All Blacks 2025
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I in no way suggesting this should or would be the 23, but if I just picked on who has caught my eye.
Lomax
Taylor
Williams (I think)
Vai'i
Ah Khoui
Finau
Kirifi
Savea
Roigard
DMac/BB (Dmac has looked great, but BB is the difference for winning games )
Reece
Havili
Sullivan
Clarke
JordanAumua
?
De Groot
Shaffoon
Jacobson
Hotham?
DMac of BB
IoaneAsk me in an end of weekend and it'll be different, that is just off top of head who I have liked look of, and realistically if I was picking actual team ,I would be thinking a lot differently.
Sullivan -
For a First Test in early July, I'd have penciled in:
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T. Williams
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C. Taylor
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T. Lomax
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T. Vai'i
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S Barrett (c)
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S. Finau
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A Savea
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W. Sititi
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C. Roigard
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D McKenzie
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C. Clarke
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J. Barrett
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Q. Tupaea
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W. Jordan
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R. Love
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A. Aumua
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E. De Groot
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P. Tosi
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S. Darry
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P. Lakai
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C. Ratima
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S. Perofeta
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R. Ioane
Taukei'aho, Numia, Newell, Holland, Papalii, Jacobson, Hotham, B. Barrett, ALB, Telea and Reece would all be in the wider squad. Proctor too if he is fit to play. Caleb Tangitau's very much in the mix.
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- de Groot
- Taylor
- Lomax
- Vaa’i
- S Barrett (c)
- Parker
- Savea
- Sititi
- Roigard
- McKenzie
- Tangitau
- J Barrett
- Tupaea
- Jordan
- Love
- Aumua
- Williams
- Dyer
- Holland
- Kirifi
- Ratima
- B Barrett
- Tavatavanawai
Things to note:
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All to play for at loosehead, because all options have been below par. de Groot starts as of now, because he isn’t really a ‘finisher’
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Not necessarily convinced Parker at 6, but we need a big body. Haig one to watch on his injury return. Too soon for C Christie, and the other options are too small/not what we need IMO
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Tupaea the form midfielder so squeezes out Rieko. Tavatavanawai favoured as a bench option only due to his potential ability to be an impact sub
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Unsure on the back three, but Jordan is inked in at 14 (not 15) for me. Real lack of options at 15 outside of Love… I would give serious consideration to Jordie at 15, with Tupaea moving to 12, and having Rieko in 13.
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@mariner4life said in All Blacks 2025:
I would be interested, now that we are a little over half way through the comp, what you blokes would pick as your AB 23 for a hypothetical first test.
Not interested in what you think the selectors would do, but who YOU would select.Be interesting to see if there are a lot of consensus picks
I preface this with the comment that this is based on gut feels and if I was really selecting a team I'd probably pick something completely different if I had access to actual stats and video analysis. And I've picked some players over others because better bench impact (eg Tosi v Newell), and there are some positions where I'd be delighted with any number of combinations including some I haven't put on the bench (eg Hooker).
I've also assumed all named are injury free and available.
So.
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Williams
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Taylor
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Lomax
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Barrett
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Vaa'i
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Finau
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Savea
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Sititi
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Roigard
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McKenzie
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Clarke
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Barrett
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Ioane
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Jordan
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Barrett
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Taukei'aho
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Groot
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Tosi
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Tuipulotu
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Kirifi
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Hotham
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Tupaea
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Narawa
Criticise away all.
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@booboo I'd have Lakai ahead of Kirifi, but I like the rest. I think Love and Perofeta will move ahead of Beauden Barrett at some point.
The place where we look short of options in the midfield. We are going to have less creativity there than I'd like.
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@sparky said in All Blacks 2025:
Noah Hotham did his ABs chances no harm tonight. Interesting calls ahead at 9.
So far he has been very tidy and is making clearing the ball under pressure look easy. His pass is so natural it looks effortless, and he gets to the ruck quickly. He has some things to work on but I think he has a game that could be useful long term at test level.
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A few of the challengers for the ABs squad/starting spots had poor games last night… one poor game doesn’t change anything, though particularly for those Canes guys it is a missed opportunity. I do see an irony though, that a lot of people here moan at Razor’s selections, yet are now suggesting some of these guys aren’t good enough to replace the incumbents.
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@booboo said in All Blacks 2025:
Quick aside here. Saw Williams go to TH at one stage when Bower came in for Newell's HIA. Developing on both sides? Good option to have.
Tams has always been capable of playing both sides. Over the last few years he has really just stuck to loosehead. Big bonus and massive flexibility when it comes to being selected in the 23. He’s already in it without a doubt before that is even considered though.
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Only watched 2 games this WE, but Lakai, Hotham and Holland did there selection chances no harm at all. Roigard looked a bit off-kilter to me and was pulled late in teh game. Is there some low-level injury problem?
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