Or Landers could just say that this is... "my guess at the team... "

@ACT-Crusader said in All Blacks v France III:

@george33 said in All Blacks v France III:

@Landers92 that lashes guy read out exact backline yesterday on Radio and didn't mention any forwards .

Forget about who may have shared it on social media, the biggest mystery is have lashes and Landers92 ever been seen in the same room together……

The team is going to be named at 10:30 NZ time apparently so in 23 minutes.

The forwards are apparently:

De Groot, Taukei'aho, Lomax, Tuipolutu, Holland, Finau, Savea (c), Jacobson

All Blacks squad to play France

1- Ethan de Groot, 2. Samisoni Taukei’aho, 3. Tyrel Lomax, 4. Patrick Tuipulotu, 5. Fabian Holland, 6. Samipeni Finau, 7. Ardie Savea, 8. Luke Jacobson, 9. Cortez Ratima, 10. Damian McKenzie, 11. Rieko Ioane 12. Quinn Tupaea, 13. Anton Lienert-Brown, 14. Sevu Reece, 15. Ruben Love.

Reserves
16. Brodie McAlister, 17. George Bower, 18. Fletcher Newell, 19. Dalton Papali’i, 20. Du Plessis Kirifi, 21. Noah Hotham, 22. Timoci Tavatavanawai, 23. Will Jordan.

Big test for Finau. Let's see if he is the goods.

Can some nerd tell me out of interest the last time an AB match day squad had zero Barretts in it ?

So Papali'i covers lock.

@MN5 said in All Blacks v France III:

Big test for Finau. Let's see if he is the goods.

We know that PT won't last the game so the plan will be for Finau to move to lock and for Papali'i to cover Finau if he gets injured.

@brodean said in All Blacks v France III:

So Papali'i covers lock.

I assumed they'd move Finau and shuffle the loosies maybe?

Biggest call for me is no Taylor

Interesting there is no BB on the bench. So Love covers 10.

Personally I would have gone with Lio Willie over Kirifi. Lio Willie has been accurate and performed his core role although a bit quite.

Not a very big backline. But 4 7s in the 23..

@nostrildamus said in All Blacks v France III:

Not a very big backline

Yes though probably France's won't be big either.

A late change with BB not on the bench. Have just asked why that changed

It's surprising that they didn't include Ah Kuoi in the team. Ah Kuoi and Papali'i makes more sense

Yes it was an opportunity to test another lock/6 methinks.
They seem to like Finau and want to give Kirifi another chance

Worst case scenario is that Tuipulotu goes down early. Having lock cover on the bench would be better than expecting Finau to play big minutes there.

Noah Hotham's Dad should be able to see him play as he is currently in NZ with the Hong Kong U20s.

@nostrildamus said in All Blacks v France III:

Not a very big backline. But 4 7s in the 23..

3 guys over 100kg and we know Ratima is a gym powerhouse. They'll be ok.