@pakman said in Wales v All Blacks:

@akan004 said in Wales v All Blacks:

Razor's conservative approach is killing this team. Love at 10 would have been the obvious choice if building depth in that position was a priority. ALB and Reece should be discarded, they offer nothing. Why persist with Christie on the bench when we already know what he offers. Perfect opportunity to see what Preston or Fakatava could do but no, the coward goes with the safe option again. Ratima is so clearly not up to it at this level but let's waste another test instead of opting for someone with a much higher ceiling. Kirifi is another proven failure at this level, but let's waste a test and give him another go. Sigh.

Lakai was injured, LJ went home and RD rested, so no one else left but DPK?

Paps

@Catogrande It's good that someone remembered, because that shouldn't be lost.

I think it pretty much ended gracie's posting career!

@Chris-B Didn't it turn out that Gracie was a guy pretending to be a gal? Or I'm misremembering? The Fern was a bit wilder way back then.

@sparky Can't remember that - but then, I'm amazed I could remember his/her name.

@akan004 said in Wales v All Blacks:

@pakman said in Wales v All Blacks:

@akan004 said in Wales v All Blacks:

Razor's conservative approach is killing this team. Love at 10 would have been the obvious choice if building depth in that position was a priority. ALB and Reece should be discarded, they offer nothing. Why persist with Christie on the bench when we already know what he offers. Perfect opportunity to see what Preston or Fakatava could do but no, the coward goes with the safe option again. Ratima is so clearly not up to it at this level but let's waste another test instead of opting for someone with a much higher ceiling. Kirifi is another proven failure at this level, but let's waste a test and give him another go. Sigh.

Lakai was injured, LJ went home and RD rested, so no one else left but DPK?

Paps

Far too sensible.

@Jet said in Wales v All Blacks:

If we lose or win by say less than 10, would Razor be sacked?

If he loses he should be. At the very least publicly put on notice and his assistants shown the door.

To put it in perspective it's not a loss to a team that hasn't beaten us in decades but are rapidly becoming the best in the world. They've had a run of plucky losses and absolute beltings.

@canefan said in Wales v All Blacks:

Maybe not as starters (Ethan says hold my beer as I might get injured)

fixed.

@Stag said in Wales v All Blacks:

@Landers92 you can say a lot of things about Razors tenure as AB coach so far, but Crusaders Blues bias ain’t one of them…

fixed.

@pakman tl;dr version is "I'd set my sights on a Grand Slam and as such decided to play the top team into the ground because I didn't trust the wider squad, and so I'd only give the tackle bag holders a go for the last Test"

We must win by 20 plus points or I sacrifice my nice guy reputation.

@antipodean said in Wales v All Blacks:

@pakman tl;dr version is "I'd set my sights on a Grand Slam and as such decided to play the top team into the ground because I didn't trust the wider squad, and so I'd only give the tackle bag holders a go for the last Test"

And I'm so lacking in imagination to try and rotate players, not to mention I forgot what Ted and Shag said years ago about the difficulties of getting up for three tough tests in a row

@nostrildamus said in Wales v All Blacks:

We must win by 20 plus points or I sacrifice my nice guy reputation.

Lol and if they do, it'll be just, as usual. A scrappy 32-12 win where we pull away in the last 10 with 2 late tries.

He got a bit of breathing space at the end of last season/after the French series early on in the season, but next year, he has to deliver from the beginning or else those calls for Razor to be moved on will get louder and louder.

@akan004 said in Wales v All Blacks:

Razor's conservative approach is killing this team. Love at 10 would have been the obvious choice if building depth in that position was a priority. ALB and Reece should be discarded, they offer nothing. Why persist with Christie on the bench when we already know what he offers. Perfect opportunity to see what Preston or Fakatava could do but no, the coward goes with the safe option again. Ratima is so clearly not up to it at this level but let's waste another test instead of opting for someone with a much higher ceiling. Kirifi is another proven failure at this level, but let's waste a test and give him another go. Sigh.

Upvoted for Love at 10.
Didn't read rest of post.

@African-Monkey said in Wales v All Blacks:

@nostrildamus said in Wales v All Blacks:

We must win by 20 plus points or I sacrifice my nice guy reputation.

Lol and if they do, it'll be just, as usual. A scrappy 32-12 win where we pull away in the last 10 with 2 late tries.

He got a bit of breathing space at the end of last season/after the French series early on in the season, but next year, he has to deliver from the beginning or else those calls for Razor to be moved on will get louder and louder.

After way we've played, the results, and the player selection and communication issues, even a big win gives him no wiggle room for me. He's on the clock already

What good is even a big win with the way he has selected this team?
Firstly it gets written off as against a poor Welsh team.
If this 'whoever hasn't had a go' team were to look amazing and we ignore that it's a poor Welsh team, then what does that even mean? That his consistent selections for the big games all year were shit? That Christie, ALB, Reece all become fixtures in the 23?

The bare facts are that he had decided what to do well in advance, and is too dim to change his plans when the situation changes. See also: bench, misuse of.

@reprobate said in Wales v All Blacks:

@Bones said in Wales v All Blacks:

@Chris-B he might even be as good as Beauden Barrett in 6 years, such is his improvement.

I note he took over kicking penalties to touch from BB last week - a move to 10 is the logical next step.

He’s no Dagg….

@Dan54 said in Wales v All Blacks:

Tangitau is only in squad as cover, so it would I think be a stretch to put him in squad for the game if not needed.

He's needed if they want wingers who can actually run.
Game plan based on speed? Selecting Christie and Reeves?

@Frank said in Wales v All Blacks:

@akan004 said in Wales v All Blacks:

Upvoted for Love at 10.
Didn't read rest of post.

There's being on the wagon and there's only noticing the wagon...

@nostrildamus said in Wales v All Blacks:

Christie and Reeves?

So we're either talking a folk singer from the Midlands or a murder mystery in Ohio.