All Blacks v France II
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So what's the consenus on this team? I'm surprised at the apathy here at us nearly getting tipped up by the French B team.
I don't think this a strong All Black squad, I think four years of Ryan as forwards coach and the same problems in the loosies (if anything we've gone backwards there) is pretty damning.
I can see us relying on individual brilliance, from newish players like Roigard, to paper over these cracks.
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@Kirwan said in All Blacks v France 2:
So what's the consenus on this team? I'm surprised at the apathy here at us nearly getting tipped up by the French B team.
I don't think this a strong All Black squad, I think four years of Ryan as forwards coach and the same problems in the loosies (if anything we've gone backwards there) is pretty damning.
I can see us relying on individual brilliance, from newish players like Roigard, to paper over these cracks.
Definitely lack cohesion across the entire team, we don't seem to be as effective as the French were at cleaning out and keeping possession, our kicking game and kick return is poor. Our attack did show signs of quality in patches, but we either made stupid mistakes or got scammed by the ref and TMO (whichever you believe) that cost us points in the second half
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@MN5 said in All Blacks v France 2:
@george33 said in All Blacks v France 2:
Rumours are that Caleb Clarke went down at training in serious doubt.
Any one got any more news on that.Jordan to wing, Love to FB. Straight swap
thats not a straight swap thought is it.....
its the first thing i thought of though too, jordan on the left or does RI go back to the left?
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@Kirwan said in All Blacks v France 2:
So what's the consenus on this team? I'm surprised at the apathy here at us nearly getting tipped up by the French B team.
I don't think this a strong All Black squad, I think four years of Ryan as forwards coach and the same problems in the loosies (if anything we've gone backwards there) is pretty damning.
I can see us relying on individual brilliance, from newish players like Roigard, to paper over these cracks.
Given the injuries, I don't think there are many changes they could make to improve the team from within the squad they've selected and I'm happy they haven't gone for a drastically different line up. Another scratchy performance this week, especially from certain individual players, and they might shift things around more for the third test but, again, I'm not sure they have all the many options in a number of areas so maybe sticking with players they think have potential and giving them time to improve is the way to go. I'm also not sure the less than optimal performance from last week was down to the players as much as the game plan or lack of time together. If that's right, changing the players won't help much.
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@Kiwiwomble said in All Blacks v France 2:
@MN5 said in All Blacks v France 2:
@george33 said in All Blacks v France 2:
Rumours are that Caleb Clarke went down at training in serious doubt.
Any one got any more news on that.Jordan to wing, Love to FB. Straight swap
thats not a straight swap thought is it.....
its the first thing i thought of though too, jordan on the left or does RI go back to the left?
Fine then Mr Pedantic
Love in and some positional changes.
Happy ?
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@MN5 said in All Blacks v France 2:
@Kiwiwomble said in All Blacks v France 2:
@MN5 said in All Blacks v France 2:
@george33 said in All Blacks v France 2:
Rumours are that Caleb Clarke went down at training in serious doubt.
Any one got any more news on that.Jordan to wing, Love to FB. Straight swap
thats not a straight swap thought is it.....
its the first thing i thought of though too, jordan on the left or does RI go back to the left?
Fine then Mr Pedantic
Love in and some positional changes.
Happy ?
Kind of a straight swap for what they played with for 79 minutes last weekend. It's probably what I'd be inclined to go for too.
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@SecFid said in All Blacks v France 2:
Clarke went to hospital with a suspected broken ankle
Shittings! It is one of those years for him, isn't it? Poor bugger.
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This post is deleted!
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@Kirwan said in All Blacks v France 2:
So what's the consenus on this team? I'm surprised at the apathy here at us nearly getting tipped up by the French B team.
I don't think this a strong All Black squad, I think four years of Ryan as forwards coach and the same problems in the loosies (if anything we've gone backwards there) is pretty damning.
I can see us relying on individual brilliance, from newish players like Roigard, to paper over these cracks.
Agree, though I will say the scrum and lineout are good and we have a bunch of good tight five options in the squad plus guys like Darry, Lord, Bell and a few others that have quite a bit of potential.
The maul has been pretty average. Better on defence than attack.
Maul doesn't seem to be a priority on attack and its difficult to get the maul going without a couple of big bodies in the loose forwards when lineout ball is won.
Apart from Finau and Vaa'i the current loose forward options lack power in their cleaning.
There are too many small loosies in the squad with Savea, Lio Willie and D Kirifi.
When I think back to that combo of McCaw, Collins, and So'oialo with Masoe on the bench it was dynamite but once we had McCaw, Kaino, and Read, in hindsight that combo was too small.
Having said that any combo of McCaw, Collins, So'oialo, and Masoe would I believe have a physical edge over Savea, Lio Willie and D Kirifi. So for me they are a level down in the physicality stakes compared to the guys from 20 years ago.
They need to look at a few more guys like Papali'i, Sotutu, Parker, Flanders, Howden, and Haig to get the balance right.
Ryan excels at tight forward coaching but is weak in the loose forwards. Not sure if its down to him or Razor but it seems like the loose forwards being selected are similar to Razor in his playing days.
We have good backline options including a few others who missed out like Lam.
The backline always seems to be on the verge of something since SA last year but can't reliably seal the deal when breaks are made. The backline attack and the game plan generally doesn't quite seem to be clicking.
Finally its hard to get excited about France B after they've made 10 wholesale changes despite the last team coming within a few of winning. This is obviously a development tour for France.
If we lose it would be a disaster, if we beat them by a few points it will be disappointing, if we thrash them its an experimental development team at the end of a long year. So its a tough one.
Hoping for better defence, better support play, and clinical finishing.
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