All Blacks C team...
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I'm bored, and on baby duty, so I'll accept the premise and name my team.
I'll do my best to name people fit and that I'm sure are available, except at loosehead, where I'd make the call to Wyatt to come out for one last hurrah:
1 Crockett
2 Makalio
3 To'omaga-Allen
4 Romano
5 Franklin
6 Ioane/Papali'i
7 Papali'i/Evans
8 Evans/Ioane
9 Weber
10 Hunt
11 Lam
12 Laumape (returns next week I believe - if not Thompson moves in and Seta or Proctor to 13)
13 Thompson
14 Alaimalo
15 Havili16 Aumua
17 Hodgman
18 Alaatoa
19 Allardice
20 Gibson (is he fit? He never is, if not then I'm actually not sure)
21 Hall
22 Black
23 Proctor/SetaI want to see Jordan play well at Super level before I get too excited, although I'm pretty sure he'll be ahead of Havili pretty quickly, and it's tempting to pick him there now. However, I thought of this team as what I'd pick from what is left over assuming we played SA or Oz next week - not with who the talents are running around and carving up Mitre 10 rugby.
I think this team would lose by a bit too, but it passed the time.
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Okay, let me explain further. I rate Gibson and Akira Ioane on par with Luke Whitelock. Gibson's misfortune is that 7 is a position of strength for New Zealand. I think he would walk into a number of other international teams.
I am not worried by Aumua's scrummaging. I am worried that he turned up to Hurricanes pre-season fat. Hopefully he's learned his lesson. The 2017 Under 20 World Final showed his potential.
Weber got more game time for Chiefs than TTT this year, but TTT suits the All Black game plan better and will be the stronger player in 12 months time.
I said nothing about Vince Aso as a midfield player. For me, at international level he'd be a wing who could cover Centre in the Richard Kahui mould. I'd pick Ben Lam, Vince Aso, Will Jordan and George Bridge on the wing ahead of NMS.
The general point I was trying to make is that I still expect a bit of movement in and out of the All Blacks squad in the next 12 months as some players' injury status and form changes.
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@sparky I love Gibson, but I believe Papali'i is a better 7 than him. It's not a knock on Gibson because he's very good, but Papali'i just plays at such a high level every game, whether he's at 7 or 6.
As a Blues/Auckland fan, it's not a problem for us, because we'll have both of them on the field with Gibson at 7 and Papali'i at 6.
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KiwiMurph said:
Chris B. said:
KiwiMurph said:
Yes it must be all that off the ball niggle that Akira has never been penalised once in his first class career for....
Give me a better explanation?
I think its down to his defence. L Whitelock is almost inverse to Akira as a player and they clearly prefer Luke - poor ball runner but can hit hard in defence. Akira is a decent defender cos he is quick and strong but he doesnt put big hits on in defence and I dont think he ever will tbh - its either something you have or you dont.
Be interesting to see how the Akira situation progresses.
Seems like everyone applauds the NDP in theory, but no-one wants to see it applied in practice.
In all honesty, I can't say I know anything about Akira's personality - but, there have been a few rumblings on various aspects at times and, as a player, I'm pretty mystified to see him mainly miss out.
There's only one other player who I reckon has fallen foul of the NDP and (not surprisingly @Nepia
) he was from Hawkes Bay. -
The NDP is about keeping toxic personalities away from the squad.
Yet they’ve made an effort to keep him with the squad (as an additional player) two years in a row when he has missed selection.The AB coaches have said they want to fix technical deficiencies (thanks Blues coaches!) That seems legit rather than inventing other reasons
