All Blacks v France II

BerniesCorner

Don't repeat the mistake of 2024. DMac deserves a start at 10 and it's long overdue to give Love a start at 15.
Proctor or QT at 13.

BerniesCorner

Please consign dinks and cross kicks to history.

sparky

Sparky's team to play the French in Wellington:

  1. De Groot

  2. Taylor

  3. Newell

  4. S Barrett (C)

  5. Holland

  6. Vaa'i

  7. A. Savea

  8. Lo-Willie

  9. Roigard

  10. DMac

  11. C. Clarke

  12. J. Barrett

  13. Q. Tupaea

  14. W. Jordan

  15. R. Love

  16. S. Taukei'aho

  17. O. Norris

  18. P. Tosi or T. Lomax

  19. S. Finau

  20. D. Kirifi

  21. C. Ratima

  22. B. Barrett

  23. T. Tavatavnawai

Bones

That does raise one point - you'd like to think Williams and Lomax would have made a heck of a difference today.

Mr Fish

@Bones said in All Blacks v France 2:

That does raise one point - you'd like to think Williams and Lomax would have made a heck of a difference today.

Would they have?

I don't the forwards had any issues to be honest. It's not like Williams and Lomax are considerably better scrum agers than the players who started either.

ACT Crusader

@Bones said in All Blacks v France 2:

That does raise one point - you'd like to think Williams and Lomax would have made a heck of a difference today.

ABs B team without our starting props, starting number 8, new midfield and back 3 combos……well that’s what I told my French mate

ACT Crusader

@Mr-Fish said in All Blacks v France 2:

@Bones said in All Blacks v France 2:

That does raise one point - you'd like to think Williams and Lomax would have made a heck of a difference today.

Would they have?

I don't the forwards had any issues to be honest. It's not like Williams and Lomax are considerably better scrum agers than the players who started either.

They carry the ball more than EDG and Newell

game_film

Don’t change a thing 1-23. Only thing that does need to be changed is decision making and ball security after a line break.

MN5

@game_film said in All Blacks v France 2:

Don’t change a thing 1-23. Only thing that does need to be changed is decision making and ball security after a line break.

Damn right. Sevu Reece can play through a concussion. Pine Tree would have.

game_film

@MN5 Apologies, I missed the first 8 seconds.

AmberArmy

1.De Groot
2.Taylor
3.Newell
4.S Barrett (C)
5.Holland
6.Vaa'i
7.A. Savea
8.Lio-Willie
9.Roigard
10.D Mac
11.T Tavatavnawai
12.J. Barrett
13.Q. Tupaea
14.R Ioane
15.W Jordan
16.S. Taukei'aho
17.O. Norris
18.P. Tosi or T. Lomax
19.D Papali’i
20.S Finau
21.N Hotham
22.B. Barrett
23.R Love

Though our defense was accurate it was weak. Zero dominant tackles from our forwards. Is that part of the plan or did we lack intent there?

frugby

Why drop Barrett? Thought he went pretty bloody well - DMac on the other hand was rocks and diamonds.

I’d stick with the same team barring injuries (Lomax for Newell & Clarke for Reece). Proctor was poor, but one game is not a big enough sample size.

Kirwan

Barrett’s passing in particular was really good. Am sure Will Jordan wants him to stay at 10.

Speaking of that jammy bastard, he must be getting high up on the try count now

Mr Fish

@ACT-Crusader said in All Blacks v France 2:

@Mr-Fish said in All Blacks v France 2:

@Bones said in All Blacks v France 2:

That does raise one point - you'd like to think Williams and Lomax would have made a heck of a difference today.

Would they have?

I don't the forwards had any issues to be honest. It's not like Williams and Lomax are considerably better scrum agers than the players who started either.

They carry the ball more than EDG and Newell

Definitely - I'm not suggesting they're not better players. I just don't think they would've made that much of difference in that game. The All Blacks issues weren't that their forwards weren't carrying effectively enough.

With a better kicking/high ball game, a tiny bit more accuracy at crucial moments or smarter defence, and NZ would've won at a canter (easier said than done, or course, but I don't think better carrying from the starting props would've fixed any of those issues).

African Monkey

@frugby said in All Blacks v France 2:

Why drop Barrett? Thought he went pretty bloody well - DMac on the other hand was rocks and diamonds.

I’d stick with the same team barring injuries (Lomax for Newell & Clarke for Reece). Proctor was poor, but one game is not a big enough sample size.

He did go well, and yes, I agree, those are the only changes I'd make too.

MN5

@Kirwan said in All Blacks v France 2:

Barrett’s passing in particular was really good. Am sure Will Jordan wants him to stay at 10.

Speaking of that jammy bastard, he must be getting high up on the try count now

His strike rate per test is nothing short of ridiculous and his class and calmness under pressure is extraordinary

nostrildamus

@frugby said in All Blacks v France 2:

Why drop Barrett? Thought he went pretty bloody well - DMac on the other hand was rocks and diamonds.

I’d stick with the same team barring injuries (Lomax for Newell & Clarke for Reece). Proctor was poor, but one game is not a big enough sample size.

I'd like Beauden to draw tacklers more

KiwiMurph

This will be a much different game compared to yesterday

Swirling mid winter Cake Tin as opposed to under the roof

French ref as opposed to Nick Berry