All Blacks 2022

[MN5]

@Chris said in All Blacks 2022:

@MN5 said in All Blacks 2022:

@canefan said in All Blacks 2022:

@MN5 said in All Blacks 2022:

@ACT-Crusader said in All Blacks 2022:

@Bovidae said in All Blacks 2022:

Morgan Parra and Ruan Pienaar are two players that immediately come to mind as being able to play halfback and 1st 5. However, they are halfbacks who can play in another position, not the other way around. We've talked before about converting loose forwards into hookers but that process started once those players left school so they learnt the nuances of the new position before playing pro rugby.

Freddy Michalak was very good at both positions also.

Let’s not forget the postman either, Wellingtons own Jon Preston. Always delivered ( just like Gavin Larsen, the other Postman )

He will be able to dine out on his SA 1996 performance forever

Quite rightly too. What a great Wellingtonian.

Cantab

You move here, you’re from here. Stop ruining my reminiscing with facts.

[kiwi_expat]

https://www.rugbypass.com/plus/the-one-two-punch-that-could-ignite-the-all-blacks-attack/

[Duluth]

Agree with the main point of that rugbypass article that it's time to get some new blood in at halfback

Smith, Christie & someone new

Time to move on from TJ & Weber

[cgrant]

On pure current form, the AB team could be :

De Groot
ST
Ofa T
Sangster
Lord
Ioane
Papali'i
Sotutu
Ratima
Perofeta
Clarke
TUJ
Ioane
Jordan
Barrett

Sub : Eklund, Ross, Newell, Vaa'i, Savea, Fakatava, Mo'unga, B. Sullivan

Too many youngsters in there, so it won't happen, of course.

[Bovidae]

@Duluth said in All Blacks 2022:

Agree with the main point of that rugbypass article that it's time to get some new blood in at halfback

Smith, Christie & someone new

And there are plenty of tests left to develop that 3rd halfback before the RWC, and beyond 2023.

[Bones]

@cgrant pretty hard to justify Barrett at fullback on form but otherwise good...

[booboo]

@Kirwan said in All Blacks 2022:

@KiwiMurph said in All Blacks 2022:

@Kirwan said in All Blacks 2022:

So who’s captain if not Cane?

He’s getting outplayed week to week by Dalton. Ardie Savea?

Dalton.

Go all in.

I flirted with that idea but then had Taine Randall flashbacks.

Taine had his moments, but am not sure the two are comparable.

[Frank]

@cgrant said in All Blacks 2022:

On pure current form, the AB team could be :

De Groot
ST
Ofa T
Sangster
Lord
Ioane
Papali'i
Sotutu
Ratima
Perofeta
Clarke
TUJ
Ioane
Jordan
Barrett

This guy good enough to be an AB?

[Kirwan]

@booboo said in All Blacks 2022:

@Kirwan said in All Blacks 2022:

@KiwiMurph said in All Blacks 2022:

@Kirwan said in All Blacks 2022:

So who’s captain if not Cane?

He’s getting outplayed week to week by Dalton. Ardie Savea?

Dalton.

Go all in.

I flirted with that idea but then had Taine Randall flashbacks.

Taine had his moments, but am not sure the two are comparable.

More referring to being given the captaincy so early on.

[cgrant]

@Frank
Not yet, that's for sure, but it is a form XV, not a possible AB team.

[Crazy Horse]

I had a question that I couldn't answer confidently from an Aussie sports fan who takes a passing interest in rugby. Are there any ABs that one could confidently name in the top ten players in the world at the moment? I couldn't name one.

[MajorPom]

@Crazy-Horse said in All Blacks 2022:

I had a question that I couldn't answer confidently from an Aussie sports fan who takes a passing interest in rugby. Are there any ABs that one could confidently name in the top ten players in the world at the moment? I couldn't name one.

Will Jordan & perhaps Ardie Savea.

[cgrant]

Rieko Ioane.

[Victor Meldrew]

@MajorRage said in All Blacks 2022:

@Crazy-Horse said in All Blacks 2022:

I had a question that I couldn't answer confidently from an Aussie sports fan who takes a passing interest in rugby. Are there any ABs that one could confidently name in the top ten players in the world at the moment? I couldn't name one.

Will Jordan & perhaps Ardie Savea.

I'd suggest Jordie is pretty close too.

[Stargazer]

@cgrant If he still played on the wing, yes. Not as a midfielder.

[Crucial]

Maybe the forum is a week or two behind in assessing form but QT’s little sojourn on the wing has really lifted his confidence and ignited his play at 12.
I wouldn’t be dismissive of his position in the pecking order just yet.

[Crazy Horse]

@Stargazer said in All Blacks 2022:

@cgrant If he still played on the wing, yes. Not as a midfielder.

Yeah RI is all I came up with too - as a wing.

[mariner4life]

@Stargazer said in All Blacks 2022:

@cgrant If he still played on the wing, yes. Not as a midfielder.

there isn't a team in the world that wouldn't take RI on current form at 13

He would transform Ireland to RWC favourites instantly for instance

[Crucial]

@mariner4life said in All Blacks 2022:

@Stargazer said in All Blacks 2022:

@cgrant If he still played on the wing, yes. Not as a midfielder.

there isn't a team in the world that wouldn't take RI on current form at 13

He would transform Ireland to RWC favourites instantly for instance

I don’t see why people are obsessed with putting him back on the wing. He adds more to the team at centre with ALB gone. We can still put Reece and Jordan on the outsides. If the game plan calls for someone who can dot the ball in the corner through a tackle then we need to select one of those but not Ioane.

Our back line picks itself at the moment. Need to work on the understudies though.

[KiwiMurph]

@Crucial said in All Blacks 2022:

I don’t see why people are obsessed with putting him back on the wing.

There's a reputation lag. Because he was a work in progress centre a few years ago people still see him as that despite him really developing at 13.

The same reputation lag applies in reverse to Jack Goodhue - who had a great 2018 at 13 for the ABs.