All Blacks vs England I

[Tim]

@canefan There's probably an aussie sports bar too.

[Frank]

@MN5 said in All Blacks vs England I:

@Canes4life said in All Blacks vs England I:

@foobaNZ said in All Blacks vs England I:

@Canes4life not sure if it'll be a top Fiji XV but I'd be a bit wary of throwing second stringers out tbh. Maybe some subtle changes but not wholesale.

You wouldn't be stupid about it but guys like Proctor need opportunity against teams like Fiji in the first instance. If injuries strike before the RC you wouldn't want players to go in cold against harder opposition so giving them time against Fiji is a must. I would start Aumua and bring Bell off the bench for example. I would start Proctor outside Barrett to give him that familiarity. Bringing other new guys like Tosi and Sititi off the bench aswell wouldn't be a bad move once the game is dead and buried.

Calm the farm pal. Fiji aren’t the easy beats they used to be.

True. They're no Scotland anymore.

[MN5]

@Frank said in All Blacks vs England I:

@MN5 said in All Blacks vs England I:

@Canes4life said in All Blacks vs England I:

@foobaNZ said in All Blacks vs England I:

@Canes4life not sure if it'll be a top Fiji XV but I'd be a bit wary of throwing second stringers out tbh. Maybe some subtle changes but not wholesale.

You wouldn't be stupid about it but guys like Proctor need opportunity against teams like Fiji in the first instance. If injuries strike before the RC you wouldn't want players to go in cold against harder opposition so giving them time against Fiji is a must. I would start Aumua and bring Bell off the bench for example. I would start Proctor outside Barrett to give him that familiarity. Bringing other new guys like Tosi and Sititi off the bench aswell wouldn't be a bad move once the game is dead and buried.

Calm the farm pal. Fiji aren’t the easy beats they used to be.

True. They're no Scotland anymore.

The Scots are considerate, they haven’t toured here since 2000 cos they don’t want to embarrass the ABs and add another unwanted record to the ledger.

[Snowy]

@canefan said in All Blacks vs England I:

Great, I'll have to sit with that lot. Ugh

Was usually easy to find the rugby on in Singapore. They difficult bit will be your aversion to who you are surrounded by...

[dogmeat]

@canefan Boomerang at Robertsons Quay will definitely show it.

[canefan]

@Snowy said in All Blacks vs England I:

@canefan said in All Blacks vs England I:

Great, I'll have to sit with that lot. Ugh

Was usually easy to find the rugby on in Singapore. They difficult bit will be your aversion to who you are surrounded by...

haha, I was being silly. Sat behind some england supporters at the losing SF in Yokohama, they were perfectly nice. A quick google search suggests I will be spoilt for choice near where I am staying (Clarke Quay)

[antipodean]

@Canes4life said in All Blacks vs England I:

So as the dust settles on the first ABs squad of the year, who is in the 23 to play the first test against England. I think Razor will select the following:

1. De Groot
2. Taylor
3. Lomax
4. Barrett (C)
5. Tuipolotu
6. Finau
7. Papali'i
8. Savea (VC)
9. Christie
10. McKenzie
11. Clarke
12. Barrett (VC)
13. Ioane
14. Reece
15. Barrett
16. Aumua
17. Williams/Tu'ungafasi
18. Newell
19. Vaa'i
20. Blackadder
21. Ratima
22. Perofeta (yuck)
23. ALB

Pending injury in camp, I'd say you're on the money.

It will be interesting to see what differences they attempt to instil from the Fozzie era.

[Chris B.]

Halfback will be pretty interesting.

I can see a case for any of the three starting.

Most likely Christie or Perenara on the bench - I'd either start the rookie in tandem with his Super partner or let him sit this one out.

[Kiwiwomble]

@antipodean said in All Blacks vs England I:

@Canes4life said in All Blacks vs England I:

So as the dust settles on the first ABs squad of the year, who is in the 23 to play the first test against England. I think Razor will select the following:

1. De Groot
2. Taylor
3. Lomax
4. Barrett (C)
5. Tuipolotu
6. Finau
7. Papali'i
8. Savea (VC)
9. Christie
10. McKenzie
11. Clarke
12. Barrett (VC)
13. Ioane
14. Reece
15. Barrett
16. Aumua
17. Williams/Tu'ungafasi
18. Newell
19. Vaa'i
20. Blackadder
21. Ratima
22. Perofeta (yuck)
23. ALB

Pending injury in camp, I'd say you're on the money.

It will be interesting to see what differences they attempt to instil from the Fozzie era.

probably right but if we have what is a very establish backline like that....id like to have proctor on the bench

[Frank]

@Canes4life said in All Blacks vs England I:

So as the dust settles on the first ABs squad of the year, who is in the 23 to play the first test against England. I think Razor will select the following:

1. De Groot
2. Taylor
3. Lomax
4. Barrett (C)
5. Tuipolotu
6. Finau
7. Papali'i Blackadder
8. Savea (VC)
9. Christie Ratima
10. McKenzie
11. Clarke
12. Barrett (VC)
13. Ioane
14. Reece
15. Barrett
16. Aumua
17. Williams/Tu'ungafasi
18. Newell
19. Vaa'i
20. Blackadder Papalii
21. Ratima Perenara
22. Perofeta (yuck)
23. ALB

[nzzp]

NZ paying $1.12 at the TAB.

I think England are a better shot than that in the first test

[Machpants]

Yeah they've been together for a while, have had a warm up, and been assembled in NZ longer than the ABs!

[Kiwiwomble]

@nzzp whats england paying?

[nzzp]

@Kiwiwomble 5.50 at the TAB, but presumably you'll get better odds online

[nzzp]

I should say, I don't bet, but I do keep half an eye on it for interesting assessments by people putting their money where their mouth is

[KiwiMurph]

@Chris-B said in All Blacks vs England I:

Halfback will be pretty interesting.

I can see a case for any of the three starting.

Most likely Christie or Perenara on the bench - I'd either start the rookie in tandem with his Super partner or let him sit this one out.

Under the roof could be ideal conditions for Ratima to debut. He has the quickest service of the 3 (which plays to DMac's strengths) as well as the combo with DMac so let's make use of it.

[reprobate]

A bench of Williams, Tosi, Aumua, Tuipolotou, Blackadder, Sititi would be tough to defend against for the last 30 mins.

[antipodean]

My expectation is the first Test will be the most challenging. Reduced time in camp against a team getting better as their coach gets his feet under the desk.

As @reprobate points out, our strength may be in the bench. I'll just be interested in what patterns we want to implement, preferably good exits, a desire to play in their half and offensive defence.

[reprobate]

@antipodean Yeah I think if there's one super obvious thing which another team has used with success, it's the SA bench. And I reckon we can outdo them at their own game, so hopefully we go down that path rather than the christie, havili, laulala, ALB etc - good players all, but not impact players.

[sparky]

@Chris-B My guess is that the 23 will be almost entirely players who featured in the World Cup in France and that the new coaching team are going for evolution rather than revolution.