All Blacks 2025
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@KiwiMurph He's got a tough row to hoe.
I see him as a bit of a like-for-like with DMac, right now - likely to come on at fullback and cover first five. But, far less compelling as a first five.
So, realistically, he's got to push out DMac, Jordan or Beaudy - unless we try him on the wing, but I don't think he has the pace for that to be sustainble.
It's pretty clear that long-term, they want Jordan to play fullback - so I don't see shifting him to wing to accommodate Love as sustainable, either. I'd rather see Tangitau etc fast tracked in.
It's unfortunate for Ruben, but he's far from the first who has to bide his time. Sam Cane still got to 100 tests.
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@Chris-B with Narawa out this weekend there is a prime opportunity to play Jordan at 14 DMac 15 and Love bench.
@KiwiMurph And maybe they will. But, as above - it is a departure from the masterplan, which is Jordan at 15.
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@booboo said in All Blacks 2025:
@Dan54 he's in his mid 20s. He's mature enough to get over it. He's not Pat Howard.
Yep boo, but what about supporters? I suspect they are not as easy to get over things, especially if this or other forums are to be any example.
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@booboo said in All Blacks 2025:
@Dan54 he's in his mid 20s. He's mature enough to get over it. He's not Pat Howard.
Yep boo, but what about supporters? I suspect they are not as easy to get over things, especially if this or other forums are to be any example.
@Dan54 said in All Blacks 2025:
@booboo said in All Blacks 2025:
@Dan54 he's in his mid 20s. He's mature enough to get over it. He's not Pat Howard.
Yep boo, but what about supporters? I suspect they are not as easy to get over things, especially if this or other forums are to be any example.
I think you are selling us short
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@booboo said in All Blacks 2025:
@Dan54 he's in his mid 20s. He's mature enough to get over it. He's not Pat Howard.
Yep boo, but what about supporters? I suspect they are not as easy to get over things, especially if this or other forums are to be any example.
@Dan54 said in All Blacks 2025:
@booboo said in All Blacks 2025:
@Dan54 he's in his mid 20s. He's mature enough to get over it. He's not Pat Howard.
Yep boo, but what about supporters? I suspect they are not as easy to get over things, especially if this or other forums are to be any example.
Fuck those fluffybunnies.
Pick the team on what's best for the team, not what some petty provincially biased Internet warrior may say.
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@booboo said in All Blacks 2025:
@Dan54 he's in his mid 20s. He's mature enough to get over it. He's not Pat Howard.
Yep boo, but what about supporters? I suspect they are not as easy to get over things, especially if this or other forums are to be any example.
@Dan54 said in All Blacks 2025:
@booboo said in All Blacks 2025:
@Dan54 he's in his mid 20s. He's mature enough to get over it. He's not Pat Howard.
Yep boo, but what about supporters? I suspect they are not as easy to get over things, especially if this or other forums are to be any example.
You're advocating that the selectors give serious consideration to public opinion, and the trolls on online forums, when selecting the best team to win now and develop for the future?
Jeez, that doesn't say much for their confidence in themselves
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@Dan54 said in All Blacks 2025:
@booboo said in All Blacks 2025:
@Dan54 he's in his mid 20s. He's mature enough to get over it. He's not Pat Howard.
Yep boo, but what about supporters? I suspect they are not as easy to get over things, especially if this or other forums are to be any example.
I think you are selling us short
@canefan said in All Blacks 2025:
@Dan54 said in All Blacks 2025:
@booboo said in All Blacks 2025:
@Dan54 he's in his mid 20s. He's mature enough to get over it. He's not Pat Howard.
Yep boo, but what about supporters? I suspect they are not as easy to get over things, especially if this or other forums are to be any example.
I think you are selling us short
No just read forums a lot. And calm down fellas it was tongue in cheek .
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@Dan54 said in All Blacks 2025:
@booboo said in All Blacks 2025:
@Dan54 he's in his mid 20s. He's mature enough to get over it. He's not Pat Howard.
Yep boo, but what about supporters? I suspect they are not as easy to get over things, especially if this or other forums are to be any example.
You're advocating that the selectors give serious consideration to public opinion, and the trolls on online forums, when selecting the best team to win now and develop for the future?
Jeez, that doesn't say much for their confidence in themselves
@voodoo said in All Blacks 2025:
@Dan54 said in All Blacks 2025:
@booboo said in All Blacks 2025:
@Dan54 he's in his mid 20s. He's mature enough to get over it. He's not Pat Howard.
Yep boo, but what about supporters? I suspect they are not as easy to get over things, especially if this or other forums are to be any example.
You're advocating that the selectors give serious consideration to public opinion, and the trolls on online forums, when selecting the best team to win now and develop for the future?
Jeez, that doesn't say much for their confidence in themselves
No as I said it was tongue in cheek FFS,I apologise, I genuinely forget how serious some are over posts and opinions on here.
I don't think they should give any consideration to public opinion in all honesty, I don't think any of us know really enough that they should anyway. -
@Chris-B with Narawa out this weekend there is a prime opportunity to play Jordan at 14 DMac 15 and Love bench.
@KiwiMurph said in All Blacks 2025:
@Chris-B with Narawa out this weekend there is a prime opportunity to play Jordan at 14 DMac 15 and Love bench.
Yes.
I'm very much of the opinion that moving Jordan to 14 to accommodate Love on the bench is the right move.
Jordans single biggest attribute that he brings to the table is his try scoring and that is unaffected whether he plays 14 or 15. I personally don't see any decline in the play at fullback when DMac is there over Jordan so I think it's worth making that switch to be able to put Love in the 23.
Fwiw I think that Jordan is the best option at 14 anyway, so you have your strongest right winger on the wing and the balance of the backline just seems to work better when DMac is on imo. Theres just more of an attacking threat, more rugby IQ on the pitch......
When you have Sevu Reece at 14 he just does way too many erratic things and is wildly unpredictable.
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@Bones said in All Blacks 2025:
I'm sure someone mentioned moving goalposts.
I thought you had to be a hypocrite on the Fern?
@jimmyb said in All Blacks 2025:
@Bones said in All Blacks 2025:
I'm sure someone mentioned moving goalposts.
I thought you had to be a hypocrite on the Fern?
A hypocrite with data/stats is even betterā¦.
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@KiwiMurph said in All Blacks 2025:
@Chris-B with Narawa out this weekend there is a prime opportunity to play Jordan at 14 DMac 15 and Love bench.
Yes.
I'm very much of the opinion that moving Jordan to 14 to accommodate Love on the bench is the right move.
Jordans single biggest attribute that he brings to the table is his try scoring and that is unaffected whether he plays 14 or 15. I personally don't see any decline in the play at fullback when DMac is there over Jordan so I think it's worth making that switch to be able to put Love in the 23.
Fwiw I think that Jordan is the best option at 14 anyway, so you have your strongest right winger on the wing and the balance of the backline just seems to work better when DMac is on imo. Theres just more of an attacking threat, more rugby IQ on the pitch......
When you have Sevu Reece at 14 he just does way too many erratic things and is wildly unpredictable.
@nonpartizan said in All Blacks 2025:
When you have Sevu Reece at 14 he just does way too many erratic things and is wildly unpredictable.
I donāt think thatās true. He has a high work rate and makes few errors with ball in hand and has been one of our better support players. For me itās the high ball work that has been exposed and going into a Springbok series with their high ratio of kick to pass, they went for a better exponent, and rightly so.
Also, Jordan is now better at fullback. A bit like how Ben Smith evolved into a better player at fullback because of the point of attack etc, even though he started on the RW and could still fill a role but with less impact.
Iād rather they did something else to keep Jordan at fullback.
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@nonpartizan said in All Blacks 2025:
When you have Sevu Reece at 14 he just does way too many erratic things and is wildly unpredictable.
I donāt think thatās true. He has a high work rate and makes few errors with ball in hand and has been one of our better support players. For me itās the high ball work that has been exposed and going into a Springbok series with their high ratio of kick to pass, they went for a better exponent, and rightly so.
Also, Jordan is now better at fullback. A bit like how Ben Smith evolved into a better player at fullback because of the point of attack etc, even though he started on the RW and could still fill a role but with less impact.
Iād rather they did something else to keep Jordan at fullback.
@ACT-Crusader said in All Blacks 2025:
I donāt think thatās true. He has a high work rate and makes few errors with ball in hand and has been one of our better support players. For me itās the high ball work that has been exposed and going into a Springbok series with their high ratio of kick to pass, they went for a better exponent, and rightly so
Reece is phenomenal at Super. But his work in Tests isn't great. No questioning enthusiasm or commitment, but he's the Christie of wingers: trying hard, but not big enough, skilled enough or fast enough to consistently hit the peaks. Also has brain farts on a regular basis.
I've been surprised the coaches kept picking him over Narawa (and others).
Edit: few errors = regular yellow cards for dumb stuff (tackles, slapping the ball down, etc).
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@ACT-Crusader said in All Blacks 2025:
I donāt think thatās true. He has a high work rate and makes few errors with ball in hand and has been one of our better support players. For me itās the high ball work that has been exposed and going into a Springbok series with their high ratio of kick to pass, they went for a better exponent, and rightly so
Reece is phenomenal at Super. But his work in Tests isn't great. No questioning enthusiasm or commitment, but he's the Christie of wingers: trying hard, but not big enough, skilled enough or fast enough to consistently hit the peaks. Also has brain farts on a regular basis.
I've been surprised the coaches kept picking him over Narawa (and others).
Edit: few errors = regular yellow cards for dumb stuff (tackles, slapping the ball down, etc).
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@nzzp ball in handā¦..
He has performed at test level but like some other players that we dare not say their name, have a couple of lesser games and the generalisations get thrown out and it sets in.
@ACT-Crusader agree to disagree on this one. You'll struggle to convince me that he's got a strong track record in Tests.
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I'm with @nzzp on this. He is visible in tests largely doing non-winger things, and not that well - getting to a ruck and giving it a shove, attempting a pick-and-go for example. I haven't seen him do anything particularly useful at test level for a long time - not even defensively, and certainly not on attack.
Rieko at least adds some starch to the things he does - carries hard in limited space and is a great defender.
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Keeping Jordan at fullback has been difficult this season with wings getting injured just minutes after kickoff. Narawa definitely deserved his chance and should have been starting ahead of Reece much earlier. Thatās a very frustrating injury given they finally may have seen the light. Hopefully they donāt just revert to Reece. Iād prefer just about anything else.
emoji to convey that you were having a larf....? 
