All Blacks v France Test 3
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Happy to see Frizell there - i'd rather see someone who has a really high ceiling be given a crack rather than the underwhelming options that have been seen previously (Squire, Fifita).
Goodhue deserves his opportunity - midfield has been mixed so far and on paper he and SBW look a good combo. Be interesting how they gel with DMac at 10.
I hope Mo'unga gets plenty of minutes. He and Jordie could really cause havoc off the pine.
Interesting that Akira has been training with the ABs pretty much non stop since the June series last year and has yet to be given a test cap. Instead the barnstorming Luke Whitelock gets another test....
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Well at least the selections make the dead rubber interesting.
In that video Hansen confirms Hemopo is more a 6 than lock at test level. He will cover lock but ideally come on at 6 with Frizzell moving to 8 or straight swap.
So locks are going 80 this week and Akira is Waaaayyy down the list. -
@kiwimurph Hansen said when the squad was announced last month that Akira would not be selected to play unless there were injuries. Whitelock isn't injured.
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Interesting TAB odds for this week - French wound in from $10 to $7.50. AB's still only $1.07.
To me, this looks like quite a beatable AB team - certainly one that the wheels could come off, with loads of inexperience - and particularly on the bench. A big ask if we need the cavalry to come on - the ghost of General Custer might be sitting alongside them!
On the other hand - there are some exciting prospects - particularly interested to see how Frizell and Goodhue get on. I'm expecting Goodhue to go well. Shannon could be good or very bad.
Interesting to hear Hansen talking about possibly shifting Frizell to No. 8. I don't recall him ever playing there for the Mako - it's a position that's been occupied by Squire, Samu and Taufua over most of the past few seasons. Be doubtful that he's played there for the Highlanders either given their options.
"She's pretty big job, Steve"!
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worst team since the cantablacks
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@kiwimurph said in All Blacks v France Test 3:
@bovidae ok but Squire, Taufua and Fifita are injured...
Which confirms that they see Akira as a no.8 and he is behind Whitelock and Frizell in their eyes.
I'm not saying I agree with them.
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@mariner4life fortunately (well right now anyway) the French team aint that shit hot either....
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@bovidae said in All Blacks v France Test 3:
@kiwimurph said in All Blacks v France Test 3:
@bovidae ok but Squire, Taufua and Fifita are injured...
Which confirms that they see Akira as a no.8 and he is behind Whitelock and Frizell in their eyes.
I don't think I'd conclude that. As above, I wouldn't be surprised if Frizell has never played a minute of first class rugby at No. 8.
I think Hemepo is ahead of Akira mainly because he can cover lock (probably more effectively than Fifita was) - and probably partially because they are somewhat set against playing Akira in this series.
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@chris-b said in All Blacks v France Test 3:
@bovidae said in All Blacks v France Test 3:
@kiwimurph said in All Blacks v France Test 3:
@bovidae ok but Squire, Taufua and Fifita are injured...
Which confirms that they see Akira as a no.8 and he is behind Whitelock and Frizell in their eyes.
I don't think I'd conclude that. As above, I wouldn't be surprised if Frizell has never played a minute of first class rugby at No. 8.
The discussion is the continued selection of Whitelock ahead of Ioane (at no.8) not whether Akira provides the best cover from the bench (which he doesn't). Hemopo has also been selected ahead of Franklin as he covers 6.
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@kiwimurph said in All Blacks v France Test 3:
Happy to see Frizell there - i'd rather see someone who has a really high ceiling be given a crack rather than the underwhelming options that have been seen previously (Squire, Fifita).
How do you know he has a high ceiling? Hopefully he does, but nothing in his rugby so far suggests that - it's telling that he plays for Ta$man and @Chris-B doesn't even fluff him.
I didn't even know that Hemopo had been brought into the squad until yesterday. The selectors are loving on the Highlanders at the moment ... but at least Hemopo plays and is a Kiwi.
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@nepia said in All Blacks v France Test 3:
@kiwimurph said in All Blacks v France Test 3:
Happy to see Frizell there - i'd rather see someone who has a really high ceiling be given a crack rather than the underwhelming options that have been seen previously (Squire, Fifita).
How do you know he has a high ceiling? Hopefully he does, but nothing in his rugby so far suggests that - it's telling that he plays for Ta$man and @Chris-B doesn't even fluff him.
I didn't even know that Hemopo had been brought into the squad until yesterday. The selectors are loving on the Highlanders at the moment ... but at least Hemopo plays and is a Kiwi.
I disagree. He looked a special athlete vs the Blues when he scored a hat-trick (yes yes it's only the Blues and i'm taking that into consideration).
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@kiwimurph said in All Blacks v France Test 3:
@nepia said in All Blacks v France Test 3:
@kiwimurph said in All Blacks v France Test 3:
Happy to see Frizell there - i'd rather see someone who has a really high ceiling be given a crack rather than the underwhelming options that have been seen previously (Squire, Fifita).
How do you know he has a high ceiling? Hopefully he does, but nothing in his rugby so far suggests that - it's telling that he plays for Ta$man and @Chris-B doesn't even fluff him.
I didn't even know that Hemopo had been brought into the squad until yesterday. The selectors are loving on the Highlanders at the moment ... but at least Hemopo plays and is a Kiwi.
I disagree. He looked a special athlete vs the Blues when he scored a hat-trick (yes yes it's only the Blues and i'm taking that into consideration).
remember when Fifita scored that try against Aregentina, and people were falling over themselves to suck him off? Look how that turned out.
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@kiwimurph said in All Blacks v France Test 3:
@nepia said in All Blacks v France Test 3:
@kiwimurph said in All Blacks v France Test 3:
Happy to see Frizell there - i'd rather see someone who has a really high ceiling be given a crack rather than the underwhelming options that have been seen previously (Squire, Fifita).
How do you know he has a high ceiling? Hopefully he does, but nothing in his rugby so far suggests that - it's telling that he plays for Ta$man and @Chris-B doesn't even fluff him.
I didn't even know that Hemopo had been brought into the squad until yesterday. The selectors are loving on the Highlanders at the moment ... but at least Hemopo plays and is a Kiwi.
I disagree. He looked a special athlete vs the Blues when he scored a hat-trick (yes yes it's only the Blues and i'm taking that into consideration).
OUCH!
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Interesting to hear Hansen talking about possibly shifting Frizell to No. 8. I don't recall him ever playing there for the Mako - it's a position that's been occupied by Squire, Samu and Taufua over most of the past few seasons. Be doubtful that he's played there for the Highlanders either given their options.
"She's pretty big job, Steve"!
Yeah, but he's a "special athlete".
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I've liked what I've seen of Frizzel. Took notice last year in a few games for Ta$man in NPC and then in particular for Highlanders v Blues.
Fifta is an amazing athlete. But he's a good-times player.
Frizzell is a grunter.
So they're both projects IMO. But bringing them in different directions. Frizzell up to being a test level 6 rather than NPC Lock/6, Fifta bringing 'down' to be a tighter and gruntier test level 6/8.Still think it's a huge surprise that Frizzell got picked this year already after such a small body of work, but I agree there's a potential test 6 in there. But it's a risk.
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@mariner4life said in All Blacks v France Test 3:
@kiwimurph said in All Blacks v France Test 3:
@nepia said in All Blacks v France Test 3:
@kiwimurph said in All Blacks v France Test 3:
Happy to see Frizell there - i'd rather see someone who has a really high ceiling be given a crack rather than the underwhelming options that have been seen previously (Squire, Fifita).
How do you know he has a high ceiling? Hopefully he does, but nothing in his rugby so far suggests that - it's telling that he plays for Ta$man and @Chris-B doesn't even fluff him.
I didn't even know that Hemopo had been brought into the squad until yesterday. The selectors are loving on the Highlanders at the moment ... but at least Hemopo plays and is a Kiwi.
I disagree. He looked a special athlete vs the Blues when he scored a hat-trick (yes yes it's only the Blues and i'm taking that into consideration).
remember when Fifita scored that try against Aregentina, and people were falling over themselves to suck him off? Look how that turned out.
Exactly. Which is why I'm happy they are giving Frizell a chance.
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@kiwimurph said in All Blacks v France Test 3:
@nepia said in All Blacks v France Test 3:
@kiwimurph said in All Blacks v France Test 3:
Happy to see Frizell there - i'd rather see someone who has a really high ceiling be given a crack rather than the underwhelming options that have been seen previously (Squire, Fifita).
How do you know he has a high ceiling? Hopefully he does, but nothing in his rugby so far suggests that - it's telling that he plays for Ta$man and @Chris-B doesn't even fluff him.
I didn't even know that Hemopo had been brought into the squad until yesterday. The selectors are loving on the Highlanders at the moment ... but at least Hemopo plays and is a Kiwi.
I disagree. He looked a special athlete vs the Blues when he scored a hat-trick (yes yes it's only the Blues and i'm taking that into consideration).
This is exactly why I'm not a fan of this move - you're rating him on one game. What did he do in all the other games he played this year, and by games I mean short cameos.
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@nepia said in All Blacks v France Test 3:
@kiwimurph said in All Blacks v France Test 3:
Happy to see Frizell there - i'd rather see someone who has a really high ceiling be given a crack rather than the underwhelming options that have been seen previously (Squire, Fifita).
- it's telling that he plays for Ta$man and @Chris-B doesn't even fluff him.
That's not telling.
You'll struggle to find any fluffing of Ta$man players for the ABs by me.
Perry, Havili, Squire, Frizell - maybe a bit for Taufua, but I've a feeling he was planning to play in Japan rather than for the Mako this year.
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If the French somehow manage to slow this down, and their clever/experienced/tested combo midfield manage to pluck our raw pairing, they could win this. Esp if DMac starts trying to fix problems by crazy stuff. But if our boys get on a roll it'll be another shellacking - basically I have no idea what's going to happen. Nice to feel a little nervous ahead of this test, unlike the last two
