All Blacks vs USA

The All Blacks team to play on Sunday morning (NZT) won't be revealed to the public until Friday, but assistant coach John Plumtree said if a player wanted to make himself unavailable his wish would be immediately granted.
A chunk of the tour party, yet to be revealed, will leave for Cardiff the day before the test in Washington DC.

I am expecting Kapa o Pango for this test.

I kind of think some of the guys most affected will want to play. Not sure if that is good or bad.

Anyway, saw somewhere suggestion that Lord will debut.

Sam W is skip for the tour as well I see.

So Lord to start with Sam? Vaa'i on the bench would be my pick.

Not going too much deeper into selection options. I'll leave that to you experts.

Vaa'i is going to be on the bench for Wales and France so needs a decent hitout against the USA. I am expecting him to start with Whitelock and Lord to get 20 mins off the bench. It seems BBBR will be one of the players heading to Cardiff early.

How many tickets have they sold for this?

Is anyone going to the game?

There is a curtain-raiser as well (Army vs Navy).

@mariner4life They read the Fern and notice the insecurity and stress some Ferners are suffering from if they don't know the exact time and date of the announcement.

@stargazer said in All Blacks vs USA:

@mariner4life They read the Fern and notice the insecurity and stress some Ferners are suffering from if they don't know the exact time and date of the announcement.

we could wheel out Hawkes Bay B and horsewhip the US, who gives a fuck?

Any other ideas on team? This is what we had from another thread

1. Ethan DeGroot

2. Samisoni Taukei’aho

3. Tyrel Lomax

4. Sam Whitelock

5. Tupou Vaa’i

6. Ethan Blackadder

7. Sam Cane

8. Hoskins Sotutu

9. Finlay Christie

10. Richie Mounga

11. George Bridge

12. Quinn Tupaea

13. Braydon Ennor

14. Will Jordan

15. Damian McKenzie

16. Dane Coles

17. Karl Tu’inukuafe

18. Angus Ta'avao

19. Josh Lord

20. Shannon Frizell

21. Brad Weber

22. Rieko Ioane/ALB/Havili

23. Sevu Reece

Could obviously swap some reserves/starters around (eg Coles/Samisoni and Frizzell/Blackadder).

Havent thought through the combos they may like to try at stages of the game either which could dictate bench strategy. eg does DMac start and move to 10 and maybe Jordan shifts to 15?

Papalii is fit again so he might start at 6 with Cane and Sotutu. Frizell to be the other loose forward in the 23.

@bovidae said in All Blacks vs USA:

Papalii is fit again so he might start at 6 with Cane and Sotutu. Frizell to be the other loose forward in the 23.

Good call.

Frizzle has an injury, dunno if he'll be alright.

@machpants said in All Blacks vs USA:

Frizzle has an injury, dunno if he'll be alright.

Waste of space.

@machpants So it's looking like:

4 Whitelock
5 Vaai
6 Papalii
7 Cane
8 Sotutu

19 Lord
20 Jacobson

Playing teams like the USA should be treated like mid-weekers. No one should get a Test cap for this "demonstration effort".

@antipodean said in All Blacks vs USA:

Playing teams like the USA should be treated like mid-weekers. No one should get a Test cap for this "demonstration effort".

Disagree. That is like the insults NZ Cricket used to get for decades.

Just because you aren't a top tier test team doesn't mean you don't deserve to play tests.
That's the point. You are testing yourselves against another team. That's how you get better and just one reason why the ABs won't be playing a 'demonstration'.
In fact those playing need to show they are worthy of the jersey they are wearing.
We have had plenty of touring players disappear from future squads after playing second tier teams.

Frank Halai, Francis Saili and Dom Bird would all agree that you need to show test qualities against 'lesser' teams and not treat them as 'exhibitions'.