All Blacks v Ireland II

Jimmy Jimmy

Hopefully Hansen and the other 14 players on the field all read the Fern and make this happen because that fucking record has to go.

ACT Crusader

The NZRU has gone into damage control as in light of recent reports, it was revealed that someone from rugby HQ was deployed to remove Douglas Charles Howlett from all All Blacks reference material including the coveted leading try scorer record.

The NZ Herald contacted Christian Cullen in wake of the news, he was surprisingly delighted with the news, but it was clear that his long held view that he was robbed of holding it outright by Mitchell was still raw. NZ Herald spoke briefly with Joe Rokocoko who said "no comment".

Julian Savea now only needs two tries to be the All Black leader.

Jimmy Jimmy

Stargazer it is not the media it is a whole lot of fans as well.

ACT Crusader nice bit of sarcasm but we do not need the NZRU to do anything as Jules will soon hold it anyway otherwise it will be a re-run of the " does 18 unbeaten really count anyway because Cyprus has 24".

Come on Jules do it for us.

taniwharugby

@ACT-Crusader haha I just tried to look him up to see if removing him from the record books would affect Haymans coveted AB 1,000 as I couldn't remember who was capped first....

I do note the full web address has 1099 at the end so assume Hayman is safe.

kiwiinmelb

Having a laugh with some mates doesnt necessarily translate to supporting Ireland over NZ, media might be jumping the gun there

But on suspicion , his NZ citizenship should be cancelled anyway

Jimmy Jimmy

Just referring to the ABs as a team I used to play for is enough for me to agree with the passport withdrawal.

taniwharugby

@Jimmy-Jimmy given our medias reputation for missing a lot of facts in their articles, they probably failed to advise he burnt half his AB jersies after selling the rest on eBay or that he had already revoked his NZ Passport in favour of an Irish one.

mariner4life

@taniwharugby that bastard!

cgrant

@RoninWC said in Ireland II:

My own $0.02 worth on the team selection:

W. Crockett

D. Coles

O. Franks

B. Retallick

S. Whitelock

J. Kaino

S. Cane

K Read

A. Smith

B. Barrett

J. Savea

A. Lienart-Brown

M. Fekitoa

I. Dagg

B. Smith

Reserves
16. C. Taylor
17. J. Moody
18. C. Faumuina
19. L. Squire
20. A. Savea
21. T. Perenara
22. L. Sopoaga

Personally this is my team. I think Smith and Barrett need to start as they are our clear No. 1's in their respective positions.
I would rather see Sopoaga on the bench as I think he brings a steady hand whereas I don't think Cruden really offers anything off the bench.

And yes, I've gone for speed off the bench with both Squire and Ardie.

Crockett staying 70 minutes on the field against Itaty makes me guess that Moody will start.
The Chicago game pointed out that the AB need a specialist lock on the bench.

antipodean

@cgrant said in Ireland II:

Crockett staying 70 minutes on the field against Itaty makes me guess that Moody will start.
The Chicago game pointed out that the AB need a specialist lock on the bench.

And fewer injuries during the game. Also, a full complement on the field at all times might help the cause.

MajorPom

@cgrant said in Ireland II:

@RoninWC said in Ireland II:

My own $0.02 worth on the team selection:

W. Crockett

D. Coles

O. Franks

B. Retallick

S. Whitelock

J. Kaino

S. Cane

K Read

A. Smith

B. Barrett

J. Savea

A. Lienart-Brown

M. Fekitoa

I. Dagg

B. Smith

Reserves
16. C. Taylor
17. J. Moody
18. C. Faumuina
19. L. Squire
20. A. Savea
21. T. Perenara
22. L. Sopoaga

Personally this is my team. I think Smith and Barrett need to start as they are our clear No. 1's in their respective positions.
I would rather see Sopoaga on the bench as I think he brings a steady hand whereas I don't think Cruden really offers anything off the bench.

And yes, I've gone for speed off the bench with both Squire and Ardie.

Crockett staying 70 minutes on the field against Itaty makes me guess that Moody will start.
The Chicago game pointed out that the AB need a specialist lock on the bench.

I'll up that and say it pointed out that we needed a specialist lock starting.

nostrildamus

@MajorRage and what is Sam Whitelock's win loss as an AB ratio? Must be not too shabby.

Jimmy Jimmy

Taniwha, if he has done those things then that is good. I always felt uneasy about the possibility that the top AB tryscorer may have been someone who permed his hair.

We will have to leave the number of tries at 49 but leave the name blank like Lance Armstrong had his name excised from the record books.

A good day's work boys.

booboo

@Stargazer said in Ireland II:

I don't see what's wrong with Howlett having "mixed emotions" about that win. Can't he be happy for his Irish friends, only because they beat his old team? To me, it seems the media are just making this into something it's not.

@Stargazer you are waaay too serious

Billy Tell

Dare I ask what we do if we lose....

Would need a big rethink of selection and tactics IMO.

I think we'll win - for starters we are not going to gift (I hope) Ireland territory and possession again by having no functioning lineout and charity levels of indiscipline. If Ireland have to work for their points rather than being handed them on a platter, it should be much more interesting. At the end of the day, we played like rubbish and still got 29 points, and I don't see Ireland putting 40 points past us again (and if they do, then we have big problems).

pakman

I should add that the chances of Ireland getting away with only four penalties against them in a game are extremely slim!

Crucial

@pakman said in Ireland II:

I should add that the chances of Ireland getting away with only four penalties against them in a game are extremely slim!

Yeah, I don't know how 'clean' Ireland really were against us but the ref was a green one and we have the far more 'confident' Peyper this time. I don't think Peyper has ever been one to swallow the whistle.

mooshld

The areas I think we need to sharpen are aerial defense. Bringing Dagg back will help in this. A bit of steel in the rucks, improved midfield defense, and a bit of street smarts. Getting choke tackled is just lazy get your body position right and that should never happen. Not like its a new tactic for the Irish we just were lazy and played into it.

kiwiinmelb

@Billy-Tell said in Ireland II:

Dare I ask what we do if we lose....

Would need a big rethink of selection and tactics IMO.

I think we'll win - for starters we are not going to gift (I hope) Ireland territory and possession again by having no functioning lineout and charity levels of indiscipline. If Ireland have to work for their points rather than being handed them on a platter, it should be much more interesting. At the end of the day, we played like rubbish and still got 29 points, and I don't see Ireland putting 40 points past us again (and if they do, then we have big problems).

I think that is the thing , to beat this current Allblacks team you are going to have to score a shit load of points . Because we usually score plenty . The days of Nh teams thinking they can take us through slotting penalties and defending are over and I think they all know it now. They put 40 on us last time ,
Have they got that in them again ?

taniwharugby

Looking more likely Whitelock is ok for this week, or Romano too I guess, as Fifita has been sent back to NZ (apologies if already mentioned)

The Silver Fern

All Blacks v Ireland II