The Silver Fern

@taniwharugby said in MotM vs Australia III:

4 misses by Moody is a worry!

In a game where we missed 24 I think Moody's stats are an aberration on what was a poor tackling night overall by the team.

The thing with our props is that the strategy is to shoot out of the line hard so they are more prone to slipping off tackles (counts as a miss) but still stopping some of the ball carriers momentum.

@kiwiinmelb said in Pick the Score - ABs v Wobs:

37 - 16 with the scores close at halftime
aussies get a couple of penalties now , im a genius

@westie probably williment travel but you will pay big time

@nostrildamus He can play in both positions. Ngatai was at centre in the 2013 Super final vs the Brumbies so it's not like he has just appeared this season.

If everyone is fit and in form next year, the AB selectors will have some difficult decisions to make. That has to be a good thing.

Retallick - workrate
Barrett - despite the woeful goal kicking
Squire - great impact off the bench

@pakman said in All Blacks v Wallabies at Eden Park.:

Didn't BBBR duck into it?

No. Mumm jumped, spun and delivered a roundhouse elbow strike.

Get it right man!

Doubt it's 11 players. With that many it's pretty diluted, almost a 3rd of the squad.

i k

@kiwiinmelb said in Springboks v All Blacks:

Going to be interesting to see how selections evolve over the next couple of years ,

I cant recall an era where its just so hard to pin point a weakness in our game ,

Right now , with our run on side I guess you would say goalkicking is possibly it

sure we're so far in front in recent games that it hasn't mattered at all - but goalkicking is a definite weakness, not a possible one. barrett is a great player, but what did he hit off the tee, 5 from 9 or something? that's shithouse, he looked shithouse doing it, some of them were easy kicks, and conditions were not an issue.
at least getting to kick 9 conversions a week is plenty of opportunity to practice so it shouldn't be a weakness for long.

@Nepia said in MotM vs Argentina, II:

@Mick-Gold-Coast-QLD said in MotM vs Argentina, II:

Retallick, Perenara, Crotty

You know that ALB is the brown midfielder and Crotty is the white one right?

As Lady Mick, who is from a beautiful Pacific Island on the edge of SE Asia and has an especially dark "tan" and glorious long black hair, is wont to say "All you white fellas look the same to me."

This Lienert-Brown chappie is good alright but he's only about 16 years old and I am horribly prejudiced, Nepia, in favour of blokes who are old and past it, like Ryan Crotty, Snakey, Cory Jane ... and Mick.

Anyway - where have they hidden the MOTM leader board? I would like to see who else other than me made the correct selections. 🕺🏽

@pakman said in AB Squad:

Will be 32. Cane, Cruden out. Main interest whether DMac or Seta T travels, and if Kaino rested. If so, is Luatua's ankle right enough, or does Akira get a first taste?

I don't think they need any additional cover given they've got Squire, Whitelock, Tuipoluto to cover.

@gollum said in Pumas v All Blacks:

@antipodean said in Pumas v All Blacks:

Cruden's had that much time? TBH I've normally pretty well on my way by that stage of the game this year - not really paying attention once we've secured a bonus point before the subs come on.

Not just Cruden, whoever comes off requiring us to slot in a midfielder its tended to be Ben moving there. On one occasion at least our Midfield has been Smith at 12 & Naholo at 13 for 15 minutes.

It hasn't happened that often this year though. 3 of the 8 tests Bender has been in he has been the cover for midfield. In only 2 of those that I recall he has actually moved to the midfield.

We've used Tamanivalu and ALB as the bench cover for the most part.

Barrett was very good but I did not vote for him as he was not decisive as he usually is.
Coles was outstanding and is my MoTM with Aaron Smith not far behind. I had intended to vote for Perenara too as he was perfect in everything he did. But he did not have sufficient time on the paddock to be competitive for a MoTM performance.

@RaGe_X said in All Pinks vs Boks - Christchurch:

@Damo said in All Pinks vs Boks - Christchurch:

@broughie said in All Pinks vs Boks - Christchurch:

@mariner4life you mean those not picked because of quotas or injury?

I think the quota thing is overdone.

On another forum the question was asked who was picked on race and should not be there and there was only one player identified (reserve hooker Bongi), and even he had been dropped for the game against the AB's. Arguably he wasn't a quota player but a project player they were hoping to get some experience

There really aren't many (if any) players who are disadvantaged due to the quota system.

Does anyone else know of any player in the Boks who is there on race and not on merit?

De Allende has had a terrible season with the Lions Center outplaying him all season. Oupa Mohoje is another quota player.

More importantly however is the fact that implementing quotas means that you will not attract top coaching talent. This is why our Bok attacking coach is this guy:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mzwandile_Stick
CV:

2013 Eastern Province U21(assistant)
2014–2015 Eastern Province Kings (Vodacom Cup head coach) -Vodacom cup is one tier below Currie Cup
2014–2015 Eastern Province U19 (head coach)
2016 Kings (assistant)
2016–present South Africa (assistant)

The problem with selecting quota's (other than the obvious of keeping out more talented players) is that they then clog up the development of up and coming talent ie: Malcolm Marx cannot get a go off the bench because of Bongi keeping up the numbers.

The point I was making earlier in this thread is that the All Blacks are the best team on this planet, and these policies are not helping us compete.

I agree completely. The quotas are killing SA rugby, not just at the top level. Without a doubt it would be ABs/SA 1 and 2 in the world with the talent available in SA. Must be tough work supporting them at the moment.

@No-Quarter said in MotM vs Argentina I:

He's not let us down in Black.

True and well spotted

@nzzp said in B&I Lions 2017:

@majorrage said in B&I Lions 2017:

SOB is having a pretty sharp dig at Gatland / Lions mgmt. Thats it nothing else.

http://www.the42.ie/sean-obrien-2017-lions-warren-gatland-rob-howley-3607917-Sep2017/?utm_source=shortlink

A more extensive interview. His credibility takes a bit of a hit as he says the buildup to test 2 was perfect. A 3 point win over a 14 man side with a 'perfect buildup' doesn't suggest you'd sweep the series, but I'm just another arrogant kiwi fan (JAAKF)

Not necessarily though. You can have the perfect buildup and then the coach selects the wrong players to execute on the night....

@Nepia said in Man of the Match on Debut - Anyone else?:

@Crucial None of the Akld fans I knew at that time were pushing for Carter - but then again I didn't know John Hart then.

I blame Deaker ... (and Deans)

<p>I can't recall Sid getting into many confrontations. On the rare occasions he did, he was seriously aggressive and quite scientific in his use of fists as even 17st forwards soon found out. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>As you say, a tough bugger in an era of tough buggers.</p>

@Crucial

This has occurred to me Crucial.

The story in the media is that he has some kind of side strain so is not goal kicking at the moment.

From his general play, tactical and line kicking it doesn't exactly look like he is carrying any niggles.

My tea leaves are telling me he's nailed his goal kicking gig 💯 and is now being kept in cotton wool until the Lions get here. 🙂

You kind of feel bad for the oppo this season , how can they stop the ABs. I reckon that our hooker , second row and back row showed more skills than the Bok midfield, and perhaps their whole back line combined.

I have to take my hat of to Hansen for picking Savea and Dagg, I was not that happy with either selection originally but no doubt the AB environment has gotten Savea back to form , and the couple of games Dagg got at full back lifted his confidence to hold his place on the wing and allow Ben Smith to showcase his skills in his best position which is full- back. The result is the opposition don't know what to do, kick to our back three, which often includes Barrett or take the chance against our dominant lineout.

Really happy to see TJ finally providing impact off the bench, was purely mental thing in my opinion, just needed to calm down when he came on the field. Also think we missed Cane's physicality. By far best 7 in NZ, not that Artie is bad but does not get close to that physicality.

<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="BartMan" data-cid="610793" data-time="1472544793"><p>
Kaino is also always excellent. Another case of when he's not playing we will notice the huge gap he leaves.</p></blockquote>
<br>
So why has he dtill only got my single vote?