All Blacks 2025
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@sparky I genuinely think the All Blacks would be just as well off without any Blues players in their side.
@Trig said in All Blacks 2025:
@sparky I genuinely think the All Blacks would be just as well off without any Blues players in their side.
I'm a Blues supporter but if you mean there is no current Blues player who is comfortably far ahead of their nearest rival and worthy of #1 AB pick in their position I (sadly) don't think that is an outlandish claim.
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@Trig said in All Blacks 2025:
@sparky I genuinely think the All Blacks would be just as well off without any Blues players in their side.
I'm a Blues supporter but if you mean there is no current Blues player who is comfortably far ahead of their nearest rival and worthy of #1 AB pick in their position I (sadly) don't think that is an outlandish claim.
@nostrildamus said in All Blacks 2025:
@Trig said in All Blacks 2025:
@sparky I genuinely think the All Blacks would be just as well off without any Blues players in their side.
I'm a Blues supporter but if you mean there is no current Blues player who is comfortably far ahead of their nearest rival and worthy of #1 AB pick in their position I (sadly) don't think that is an outlandish claim.
There'd be only be a few players in NZ that would be. Most spots are debatable.
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@canefan said in All Blacks 2025:
@Victor-Meldrew said in All Blacks 2025:
@canefan said in All Blacks 2025:
@Victor-Meldrew said in All Blacks 2025:
@Chris-B said in All Blacks 2025:
I think Quinn Tupaea is a good shot to replace ALB in the midfield - can play 12 and 13 and they'll likely want that on the bench.
Dave Havili will be looked at closely, but I don't think he's a certainty.
It all depends on how Robertson sees his squad in 2 years time. If he's conservative like last year then it'll be Havili, otherwise it has to be Tupaea
If he's conservative, we will see BB, EB and DH in the squad
What I'm expecting sadly. Just hope for some changes by Frog 3.
By season's end I hope we don't have to open a thread about what coach we want to take us to RWC31
It's make-or-break his year. Has his feet under he table now so we can see what he can do. Not winning the TRC 2 years in a row would be a worry if he carries on with his conservative approach.
@Victor-Meldrew said in All Blacks 2025:
@canefan said in All Blacks 2025:
@Victor-Meldrew said in All Blacks 2025:
@canefan said in All Blacks 2025:
@Victor-Meldrew said in All Blacks 2025:
@Chris-B said in All Blacks 2025:
I think Quinn Tupaea is a good shot to replace ALB in the midfield - can play 12 and 13 and they'll likely want that on the bench.
Dave Havili will be looked at closely, but I don't think he's a certainty.
It all depends on how Robertson sees his squad in 2 years time. If he's conservative like last year then it'll be Havili, otherwise it has to be Tupaea
If he's conservative, we will see BB, EB and DH in the squad
What I'm expecting sadly. Just hope for some changes by Frog 3.
By season's end I hope we don't have to open a thread about what coach we want to take us to RWC31
It's make-or-break his year. Has his feet under he table now so we can see what he can do. Not winning the TRC 2 years in a row would be a worry if he carries on with his conservative approach.
Revisionist history will also dictate whether he is in fact a rugby guru or rode the coat tails of Mo'unga, Whitelock et al for all those Super Rugby titles.
I want to see some innovation.
Last year was the same as what went before but with a bit more surfing chat in press conferences.
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Robertson admits to some of his faults from year 1, including being too conservative with selection. Let's see how that translates to his first squad of the year.
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@Victor-Meldrew said in All Blacks 2025:
@canefan said in All Blacks 2025:
@Victor-Meldrew said in All Blacks 2025:
@canefan said in All Blacks 2025:
@Victor-Meldrew said in All Blacks 2025:
@Chris-B said in All Blacks 2025:
I think Quinn Tupaea is a good shot to replace ALB in the midfield - can play 12 and 13 and they'll likely want that on the bench.
Dave Havili will be looked at closely, but I don't think he's a certainty.
It all depends on how Robertson sees his squad in 2 years time. If he's conservative like last year then it'll be Havili, otherwise it has to be Tupaea
If he's conservative, we will see BB, EB and DH in the squad
What I'm expecting sadly. Just hope for some changes by Frog 3.
By season's end I hope we don't have to open a thread about what coach we want to take us to RWC31
It's make-or-break his year. Has his feet under he table now so we can see what he can do. Not winning the TRC 2 years in a row would be a worry if he carries on with his conservative approach.
Revisionist history will also dictate whether he is in fact a rugby guru or rode the coat tails of Mo'unga, Whitelock et al for all those Super Rugby titles.
I want to see some innovation.
Last year was the same as what went before but with a bit more surfing chat in press conferences.
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Robertson admits to some of his faults from year 1, including being too conservative with selection. Let's see how that translates to his first squad of the year.
@Bovidae said in All Blacks 2025:
Robertson admits to some of his faults from year 1, including being too conservative with selection. Let's see how that translates to his first squad of the year.
As long as that doesn't mean he didn't pick enough Saders.....
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@Bovidae said in All Blacks 2025:
Robertson admits to some of his faults from year 1, including being too conservative with selection. Let's see how that translates to his first squad of the year.
As long as that doesn't mean he didn't pick enough Saders.....
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@Victor-Meldrew said in All Blacks 2025:
@Chris-B said in All Blacks 2025:
I think Quinn Tupaea is a good shot to replace ALB in the midfield - can play 12 and 13 and they'll likely want that on the bench.
Dave Havili will be looked at closely, but I don't think he's a certainty.
It all depends on how Robertson sees his squad in 2 years time. If he's conservative like last year then it'll be Havili, otherwise it has to be Tupaea
If he's conservative, we will see BB, EB and DH in the squad
@canefan said in All Blacks 2025:
@Victor-Meldrew said in All Blacks 2025:
@Chris-B said in All Blacks 2025:
I think Quinn Tupaea is a good shot to replace ALB in the midfield - can play 12 and 13 and they'll likely want that on the bench.
Dave Havili will be looked at closely, but I don't think he's a certainty.
It all depends on how Robertson sees his squad in 2 years time. If he's conservative like last year then it'll be Havili, otherwise it has to be Tupaea
If he's conservative, we will see BB, EB and DH in the squad
If you don't pick Beauden Barrett, who honestly else do you pick? BB and DMac proved themselves us our two best 10s in SR this season. It's concerning, but it's also the truth.
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@canefan said in All Blacks 2025:
@Victor-Meldrew said in All Blacks 2025:
@Chris-B said in All Blacks 2025:
I think Quinn Tupaea is a good shot to replace ALB in the midfield - can play 12 and 13 and they'll likely want that on the bench.
Dave Havili will be looked at closely, but I don't think he's a certainty.
It all depends on how Robertson sees his squad in 2 years time. If he's conservative like last year then it'll be Havili, otherwise it has to be Tupaea
If he's conservative, we will see BB, EB and DH in the squad
If you don't pick Beauden Barrett, who honestly else do you pick? BB and DMac proved themselves us our two best 10s in SR this season. It's concerning, but it's also the truth.
@frugby said in All Blacks 2025:
@canefan said in All Blacks 2025:
@Victor-Meldrew said in All Blacks 2025:
@Chris-B said in All Blacks 2025:
I think Quinn Tupaea is a good shot to replace ALB in the midfield - can play 12 and 13 and they'll likely want that on the bench.
Dave Havili will be looked at closely, but I don't think he's a certainty.
It all depends on how Robertson sees his squad in 2 years time. If he's conservative like last year then it'll be Havili, otherwise it has to be Tupaea
If he's conservative, we will see BB, EB and DH in the squad
If you don't pick Beauden Barrett, who honestly else do you pick? BB and DMac proved themselves us our two best 10s in SR this season. It's concerning, but it's also the truth.
As game managers and moving their team around I think both Love and Reihana were better than Beauden this season.
Beauden has a pop gun clearance too.
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Looking at the games we lost last year I think the key stat has been turnovers conceded.
In the French game we were better in most metrics except points, tries, and turnovers conceded.
We conceded more turnovers than South Africa in both games. South Africa pretty much dominated us in the first test by most metrics. We were closer in the second test but still conceded more turnovers.
Most of the turnovers are coming out wide. This fits in with the width based game plan. It exposes us to more turnovers. Against the big teams we don't seem to have a fallback option to spend time going up the middle.
We rarely used an attacking maul to effect. This is difficult when you have smallish locks and smallish loose forwards. Our width based game plan becomes predictable without the maul and without the ability to go up the middle.
From those three losses against the South Africa and France.
Turnovers conceded ( these three were the main culprits ) :
9 Will Jordan ( mostly at fullback )
7 Rieko Ioane
5 Beauden Barrett ( playing fullback )Plus a bunch of other turnovers but it seems most of them happen at fullback and center.
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He admits at times last year he might have been “too conservative”, and that he could have been “braver”, with approach and selections. “You learn on the job,” he surmises with a smile, and he “feels better for that”. -
@frugby said in All Blacks 2025:
@canefan said in All Blacks 2025:
@Victor-Meldrew said in All Blacks 2025:
@Chris-B said in All Blacks 2025:
I think Quinn Tupaea is a good shot to replace ALB in the midfield - can play 12 and 13 and they'll likely want that on the bench.
Dave Havili will be looked at closely, but I don't think he's a certainty.
It all depends on how Robertson sees his squad in 2 years time. If he's conservative like last year then it'll be Havili, otherwise it has to be Tupaea
If he's conservative, we will see BB, EB and DH in the squad
If you don't pick Beauden Barrett, who honestly else do you pick? BB and DMac proved themselves us our two best 10s in SR this season. It's concerning, but it's also the truth.
As game managers and moving their team around I think both Love and Reihana were better than Beauden this season.
Beauden has a pop gun clearance too.
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@canefan said in All Blacks 2025:
@Victor-Meldrew said in All Blacks 2025:
@Chris-B said in All Blacks 2025:
I think Quinn Tupaea is a good shot to replace ALB in the midfield - can play 12 and 13 and they'll likely want that on the bench.
Dave Havili will be looked at closely, but I don't think he's a certainty.
It all depends on how Robertson sees his squad in 2 years time. If he's conservative like last year then it'll be Havili, otherwise it has to be Tupaea
If he's conservative, we will see BB, EB and DH in the squad
If you don't pick Beauden Barrett, who honestly else do you pick? BB and DMac proved themselves us our two best 10s in SR this season. It's concerning, but it's also the truth.
@frugby said in All Blacks 2025:
@canefan said in All Blacks 2025:
@Victor-Meldrew said in All Blacks 2025:
@Chris-B said in All Blacks 2025:
I think Quinn Tupaea is a good shot to replace ALB in the midfield - can play 12 and 13 and they'll likely want that on the bench.
Dave Havili will be looked at closely, but I don't think he's a certainty.
It all depends on how Robertson sees his squad in 2 years time. If he's conservative like last year then it'll be Havili, otherwise it has to be Tupaea
If he's conservative, we will see BB, EB and DH in the squad
If you don't pick Beauden Barrett, who honestly else do you pick? BB and DMac proved themselves us our two best 10s in SR this season. It's concerning, but it's also the truth.
He was outplayed by Reihana last night. His kicking game was poor, in terms of distance and option taking
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@brodean Love will be there as well. Reihana? Not done anywhere enough yet for me. For all the fact he is past it, BB still has the ability to drop a world class performance. People seem to have conveniently forgotten he outplayed DMac a week ago.
@frugby said in All Blacks 2025:
@brodean Love will be there as well. Reihana? Not done anywhere enough yet for me. For all the fact he is past it, BB still has the ability to drop a world class performance. People seem to have conveniently forgotten he outplayed DMac a week ago.
Did he really though? The Blues won the game up front, largely because they disrupted the Chief's lineout and injuries.
Beauden had one of those days he does every so often when his little kicks for himself came off. Apart from that, I didn't see anything different to the usual slop.
McKenzie still created a try, and was playing with a new 12. Barrett was playing with a backline full of ABs, and like all season, they did fuck all because they never got the ball. If our definition of being a good 10 is chip-kicking for yourself, no wonder our backline is fucked.edit: should also credit excellent try-line defence for the blues win. the lack of points in the first half when the chiefs were dominant was what kept them in the game.
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@frugby said in All Blacks 2025:
@canefan said in All Blacks 2025:
@Victor-Meldrew said in All Blacks 2025:
@Chris-B said in All Blacks 2025:
I think Quinn Tupaea is a good shot to replace ALB in the midfield - can play 12 and 13 and they'll likely want that on the bench.
Dave Havili will be looked at closely, but I don't think he's a certainty.
It all depends on how Robertson sees his squad in 2 years time. If he's conservative like last year then it'll be Havili, otherwise it has to be Tupaea
If he's conservative, we will see BB, EB and DH in the squad
If you don't pick Beauden Barrett, who honestly else do you pick? BB and DMac proved themselves us our two best 10s in SR this season. It's concerning, but it's also the truth.
As game managers and moving their team around I think both Love and Reihana were better than Beauden this season.
Beauden has a pop gun clearance too.
@brodean I think it's BBs decision making that's the bigger issue, I wonder if he's just not seeing things right and is therefore hesitant and then not 100 committed to kick/run
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@brodean I think it's BBs decision making that's the bigger issue, I wonder if he's just not seeing things right and is therefore hesitant and then not 100 committed to kick/run
@taniwharugby said in All Blacks 2025:
@brodean I think it's BBs decision making that's the bigger issue, I wonder if he's just not being things right and is therefore hesitant and then not 100 committed to kick/run
I think this was BB's best season at the Blues at 10 but he inevitably still makes the same old mistakes and brainfarts. His line kicking remains average at best.
The longer you leave him on the worst he gets. I believe he just struggles to focus for 80 minutes. His best role has always been as an impact player off the bench. Would like for him to remain in the squad as a bench option but I'd also like to see them develop Love.
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@frugby said in All Blacks 2025:
@canefan said in All Blacks 2025:
@Victor-Meldrew said in All Blacks 2025:
@Chris-B said in All Blacks 2025:
I think Quinn Tupaea is a good shot to replace ALB in the midfield - can play 12 and 13 and they'll likely want that on the bench.
Dave Havili will be looked at closely, but I don't think he's a certainty.
It all depends on how Robertson sees his squad in 2 years time. If he's conservative like last year then it'll be Havili, otherwise it has to be Tupaea
If he's conservative, we will see BB, EB and DH in the squad
If you don't pick Beauden Barrett, who honestly else do you pick? BB and DMac proved themselves us our two best 10s in SR this season. It's concerning, but it's also the truth.
He was outplayed by Reihana last night. His kicking game was poor, in terms of distance and option taking
@canefan said in All Blacks 2025:
@frugby said in All Blacks 2025:
@canefan said in All Blacks 2025:
@Victor-Meldrew said in All Blacks 2025:
@Chris-B said in All Blacks 2025:
I think Quinn Tupaea is a good shot to replace ALB in the midfield - can play 12 and 13 and they'll likely want that on the bench.
Dave Havili will be looked at closely, but I don't think he's a certainty.
It all depends on how Robertson sees his squad in 2 years time. If he's conservative like last year then it'll be Havili, otherwise it has to be Tupaea
If he's conservative, we will see BB, EB and DH in the squad
If you don't pick Beauden Barrett, who honestly else do you pick? BB and DMac proved themselves us our two best 10s in SR this season. It's concerning, but it's also the truth.
He was outplayed by Reihana last night. His kicking game was poor, in terms of distance and option taking
One game. DMac is the best 10 we have, Barrett is the second best 10 we have, and Love is the third best 10 we have.
I don't see us winning the WC with DMac, Barrett (or Mo'unga for that matter) at 10, so there is really two options. You stick with DMac short term, and hope he finds another gear OR you take a punt on Love/Jacomb, who could in theory reach a higher level.
IMO too soon for Jacomb, but would love to see Love get some minutes at 10 (even if I am unsure whether he is quite there).
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@taniwharugby said in All Blacks 2025:
@brodean I think it's BBs decision making that's the bigger issue, I wonder if he's just not being things right and is therefore hesitant and then not 100 committed to kick/run
I think this was BB's best season at the Blues at 10 but he inevitably still makes the same old mistakes and brainfarts. His line kicking remains average at best.
The longer you leave him on the worst he gets. I believe he just struggles to focus for 80 minutes. His best role has always been as an impact player off the bench. Would like for him to remain in the squad as a bench option but I'd also like to see them develop Love.
@brodean think he absolutely still has the skills, but it is the decision making and then the execution that makes him wildly inconsistent in his play
