@KiwiMurph said in All Blacks v France I:

@reprobate said in All Blacks v France I:

You can't draw conclusions on small selected samples, otherwise week 1 playoff Hoskins is a legend, week 2 he's a useless piece of shit. And if playoffs are the be-all, where are our cantablacks?

I'm talking about this notion of DMac being the answer - not disputing Beauden has his issues too.

The fact is DMac has come up small 3 playoff years in a row.

I blame Laidlaw for not keeping Love at 10 this year and I'm championing Reihana - Reihana would have been in my AB squad - I would have done something like name him in the squad but release him for the Maori ABs and then have him rejoin the AB squad.

The difference is that Beauden has had years and years - that improvement is clearly never happening.
How many tests has McKenzie actually started at 10? And in far fewer opportunities he has shown glimpses of what we need - the attacking first half of Boks 1 last year, the improved control vs Ireland etc.

@reprobate said in All Blacks v France I:

@KiwiMurph said in All Blacks v France I:

@reprobate said in All Blacks v France I:

You can't draw conclusions on small selected samples, otherwise week 1 playoff Hoskins is a legend, week 2 he's a useless piece of shit. And if playoffs are the be-all, where are our cantablacks?

I'm talking about this notion of DMac being the answer - not disputing Beauden has his issues too.

The fact is DMac has come up small 3 playoff years in a row.

I blame Laidlaw for not keeping Love at 10 this year and I'm championing Reihana - Reihana would have been in my AB squad - I would have done something like name him in the squad but release him for the Maori ABs and then have him rejoin the AB squad.

The difference is that Beauden has had years and years - that improvement is clearly never happening.
How many tests has McKenzie actually started at 10? And in far fewer opportunities he has shown glimpses of what we need - the attacking first half of Boks 1 last year, the improved control vs Ireland etc.

Beauden was neutered once the dual pivot shite started. Initially with DMAC at 15 until he did his ACL and then with Mounga.

We deify our 10's historically and Beaudy was THE MAN going into the 2017 Lions tour.

Once the dual pivot stuff started that was the end of him. We took the keys to the castle away. A tacit vote of no confidence.

Love to me is a gun, with plenty of X-factor. He should have way more runs on the board at this stage. Reihana now knocking on the door too.

I cannot believe Razor is persisting with this Hokey Cokey act at 10 between DMAC and Beuady. Id rather he picked one and stuck with them even if it was the wrong choice. This chopping and changing serves neither of them.

Seems to me the Crusaders spent a lot of time and effort to quieten DMac, they seemed (in the final) to take his worth a lot more seriously than some posters on here.

@Jet said in All Blacks v France I:

this Hokey Cokey act at 10 between DMAC and Beuady. Id rather he picked one and stuck with them even if it was the wrong choice. This chopping and changing serves neither of them

BB started at 10 on the EOYT apart from one game when he was unavailable. He was clearly the incumbent and he is starting again this week

I think McKenzie was preferred earlier in 2024 but it seems that the rankings changed during the RC

@Duluth said in All Blacks v France I:

@Jet said in All Blacks v France I:

this Hokey Cokey act at 10 between DMAC and Beuady. Id rather he picked one and stuck with them even if it was the wrong choice. This chopping and changing serves neither of them

BB started at 10 on the EOYT apart from one game when he was unavailable. He was clearly the incumbent and he is starting again this week

I think McKenzie was preferred earlier in 2024 but it seems that the rankings changed during the RC

Yup, our best game.

@kev said in All Blacks v France I:

@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.

Honestly mate I don't get it, at least DMac with his boot can get us into the right areas of the field.

All BB's kicking game does is keep us trapped in our own half, having Jordan at the back isn't going to help the kicking game either.

It seems as soon as DMac misses a couple of kicks he's put on the reserve bench for a guy who's kicking accuray is no better off the tee and can kick the ball down the field half the distance.

@nostrildamus said in All Blacks v France I:

Seems to me the Crusaders spent a lot of time and effort to quieten DMac, they seemed (in the final) to take his worth a lot more seriously than some posters on here.

I think it's more what @Canerbry was saying, they knew if they put some heat on him he'd wilt and not have much of an impact on the match, which is what happened.

@reprobate said in All Blacks v France I:

@Duluth said in All Blacks v France I:

@Jet said in All Blacks v France I:

this Hokey Cokey act at 10 between DMAC and Beuady. Id rather he picked one and stuck with them even if it was the wrong choice. This chopping and changing serves neither of them

BB started at 10 on the EOYT apart from one game when he was unavailable. He was clearly the incumbent and he is starting again this week

I think McKenzie was preferred earlier in 2024 but it seems that the rankings changed during the RC

Yup, our best game.

It was a good win, but I can't really overstate just how poor Ireland were that night. That was the most error ridden performance I've ever seen from them, if they were even 10% more accurate they would have won.

Edit - just went and checked to confirm my memory was correct, as that game gets mentioned a lot. Some numbers:

Ireland's error-strewn performance
13 penalties conceded
30 missed tackles
21 handling errors
11 turnovers conceded
5 rucks lost
3 line-outs lost
1 scrum lost

So yeah, we need to take that win in context, most of the talk after the match was positive that the ABs managed to win, but acknowledging how bad Ireland were. They basically checked out in the final 10 when they were still in the game.

I'll finish my comments with: if it were up to me, I'd have started DMac and had Beauden on the bench. But there really isn't much between the two players, and I can see why the coaches prefer Beauden's more direct running style over DMac who still tends to crab across field which works in Super but you just cannot do in test footy.

@No-Quarter said in All Blacks v France I:

@reprobate said in All Blacks v France I:

@Duluth said in All Blacks v France I:

@Jet said in All Blacks v France I:

this Hokey Cokey act at 10 between DMAC and Beuady. Id rather he picked one and stuck with them even if it was the wrong choice. This chopping and changing serves neither of them

BB started at 10 on the EOYT apart from one game when he was unavailable. He was clearly the incumbent and he is starting again this week

I think McKenzie was preferred earlier in 2024 but it seems that the rankings changed during the RC

Yup, our best game.

It was a good win, but I can't really overstate just how poor Ireland were that night. That was the most error ridden performance I've ever seen from them, if they were even 10% more accurate they would have won.

Edit - just went and checked to confirm my memory was correct, as that game gets mentioned a lot. Some numbers:

Ireland's error-strewn performance
13 penalties conceded
30 missed tackles
21 handling errors
11 turnovers conceded
5 rucks lost
3 line-outs lost
1 scrum lost

So yeah, we need to take that win in context, most of the talk after the match was positive that the ABs managed to win, but acknowledging how bad Ireland were. They basically checked out in the final 10 when they were still in the game.

You also need to take into account that the way we played defensively was quite different to what we had seen in some of the previous tests last year. We compressed and also attacked the first receiver forcing more rushed passing and errors. What that also allowed for was a more attacking play at the ruck to get bodies over the ball in behind their attack line.

Then our more direct attack was tiring out their pack which is where most of the missed tackles / jersey pulling occurred.

We pressured their lineout ball which was one of the more pleasing aspects given we really had seen that since 2022.

I’m happy for people to talk about that match because I think it showed quite a few things of what we are capable of when we play to a more attacking pattern on both sides of the ball.

@No-Quarter said in All Blacks v France I:

@nostrildamus said in All Blacks v France I:

Seems to me the Crusaders spent a lot of time and effort to quieten DMac, they seemed (in the final) to take his worth a lot more seriously than some posters on here.

I think it's more what @Canerbry was saying, they knew if they put some heat on him he'd wilt and not have much of an impact on the match, which is what happened.

Whereas they didn't even need to focus on BB to beat the Blues?

That says DMc is more potent just in itself.

@Chester-Draws

Yeah their main focus was shutting down Sotutu's time. He's the main playmaker for the Blues and even though it was less this year he still had the most try involvements.

@Chester-Draws said in All Blacks v France I:

@No-Quarter said in All Blacks v France I:

@nostrildamus said in All Blacks v France I:

Seems to me the Crusaders spent a lot of time and effort to quieten DMac, they seemed (in the final) to take his worth a lot more seriously than some posters on here.

I think it's more what @Canerbry was saying, they knew if they put some heat on him he'd wilt and not have much of an impact on the match, which is what happened.

Whereas they didn't even need to focus on BB to beat the Blues?

That says DMc is more potent just in itself.

Yeah you'd probably want BB to spend more time receiving the ball, without needing to pressure him - he's typically his own undoing.

@pakman said in All Blacks v France I:

@sparky or Yogi Beria?
Taco beria

@No-Quarter said in All Blacks v France I:

@nostrildamus said in All Blacks v France I:

Seems to me the Crusaders spent a lot of time and effort to quieten DMac, they seemed (in the final) to take his worth a lot more seriously than some posters on here.

I think it's more what @Canerbry was saying, they knew if they put some heat on him he'd wilt and not have much of an impact on the match, which is what happened.

Why are you actually listening to that guy?!

@No-Quarter said in All Blacks v France I:

@nostrildamus said in All Blacks v France I:

Seems to me the Crusaders spent a lot of time and effort to quieten DMac, they seemed (in the final) to take his worth a lot more seriously than some posters on here.

I think it's more what @Canerbry was saying, they knew if they put some heat on him he'd wilt and not have much of an impact on the match, which is what happened.

Wilt? Big call.

More they just shut him down. Blocked any space. He didn't give up. Just he couldn't operate under the lack of space.

Anyway...

Something popped up on tele about some French festival in Brissy which made me remember that Bastille Day is coming up and 14 July 1979 was the Bastille Day massacre.

Found the following highlights.

Team line ups as follows, https://stats.allblacks.com/match-centre/report/All-Blacks-France-14-July-1979

Not the worst AB team, especially the forwards.

And of the Frogs I recall X of the XV without effort.

@booboo said in All Blacks v France I:

Anyway...

Something popped up on tele about some French festival in Brissy which made me remember that Bastille Day is coming up and 14 July 1979 was the Bastille Day massacre.

Found the following highlights.

View embedded content

Love the French commentary.

Team line ups as follows, https://stats.allblacks.com/match-centre/report/All-Blacks-France-14-July-1979

Not the worst AB team, especially the forwards.

And of the Frogs I recall X of the XV without effort.

fantastic, thank you!

@booboo said in All Blacks v France I:

Anyway...

Something popped up on tele about some French festival in Brissy which made me remember that Bastille Day is coming up and 14 July 1979 was the Bastille Day massacre.

Found the following highlights.

View embedded content

Love the French commentary.

Team line ups as follows, https://stats.allblacks.com/match-centre/report/All-Blacks-France-14-July-1979

Not the worst AB team, especially the forwards.

And of the Frogs I recall X of the XV without effort.

I was there