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

@stodders Personally I think Esterhuizen is better than De Allende. More powerful 120kgs and has a better passing game. De Allende is very experienced and makes very few errors. I wouldn't be surprised if Esterhuizen is starting at 12 by WC next year unless they want him to specialize as a bench, impact, hybrid type player.

They’re about the same despite the size difference.

SA having both of them AND Willemse is just unfair on other nations….

So, on the game, cold in Welly tonight?

@jnr Not if you're only as good as your last game he's not. Menoncello's a very good player, but turnovers killed their chances against Japan and he was the worst offender.
@mn5 your hard-on for Saffa midfielders is kinda weird bro

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

@stodders Personally I think Esterhuizen is better than De Allende. More powerful 120kgs and has a better passing game. De Allende is very experienced and makes very few errors. I wouldn't be surprised if Esterhuizen is starting at 12 by WC next year unless they want him to specialize as a bench, impact, hybrid type player.

Yeah I agree on De Allende . He is one hell of a player and you want him in your back line but you don’t turn on your tv to watch him.

In other news, I’m in Rome and you wouldn’t know they are playing us tomorrow. Rugby still not really a thing here.

I'm still taking Ikitau if given the choice

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

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

@stodders Personally I think Esterhuizen is better than De Allende. More powerful 120kgs and has a better passing game. De Allende is very experienced and makes very few errors. I wouldn't be surprised if Esterhuizen is starting at 12 by WC next year unless they want him to specialize as a bench, impact, hybrid type player.

Yeah I agree on De Allende . He is one hell of a player and you want him in your back line but you don’t turn on your tv to watch him.

In other news, I’m in Rome and you wouldn’t know they are playing us tomorrow. Rugby still not really a thing here.

Fuck i bet that's hot

Only the north of Italy play rugby. Whereas it is largely the south of France.

French ref Luc Ramos today could make things interesting

@KiwiMurph just a week out from trampling the best French team ever. WR hates the ABs.

Be interesting to see how this forward pack goes against the Italians. Apparently this is the forward pack that defeated England, and coming off an embarrassing loss to Japan, Italy may be more competitive.

Love looks taller than Fehi, shows how suspect these stats are. Don't know if weight is as misleading as it was decades ago when forwards filled themselves with water etc before weighin.

Anyone else uncomfortable with these constant references from the ABs coaches to the need for ‘brutality’ on the part of the team? Brutality means needless cruelty and violence and implies the illegitimate use of force. Seems an odd choice of word, particularly given the ABs’ problems with cards in recent years. I get they want to go in hard, but ‘brutality’ sounds a tad excessive to me

@His-Bobness That came up a while ago but they may mean "merciless" or "relentless" rather than violent. Never missing tackles and making the opposition work harder to gain metres, for example.

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

@His-Bobness That came up a while ago but they may mean "merciless" or "relentless" rather than violent. Never missing tackles and making the opposition work harder to gain metres, for example.

Merciless is a much better word

@His-Bobness said in 2026 Nations Championship: All Blacks v Italy:

Anyone else uncomfortable

Not in the slightest.

Huge number of empty seats for a sold out match.

Sititi looks crook?

More of Proctor in defence. Seriously.

Poor miss Proctor.

Proctor ?