All Blacks 2023
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I'd drop Narawa.
Telea can play 14 or 11, Jordan can play 14.Good thing is, Bok game at Twickers is Aug. 25, whereas final submission for WC squad is Aug 28.
@Frank said in All Blacks 2023:
I'd drop Narawa.
Was Telea can play 14 or 11, Jordan can play 14.The prudent thing to do is to drop a winger, as unfair as that might be on the player being dropped. Doubt that Foster has the balls to make that tough call though.
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@Frank said in All Blacks 2023:
I'd drop Narawa.
Was Telea can play 14 or 11, Jordan can play 14.The prudent thing to do is to drop a winger, as unfair as that might be on the player being dropped. Doubt that Foster has the balls to make that tough call though.
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well there you fucking go. you gambled and you're losing. 4 locks and 5 loosies and you're down 2 early doors already.
Looks like @ACT-Crusader was right, LF to blindside for the France game.
@mariner4life said in All Blacks 2023:
well there you fucking go. you gambled and you're losing. 4 locks and 5 loosies and you're down 2 early doors already.
Looks like @ACT-Crusader was right, LF to blindside for the France game.
Interestingly Ireland only have 5 loosies in their current squad. Although they have 5 locks.
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the real fun begins if we lose another forward against the Boks to a 3 week type injury. Then they are forced in to a hard call just to field a team.
@mariner4life said in All Blacks 2023:
the real fun begins if we lose another forward against the Boks to a 3 week
type injuryban. Then they are forced in to a hard call just to field a team.Fixed
Fozzie ain't dropping no one.
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@KiwiMurph said in All Blacks 2023:
They have 3 fit locks and 4 fit loosies.
Fucking hell.
2 fit locks and 1 Whitelock
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Jacobson has to line up at 6 against the Boks too, you would think.
Bit wild, getting his first two starts since 2021 in back to back matches against the Boks and then France in a WC opener.
Probably should have been given a good run earlier in the year...
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Jacobson has to line up at 6 against the Boks too, you would think.
Bit wild, getting his first two starts since 2021 in back to back matches against the Boks and then France in a WC opener.
Probably should have been given a good run earlier in the year...
@Mr-Fish said in All Blacks 2023:
Jacobson has to line up at 6 against the Boks too, you would think.
Bit wild, getting his first two starts since 2021 in back to back matches against the Boks and then France in a WC opener.
Probably should have been given a good run earlier in the year...
In an ideal world, yes, but I think considering his injuries and head knocks the coaches have handled him relatively well..
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Pretty interesting stuff. The players fought for Fozzie’s job.
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@Crazy-Horse said in All Blacks 2023:
@Dan54 said in All Blacks 2023:
@taniwharugby said in All Blacks 2023:
@Chris I think that's the key, being able to adapt and adjust.
In years gone by, more often we were able to control the play and tempo, and even when we didn't we had superior fitness to outrun teams...
Now we seem to rely on an old game plan that is proven to be ineffective in tight battles with top teams, we are no longer fitter than everyone else, we have lost our cutting edge, relying on a once tried and true formula...are we too arrogant to see the successes of others and learn from them, then improve them.
Yep I think it's what I mentioned we no longer seem to coach skills at NPC or super level. When we were at our best we had a team of WC players who could beat teams with skill, we don't have the same anymore, and as Jason Ryan says they they were picking players to go same direct style that Edie Jones talked of.
I don't think it's as simple as no longer having the skill, or being coached the skill. I think the Lions series showed how to stifle the ABs and defences have evolved from there. The highly skilled fast pace game the ABs try to play struggles against such defences because it is a very big ask for players to execute the required skills game after game under immense pressure. Doubly so in WC knockout games.
The offside line was pretty poor applied in that series IMO, but generally agree with the sentiment that the rush defenses got better and combined with a lack of strong (often world class) center combos (Nonu Smith and SBW) the ABs have never looked the same since... (not blaming just the centers - just that from set plays they are where the pressure is primarily directed)
The other comment I would make, is that I feel a lot of players have been elevated through school boy and NPC rugby and simply have not developed from the flat track bully days of their youth, which to my mind is a coaching development issue.
@Mattasaurus cough Hansen cough SBW.
Had Hansen stayed with RC and ALB we may have performed better. For a start, RC wouldn't have been sent off.
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He is resting Brodie and Shannon for the warmup and opener against the Boks.
@SBW1 said in All Blacks 2023:
He is resting Brodie and Shannon for the warmup and opener against the Boks.
They are both injured so he is not resting them.
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Pretty interesting stuff. The players fought for Fozzie’s job.
@Canes4life Turn around has been startling.
Forwards are always more important than backs. Ryan is the key. -
@Canes4life Turn around has been startling.
Forwards are always more important than backs. Ryan is the key.@BerniesCorner said in All Blacks 2023:
@Canes4life Turn around has been startling.
Forwards are always more important than backs. Ryan is the key.Biggest change has been in the mindset across the team. There has clearly been some between-season soul-searching and changes in attitude and approach. The panicky,headless-chicken stuff across the team seems to have gone.
The forwards have generally been OK and utterly dominant when they want to be (2nd half against France 2 yrs ago) but all too often in recent years mentally signed-off with dumb play (last quarter against England last year). That's changed. More focus and precision.
The attack and defence have improved hugely also and Foster & co. seem to have finally got the Bo'unga axis working well. And we seem to have a pretty settled A team for the first time in yonks.
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@BerniesCorner said in All Blacks 2023:
@Canes4life Turn around has been startling.
Forwards are always more important than backs. Ryan is the key.Biggest change has been in the mindset across the team. There has clearly been some between-season soul-searching and changes in attitude and approach. The panicky,headless-chicken stuff across the team seems to have gone.
The forwards have generally been OK and utterly dominant when they want to be (2nd half against France 2 yrs ago) but all too often in recent years mentally signed-off with dumb play (last quarter against England last year). That's changed. More focus and precision.
The attack and defence have improved hugely also and Foster & co. seem to have finally got the Bo'unga axis working well. And we seem to have a pretty settled A team for the first time in yonks.
@Victor-Meldrew
And none of this would have happened had Ryan and Schmidt not come on board. The players love for Foster notwithstanding. -
@Victor-Meldrew
And none of this would have happened had Ryan and Schmidt not come on board. The players love for Foster notwithstanding.@Frank said in All Blacks 2023:
@Victor-Meldrew
And none of this would have happened had Ryan and Schmidt not come on board.There's been improvements across the board - inc. the mental stuff - and it's more likely down to a team effort rather than 1 person (Schmidt was pretty much involved before).
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@Victor-Meldrew
And none of this would have happened had Ryan and Schmidt not come on board. The players love for Foster notwithstanding.@Frank said in All Blacks 2023:
@Victor-Meldrew
And none of this would have happened had Ryan and Schmidt not come on board. The players love for Foster notwithstanding.Our style of play, and personnel is almost unrecognisable compared to the team that put Foster on the brink of being fired
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There's been significant technical improvement in set piece and ball retention in the tackle.
@BerniesCorner said in All Blacks 2023:
There's been significant technical improvement in set piece and ball retention in the tackle.
I think Ryan has made a difference there, and seems to have forwards going better than maybe Plumtree did? But it quite hard to judge , also I think it was always in last year that any coach would start to really show hands. I just happy with way team has progressed anyway, and from where I sitting and what I have seen it hard to say what and where exact details have changed.
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As a serial Foster basher, for all the crap he got (deservedly so in my book), he now deserves the credit for assembling a team that seems to be well-coached. It can't go just one way. Foster, Schmitt, and Ryan are giving us a team that is soooo far from the headless chook, directionless days of 2020, 2021, and early 2022.
