All Blacks v Tonga

Tim

NZ TAB has the spread at 79.5 points. If the weather's good they should cover that easily.

gt12

@crucial

Tuinukuafe
Coles
Taavao
Barrett
Whitelock
Ioane
Papalii
Jacobsen
Weber
Mounga
Bridge
Tupaea
Ioane
Jordan
Mackenzie

A lot of fucking ordinary in that team

African Monkey

@gt12 Yeah there is. I guess we'll see a lot of it over the next 3 tests.

KiwiMurph

If you are gonna start young Tupaea this is the test to do it.

Tim

@kiwimurph 13 debutantes in the Tongan team. Could not be an easier game.

booboo

@stargazer said in All Blacks v Tonga:

Tonga have named their squad for the test against the All Blacks:

Think I've heard of three of those guys, and thought Kapeli was a loosie.

Billy Tell

@steven-harris said in All Blacks v Tonga:

@stargazer must admit my interest level is very low given the state of the Ikale Tahi team that will be running out against the All Blacks on Saturday..It has the potential to be a cricket score

+1. Rugby sucks at the moment. Mickey Mouse competitions and fixtures in both hemispheres. ABs vs the side Tonga puts out will be about 1/10 on the interest scale.

sparky

What a farce! Not sure that we can call this game a Test. Not even sure calling it a game works either. It's basically a training run for the ABs with some vastly inferior opposition.

Good luck to Tongan XV. I'll be rooting for them. I hope they keep this to less than 80 points.

Machpants

It's also a farce that the team isn't named, wtf happened to the 0600 release? Shows how the coaching team has got lazy

sparky

I can't ever remember being this unexcited or to be honest, not giving a shit, about an All Blacks fixture. Totally mystifying that nothing more exciting could be arranged.

nzzp

@sparky said in All Blacks v Tonga:

I can't ever remember being this unexcited or to be honest, not giving a shit, about an All Blacks fixture. Totally mystifying that nothing more exciting could be arranged.

NH are totally tied up with the Lions, or (France) already committed to Australia.
Argies are coming later.
USA could have been cool - but not sure they have had any prep at all.

I suspect this will just be the soggy prawn cocktail of an entree before we get into the stodgy Foster-inspired main course.

Machpants

@nzzp said in All Blacks v Tonga:

@sparky said in All Blacks v Tonga:

I can't ever remember being this unexcited or to be honest, not giving a shit, about an All Blacks fixture. Totally mystifying that nothing more exciting could be arranged.

NH are totally tied up with the Lions, or (France) already committed to Australia.
Argies are coming later.
USA could have been cool - but not sure they have had any prep at all.

I suspect this will just be the soggy prawn cocktail of an entree before we get into the stodgy Foster-inspired main course.

Yeah not much else to be done, at least NZR are helping out Samoa and Tonga with their RWC prep. And games Vs Fiji should be better.

Dan54

@sparky said in All Blacks v Tonga:

I can't ever remember being this unexcited or to be honest, not giving a shit, about an All Blacks fixture. Totally mystifying that nothing more exciting could be arranged.

And Italians who were coming pulled out with Covid etc. Not overly excited myself, but giving the Island teams games is at least a step in right direction. It was going to be Samoa , but Tonga requested the test.

Dan54

@machpants said in All Blacks v Tonga:

It's also a farce that the team isn't named, wtf happened to the 0600 release? Shows how the coaching team has got lazy

There hasn't been a 6am team release for years. Not enough tv etc exposure.

Dan54

@booboo said in All Blacks v Tonga:

@stargazer said in All Blacks v Tonga:

Tonga have named their squad for the test against the All Blacks:

Think I've heard of three of those guys, and thought Kapeli was a loosie.

Kapeli played loosie and lock for Chiefs. I just wondering if a few of these boys will be hoping to impress enough for a gig with Moana Pacifika.

sparky

When's the team named?

Bovidae

@booboo said in All Blacks v Tonga:

Think I've heard of three of those guys, and thought Kapeli was a loosie.

He is a 6/7, hence my previous comment.

A lot of NPC level players in the Tongan squad but they don't have a lot to choose from if European players aren't available and Japan collects them for the Brave Blossoms.

Nginingini played a few games for Waikato in the mid-2010s.

taniwharugby

@machpants not sure 80+ point hidings will help anyone?

Guess they may reveal a player or 2 with the potential to step even if all players were available.

I recognised 7 names from the 23, and 3 of them are on the bench!

Steven Harris

@billy-tell it was over 14 months ago the NZRFU released the results of the McKinsey report , to be honest nothing we did not already know ..but the one thing that was an easy fix , was FAN ENGAGEMENT.!…when is this dopy mob ever gonna listen to theirs stakeholders ..
If you ran an idea of an All Black internal tour with games against the winner of say the winner of Super Rugby Aotearoa and TTSR winner and finishing with a against NZ Maori ..how good would these 3 games be as warm up games for the Rugby Championship as opposed to what we are about to be dished up .?..last time something like this was done was 1972, if my memory serves me correct all these game were played in front of big crowds , with the All Blacks losing to the NZ Juniors in front of 25,000 people ..

gt12

@steven-harris

Yeah, I was wondering why this year - at least - we didn’t see a game between the Maori and Junior ABs. It’d make three teams - Maori, Junior ABs, and All Black Barbarians (mostly a shadow team with a few rested) and have them play.

Honestly speaking I’d prefer it if the ABs were in camp and it was the Juniors playing Tonga - we’d get to see young players and I might give a bit more of a toss.

The Silver Fern

All Blacks v Tonga