Same starting lineup other than the one forced change and positional movement. I like it.

Also glad they bought in Papalii to start.

Congrats to Ross and Fakatava.

Happy to see some continuity in the starting XV (injuries aside). Looking forward to Ross and Fakatava taking the field.

No midfielder on the bench

Jordie covers 12 and starts at 15
LF covers 13 and starts at 11

Would've preferred Goodhue on the bench

@Duluth Tupaea also covers 13

When 2 7s are not enough! I mean I hope it works, it does mathmatically 6+7+8 = 7+7+7!

Outside that I am glad they stuck, rather than changed up. Good to see the bench is better with the inclusion of Ross, Folau & Jordan

@KiwiMurph said in All Blacks v Ireland - 2nd Test:

@Duluth Tupaea also covers 13

And Jordan provides the fullback cover if JB moves into the midfield.

@KiwiMurph said in All Blacks v Ireland - 2nd Test:

@Duluth Tupaea also covers 13

True and better than LF

Still I would prefer cover on the bench for the midfield rather than move starters.

pretty happy with that within what Fozzie was ever likely to actually do

So, injury aside and with slight improvements on the bench, the same as last week. Lets see if they improve or having the coaches back on board actually makes it a worse performance

Does Akira Ioane still have a sore foot ?

Good to see the consistency and the reward for last weeks efforts. I actually prefer this lineup than last week except for Whitelock out of course. Getting excited already.

@MN5 said in All Blacks v Ireland - 2nd Test:

Does Akira Ioane still have a sore foot ?

Yep, Akira and Clarke mentioned with issues still. And the Covid 3 were not pushed to play, it maybe Havili and Goodhue still not a hundy, Cane mentioned they don’t want to risk long covid by hitting the exercise too early

well look, a pleasant surprise, how nice.

My only minor quibble is the lineout could be a little shakey, so we'll need to be quick and smart. But other than that, alright

@Machpants said in All Blacks v Ireland - 2nd Test:

@MN5 said in All Blacks v Ireland - 2nd Test:

Does Akira Ioane still have a sore foot ?

Yep, Akira and Clarke mentioned with issues still. And the Covid 3 were not pushed to play, it maybe Havili and Goodhue still not a hundy, Cane mentioned they don’t want to risk long covid by hitting the exercise too early

Thanks fella. It took three minutes but someone got back to me eventually

@Machpants said in All Blacks v Ireland - 2nd Test:

And the Covid 3 were not pushed to play, it maybe Havili and Goodhue still not a hundy, Cane mentioned they don’t want to risk long covid by hitting the exercise too early

Ok that explains the lack of midfielders on the bench. Those two still not ready and Ennor played his way out of the 23

@Duluth said in All Blacks v Ireland - 2nd Test:

@Machpants said in All Blacks v Ireland - 2nd Test:

And the Covid 3 were not pushed to play, it maybe Havili and Goodhue still not a hundy, Cane mentioned they don’t want to risk long covid by hitting the exercise too early

Ok that explains the lack of midfielders on the bench. Those two still not ready and Ennor played his way out of the 23

I hope RTS is getting lots of experience carrying the water bottles around.

@chimoaus

I'm not expecting to see RTS until an Argentina test.

When the squad was named Foster explained they wanted him around the squad but they want him to add a kicking option to his game

The coaches doing some coaching. That seems to make sense for now

So freakin' excited to see Folau Fakatava's name in that 23!! Really hope he'll go well!

@Duluth

@Duluth said in All Blacks v Ireland - 2nd Test:

@chimoaus

I'm not expecting to see RTS until an Argentina test.

When the squad was named Foster explained they wanted him around the squad but they want him to add a kicking option to his game

The coaches doing some coaching. That seems to make sense for now

I just hope he gets plenty of minutes for Auckland in the NPC as he needs to be playing just as much as training IMO.