All Blacks v France Test 3
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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$man players for the ABs by me.
Perry, Havili, Squire, Frizell - maybe a bit for Taufua, but I've a feeling he was planning to play in Japan rather than for the Mako this year.
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If the French somehow manage to slow this down, and their clever/experienced/tested combo midfield manage to pluck our raw pairing, they could win this. Esp if DMac starts trying to fix problems by crazy stuff. But if our boys get on a roll it'll be another shellacking - basically I have no idea what's going to happen. Nice to feel a little nervous ahead of this test, unlike the last two
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@mariner4life said in All Blacks v France Test 3:
@kiwimurph said in All Blacks v France Test 3:
@nepia said in All Blacks v France Test 3:
@kiwimurph said in All Blacks v France Test 3:
Happy to see Frizell there - i'd rather see someone who has a really high ceiling be given a crack rather than the underwhelming options that have been seen previously (Squire, Fifita).
How do you know he has a high ceiling? Hopefully he does, but nothing in his rugby so far suggests that - it's telling that he plays for Ta$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.
Turns out we already had a bunch of wingers.
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@bovidae said in All Blacks v France Test 3:
@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.
I don't see why you would conclude that this confirms that they see Akira as an 8 and especially that they see Frizell ahead of him there?
Or do you mean Frizell is ahead of him at 6? That's not very surprising, since he was selected in the full squad ahead of Akira.
I reckon they see capability in all of Whitelock, Squire, Taufua and Akira to play both 6 and 8 - but they probably prefer less experienced guys at 6 and more experienced guys at 8. If these were our four options I reckon Whitelock and Taufua would be the 8s at present.
I'm pretty surprised that Hansen is mentioning the prospect of Frizell shifting to 8.
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@chris-b At this stage I wouldn't be surprised if Hansen started mentioning Frizell at 10 - he's the golden child, young Toeava x 1000.
@machpants said in All Blacks v France Test 3:
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
DMac will only start doing crazy stuff if our pack puts in a powder puff performance like last week. Hopefully they all go hard as this is the big chance for some of them to show their stuff.
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@jaycee said in All Blacks v France Test 3:
Joe Moody (33)
Codie Taylor (31)
Owen Franks (97)
Samuel Whitelock (98) - captain
Scott Barrett (18)
Shannon Frizell
Ardie Savea (24)
Luke Whitelock (4)
Aaron Smith (73)
Damian McKenzie (14)
Rieko Ioane (15)
Sonny Bill Williams (46)
Jack Goodhue
Waisake Naholo (18)
Ben Smith (65)Hmm. Anyone of those in the backrow you could probably have confidence in if surrounded by experience/ first choice players. As a collective, if the French aren't dreaming of mistresses, wine and sunshine, we could be in for a torrid time of it.
Which leads us to the elephant in the room; five-eighth. I get the felling SBW and Goodhue will have to do a lot of straight running.
This could also be the Test for BFA to show he still has what it takes at this level after looking decidedly outclassed on the wing.
If the French don't put int he same effort as last week, under a dry roof, this could become a rout, which will mask a lot of problems evident only a week ago.
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hopefully Dmac has been watching some re-runs of when SBW was outside Cruden for the Chiefs.
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@nepia 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).
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.
You asked about his high ceiling and said nothing in his rugby suggests that. I pointed to a game in which his high ceiling was apparent. My point above is that I'm happy to see Frizell picked as Squire and Fifita have been given multiple chances and have mostly underwhelmed. I'm happy for some new blood to be given a go.
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So, my utterly pessimistic thoughts
Tight 5 i guess we are locked in to. All we can hope is that they actually front up this week, and S Barrett is as good as some think, and that the props aren't done.
Worst loose forward trio in living memory. Oh for the heady days of Sam Broomhall.
DMac at 10 will be, interesting to say the least. With SBW outside him he needs to play straighter than he usually does.
Midfield fucks me off. ALB deserves to play. SBW has barely played in a year, the other guy is a rookie. Boom or bust. And combinationless from 9-13.
Outside backs are okay i guess.
Bench? Sheeeet. Props have proven themselves. A new hooker was a necessity. I love Hemopo, but as a test player? Fuck TJ. Pimply Giraffe covering 12? Todd, you're cool though, should be starting. -
@nepia said in All Blacks v France Test 3:
@chris-b At this stage I wouldn't be surprised if Hansen started mentioning Frizell at 10 - he's the golden child, young Toeava x 1000.
That might be a slight exaggeration.
I don't think there would have been peep out of anyone if Akira was injured and Frizell had been picked - we would have been down to a choice of Shannon or Bedwell-Curtis (unless we pointlessly wound the clock back to Kaino or Messam).
I think it's not so much Shannon being a favourite son (though Hansen's even pretty much admitting he's a project - saying this game is a bit earlier than they'd have liked), just that Akira patently isn't!
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@chris-b Of course I'd still be peeping - he's not a Kiwi and he barely plays, that doesn't change if Akira doesn't exist.
@KiwiMurph Fair enough that you're happy to see him picked, I personally disagree that a one off highlight reel match suggests a high ceiling (but as I said earlier in thread I hope he lives up to Hansen's hype for the ABs sake), I'd prefer to see regular performances that show it but he just hasn't had the game time yet. I also don't think that Squire has been that bad.
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@mariner4life Struggling to think of a weaker loose forward trio on paper.
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Thomson, S Waldrom, Messam. Only Munster and we probably would have lost without the bench.
Collins, Masoe, Tuiali'i - the year we played Argentina and Ireland at the same time.
Home
Access comprehensive player and match statistics for the All Blacks and Black Ferns. Explore career stats, player profiles, and historical data from New Zealand's iconic rugby teams.
Gibbes, Holah, Rush - vs South Africa - we got dicked!
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Access comprehensive player and match statistics for the All Blacks and Black Ferns. Explore career stats, player profiles, and historical data from New Zealand's iconic rugby teams.
Randell, Holah, and the famous Broomhall - that's not too bad, except Taine had probably given up by this stage.
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Access comprehensive player and match statistics for the All Blacks and Black Ferns. Explore career stats, player profiles, and historical data from New Zealand's iconic rugby teams.
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@chris-b said in All Blacks v France Test 3:
@mariner4life Struggling to think of a weaker loose forward trio on paper.
Home
Access comprehensive player and match statistics for the All Blacks and Black Ferns. Explore career stats, player profiles, and historical data from New Zealand's iconic rugby teams.
Thomson, S Waldrom, Messam. Only Munster and we probably would have lost without the bench.
Collins, Masoe, Tuiali'i - the year we played Argentina and Ireland at the same time.
Home
Access comprehensive player and match statistics for the All Blacks and Black Ferns. Explore career stats, player profiles, and historical data from New Zealand's iconic rugby teams.
Gibbes, Holah, Rush - vs South Africa - we got dicked!
Home
Access comprehensive player and match statistics for the All Blacks and Black Ferns. Explore career stats, player profiles, and historical data from New Zealand's iconic rugby teams.
Randell, Holah, and the famous Broomhall - that's not too bad, except Taine had probably given up by this stage.
Home
Access comprehensive player and match statistics for the All Blacks and Black Ferns. Explore career stats, player profiles, and historical data from New Zealand's iconic rugby teams.
i would take every single one of those trios over what we have this saturday.
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2008: Braid, Kaino, Rodders.
Braid not good enough, Rodders past it, Kaino not yet beast most and replaced by epicly bad Lauaki.
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isn't it great being an AB fan!
