The Rugby Championship 2016
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Funny reading some of the worries some had about our midfield heading into the RC. Seems to be going okay so far.
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@Stargazer and Shag hinted that he is a good chance to come straight in and start next week ,
Which is what many here predicted a little while back in the case of a Cane injury
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@reprobate said in The Rugby Championship 2016:
Kuridrani is a myth. He was good for one season, a couple of years ago. For a big unit you can count his linebreaks in a year on the fingers of a careless piranha fisherman. He's not even a great line bender.
did he cop an injury that just hasn't come right or something? because he was really bloody good that one year, and has been very ordinary since.
Yeah someone on here called him the Black Mortlock ( actually that sounds precisely the sort of shit that I would have said ) but for whatever reason his form has fallen off a fucken cliff. It's like he's doing a Savea but for way, way longer.
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@kiwiinmelb said in The Rugby Championship 2016:
@Stargazer and Shag hinted that he is a good chance to come straight in and start next week ,
Which is what many here predicted a little while back in the case of a Cane injury
Holy shit I really hope he does, the meltdown from the likes of Canes4Life and Winger would be epic.
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@kiwiinmelb said in The Rugby Championship 2016:
@Stargazer and Shag hinted that he is a good chance to come straight in and start next week ,
Which is what many here predicted a little while back in the case of a Cane injury
I didn't interpret Hansen's comments that way. Below is from the Stuff report. Also some insight in terms of his size.
"It's coming along okay. It's a big step up from Super Rugby to the more physical demands of international rugby. As we saw with his Hurricanes career he came in and took a couple of seasons to get to the point where he was really going to dominate," Hansen said. "He's growing all the time. We had a good chat last week. He's happy and everyone is happy with the progress but we know there's things he can still do better. It's the pace of the game. **He's a really explosive athlete so is he ready to play 80 minutes? We're not sure yet at that level but we'll get a good 60 out of him and we know Matty can play for as long as we need him.** "Matt has been in and around the team for a long time and become the professional yo-yo. He copes with it really well." Interestingly, **Hansen believes Savea will only get better the more weight he puts on**. Making the comparison to Cane, who has gone from around 102kg to 109kg in the All Blacks under the guidance of strength and conditioning guru Nick Gill, Hansen said the added weight would increase Savea's impact for longer. "That extra weight gives him [Cane] a lot more strength and power and he's able to do things that others can't," Hansen said. "Defensively he's been fantastic. "I don't know if Ardie will get to that weight but he's certainly come a long way. **When he started Super Rugby he was only 95kgs - he's up to 102 now so if we can get him around 105 that'll be a good weight for him."** -
@ACT-Crusader Hopefully he is saying that perhaps Ardie would be good for 60 then bring on Todd. He refers to Todd as being a professional yo yo which means to me he is good enough for cover but not good enough to demand a starting position. I think it would be a step back otherwise and if they are concerned about Savea and the physicality on the game is Todd really a step up.? Time to play 2 6's anyway in my thinking ... clears throat ... Akira.
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The way I read it is that Ardie will get a good 60 minutes all being well and Todd to come on for the final quarter. part being is that they are still concerned about the Ardie over 80 minutes of test footy.
With regards to Todd, I think what they are saying here (and previous comments) is that they know he can go 80 but he's not ahead of Cane as a starter and they like Ardie as an impact man.
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@ACT-Crusader I heard an interview on radio sport sunday , im sure he said he may come in and start we are not sure yet after he made the yo yo comment ,
But im not willing to put my house on it
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@kiwiinmelb said in The Rugby Championship 2016:
@ACT-Crusader I heard an interview on radio sport sunday , im sure he said he may come in and start we are not sure yet after he made the yo yo comment ,
But im not willing to put my house on it
When they announced the AB squad for the June series, Hansen was very clear that Todd was the unluckiest player to miss out and that he had been "very close" to selection. Cane being the number one choice, one of the reasons they went for Ardie instead of Todd was that Todd and Cane are very similar players, while Ardie offers something else, especially on attack. Ardie would complement Cane's skills more (instead of overlap). In the interview on Sunday, as I remember it, Hansen said that they hadn't decided yet who would start and that they would make the decision later in the week, but again referred to Todd being very much like Cane.
I understand the "professional yoyo" reference as meaning that Todd had been in the ABs environment often enough to adapt quickly and be able to start if required.
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@Stargazer said in The Rugby Championship 2016:
I understand the "professional yoyo" reference as meaning that Todd had been in the ABs environment often enough to adapt quickly and be able to start if required.
Yeah, I understood Todd being likened to a pro's pro.
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@ACT-Crusader thanks for that, very interesting about the weights.
I think they see Savea being at a similar level to where Cane was in 2013. In that Bok test at Eden park that year Richie was injured and Cane started. He played well but struggled at times to move those big Bok bodies. BdP was at the top of his game and was almost immovable. Plus they had Alberts and Vermulen in the backrow! If Bissie hadn't of gotten himself red carded that game could have ended differently.
The Bok pack this time isn't nearly as formidable so it shouldn't be a big issue but they obviously want Ardie at a level where he can start (against a pack like that 2013 side) if necessary and that means a few more kegs to handle the heavy exchanges.
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@MN5 said in The Rugby Championship 2016:
@reprobate said in The Rugby Championship 2016:
Kuridrani is a myth. He was good for one season, a couple of years ago. For a big unit you can count his linebreaks in a year on the fingers of a careless piranha fisherman. He's not even a great line bender.
did he cop an injury that just hasn't come right or something? because he was really bloody good that one year, and has been very ordinary since.
Yeah someone on here called him the Black Mortlock ( actually that sounds precisely the sort of shit that I would have said ) but for whatever reason his form has fallen off a fucken cliff. It's like he's doing a Savea but for way, way longer.
Bob Dwyer said that he was going to be better than Mortlock when he first came onto the scene.
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Yes, fair point. The 7kg difference between Cane's current 109 and Savea's 102 sounds significant, especially when the Boks are in town.
I don't know how the physiologies of different ethnicities stacks up (and I'm not starting on that shit) but they're apparently saying that 105kg of Ardie can equal the power of Cane at 109kg. Or is that just "optimal" Ardie for him to compete physically without him losing the 12 off his back?
Speaking of that 2013 home test vs the Boks, Dane Coles was made to look lightweight by BdP in that game. By the following June against the Poms, Coles had eradicated that physical gap. Anyone have an insight into how much weight Coles might have gained?
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I don't think it's as much a case of weight ( within reason of course ) more a case of how a person uses it. We've all seen Ardie run hard and he has that incredible leg drive for someone relatively "small". Contrast that with David Pocock who looks like he could carry half a forward pack over the line from five metres but doesn't. What he does do though is get set over the ball during his turnovers and basically not move no matter what is thrown at him and it's hard to picture Savea doing this against, particularly, big Bok and English forwards.
Some ferners will remember Red Beard, I had a beer with him a couple of weeks back and he finds it odd that Owen Franks is so explosive at cleaning out opposition forwards but for whatever reason is a pretty mediocre ball carrier. Him and his bro are well into those Olympic lifts, I remember seeing a Super heavyweight win gold at the Olympics and he jumped for joy afterwards as you do....his "airtime" for a massive guy was incredible, it's hard for us mortals to comprehend just how much power those guys have but Franks is closer than most so again, why he doesn't break more tackles is a mystery. Coles on the other hand is great at this and so fast and evasive for a front rower. I'm not qualified to comment on his scrummaging but Sean Fitzpatrick said he is probably the best in the world with Creevy second best.
Still calls him "Dan Coles" though, retard.
