England Vs All Blacks
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I doubt we'll see many changes. Other than a couple of players out with and back from injury, the only points of interest will be whether or not Carter is punished for his foot trip (I doubt he will be) and if they go back to a bigger blindside and confirm they were only prepared to play the weekend's loose forward combo against that particular opposition.
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@ShaquilleOatmeal said in England Vs All Blacks:
I doubt we'll see many changes. Other than a couple of players out with and back from injury, the only points of interest will be whether or not Carter is punished for his foot trip (I doubt he will be) and if they go back to a bigger blindside and confirm they were only prepared to play the weekend's loose forward combo against that particular opposition.
I suspect there is less chance to punish Carter given Clarke is out.
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UK bookies currently make England the slight favourites for this one. A rare test where the ABs go into the contest as underdogs.
https://www.oddschecker.com/rugby-union/internationals/england-v-new-zealand/winner
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@jimmyb said in England Vs All Blacks:
Is there anyone in Nz rugby who can catch a high ? Who ever it is, they can’t start
60% of restarts won. That’s fucking awful
3 out of 5. Lakai dropped one, can’t recall who dropped the other. Lord?
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Last year at Twickers we scraped by with Sititi/ Cane/ Savea and Finau on the bench.
Ardie is a guaranteed starter. So who plays at 6 and 8.
I would actually select Finau and tell him to rip in. Does his form warrant it? Probably not. Do we need some size at 6? Yep. Why not Parker? I think for a player in his first season he’s done some good things but still has areas of improvement and very much a work in progress.
I’d keep Lakai at 8 and Sititi in the bench impact/cover role.
Same tight 5 starters and bench.
I think they should keep the same midfield for this one. Ioane to left wing.
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The replacement for Clarke will tell us the pecking order for centre and left wing. If they stick with the same midfield then Ioane over Reece is the better option in the no.11 jersey. But if LF is moved to be the power winger then their choice at centre becomes much more interesting.
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@Bovidae from a pragmatic perspective they’d have to go with the starting midfield again. It’s not like we have many combinations to call upon with our number 1 2nd 5 out.
A case of they’ll be better for the run!
Ioane was our left wing to start the season when Clark was out of the team, go back to the well I say. A bit like my call to bring Finau back.
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@ACT-Crusader said in England Vs All Blacks:
Biggest match of the tour. I think one Beauden John Barrett is due…..
The last 10 tests
2024 - W by 2 points (A)
2024 - W by 7 points (H)
2024 - W by 1 point (H)
2022 - Draw (A)
2019 - L by 12 points (RWC)
2018 - W by 1 point (A)
2014 - W by 3 points (A)
2014 - W by 23 points (H)
2014 - W by 1 point (H)
2014 - W by 5 points (H)I think we used to lose to England once a decade with regularity - I'm pretty sure we lost in 1983, 1993, 2003 and December 2012. Not sure we lost in between.
Losing in 2019 is an abomination - but, hopefully we can restore the pattern by not losing to them this decade.
Only real question mark for me is what they do at left wing and centre. And the bench loose forward. Most likely IMO....
De Groot, Taylor, Newell, Holland, Barrett (if fit), Sititi, Savea, Lakai, Roigard, Beauden, Fainga'anuku, Tupaea, Proctor, Carter, Jordan
Williams, Samisoni, Tosi, Lord, probably Kirifi, but maybe Parker, Ratima, Dmac, Ioane
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1973, 1983, 1993, 2002, 2003, 2012 and 2019 in more recent history. Plus of course Prince Obolenski's match in 1936 - see, we were poaching even back then.
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Kirifi is not big enough for a game like this. Parker is too slow against the likes of Earl, Pepper and Pollock. Finau's workrate is not good enough and tends to disappear completely at times. I would bring someone from the ABs XV who has size, genuine speed and good workrate (Papali'i, Flanders or Howden).
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@cgrant said in England Vs All Blacks:
Kirifi is not big enough for a game like this. Parker is too slow against the likes of Earl, Pepper and Pollock. Finau's workrate is not good enough and tends to disappear completely at times. I would bring someone from the ABs XV who has size, genuine speed and good workrate (Papali'i, Flanders or Howden).
All three are smaller than Savea, Lakai and Sititi...
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Where are all the doom mongers pre Scotland that insisted the heights of Savea, Lakai and Sititi was a major issue. The issues we had were all about lack of composure, handling errors and loss of focus.
Savea, Lakai and Sititi... will be fine against England. All three have X factor and we saw that on Saturday. -
We need to focus on box kick defence.
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If you think about some of the props, locks and loosies we haven't had over the past 5 years, at the moment everyday is a good day.
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genuinely don't know where England stand at the moment, we have some v strong positions and some decidedly average ones, our style of play definitely isn't established and picking horses for courses and then playing the same way anyway seems like a fools exercise.
I worry about the lack of grunt in our second row without George Martin around, I worry about our lack of a proper full back, I worry about the inconsistency of our front row selections, I think we have a back row full of talent, none of whom are a natural 8.
If i were to do the same with the All Blacks, I suspect I'd find similar lack of certainty about the best options and best style of play. Who knows what might happen on Saturday, could be one big cripple fight or a game of rugby may break out.
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I'd roll out the same team as last week. Have to replace Clarke with RI
I think this game is too important to be making any changes.
I would definitely replace Kirifi with Parker or Finau, we have coverage at 7 already, we need coverage for 6.
Leave 12 and 13 alone, we finally have some punch and offloading, it is worth the defensive risk. I don't think they are that bad defensively anyway.
I see the bookies have England slight favourites, which is a fair call. -
Chessum and Freeman a doubt for Saturday. Foot injury and hamstring respectively. Both are pretty much nailed on starters so quite a loss, although I would counter that with the fact that Alex Coles really stepped up last week and we should have Roebuck back as well.
Full back is the one area where I feel Borthwick has yet to make up his mind. M Smith will be chasing and probably dropping high balls all over the place as NZ will target him. Steward is unlikely to have another howler under the high ball as he did v Aus, but is ponderous in defence and not a lot quicker in attack. I'm guessing Borthwick will roll the dice and play Daly there.
