All Blacks v France I

[reprobate]

@Landers92 said in All Blacks v France I:

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

@frugby said in All Blacks v France I:

@Mr-Fish said in All Blacks v France I:
I hugely disagree about him dominating the lineout. I think Tuipulotu or Lord would've gone just as well against that French side.

Holland is basically the Blackadder of locks.

Holy shit I’ve officially heard it all now. This might go down as one of the worst takes of 2025 on the fern.

Not really, the fern hates people who work hard. We want highlights!

[brodean]

@Chris said in All Blacks v France I:

@booboo said in All Blacks v France I:

@Chris said in All Blacks v France I:

@mariner4life said in All Blacks v France I:

@Chris said in All Blacks v France I:

Finau for a big unit really added no impact in this game,He was passive in the tackle he got knocked back a few times.And went no where forward.
Even though Vai'i maybe found out as a bit slow at 6 in the harder games, he was 100% better than Finau.

Hard disagree. He dropped an early one cold and I was ready to write him off.

But after that he ran fucking hard and made yards in tight. He has a future i think.

Nah didn’t see any of that to me h8e was pretty weak.

People often see what they look for.

that is true both ways but I have no real option on Finau I hoped he would be the player we need at 6, but I was disappointed again on what I saw as a weak performance again.

Apart from the dropped ball he was good. Made some good carries over the gain line, won a turnover, won a couple of lineouts, made some good cleans. Overall a balanced effort.

[brodean]

I felt that tackle by Tupaea on Taofifenua was a sliding door moment and potentially saved Razor's butt given how easily they were scoring points when they got into our 22.

Great work from Tupaea.

[Chris]

@brodean said in All Blacks v France I:

@Chris said in All Blacks v France I:

@booboo said in All Blacks v France I:

@Chris said in All Blacks v France I:

@mariner4life said in All Blacks v France I:

@Chris said in All Blacks v France I:

Finau for a big unit really added no impact in this game,He was passive in the tackle he got knocked back a few times.And went no where forward.
Even though Vai'i maybe found out as a bit slow at 6 in the harder games, he was 100% better than Finau.

Hard disagree. He dropped an early one cold and I was ready to write him off.

But after that he ran fucking hard and made yards in tight. He has a future i think.

Nah didn’t see any of that to me h8e was pretty weak.

People often see what they look for.

that is true both ways but I have no real option on Finau I hoped he would be the player we need at 6, but I was disappointed again on what I saw as a weak performance again.

Apart from the dropped ball he was good. Made some good carries over the gain line, won a turnover, won a couple of lineouts, made some good cleans. Overall a balanced effort.

Not how I saw it.

[antipodean]

@reprobate said in All Blacks v France I:

@antipodean said in All Blacks v France I:

@reprobate said in All Blacks v France I:

@No-Quarter said in All Blacks v France I:

@mariner4life said in All Blacks v France I:

For the same reason as savea i reckon I'm close to done with DMac.

I can understand the allure, when it goes right it goes very right, but is it balanced out by the untold errors and created pressure?

I'm quite torn on DMac and Beauden, I caused a bit of a stir when I said picking Beauden for this test wasn't all that controversial as I think they are much of a muchness really. Personally I'd have DMac starting at 10 just on account of his kicking game, as we can struggle to get out of our half when on the back foot otherwise.

But outside of that both players go from the sublime to the ridiculous far too often for test match footy.

Hard disagree. McKenzie kicked the ball away badly once (and fortuitously grabbed the rebound). He also threw an intercept - which really doesn't count, as it was under penalty advantage so why not.
Aside from that , his decision-making was pretty conservative - he took contact in preference to trying too much on several occasions.

My takeaway was he danced around and then flat footed just popped it to a stationary forward to get smashed.

An the same thing can be described as: he looked for gaps, and made/took a few half-gaps - and when there wasn't one he recycled and maintained possession.

And are you going to rubbish other players for similar/worse poor options? How about Roigard for ignoring Jordie inside him who would have scored? And for his bizarre kick to nobody on attack?

Oh now I see how this game is played: If I respond to a comment at odds with my opinion I then need to apply that analysis/ criticism to every other player too.

[ACT Crusader]

@brodean said in All Blacks v France I:

I felt that tackle by Tupaea on Taofifenua was a sliding door moment and potentially saved Razor's butt given how easily they were scoring points when they got into our 22.

Great work from Tupaea.

So he did his job to make a tackle. We applauding guys who make their tackles now?

This take is courtesy of the Fern logic

[brodean]

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

@brodean said in All Blacks v France I:

I felt that tackle by Tupaea on Taofifenua was a sliding door moment and potentially saved Razor's butt given how easily they were scoring points when they got into our 22.

Great work from Tupaea.

So he did his job to make a tackle. We applauding guys who make their tackles now?

This take is courtesy of the Fern logic

The guy is over 2m, 140kg and had worked up some pace. Tupaea tackled him front on so he turned over the ball. He did better than a bunch of our forwards did at stopping those big french forwards in their tracks.

That guy has smashed through our line in previous tests.

It was a great tackle 5 or 10 metres from the try line

[Bones]

@brodean little bit whooshed there fella

[mariner4life]

Can someone explain to me why, when we get penalty advantage, we try some low percentage bullshit the very first phase, more often than not immediately turning it over. We do this despite the very firm knowledge the ref will give you 15 free phases if you want them.

[taniwharugby]

@mariner4life smarts...or lack thereof.

Especially when on the 22 or closer, you know it's pretty much going until you score, lose possession or opposition offend again

[canefan]

@mariner4life said in All Blacks v France I:

Can someone explain to me why, when we get penalty advantage, we try some low percentage bullshit the very first phase, more often than not immediately turning it over. We do this despite the very firm knowledge the ref will give you 15 free phases if you want them.

https://media.tenor.com/0gqwZ0fXVB4AAAAM/forrest-gump-stupid.gif

We just aren't a particularly smart side right now. Reminds me of the AB sides that used to get pumped by the Gregan Larkham Wallabies. We shoot ourselves in the foot a lot. Hopefully we will wise up in the near future. Not gonna hold my breath

[canefan]

Who remembers coach killer shit like this

[nostrildamus]

@reprobate said in All Blacks v France I:

Not really, the fern hates people who work hard. We want highlights!

Doesn't really explain the Akira/Hosea hate from some, or perhaps it does!

[Duluth]

@mariner4life said in All Blacks v France I:

Can someone explain to me why, when we get penalty advantage, we try some low percentage bullshit the very first phase, more often than not immediately turning it over. We do this despite the very firm knowledge the ref will give you 15 free phases if you want them.

In recent years I believe the chances of scoring from long phases has gotten lower. You score in the first three or the defence gets too set. It may even be lower than the speculative kick.

The chances of scoring from a lineout drive or not long after are high. Might as well roll the dice and then just get to the lineout

[Grooter]

@nostrildamus said in All Blacks v France I:

@reprobate said in All Blacks v France I:

Not really, the fern hates people who work hard. We want highlights!

Doesn't really explain the Akira/Hosea hate from some, or perhaps it does!

Rico was always the favorite

[ACT Crusader]

@canefan said in All Blacks v France I:

Who remembers coach killer shit like this

Ask @mariner4life

[mariner4life]

I hate that he gets no credit for beating 3 dudes

[voodoo]

@Duluth said in All Blacks v France I:

@mariner4life said in All Blacks v France I:

Can someone explain to me why, when we get penalty advantage, we try some low percentage bullshit the very first phase, more often than not immediately turning it over. We do this despite the very firm knowledge the ref will give you 15 free phases if you want them.

In recent years I believe the chances of scoring from long phases has gotten lower. You score in the first three or the defence gets too set. It may even be lower than the speculative kick.

The chances of scoring from a lineout drive or not long after are high. Might as well roll the dice and then just get to the lineout

First 3 being the key here though, doesn’t have to be first 1! I’d still much rather we showed a bit of patience and used the (IMO stupid) advantage laws to maximum advantage. Attack with some abandon sure, but no need to take a 3% play on the first phase

[reprobate]

@Duluth said in All Blacks v France I:

@mariner4life said in All Blacks v France I:

Can someone explain to me why, when we get penalty advantage, we try some low percentage bullshit the very first phase, more often than not immediately turning it over. We do this despite the very firm knowledge the ref will give you 15 free phases if you want them.

In recent years I believe the chances of scoring from long phases has gotten lower. You score in the first three or the defence gets too set. It may even be lower than the speculative kick.

The chances of scoring from a lineout drive or not long after are high. Might as well roll the dice and then just get to the lineout

That may be true, but I think it's a prime example of a statistic in isolation obscuring the reality of the overall picture. It's frequently multiple phases leading to an advantage, leading to multiple penalties, leading to a card, leading to try off a lineout from one of those infringements. And then frequently another score as a result of playing against 14. And the perception of the ref is that the defensive team is infringing repeatedly.
We're the team that doesn't press the advantage, and we're the team who supposedly gets carded more than our opposition.

[voodoo]

@reprobate said in All Blacks v France I:

@Mauss said in All Blacks v France I:

@brodean said in All Blacks v France I:

He has the tools but I don't think its in his nature. It's difficult to teach an old dog new tricks and I feel that at 31 that's his instinct.

The carry stats are wrong and where I think we struggled in the game. The highlighted should not be carrying that much considering their roles.

Top Carries

18 Ardie Savea
17 Damian Mckenzie
15 Will Jordan
14 Beauden Barrett
13 Fabian Holland

I do think Savea could be a good openside option, especially within Robertson’s system, which seems to be based around ball-movement, constantly shifting the point of attack and getting in behind the opposition defence. Due to the sheer dynamism of the attack – 259 passes, 9 offloads, 182 ball carries, 425 post-contact metres, 13 line-breaks against France – I think it’s very difficult for a classical openside to consistently stay close to the source without being exhausted after 10 minutes.

So what’s important for an openside in this system is game understanding, the ability to cut corners around the field and anticipate what’s going to happen. And I do think someone like Savea has an uncanny ability to see certain plays unfold before they’ve occurred, whether it’s a line-break or an opposition player becoming isolated. So I’d like to see him given an extended run in the jersey, and see whether he can adapt to the requirements.

But what Robertson does need to be mindful of, I think, in the upcoming tests is to have enough “fresh” carrying options on the field at all times. In the France game, Lio-Willie spent the opening 10 minutes of the 2nd half mostly just tackling and cleaning, which meant that Savea did most of the hard carries through the middle on his own. If Robertson goes to his bench earlier – bringing on Taukei’aho and Norris, for example, at halftime – then I think it would’ve been easier for Savea to share the carrying load and maintain his own energy levels.

The attack seemed quite different to me in this game vs last year. Jordie Barrett probably made as many passes in that game as he did in the whole of last season, and was frequently at first receiver too - this I really liked, especially with McKenzie on the field too - it's got to be hard to defend against. I don't like the Barbarians style 'score off every play' mindset though. Other teams will knuckle down when they've got inside the 22, apply pressure and more often that not get a penalty advantage and continue applying pressure until there's a card. We either score immediately or throw (kick) it away.

Totally agree with this. Gone are the days where we can win games by 30 points with 40% possession. This bizarre need to score immediately, to lack the patience to run multiple phases (read: 15+ sometimes), it’s quite bewildering. It seems if we don’t go forward for 2 phases on a row, we feel the need to try something new - an unnecessary pass , a grubber, a cross-kick, or to launch a shitty bomb or box kick that effectively says to the opposition “here, you have a go now”.

We can’t we understand that it’s ok to reset, to control the ball and force the defense to make 20 tackles in the space of a few minutes, proving but playing smart?

It’s the same strange tactics that never sees us making long exits anymore. I know BB doesn’t have the range so some of that is ability. But DMac and Jordie can both kick long but rarely seem to. It seems so rare that we see an exit from our 22 get even close to halfway anymore.