@kidcalder said in All Blacks vs Springboks II:

@game_film Not sure Sotutu is the answer

One player isn't the answer. Our inability to clinically perform fundamentals such as kick receptions, line outs and scrums seems to be increasingly apparent as games go on. Sometimes we scrape home, this time we got pumped. Fault lies with the everyone from the coaches to the players. There are some fundamental problems in how we are approaching the game at the moment. And we have a coach who is impeding the progress of the whole group because of his selections

Our ten got to almost as many rucks as our blindside. Haha

I find ruck arrival to be the most useless stat.

But it does seem to tie to the eye test on Parker.

@tubbyj said in All Blacks vs Springboks II:

Are their any wingers or fullbacks in NZ who are good under the high ball other than Caleb Clarke? We used to have Corey Jane, Ben Smith, Israel Dagg, Richard Kahui.

He wasn’t even a winger which makes the current guys efforts look even worse

Extremely low running metres from the back three. They have the advantage of returning kicks so pick up easy metres normally

I know this has been brought up with loosies in the past but Parker was parked out wide near or on the wing (no pun intended) - presumably by design whereas last week he was playing in the middle of the field.

@Duluth Their back three killed ours. It wasn't close.

We gave their back 3 yards after the catch, a luxury ours were not afforded.

Considering the width we played with, those numbers are testament to the excellent SA scramble to ot allow the break outs

@KiwiMurph said in All Blacks vs Springboks II:

I know this has been brought up with loosies in the past but Parker was parked out wide near or on the wing (no pun intended) - presumably by design whereas last week he was playing in the middle of the field.

Yeah, on attack we had Sititi on one side and savea/carter on the other, because thats where the ball was going, the middle was left to the tighties who we bypassed a lot anyway. EdG with no runs but a few passes.

Their kicks seemed much higher than ours, and positioned to allow their chasers ample chance to compete. By comparison, they seemed to be able to field our kicks under little to no pressure most of the time

Just because the second half was worse and we took a halftime lead doesn't mean the first half was very good.

The signs were all there in the first half

First half territory stats: Boks 75% ABs 25%

Boks had 2 first half tries that we escaped from - the halfback knock on and the Jordie try saver.

We were playing with fire in the first half.

@Duluth Kolbes numbers dont standard out if you remove the 75m try...

But otherwise, agree we were poor

Some of our wide play looked great. I don't really remember us taking the ball up the guts much?

@Duluth said in All Blacks vs Springboks II:

View image

Our ten got to almost as many rucks as our blindside. Haha

What did they do when they got there? Who was playing halfback whilst others were securing/ disrupting ball?

@KiwiMurph we probably expected to run them off thier feet, unfortunately the opposite happened and we reverted to kick and hope.

We get into games of force back so often, and we lose so often, whether from metres to a lineout or they move us about enough after several kicks, they pick thier moment to run it they make big metres.

Our kicking game, either defensively or as an attacking platform (as so many do much better) is so poor at the moment, it is embarrassing really, we have learnt nothing in the past 5 or 6 years, in fact, as we hold aging players, it is getting worse.

@canefan said in All Blacks vs Springboks II:

@kidcalder said in All Blacks vs Springboks II:

@game_film Not sure Sotutu is the answer

One player isn't the answer. Our inability to clinically perform fundamentals such as kick receptions, line outs and scrums seems to be increasingly apparent as games go on. Sometimes we scrape home, this time we got pumped. Fault lies with the everyone from the coaches to the players. There are some fundamental problems in how we are approaching the game at the moment. And we have a coach who is impeding the progress of the whole group because of his selections

I think we have seen the importance of having quality players across your whole 23. Or at the minimum players who can perform their core role and let others shine..

Seriously how does someone like Brodie McCallister get selected for the All Blacks with problematic lineout throwing? Why was this not noted after his debut or picked up at practice this week? It is like a time warp back to Anton Oliver where core roles are not a big deal if you are a good bloke and rugged team man.

A great Bok performance

@tubbyj said in All Blacks vs Springboks II:

Seriously how does someone like Brodie McCallister get selected for the All Blacks with problematic lineout throwing?

And George Bell. Both selections lie at the feet of Ryan.

@stodders said in All Blacks vs Springboks II:

Second half slumps continue. The days of the ABs running teams down in the last 20 are done. The supposedly “bigger” Boks have finished the last 2 matches (and the 2 last year in SA) with all the momentum.

ABs have no ability to wrest control when they lose it. They play fine when they have control. Saw it against Argentina and now against Boks. Overplaying, poor decision making - call it what you will. But test match pressure is crushing the AB leaders and decision makers. Mistake upon mistake compounds and the pressure rises. Rather than reset and going back to basics, they try for the next Hail Mary….with obvious consequences they don’t work.

This is the nadir of the last few years. Some really big decisions need to be made.

The greats like McCaw and Carter used to grind out a hard won 20 metres and do it again.
Dinks are a cop out.