2025 All Blacks v France series
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@Victor-Meldrew can remember when full strength All Black teams touring France use to struggle to put away French Divisional teams during the 80s and 90s ..
France have always had depth but issues in and around coaching and selectionThese days the have 30 professional clubs including aligned academy’s
Money also trumps anything we see down here in NZ@Steven-Harris said in 2025 All Blacks v France series:
Money also trumps anything we see down here in NZ
It's true but one thing NZ has that no other country can match is heritage, tradition and pride in the jersey.
To me the respective approaches to this series speak to how New Zealand have something that the French will never be able to buy or throw money at.
The word I would use is integrity.
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@canefan said in 2025 All Blacks v France series:
And it allows them to develop depth while devaluing test rugby. It doesn't help that we then can't pump them the way they deserve
But doesn't it speak volumes about the levels of NZ & French Rugby that we struggle to put away a French development team?
@Victor-Meldrew said in 2025 All Blacks v France series:
@canefan said in 2025 All Blacks v France series:
And it allows them to develop depth while devaluing test rugby. It doesn't help that we then can't pump them the way they deserve
But doesn't it speak volumes about the levels of NZ & French Rugby that we struggle to put away a French development team?
Thats the point I was trying to make, poorly in hindsight
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Vaa'i did well for his try. He's probably deceptively fast but he definitely runs like a lock and not a loose forward.
Him at 6 is working well for the ABs. He went a bit better this week. Maybe PT in at lock helped with that.
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Vaa'i did well for his try. He's probably deceptively fast but he definitely runs like a lock and not a loose forward.
Him at 6 is working well for the ABs. He went a bit better this week. Maybe PT in at lock helped with that.
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@brodean said in 2025 All Blacks v France series:
Vaa'i did well for his try. He's probably deceptively fast but he definitely runs like a lock and not a loose forward.
Thought he did a pretty decent job of mimicking PSDT tonight.
@Bones said in 2025 All Blacks v France series:
@brodean said in 2025 All Blacks v France series:
Vaa'i did well for his try. He's probably deceptively fast but he definitely runs like a lock and not a loose forward.
Thought he did a pretty decent job of mimicking PSDT tonight.
That's high praise. He's coming along nicely. Need to see how he goes against a top 3 A team. He should get a chance soon against the Saffas.
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@Bones said in 2025 All Blacks v France series:
@brodean said in 2025 All Blacks v France series:
Vaa'i did well for his try. He's probably deceptively fast but he definitely runs like a lock and not a loose forward.
Thought he did a pretty decent job of mimicking PSDT tonight.
That's high praise. He's coming along nicely. Need to see how he goes against a top 3 A team. He should get a chance soon against the Saffas.
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Hoping it isn’t mass changes next week, as I’d like to see guys fill some roles…
- de Groot
- Taukei’aho
- Newell (Lomax)
- Vaa’i
- Holland
- Jacobson
- Kirifi
- Savea
- Roigard
- Love
- Ioane
- Tupaea
- Proctor
- Narawa
- Jordan
- McAllister
- Norris
- Tosi
- Tuipulotu
- Finau
- Hotham
- Tavatavanawai
- McKenzie
When bigger tests roll around, I still think Tuipulotu would be best used as your impact man - Scott Barrett will rise to the challenge. Finau gets one last chance, and possibly edging to that territory for Kirifi so I’d start him to get a proper read.
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PT runs a better lineout than Barrett and is a better lineout jumper.
PT better on the carry and Barrett better at the breakdown.
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Hoping it isn’t mass changes next week, as I’d like to see guys fill some roles…
- de Groot
- Taukei’aho
- Newell (Lomax)
- Vaa’i
- Holland
- Jacobson
- Kirifi
- Savea
- Roigard
- Love
- Ioane
- Tupaea
- Proctor
- Narawa
- Jordan
- McAllister
- Norris
- Tosi
- Tuipulotu
- Finau
- Hotham
- Tavatavanawai
- McKenzie
When bigger tests roll around, I still think Tuipulotu would be best used as your impact man - Scott Barrett will rise to the challenge. Finau gets one last chance, and possibly edging to that territory for Kirifi so I’d start him to get a proper read.
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@brodean hopefully another good run next week and good leadership from Ardie and the heat will be on Scott.
@taniwharugby said in 2025 All Blacks v France series:
@brodean hopefully another good run next week and good leadership from Ardie and the heat will be on Scott.
Who is more of a certain pick at the moment? I know who I favour.
I'm not a Crusader supporter but I'm not sure how SB is a better pick at Captain than Ardie apart from his history and clearly close relationship with the coaches. But that is a good reason. -
@frugby I think it would be pretty unfair to give Kirifi his one start amongst a fairly small back 5 overall. At the very least swap Finau with Jacobson, or just have the same 4/5/6 as this week.
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PT runs a better lineout than Barrett and is a better lineout jumper.
PT better on the carry and Barrett better at the breakdown.
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@Bones gut feeling is that Kirifi hasn’t taken his chance, and will be usurped by Lakai when he returns. Be good to see him given a proper go this week though.
@frugby said in 2025 All Blacks v France series:
@Bones gut feeling is that Kirifi hasn’t taken his chance, and will be usurped by Lakai when he returns. Be good to see him given a proper go this week though.
Yeah Kirifi seems to have the unwanted "busy but ineffective" Blackadder tag, unfortunately you can also add "small" to that.
Griping with the ref and not getting turnovers. Did he actually do anything of note ?
Would love him to prove me wrong next week.
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@Bones gut feeling is that Kirifi hasn’t taken his chance, and will be usurped by Lakai when he returns. Be good to see him given a proper go this week though.
@frugby said in 2025 All Blacks v France series:
@Bones gut feeling is that Kirifi hasn’t taken his chance, and will be usurped by Lakai when he returns. Be good to see him given a proper go this week though.
He took quite a long time to become a dominant force at SR level too. Unfortunately you don't get that opportunity in test rugby, especially at his age. I get the feeling he's doing his best to do the role given, but it probably doesn't suit him and he needs to just go out rip shit n bust.
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Vaa'i did well for his try. He's probably deceptively fast but he definitely runs like a lock and not a loose forward.
Him at 6 is working well for the ABs. He went a bit better this week. Maybe PT in at lock helped with that.
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@Duluth said in 2025 All Blacks v France series:
https://www.rugbypass.com/plus/why-new-zealand-learned-more-from-their-july-series-than-france/
What absolute nonsense
France did far better than any pundit predicted and will go forward with a huge playing base
