@sparky said in All Blacks Vs France, Test One, Dunedin:
@canefan I am not sure that is still 100% correct. Ruben Love and Rivez Reihana will both get some game time at First Five for the ABs this year. The depth is slowly growing.
We will have to agree to disagree that either of them are ready NOW. Both have shown promise, but neither player has even played a full super season. But I would like to see Love, as a member of the squad, getting some time at 10 to see what he can do
@canefan I wouldn't be surprised at all this series if it is a different First Five starting each test: Beauden for the first, DMac for the second and Ruben Love for the third.
I think, all going well, Rivez Reihana will start for the ABs against Scotland or Wales later in the year.
That's a decent quartet to have with the RWC 2027 looming.
@sparky said in All Blacks Vs France, Test One, Dunedin:
@canefan I wouldn't be surprised at all this series if it is a different First Five starting each test: Beauden for the first, DMac for the second and Ruben Love for the third.
I think, all going well, Rivez Reihana will start for the ABs against Scotland or Wales later in the year.
That's a decent quartet to have with the RWC 2027 looming.
I would like to see that
@taniwharugby said in All Blacks Vs France, Test One, Dunedin:
@ACT-Crusader said in All Blacks Vs France, Test One, Dunedin:
What was pleasing was to see the step up of Vaa’i last year when there were concerns post 2023 with Whitelock and Retallick gone.
Have to wonder how much the opposition has been factored in, like, if we were facing SA this weekend, would we see the same line-up?
Quite a bit is injury enforced.
I expect they would've wanted to play their strongest team in test 1 - so the forwards potentially would've been:
Williams, Taylor, Lomax, Barrett, Holland, Vaa'i, Ardie, Sititi
de Groot, Big Sami, Newell, Finau, Kirifi/Jacobson
Backs selections are pretty unsurprising - the only real question was who played centre and how that played out on the wings.
@1kiwi said in All Blacks Vs France, Test One, Dunedin:
My concern lies with Beauden at 10. We should be blooding a new 10 with the world cup only 2 years away. I don't believe we can win a world cup with either Beauden or Damien as our 10.
To paraphrase Ramsay Bolton from Game of Thrones, "Anyone who thinks Richie won't be wearing the 10 jersey at RWC2027 hasn't been paying attention".
Barring injury of course.
Don't shoot the messenger! 
@Chris-B said in All Blacks Vs France, Test One, Dunedin:
@1kiwi said in All Blacks Vs France, Test One, Dunedin:
My concern lies with Beauden at 10. We should be blooding a new 10 with the world cup only 2 years away. I don't believe we can win a world cup with either Beauden or Damien as our 10.
To paraphrase Ramsay Bolton from Game of Thrones, "Anyone who thinks Richie won't be wearing the 10 jersey at RWC2027 hasn't been paying attention".
Barring injury of course.
Don't shoot the messenger!
Not if I have anything to do with it;
BB should be fine against this French squad, with DMac coming off the bench to stretch the scoreline
Rugby Championship, not so much
I am reasonably happy with 23 selected. The areas we need to address to compete with the best teams in the world right, I.e South Africa and France are, power, height to win the aerial contests, competition on the floor and pace out wide.
Given the cattle available for this test, this largely addresses these areas.
Would have love to have seen another fast wing, like CT or LC in there, but they were unavailable or not selected.
On the 1st 5/8 question, isn't Harry Godfrey the anointed saviour to be sent forth from the Hurricanes?
@MiketheSnow said in All Blacks Vs France, Test One, Dunedin:
BB should be fine against this French squad, with DMac coming off the bench to stretch the scoreline
Rugby Championship, not so much
and thats whats in the back of my mind, a test like this in the past would be used to blood the next generation
@ACT-Crusader said in All Blacks Vs France, Test One, Dunedin:
@Kiwiwomble said in All Blacks Vs France, Test One, Dunedin:
@Dan54 said in All Blacks Vs France, Test One, Dunedin:
Well, don't know whether to shake my head or be pleased they trying things. Surprises me Vai'i at 6, but also think it a pointer to how good they thing Holland will be, and Vai'i being best lock in NZ, maybe they felt they had to play him?
thats kind of why i dont like choosing your captain so early....if Vaai is the best lock and Holland deserves a run as the future....play them both there, i think you make the 23 before you get to be captain, with savea, taylor and BB on the pitch its not like we're short of experienced leaders on the pitch
From EOYT 2022 and all of 2023 Scooter was our best lock. That was on the back of being a very effective bench option previously. Add to that he was captain of the Saders, don’t wasn’t a huge surprise that he was made captain even though they could’ve easily gone with Ardie. His form last year wasn’t as good as 2023 but it wasn’t like he fell completely off the cliff. He was one of our best against Ireland and he didn’t play too bad against the French either.
What was pleasing was to see the step up of Vaa’i last year when there were concerns post 2023 with Whitelock and Retallick gone.
You can get away with calling Barrett our best lock when he has Sam Whitelock dominating the lineout for him, cause he's very very good around the park.
To be clear though, that means Sam was doing his main job for him.
@booboo said in All Blacks Vs France, Test One, Dunedin:
On the 1st 5/8 question, isn't Harry Godfrey the anointed saviour to be sent forth from the Hurricanes?
I think his promoter @Canes4life cooled on him as the season went on (probably remembered he's from the Pies), and switched his marketing efforts to Love. 
@Jet said in All Blacks Vs France, Test One, Dunedin:
@Windows97 said in All Blacks Vs France, Test One, Dunedin:
Happy for Holland, hope his game is as good as his hype, pleased to see Savea at 7, surprised to see Vaa'i at 6 and Lio-Willie at 8. Seems like a very green loose-forward trio. The balance is better, the cattle seem mixed.
Surised to see Barrett at 10, the golden sun continues to shine out of his *ss. Looking forward to 20m touch finders and pointless chip kicks.
Pleased Rieko is on the wing and that Protcor has been given a chance, we need a natual mid-field playing centre with better touch and distribution.
Surprised Reece is starting ahead of Clarke...
Bench is solid, really hope that Tupaea gets some good minutes, would love to see a Tupaea/Proctor combo to see how they go.Been plenty of chat on fora such as this over the last few years looking for Rieko to go back to the wing and for Ardie to go to 7.
A damning indictment on the last two coaching tickets that the "bar stoolers" were right all along.
Good for them, but what are we going to complain about now?
The first five at the next World Cup is entirely dependent on whether or not Barrett has retired because he certainly won't be dropped on account of his surname.
@pakman said in All Blacks Vs France, Test One, Dunedin:
@Jet said in All Blacks Vs France, Test One, Dunedin:
@Windows97 said in All Blacks Vs France, Test One, Dunedin:
Happy for Holland, hope his game is as good as his hype, pleased to see Savea at 7, surprised to see Vaa'i at 6 and Lio-Willie at 8. Seems like a very green loose-forward trio. The balance is better, the cattle seem mixed.
Surised to see Barrett at 10, the golden sun continues to shine out of his *ss. Looking forward to 20m touch finders and pointless chip kicks.
Pleased Rieko is on the wing and that Protcor has been given a chance, we need a natual mid-field playing centre with better touch and distribution.
Surprised Reece is starting ahead of Clarke...
Bench is solid, really hope that Tupaea gets some good minutes, would love to see a Tupaea/Proctor combo to see how they go.Been plenty of chat on fora such as this over the last few years looking for Rieko to go back to the wing and for Ardie to go to 7.
A damning indictment on the last two coaching tickets that the "bar stoolers" were right all along.
Good for them, but what are we going to complain about now?
I think we'll find something.
@antipodean Always do.
Bugger me, wasn't expecting that. Thought we'd see a conservative XV for the 1st Test but really hoped for something like this by Frog 3. Pleased.
More than happy with the backline, except for Barrett at 10. Surprised no Clarke so maybe, as someone has said, it's a fight between him and Reece. Hope QT gets plenty of game-time. Really rolled the dice on the loosies but has plenty of bench options if things don't work out or Fabien Holland/Scooter get injured.
Obviously want a good win, but think how this combo goes is more important. Just my 2 cents
@Windows97 said in All Blacks Vs France, Test One, Dunedin:
Surised to see Barrett at 10, the golden sun continues to shine out of his *ss. Looking forward to 20m touch finders and pointless chip kicks.
I have heard some commentators say that BB has had a better season than Damien. What it I remember from the season is a completely disfunctional Blues backline and repeated throwaway comments about the variation in his kicking game. All I see is a guy that kicks - a lot, leading an underperforming backline.
Damien had a shocker against Waratahs ( I think ) but was generally great during the year. Chiefs backline was awesome. Came finals time he didn’t play badly but didn’t dominate. Missed 2 kicks in final.
So in the end they prefer someone that is less mercurial - less up and down. Still think this is Damien’s position to win if he gets the chance. If he can play like he did against Ireland and not have too many brain explosions.
In the meantime we are left with BB and his kicking game.
@reprobate said in All Blacks Vs France, Test One, Dunedin:
@ACT-Crusader said in All Blacks Vs France, Test One, Dunedin:
@Kiwiwomble said in All Blacks Vs France, Test One, Dunedin:
@Dan54 said in All Blacks Vs France, Test One, Dunedin:
Well, don't know whether to shake my head or be pleased they trying things. Surprises me Vai'i at 6, but also think it a pointer to how good they thing Holland will be, and Vai'i being best lock in NZ, maybe they felt they had to play him?
thats kind of why i dont like choosing your captain so early....if Vaai is the best lock and Holland deserves a run as the future....play them both there, i think you make the 23 before you get to be captain, with savea, taylor and BB on the pitch its not like we're short of experienced leaders on the pitch
From EOYT 2022 and all of 2023 Scooter was our best lock. That was on the back of being a very effective bench option previously. Add to that he was captain of the Saders, don’t wasn’t a huge surprise that he was made captain even though they could’ve easily gone with Ardie. His form last year wasn’t as good as 2023 but it wasn’t like he fell completely off the cliff. He was one of our best against Ireland and he didn’t play too bad against the French either.
What was pleasing was to see the step up of Vaa’i last year when there were concerns post 2023 with Whitelock and Retallick gone.
You can get away with calling Barrett our best lock when he has Sam Whitelock dominating the lineout for him, cause he's very very good around the park.
To be clear though, that means Sam was doing his main job for him.
Although Whitelock was coming off the bench in 2023 at times and Barrett still doing the lineouts plus all the grunt work.
