although I guess if link play was a priority then you'd pick Hoskins.
You mean at 6 not loosies per se? As Ardie links best...
@reprobate said in All Blacks vs Fiji:
@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).
Read into those stats all you like but a couple of those misses weren't necessarily one on one misses. Proctor put himself into a few situations where, because of his high work rate off the ball he made a couple lunges on the next player out after covering the guy he was marking up on. Maybe he shouldn't have made those attempts and let the player who was meant to be covering those guys take the hit, but that's the sort of player Proctor is, he always pushes hard.
He's the best defensive centre in NZ and that's the biggest reason he's been picked.
@Crazy-Horse said in All Blacks vs Fiji:
I have a sneaky feeling the coaches/selectors are going to be fairly happy with Blackadder's game. A few plays went though him, either off the lineout or out the back of the ruck and he was pretty accurate in what he was required to do. He was on hand to support the ball carrier a fair bit as they went into contact, and he was a general nuisance at ruck time. He didn't show he was the second coming, but none of the 6.5s have screamed 'pick me' or 'drop me', and Blackadder is no exception.
Here’s Richard Knowler from Stuff.co.nz’s views on Todds son….just in case the previous superlatives weren’t silly enough.
“Ethan Blackadder was his typical robust self when he started at openside flanker against Fiji; he was uncompromising and worked like Sisyphus repeatedly rolling a big pebble up and down the hill.
Blackadder can also play at No 6, and it could yet be his best position for the All Blacks”
One positive this year is DMac is a clear upgrade on Mo'unga. We just need to find a suitable backup now.
@No-Quarter said in All Blacks vs Fiji:
One positive this year is DMac is a clear upgrade on Mo'unga. We just need to find a suitable backup now.
The Cantabs are too busy with their shields up for Blackadder to take this bait. 
@Bones said in All Blacks vs Fiji:
Tosi made almost as many tackles as Blackadder
But having to do that also means that we can't have had much possession which must have hurt his statistics there.
@nostrildamus said in All Blacks vs Fiji:
@reprobate said in All Blacks vs Fiji:
@Crazy-Horse exactly this. better link play than anyone else has shown so far.
Although I guess if link play was a priority then you'd pick Hoskins.You mean at 6 not loosies per se? As Ardie links best...
No, I mean all the loosies, in the 3 tests so far this year. Not that surprising for Dalton, Jacobson, Finau.
Savea was very good in the WC, he hasn't been very good this year (yet, hopefully).
The other thing Blackadder tried a few times was running a hard line one off the ruck at pace. The halfback didn't give him the ball, but thought it was worth noting due to the (correct) whinge some were making about our runners in the previous tests being static.
I don't think he was amazing or anything, just that it was a solid first outing for a while and he showed a few things that his other loosies have not this year. Honestly I'd barely give the performance two sentences if it weren't for all the absurdly negative comments on here. Bloke was picked despite injuries and it's a reasonable argument that he shouldn't have been - but that's on the selectors, not him.
And I'm not a Crusaders person.
