@African-Monkey said in All Blacks v France III:

What's the go with Peter Lakai? I think that bench spot would be more suited to him when fit.

Lakai got an injury during the Brumbies quarter-final. From Stuff:

Hooker Asafo Aumua (hamstring) and loose forward Peter Lakai (knee) missed out on the 33-man squad named on Monday due to injury, but were on track to be fit in time for the Rugby Championship.
[...]
Aumua hurt his hamstring during training ahead of the Super Rugby playoffs, while Lakai damaged the Medial Collateral Ligament (MCL) in his knee during the Hurricanes’ defeat to the Brumbies in Canberra a fortnight ago.

Source: https://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/360732767/all-blacks-coach-scott-robertson-leaves-door-open-omitted-players

So he should be back for The Rugby Championship. If he's fit and Sititi's still out, I reckon he gets a go at the number 8-jersey. I thought he went very well for the Hurricanes there in the second half of the season.

@Mauss said in All Blacks v France III:

@African-Monkey said in All Blacks v France III:

What's the go with Peter Lakai? I think that bench spot would be more suited to him when fit.

Lakai got an injury during the Brumbies quarter-final. From Stuff:

Hooker Asafo Aumua (hamstring) and loose forward Peter Lakai (knee) missed out on the 33-man squad named on Monday due to injury, but were on track to be fit in time for the Rugby Championship.
[...]
Aumua hurt his hamstring during training ahead of the Super Rugby playoffs, while Lakai damaged the Medial Collateral Ligament (MCL) in his knee during the Hurricanes’ defeat to the Brumbies in Canberra a fortnight ago.

Source: https://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/360732767/all-blacks-coach-scott-robertson-leaves-door-open-omitted-players

So he should be back for The Rugby Championship. If he's fit and Sititi's still out, I reckon he gets a go at the number 8-jersey. I thought he went very well for the Hurricanes there in the second half of the season.

Yes he did, and he's just as good playing 7. I think he's the perfect bench option for us when we're at full strength.

I’m not keen on seeing them making a lot of changes. I know Robertson has stated he intends to give everyone a run but that doesn’t necessarily mean making a lot of changes or giving everyone a lot of time on the field. I also don’t think that has to include players currently with the squad as injury cover.

If it were up to me, assuming injured players don’t make a come back and nobody else is out, I’d make very few changes. Perhaps start Ratima and McKenzie then swap them both at half time for Roigard and Love. Swap out the front row at or even before half time. Give Tavatavanawai or Tupaea and some of the other reserves who look like they’ll be in the main 23 thirty minutes.

I don’t see the need for giving third or fourth choice players big minutes. Use the bench to rest players who might need it.

@Mr-Fish said in All Blacks v France III:

If Vaa'i is fit then you would think he'd retain the 6 jersey with Jacobson playing at 8.

Yes. If Jacobson starts it should be at 7 or 8, not 6. I reckon we might see Savea back to no.8 if that happens.

A Tupaea-Proctor midfield would be interesting. I remember watching them play very well together for the Māori against MP.

Robertson changed his tune on giving everyone a game after the close 1st test, but has more leeway now.

@MN5 said in All Blacks v France III:

Would be good to see Finau play a full 80 to see if he can actually justify the hype and put some hits in.

My thinking is - if Vaai is our 6 option into The Rugby Championship this year - he needs time in the saddle - keep running Vaai out at 6 (assuming he's ok from the HIA).

Tupou has been very very good but I wish we could have had a look at Parker, shame about the injury. I get what people are saying about Proctor and Ioane but something is still not right about our backline and maybe it is the coaching. Seems to lose focus and initiative.
Have noticed no one complains about Jordan at 15 these days. And boy has Jordie improved at 12, more elusive and dynamic. And I like QT and big Jim.
Kind of funny that Ioane looked like a centre now playing wing.
Still think Narawa is a good 14/15 style of player but I agree we are missing some speed - maybe at 11.

@KiwiMurph said in All Blacks v France III:

@MN5 said in All Blacks v France III:

Would be good to see Finau play a full 80 to see if he can actually justify the hype and put some hits in.

My thinking is - if Vaai is our 6 option into The Rugby Championship this year - he needs time in the saddle - keep running Vaai out at 6 (assuming he's ok from the HIA).

I agree but would be interesting to see if Finau can actually do what some on here say he can.

Jerome Kaino/Jerry Collins he most certainly ain't so far.

@nostrildamus said in All Blacks v France III:

Tupou has been very very good but I wish we could have had a look at Parker, shame about the injury. I get what people are saying about Proctor and Ioane but something is still not right about our backline and maybe it is the coaching. Seems to lose focus and initiative.
Have noticed no one complains about Jordan at 15 these days. And boy has Jordie improved at 12, more elusive and dynamic. And I like QT and big Jim.
Kind of funny that Ioane looked like a centre now playing wing.
Still think Narawa is a good 14/15 style of player but I agree we are missing some speed - maybe at 11.

@Bones must be having internet problems or else he's been banned from here.

@ShaquilleOatmeal

The backline and loose forwards have a number of question marks around them. It's not clear who the third and forth choice players are in a number of positions and even 1st and 2nd choice are not clear either.

A number of players are cruising off the back of a dominant tight five. We probably aren't going to get the same level of tight five dominance against first choice top 4 teams.

@Bovidae said in All Blacks v France III:

@Mr-Fish said in All Blacks v France III:

If Vaa'i is fit then you would think he'd retain the 6 jersey with Jacobson playing at 8.

Yes. If Jacobson starts it should be at 7 or 8, not 6. I reckon we might see Savea back to no.8 if that happens.

A Tupaea-Proctor midfield would be interesting. I remember watching them play very well together for the Māori against MP.

Robertson changed his tune on giving everyone a game after the close 1st test, but has more leeway now.

I just think with tupaea we may have another potential starter 12 if Jordie was to go down , shorter but overall plays similar, let’s find out .

@brodean said in All Blacks v France III:

@ShaquilleOatmeal

The backline and loose forwards have a number of question marks around them. It's not clear who the third and forth choice players are in a number of positions and even 1st and 2nd choice are not clear either.

A number of players are cruising off the back of a dominant tight five. We probably aren't going to get the same level of tight five dominance against first choice top 4 teams.

Which to me makes guys like Kirifi and Lio Willie surplus to requirements against the really big guns.

That move the latter did to set up Roigard was cool though.

@African-Monkey said in All Blacks v France III:

@kiwiinmelb said in All Blacks v France 2:

@canefan said in All Blacks v France 2:

Razor is basically selecting how he should have last season. Better late than never. Somehow he needs to rotate BB out to take a look at Love. Maybe DMac to start then Love comes on for 30 minutes? Or be really bold and start Love?

I don’t mind what he is doing rewarding form with the likes of Kirifi and proctor , if they aren’t the answer, at least we are finding out

Exactly, and I think Proctor got better as the match went on. He does however seem to struggle in the collision area, both on attack and defence. I'd still keep him at centre though for now. I think there's some upside there with him.

Kirifi, yeah, still not seeing how he fits into the equation. Again, not gonna complain if he gets the next test, but when you're only a specialist jackler and you're not winning turnovers, then you start to look at what else he brings. Happy to see him get a few tests to prove his worth, but as I stated earlier, I think his Canes teammate Peter Lakai is a better bet. He offers way more flexibility off the bench. Don't know when he's available again.

I tend to agree, I think Peter Lakai is definitely suited more to test footy, covers more positions as well. I think Kirifi would have missed out to Lakai if he was fit personally.

@MN5 said in All Blacks v France III:

@brodean said in All Blacks v France III:

@ShaquilleOatmeal

The backline and loose forwards have a number of question marks around them. It's not clear who the third and forth choice players are in a number of positions and even 1st and 2nd choice are not clear either.

A number of players are cruising off the back of a dominant tight five. We probably aren't going to get the same level of tight five dominance against first choice top 4 teams.

Which to me makes guys like Kirifi and Lio Willie surplus to requirements against the really big guns.

That move the latter did to set up Roigard was cool though.

Yes Lio Willie has been better than Kirifi. The way injuries come around it seems that Lio Willie can be relied on to do a job but he doesn't really seem to have the attributes to grab the starting position with both hands and not let go for the next 4 years. So a bit of a stop gap measure at this stage?

@brodean said in All Blacks v France III:

@ShaquilleOatmeal

The backline and loose forwards have a number of question marks around them. It's not clear who the third and forth choice players are in a number of positions and even 1st and 2nd choice are not clear either.

A number of players are cruising off the back of a dominant tight five. We probably aren't going to get the same level of tight five dominance against first choice top 4 teams.

I don’t disagree but from within the squad they’ve chosen and with the players out injured, I don’t see much they can do to find the answers to those questions.

They know guys like Jordie Barrett, Will Jordan and Cam Roigard are going to be in the team. They know Ardie Savea is going to be in the team and Vaa’i should be persisted with at blindside with no uninjured potentially better options available.

The guys who haven’t played yet are Love, third-choice players and Lienert-Brown who they know all about and who has been slipping in form for a while now.

I just don’t see much benefit in making more than a handful of changes. Keep the core group together and hope they continue to improve.

@Mauss said in All Blacks v France III:

@voodoo said in All Blacks v France 2:

Seems odd that a visiting team would target the dead rubber Game 3 of a series as “the big one” that they want to win, but who the hell understands the French eh?

The logic seems to be that they'll target the third game because that's the game where the ABs were always expected to rotate their squad.

This makes a very big assumption by the French that not playing our incumbents would weaken our team.

The last few years have weakened my belief that this would be the case.

@ShaquilleOatmeal said in All Blacks v France III:

The guys who haven’t played yet are all clearly third-choice other than Lienert-Brown who they know all about and who has been slipping in form for a while now.

There's no evidence so far that Lio Willie and Kirifi are better than Jacobson and Papali'i.

Based on what we've seen from BB and Dmac, Love has to be given an opportunity. It's not clear that these guys offer more than what Love potentially could.

@brodean said in All Blacks v France III:

@ShaquilleOatmeal said in All Blacks v France III:

The guys who haven’t played yet are all clearly third-choice other than Lienert-Brown who they know all about and who has been slipping in form for a while now.

There's no evidence so far that Lio Willie and Kirifi are better than Jacobson and Papali'i.

Based on what we've seen from BB and Dmac, Love has to be given an opportunity. It's not clear that these guys offer more than what Love potentially could.

I said in my original post I’d give Love a full half. Jacobson is out injured, isn’t he? And I feel like Lakai would be in the squad if fit ahead of Kirifi and Papali'i.

@ShaquilleOatmeal said in All Blacks v France III:

I said in my original post I’d give Love a full half. Jacobson is out injured, isn’t he? And I feel like Lakai would be in the squad if fit ahead of Kirifi and Papali'i.

Lakai is one of the few 'utilities' we have that seems to offer potential but genuine impact in more than one position. I get the impression (and Canes supporters can correct me) that he has pretty good rugby vision for someone relatively young, and despite not being a big loose forward he is reasonably robust and athletic (but not sure if that is as obvious this season as last-haven't seen enough Hurricanes games).

@brodean said in All Blacks v France III:

@MN5 said in All Blacks v France III:

@brodean said in All Blacks v France III:

@ShaquilleOatmeal

The backline and loose forwards have a number of question marks around them. It's not clear who the third and forth choice players are in a number of positions and even 1st and 2nd choice are not clear either.

A number of players are cruising off the back of a dominant tight five. We probably aren't going to get the same level of tight five dominance against first choice top 4 teams.

Which to me makes guys like Kirifi and Lio Willie surplus to requirements against the really big guns.

That move the latter did to set up Roigard was cool though.

Yes Lio Willie has been better than Kirifi. The way injuries come around it seems that Lio Willie can be relied on to do a job but he doesn't really seem to have the attributes to grab the starting position with both hands and not let go for the next 4 years. So a bit of a stop gap measure at this stage?

A good solid backup to Sititi I reckon.

@ShaquilleOatmeal said in All Blacks v France III:

@brodean said in All Blacks v France III:

@ShaquilleOatmeal said in All Blacks v France III:

The guys who haven’t played yet are all clearly third-choice other than Lienert-Brown who they know all about and who has been slipping in form for a while now.

There's no evidence so far that Lio Willie and Kirifi are better than Jacobson and Papali'i.

Based on what we've seen from BB and Dmac, Love has to be given an opportunity. It's not clear that these guys offer more than what Love potentially could.

I said in my original post I’d give Love a full half. Jacobson is out injured, isn’t he? And I feel like Lakai would be in the squad if fit ahead of Kirifi and Papali'i.

Fair enough I missed that inclusion of Love. Hotham over Ratima is also worth investigating.

@brodean said in All Blacks v France III:

@ShaquilleOatmeal said in All Blacks v France III:

@brodean said in All Blacks v France III:

@ShaquilleOatmeal said in All Blacks v France III:

The guys who haven’t played yet are all clearly third-choice other than Lienert-Brown who they know all about and who has been slipping in form for a while now.

There's no evidence so far that Lio Willie and Kirifi are better than Jacobson and Papali'i.

Based on what we've seen from BB and Dmac, Love has to be given an opportunity. It's not clear that these guys offer more than what Love potentially could.

I said in my original post I’d give Love a full half. Jacobson is out injured, isn’t he? And I feel like Lakai would be in the squad if fit ahead of Kirifi and Papali'i.

Fair enough I missed that inclusion of Love. Hotham over Ratima is also worth investigating.

That’s my fault, I mentioned Love in one sentence, then generalised the players who hadn’t played in another.

Hotham’’s a possibility. I’m kind of interested to see how things might go if they started with the second choice halfback and brought Roigard on at (or even before) half time, rather than keeping him on the field till hes out on his feet. The next best halfbacks don’t seem to have much impact off the bench so it might be an idea to give them the first thirty just to be solid against a fresh and fired up opposition.

Vaa'i is a major injury doubt so something like

1 De Groot
2 Taukei'aho
3 Newell (Lomax)
4 Tuipolutu
5 Holland
6 Jacobson
7 Kirifi
8 A. Savea (c)
9 Hotham
10 Love
11 R Ioane
12 J. Barrett
13 Q. Tupaea
14 Narawa
15 Jordan

16 McAlister, 17 Norris 18 Tosi 19 Finau 20 Papalii 21 Roigard 22 Big Jim 23 DMac

Yeah, prolly worth making sure Vaai is right for the RC, as well as giving him the captaincy for the RC.

@canefan said in All Blacks v France III:

Razor is basically selecting how he should have last season

Yes
It was a fault.
We need to explore options at first five right now. Currently our first five tactical kicking and exits are poor. Still getting too many aimless up and unders.
Roigard showed outstanding skill with tactical kicking on Saturday and the 10 needs to do the same.

Sititi-Roigard-?-Jordie is now strong. Who's going to grab the ? to take us to 2027.

Fuck it, if we can't give DMac a fair shot, let's chuck Roigard there

I agree DMac's form has warranted more of a run at 10.

@BerniesCorner said in All Blacks v France III:

@canefan said in All Blacks v France III:

Razor is basically selecting how he should have last season

Yes
It was a fault.
We need to explore options at first five right now. Currently our first five tactical kicking and exits are poor. Still getting too many aimless up and unders.
Roigard showed outstanding skill with tactical kicking on Saturday and the 10 needs to do the same.

Sititi-Roigard-?-Jordie is now strong. Who's going to grab the ? to take us to 2027.

He'll be thrilled getting a mention despite not playing this year. Charlie Ngatai never had it so good.

Tuipulotu is in doubt too apparently. 50 50 with his knee. Vaa'i failed his HIA.

So we could see Ah Kuoi starting with Holland and Finau at 6.

Next cab off the rank at lock would be one of Beehre, Mcwhannel, Walker Leawere or Shalfoon.

@frugby said in All Blacks v France III:

@brodean said in All Blacks v France III:

@MN5 said in All Blacks v France III:

@brodean said in All Blacks v France III:

@ShaquilleOatmeal

The backline and loose forwards have a number of question marks around them. It's not clear who the third and forth choice players are in a number of positions and even 1st and 2nd choice are not clear either.

A number of players are cruising off the back of a dominant tight five. We probably aren't going to get the same level of tight five dominance against first choice top 4 teams.

Which to me makes guys like Kirifi and Lio Willie surplus to requirements against the really big guns.

That move the latter did to set up Roigard was cool though.

Yes Lio Willie has been better than Kirifi. The way injuries come around it seems that Lio Willie can be relied on to do a job but he doesn't really seem to have the attributes to grab the starting position with both hands and not let go for the next 4 years. So a bit of a stop gap measure at this stage?

A good solid backup to Sititi I reckon.

More a good Super player who is adequate at test level in a good team.

@brodean said in All Blacks v France III:

Tuipulotu is in doubt too apparently. 50 50 with his knee. Vaa'i failed his HIA.

So we could see Ah Kuoi starting with Holland and Finau at 6.

Next cab off the rank at lock would be one of Beehre, Mcwhannel, Walker Leawere or Shalfoon.

Well who could ever have guessed that selecting 4 locks then playing 3 of them at once could lead to problems with injury cover.

@brodean Our strength and depth at Lock is really impressive at the moment.

Already touched upon in here but sounds like Vaa'i is out and Tuipulotu and Will Jordan have niggles while Reece and Jacobson are in the frame for the third Test.

Also sounds like Love is seen as a fullback first and foremost and is unlikely to get too many minutes at 10 (which is not a shock, though somewhat disappointing).

Robertson's gone pretty much experimental for the first 2 Tests so I'd be tempted to stick with what works or looks to be working, Scooter for Pat T in the forwards (if fit) and some rotation in the front row. Start Ratima with DMac, and keep Reiko & Jordan in place.

Give QT, Hotham & Lakai plenty of time off the bench.

Did Billy P do enough in the second half to keep him there and does Robertson give Love a shot over BB?

Wow we now have substitutes for the substitutes who in at least one case were the originals substituted! (Scott Barrett). Would like a peek at another 6 and wing option (and maybe 8?) and hope we don't lose too much at 15.

@Victor-Meldrew said in All Blacks v France III:

Robertson's gone pretty much experimental for the first 2 Tests so I'd be tempted to stick with what works or looks to be working, Scooter for Pat T in the forwards (if fit) and some rotation in the front row. Start Ratima with DMac, and keep Reiko & Jordan in place.

Give QT, Hotham & Lakai plenty of time off the bench.

Did Billy P do enough in the second half to keep him there and does Robertson give Love a shot over BB?

I know I'm a broken record on this, but every man and his dog knows exactly what BB offers. The only possible point in playing him in a dead rubber against France C is if you want continuity and are experimenting with other players around him. But we already know Jordie and Roigard are 9 and 12.
Playing him in this game - even ignoring my opinion that he shouldn't be there in the first place and was poor last game - would make no sense.

@Victor-Meldrew said in All Blacks v France III:

Lakai

Have I missed something?

@sparky said in All Blacks v France III:

Vaa'i is a major injury doubt so something like

1 De Groot
2 Taukei'aho
3 Newell (Lomax)
4 Tuipolutu
5 Holland
6 Jacobson
7 Kirifi
8 A. Savea (c)
9 Hotham
10 Love
11 R Ioane
12 J. Barrett
13 Q. Tupaea
14 Narawa
15 Jordan

16 McAlister, 17 Norris 18 Tosi 19 Finau 20 Papalii 21 Roigard 22 Big Jim 23 DMac

If you're going to give Love a run, at least put him outside Roigard to start. Hotham would be good for a run off the bench.

@Bones said in All Blacks v France III:

@Victor-Meldrew said in All Blacks v France III:

Lakai

Have I missed something?

Nah. I forgot he's out with injury.

@reprobate

Pretty much agree with all of that, but just don't think Robertson will ditch him from the 23 - should do though.

But we already know Jordie and Roigard are 9 and 12.

Which gives a good platform to try new players at 10 & 13, He's done that with Billy P, why not at 10?

@Bones said in All Blacks v France III:

@Victor-Meldrew said in All Blacks v France III:

Lakai

Have I missed something?

Haven't heard what his injury actually was but it didn't look good at the time. I think someone mentioned 5-8 weeks.