All Blacks 2025
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@hikastags said in All Blacks 2025:
Doubt Rassie Erasmus is wasting his time doing falling offload drills.
Really? That sounds like a very Rassie thing to do.
I'm told, (repeatedly), that he's quite an innovator.
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@Snowy said in All Blacks 2025:
@hikastags said in All Blacks 2025:
Doubt Rassie Erasmus is wasting his time doing falling offload drills.
Really? That sounds like a very Rassie thing to do.
I'm told, (repeatedly), that he's quite an innovator.
Considering Rassie plays high percentage rugby and to SA's strengths... i'm not so sure.
We've seen first-hand how shitty, low percentage offloads can pan out.
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@hikastags said in All Blacks 2025:
Considering Rassie plays high percentage rugby and to SA's strengths... i'm not so sure.
He obviously considers the lineout a strength, given that they can do them all over the field. Not sure about high percentage, but it probably is when they are the only ones in it.
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@hikastags said in All Blacks 2025:
@Dan54 said in All Blacks 2025:
@hikastags said in All Blacks 2025:
Here’s a link to some footage of the ABs training in England this week…
The team is practicing “falling offloads” for fucks sake.
Never mind high balls, ruck work, etc. right?
Well would see nothing wrong with practiicing offloads etc, unless you saw whole training session, I think perhaps it a stretch to even think nothing else was trained.
I mean even when I played (and coached etc) we never just trained one thing at any training .I mean, no shit.
But working on falling offloads considering the glaring flaws we have as a team, seems and looks stupid.
Doubt Rassie Erasmus is wasting his time doing falling offload drills.
Ok so you seriously don't think they should practice falling offloads?
I would suggest they should if they want to play an up tempo game. I would actually hope they practice most facets of the game. High balls, tackling ,passing, ruck speed, mauling etc.
But perhaps just we see things differently , I think you should go for all skills at test level. -
@Dan54 said in All Blacks 2025:
@hikastags said in All Blacks 2025:
@Dan54 said in All Blacks 2025:
@hikastags said in All Blacks 2025:
Here’s a link to some footage of the ABs training in England this week…
The team is practicing “falling offloads” for fucks sake.
Never mind high balls, ruck work, etc. right?
Well would see nothing wrong with practiicing offloads etc, unless you saw whole training session, I think perhaps it a stretch to even think nothing else was trained.
I mean even when I played (and coached etc) we never just trained one thing at any training .I mean, no shit.
But working on falling offloads considering the glaring flaws we have as a team, seems and looks stupid.
Doubt Rassie Erasmus is wasting his time doing falling offload drills.
Ok so you seriously don't think they should practice falling offloads?
I would suggest they should if they want to play an up tempo game. I would actually hope they practice most facets of the game. High balls, tackling ,passing, ruck speed, mauling etc.
But perhaps just we see things differently , I think you should go for all skills at test level.Jonah was great at standing offloads when guys did enough to stop him while not bringing him to ground. Those were always great attacking moves.
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@hikastags said in All Blacks 2025:
@Dan54 said in All Blacks 2025:
@hikastags said in All Blacks 2025:
Here’s a link to some footage of the ABs training in England this week…
The team is practicing “falling offloads” for fucks sake.
Never mind high balls, ruck work, etc. right?
Well would see nothing wrong with practiicing offloads etc, unless you saw whole training session, I think perhaps it a stretch to even think nothing else was trained.
I mean even when I played (and coached etc) we never just trained one thing at any training .I mean, no shit.
But working on falling offloads considering the glaring flaws we have as a team, seems and looks stupid.
Doubt Rassie Erasmus is wasting his time doing falling offload drills.
No falling offloads but the practicing of the midfield lineouts has worked wonders.
Did someone say look stupid…….
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@canefan said in All Blacks 2025:
Jacobsen should take a contract in Japan while he still can. Far too many head knocks for his own good, and unable to be trusted to stay fit for the ABs
Lucky that the chiefs signed a great new young 7, given this obvious risk.
Wait.
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@gt12 said in All Blacks 2025:
@canefan said in All Blacks 2025:
Jacobsen should take a contract in Japan while he still can. Far too many head knocks for his own good, and unable to be trusted to stay fit for the ABs
Lucky that the chiefs signed a great new young 7, given this obvious risk.
Wait.
Wait, did they just let one go?!
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@canefan said in All Blacks 2025:
@gt12 said in All Blacks 2025:
@canefan said in All Blacks 2025:
Jacobsen should take a contract in Japan while he still can. Far too many head knocks for his own good, and unable to be trusted to stay fit for the ABs
Lucky that the chiefs signed a great new young 7, given this obvious risk.
Wait.
Wait, did they just let one go?!
O Mathis who signed with the Crusaders on a multi year deal I believe is the reference here
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@KiwiMurph said in All Blacks 2025:
@canefan said in All Blacks 2025:
@gt12 said in All Blacks 2025:
@canefan said in All Blacks 2025:
Jacobsen should take a contract in Japan while he still can. Far too many head knocks for his own good, and unable to be trusted to stay fit for the ABs
Lucky that the chiefs signed a great new young 7, given this obvious risk.
Wait.
Wait, did they just let one go?!
O Mathis who signed with the Crusaders on a multi year deal I believe is the reference here
Ugh
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Ok so you seriously don't think they should practice falling offloads?
I would suggest they should if they want to play an up tempo game. I would actually hope they practice most facets of the game. High balls, tackling ,passing, ruck speed, mauling etc.
But perhaps just we see things differently , I think you should go for all skills at test level.Fair enough. Personally I would rather they spent more time practicing the above in bold and other core roles.
Falling offloads are a low percentage play. Most of our players are already good at offloading anyway.
I don't really want to see Du'Plessis Kirifi throwing these offloads in a test match like in the video.
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@hikastags said in All Blacks 2025:
Ok so you seriously don't think they should practice falling offloads?
I would suggest they should if they want to play an up tempo game. I would actually hope they practice most facets of the game. High balls, tackling ,passing, ruck speed, mauling etc.
But perhaps just we see things differently , I think you should go for all skills at test level.Fair enough. Personally I would rather they spent more time practicing the above in bold and other core roles.
Falling offloads are a low percentage play. Most of our players are already good at offloading anyway.
I don't really want to see Du'Plessis Kirifi throwing these offloads in a test match like in the video.
It's pretty contrived. Falling over with control and no pressure isn't going to happen in a game.
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@brodean said in All Blacks 2025:
@hikastags said in All Blacks 2025:
Ok so you seriously don't think they should practice falling offloads?
I would suggest they should if they want to play an up tempo game. I would actually hope they practice most facets of the game. High balls, tackling ,passing, ruck speed, mauling etc.
But perhaps just we see things differently , I think you should go for all skills at test level.Fair enough. Personally I would rather they spent more time practicing the above in bold and other core roles.
Falling offloads are a low percentage play. Most of our players are already good at offloading anyway.
I don't really want to see Du'Plessis Kirifi throwing these offloads in a test match like in the video.
It's pretty contrived. Falling over with control and no pressure isn't going to happen in a game.
Especially if you don't practice it.
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Given some of our plays from the past 5 or 6 years, you wonder what they practice

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And just to advocate for the devil even more. One of the most commented on, frustrating things from the past few years is when we've very rarely seen the ABs absolutely dominate with their "up the middle", fast paced game played around the breakdown with offloads and quick ball, bodies in motion.
When it's been pulled out it's been devastating for opposition and it's extremely rarely used - I'm definitely not against seeing more of it.
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@Bones said in All Blacks 2025:
And just to advocate for the devil even more. One of the most commented on, frustrating things from the past few years is when we've very rarely seen the ABs absolutely dominate with their "up the middle", fast paced game played around the breakdown with offloads and quick ball, bodies in motion.
When it's been pulled out it's been devastating for opposition and it's extremely rarely used - I'm definitely not against seeing more of it.
Never understood why teams once they get momentum and a 1-2 phases of go forward decide to spin it wide, often with miss passes in midfield
The backs are lined up FFS
Far more productive to keep it straight, narrow and fast with quick drives, drops, and pick & gos
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On the high balls, my issue isn't so much with our ability to field opposition kicks, it's more about our ability to disrupt when chasing our own high balls. Jordie would obviously make a difference at the back defensively as he is world class under the high ball, but the way it's currently refereed it's not really a fair contest. The defender HAS to catch the high ball, whereas the chasers just have to get up and try it slap it back which is much easier to do. What frustrates me is we don't seem to exploit this the way other teams do. Every high ball we put up should have one player going up and disrupting, and 2 - 3 players waiting to pounce on the ball.
I do wonder if WR could look at implementing a law that states the chasing players has to actually make a genuine effort to catch the ball rather than just slapping it back, similar to the intercept where if it's not a genuine attempt to catch the ball, the knock on becomes a penalty. It does become a bit subjective, but the way teams just put it up and try and disrupt these days doesn't make for great viewing.
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Don't the ABs have an even higher win rate when George Bridge was playing?

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@No-Quarter I have a great solution that would get rid of contested kicking: You kick it and contest, the defending team can smash you in the air.
That would see a change in tactics.
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@Victor-Meldrew said in All Blacks 2025:
Don't the ABs have an even higher win rate when George Bridge was playing?

He scored more tries against SA than Jonah ever did too