All Blacks vs Ireland - series decider

@voodoo said in All Blacks vs Ireland - series decider:

Just when you think Foster couldn't surprise you anymore, he explains the omission of ST with "we wanted to give all 3 hookers a run".

It's quite staggering when you step back and read that explanation.

It's the sort of thing I'd expect from the coach of my U9 sons soccer team. To hear it as the reason for including a bloke who has played 80 tests for NZ , at the expense of the best #2 in the squad, in a series-deciding game at home, is truly astonishing.

Unbelievable

Seriously? No he didn’t, did he?

Can imagine Irish trying to pick themselves up from laughing too much

@JC said in All Blacks vs Ireland - series decider:

@Crucial said in All Blacks vs Ireland - series decider:

@mariner4life said in All Blacks vs Ireland - series decider:

so, have we worked out of Samisoni is injured or not?

There hasn't been a presser yet.

It’s only just after 3pm. Foster is still having morning tea. Takes a long time to eat 65 scones.

Harsh to shame someone on a diet.

@Old-Samurai-Jack said in All Blacks vs Ireland - series decider:

@Dan54 Big Grace fan (as you can see from previous posts) and I think Sotutu and Grace should be in the ABs as specialist No.8s competing for the position against each other. But you'd think Sotutu would get a go first and foremost if they were taking this line of thought? His SR form was great (he had a big improvement in physicality), his No.8 skills off the back of the scrum are exceptional... and yet he hasn't been sighted.

Obsession with the best player in the world means no game time available.

@JC said in All Blacks vs Ireland - series decider:

@Crucial said in All Blacks vs Ireland - series decider:

@mariner4life said in All Blacks vs Ireland - series decider:

so, have we worked out of Samisoni is injured or not?

There hasn't been a presser yet.

It’s only just after 3pm. Foster is still having morning tea. Takes a long time to eat 65 scones.

Proof that scones aren't brain-food?

@Bones said in All Blacks vs Ireland - series decider:

@Kirwan said in All Blacks vs Ireland - series decider:

@Bones said in All Blacks vs Ireland - series decider:

I will not at all be surprised to see Papalii come on at 6 and Ioane come on at 8.

Akira played a chunk at seven with those experimental laws. So Akira to seven, Dalton to 8 and Cane to switch to 6.

Ardie to 12, Mounga to 15, Havili to 10 and RTS to 11/14.

Sure you're joking but I reckon Ardie would have gone ok at 12 with a season or two at the lower level.
Don't know his kicking game but we don't seem to use that at 12. Brief glimpses from Havili excepted.

@ACT-Crusader said in All Blacks vs Ireland - series decider:

@nostrildamus said in All Blacks vs Ireland - series decider:

If ST was dumped for Taylor I will not know what to say.
Taylor is missing impact, passes, tackles... seems to have slipped mightily since a few years ago.

I'm not so upset about Hoskins, a fine 8 in the making but it is getting to the stage where I worry this ABs setup will give him some bad habits...

Looks like he was “dumped” for Coles given Taylor is in the same spot he has been all series…

Just on Taylor, his attack was okay in Test 1. Thought his throwing and support play was starting to come good. His tight work wasn’t where we needed it and then he was shocking last weekend. And Sami wasn’t great either. Only front rower that played okay was Bower I thought.

Anyway I have a little bit of faith that he will come out with a bit of fire and step up.

I never thought Sotutu would get a start in this series but thought he may have been a bench option, but they clearly like the Dalton option.

Sam/Paps/Ardie didn't work so well.

If Paps AND Akira come on, and Scooter moves, who comes off?

@nostrildamus said in All Blacks vs Ireland - series decider:

@Bones said in All Blacks vs Ireland - series decider:

@Kirwan said in All Blacks vs Ireland - series decider:

@Bones said in All Blacks vs Ireland - series decider:

I will not at all be surprised to see Papalii come on at 6 and Ioane come on at 8.

Akira played a chunk at seven with those experimental laws. So Akira to seven, Dalton to 8 and Cane to switch to 6.

Ardie to 12, Mounga to 15, Havili to 10 and RTS to 11/14.

Sure you're joking but I reckon Ardie would have gone ok at 12 with a season or two at the lower level.
Don't know his kicking game but we don't seem to use that at 12. Brief glimpses from Havili excepted.

Welcome to ten years ago

@Machpants can you post for the rest of us?

@Bones said in All Blacks vs Ireland - series decider:

@Machpants can you post for the rest of us?

View embedded content

Bad news if we're playing Oirish or Boks.

@pakman said in All Blacks vs Ireland - series decider:

@ACT-Crusader said in All Blacks vs Ireland - series decider:

@nostrildamus said in All Blacks vs Ireland - series decider:

If ST was dumped for Taylor I will not know what to say.
Taylor is missing impact, passes, tackles... seems to have slipped mightily since a few years ago.

I'm not so upset about Hoskins, a fine 8 in the making but it is getting to the stage where I worry this ABs setup will give him some bad habits...

Looks like he was “dumped” for Coles given Taylor is in the same spot he has been all series…

Just on Taylor, his attack was okay in Test 1. Thought his throwing and support play was starting to come good. His tight work wasn’t where we needed it and then he was shocking last weekend. And Sami wasn’t great either. Only front rower that played okay was Bower I thought.

Anyway I have a little bit of faith that he will come out with a bit of fire and step up.

I never thought Sotutu would get a start in this series but thought he may have been a bench option, but they clearly like the Dalton option.

Sam/Paps/Ardie didn't work so well.

If Paps AND Akira come on, and Scooter moves, who comes off?

They could finish with

Lock - Whitelock/Retallick
Lock - Barrett
6 - Ioane
7 - Papali’i
8 - Savea

@Bones more Gregor Paul ‘quality’

For 15 years McCaw was told he was a cheat. A brilliant cheat, but still a cheat.

The cloak is real

@Dan54 said in All Blacks vs Ireland - series decider:

@reprobate said in All Blacks vs Ireland - series decider:

@Dan54 said in All Blacks vs Ireland - series decider:

I will add that last night it occured to me what I finding most disconcerting about the position we find ourselves in (or ABs) and the reaction on rugby forums. We are tied in a test series and 4th on the rankings in world rugby, and while being a bit disppointed, not as disappointed as maybe the reaction on forums by so called AB supporters, there seems almost no credit given to Ireland for winning 2nd test, only tearing clothes and screaming about how poor ABs were, want to know something Irish were bloody good and made us look poor, and we 4th on rankings, prehaps French (in my opinion clearly best team), Ireland , and Boks (though I feel some of theirs is residual points from year off) just deserve to be in the positions they are in. When I was thinking of it I was thinking how much as a rugby nation we used to enjoy and celebrate bloody good teams and players, 71 Lions tour the whole of NZ knew all the Lion's players, and while wanting ABs to win would seemingly enjoy the Edwards, Johns, Gibson ete, etc skils, same as Wallabies when they had the likes of Ella, Campese, Eales etc, why has it in internet days changed where we can't give the likes of Doris, Sexton etc credit for being good players? I an starting to understand why maybe AB supporters are disliked by others at times.
Ok my rant over, but I think it came to me when I wondered why I was disappointed to miss club rugby this weekend while going to test, and that's one thing that came to mind, we don't think it our right to win at the club etc.

It's not about a 'right to win', it's frustration with no game plan, seeing talented players underperform, and weird selections not based on form.
As for not celebrating players from other countries - for me and many others on here, that is just bullshit. We're not talking about O'driscoll, Horan, Eales, Dusattoir, Burger etc - we're talking about James Lowe and JGP beating the ABs, a team they couldn't make.

.... Isaac Boss ...eLowe and JGP

Did Boss get offered an AB position? Really?

Would have made the XV from the republic of Tokoroa ... but ABs?

And Lowe would still be out of the squad. Might not even make the MABs.

JGP ... better than Christie? Maybe, but barely.

@booboo said in All Blacks vs Ireland - series decider:

JGP ... better than Christie? Maybe, but barely.

JGP is a vital cog in a team that regularly beats us, as well as many other tier 1 nations. Barely better than Christie, who has achieved....getting on the field? I smell a slight bias....

@Crucial said in All Blacks vs Ireland - series decider:

I know I harp on about 10s but the test game at the moment is not suited to either of our best 10s. We are missing a game controller. Both BB and RM play off instinct rather than break teams down. RM can break down poor teams but not good ones, which requires better kicking from hand than he has.
It is fair to say that we aren't running an attack from other players for these guys can feed into but also maybe there is an element of having to try and run a game that suits them?
I think we are in some fairly medium/long term strife as we have a generation of 10s and coaches that have grown up emulating a style that isn't effective at the moment given the changes to defensive systems.
Put a DC in this AB side and you'd see a massive difference from his ability to steer us around the park. Even a Cruden would do a better job..

We are complaining that our gameplan seems to rely on individual brilliance but then have two 10s that have always played that way.

But who do we have who can fulfill that role?

So we adjust our game plan to match who we have ... ?

@Bones said in All Blacks vs Ireland - series decider:

@booboo said in All Blacks vs Ireland - series decider:

JGP ... better than Christie? Maybe, but barely.

JGP is a vital cog in a team that regularly beats us, as well as many other tier 1 nations. Barely better than Christie, who has achieved....getting on the field? I smell a slight bias....

And considering we had 50 fullbacks and no wingers in the Maori squad I think Lowe would be a bolted on starter.

Oh, good God. I'm less than halfway through this thread ...

Glad to see there is still passion for the ABs ...

This is too much for me.

I'm abandoning TSF for the common sense and decency of the Trans debate on Twitter ...

@ACT-Crusader said in All Blacks vs Ireland - series decider:

@pakman said in All Blacks vs Ireland - series decider:

@ACT-Crusader said in All Blacks vs Ireland - series decider:

@nostrildamus said in All Blacks vs Ireland - series decider:

If ST was dumped for Taylor I will not know what to say.
Taylor is missing impact, passes, tackles... seems to have slipped mightily since a few years ago.

I'm not so upset about Hoskins, a fine 8 in the making but it is getting to the stage where I worry this ABs setup will give him some bad habits...

Looks like he was “dumped” for Coles given Taylor is in the same spot he has been all series…

Just on Taylor, his attack was okay in Test 1. Thought his throwing and support play was starting to come good. His tight work wasn’t where we needed it and then he was shocking last weekend. And Sami wasn’t great either. Only front rower that played okay was Bower I thought.

Anyway I have a little bit of faith that he will come out with a bit of fire and step up.

I never thought Sotutu would get a start in this series but thought he may have been a bench option, but they clearly like the Dalton option.

Sam/Paps/Ardie didn't work so well.

If Paps AND Akira come on, and Scooter moves, who comes off?

They could finish with

Lock - Whitelock/Retallick
Lock - Barrett
6 - Ioane
7 - Papali’i
8 - Savea

Savea for lineout?

If tighties are getting ball then great, but if breakdown is key I'd prefer Cane/Paps/Akira.

@nostrildamus said in All Blacks vs Ireland - series decider:

@sparky said in All Blacks vs Ireland - series decider:

If we lose this game, if we lose this series, I can't see how Foster can continue as AB coach. He will have zero credibility with the players and fans. His job is on the line this weekend.

NZR have been very quiet, haven't they?
Maybe his KPI just says "announce learnings postmatch".

His job is safe, they only renewed his contract last year. If we lose the series he’s prob hold on. If we lose the Bled he would need to do the honourable thing and resign.

Newshub was making a big deal about Mark Robinson being at the ABs training yesterday. NZR is based in Wellington, of course.