Has Blueben Dove just been shovelling it out constantly or is it just me?

Would have liked to seen Savea given a rest and have Barrett as the captain.

Sititi underwhelming.

Pretty lousy half of rugby. Dumb Sititi ASAP. He's been absolute shit for two seasons.

going to have to take the ref out of this one, we need to keep it a bit tighter they are offside a lot

@Tim said in 2026 Nations Championship: All Blacks v Italy:

Pretty lousy half of rugby. Dumb Sititi ASAP. He's been absolute shit for two seasons.

Taylor proving again he’s done. Ardie as well. Both absolutely poor.

We're lucky Jacobson is on the field. Sititi and Savea have been trash when they've not been anonymous. McKenzie has decided to have another shit occasion.

Ruck speed is so slow, not enough close carries and no chip kicks keeping their offside defence honest.

Pretty shit half of rugby, not assisted by the cheese eating surrender monkey with the whistle.

Get a heap of the bench on

I wish we would employ a rush defence

Play around the fringes more

Good contest

Literally every expert I have listened to over the last few weeks have been going on about our loose forward depth. Not sure what they have been watching but we have very few test quality loosies.

In a way this should give rennie plenty to think about going forward

Just for my steam back. Are we trying to punch up the middle like we did vs the Italians, or pushing it wide without earning the right?

If they are as ruthless as they make out they are, they would pull the trigger at half time on a few players

At least we're finding out here about these things, and yeah, nice to see a contest.

@Old-Alleynians said in 2026 Nations Championship: All Blacks v Italy:

@Jnr

Are you counting his carry where he was held up ? Stats...

It happens sometimes.

Jordan has turned it over 3 times. Does that mean he's hopeless?

@Jnr said in 2026 Nations Championship: All Blacks v Italy:

@Chris said in 2026 Nations Championship: All Blacks v Italy:

@Bones said in 2026 Nations Championship: All Blacks v Italy:

Jacobson has been doing a great imitation of DP last week and so far this week

Poor bugger has to do all the work in the loose not much help from the other 2.

Are you sure? Ardie has most tackles and 2nd most carries.

Sititi has second most tackles.

Jacobson has 2 tackles

Not one carry over the advantage line for Ardie yep he has been shit along with Sititi.

@game_film said in 2026 Nations Championship: All Blacks v Italy:

Has Blueben Dove just been shovelling it out constantly or is it just me?

He's been average. Nothing spectacular, nothing poor. Happy with that on only his second start.

Sititi looks unfit, Darry running, tackling, passing for 3 players

The mix of our pack is all off. Get Taylor out of there, start Tosi, get the reliable Lakai back in for either Sititi or Savea.

@W32 said in 2026 Nations Championship: All Blacks v Italy:

Come on Italy! Outstanding

I thought you were here for Bones. You're so loose with your affections...

@Kirwan Don't have the loose forwards to take them on.

Put Vaai at 6 and bring on Segner for Savea.

Very frustrating that the drivers aren't looking for the inside runner on that rush, they've got it twice by accident and opened them up. Start putting someone there as a bail-out so that we don't need to run three fucking loops to get the ball across the field.

And use a 6-2 split FFS.

Savea and Sititi should never start together. Too light, too soft

@gt12 Sititi would get fucking smashed if he tried to go back inside.

Is Proctor powerful and fast enough for test rugby? Not convinced.

@canefan said in 2026 Nations Championship: All Blacks v Italy:

Just for my steam back. Are we trying to punch up the middle like we did vs the Italians, or pushing it wide without earning the right?

Honestly it feels like we've hardly had the ball and when we do we've gone wide, Dmac has come in,messed up the backline and we've gone nowhere.

I've lost count of the rucks Proctor has had to hit after Dmac has come in.

Forwards are looking underpowered and backs more disjointed. Needs variety out wide and more directness and muscle up front.

Love and Roigard need to take control.

@Jnr said in 2026 Nations Championship: All Blacks v Italy:

@canefan said in 2026 Nations Championship: All Blacks v Italy:

Just for my steam back. Are we trying to punch up the middle like we did vs the Italians, or pushing it wide without earning the right?

Honestly it feels like we've hardly had the ball and when we do we've gone wide, Dmac has come in,messed up the backline and we've gone nowhere.

I've lost count of the rucks Proctor has had to hit after Dmac has come in.

Forwards are looking underpowered and backs more disjointed. Needs variety out wide and more directness and muscle up front.

Question is, will Rennie read the play and make changes?

Changes I would make for the next test.

Samisoni and Aumua in for Taylor
Tosi to start, Newell off the bench
Lakai for Sititi or Savea
Tupaea in for Proctor
Fehi onto the left

Holy shit. The most I've ever agreed with Marshall.

Credit where it is due. The italians have been really food. They understand how the ref is operating.

That 12 is a terrific midfielder and that young winger shows great intent. Their forwards are going really well too.

@Yeetyaah said in 2026 Nations Championship: All Blacks v Italy:

Holy shit. The most I've ever agreed with Marshall.

Yeah doing it now, didn't seem to do it for the last 2 years for some reason.......

@nostrildamus said in 2026 Nations Championship: All Blacks v Italy:

@W32 said in 2026 Nations Championship: All Blacks v Italy:

Come on Italy! Outstanding

I thought you were here for Bones. You're so loose with your affections...

I always pull for the underdog…

@Tim said in 2026 Nations Championship: All Blacks v Italy:

Love and Roigard need to take control.

Our forwards need to bar up as well

I'm pleased Love hasnt fallen apart but he needs to hopefully show some lessons learnt from halftime in the second 40

Roigard has been pretty meh. Needs to sharpen up

Agree with others Savea not showing any leadership - spending a lot of time out on the wing waiting for his big highlight reel moment. Sititi clearly brought back too early and looks leery of contact. ABs being frustrated and need to keep it tighter and more pragmatic. Tight five going OK, but once again no leadership and some silly of gifting of possession like being in front of the kicker at the restart. Tighter,, more kicking required and, given the ref, more discipline required. Agree with others - Savea is done and new leadership required in this team.

This looks like last year all over again .
What has changed not a lot.
SA will slow the game down and bury us.they will not let the ABs play at speed.

@Chris said in 2026 Nations Championship: All Blacks v Italy:

This looks like last year all over again .
What has changed not a lot.
SA will slow the game down and bury us.they will not let the ABs play at speed.

That's assuming this 23 plays vs South Africa. If they do we are fucked. Hope Rennie is smarter than that

Good old woke New Zealand with the female commentator quota

@W32 said in 2026 Nations Championship: All Blacks v Italy:

@nostrildamus said in 2026 Nations Championship: All Blacks v Italy:

@W32 said in 2026 Nations Championship: All Blacks v Italy:

Come on Italy! Outstanding

I thought you were here for Bones. You're so loose with your affections...

I always pull for the underdog…

I expect your full support for the ABs in SA later in the year then....