MOTM vs Australia, Bledisloe II 2019

[Billy Tell]

Read, Savea, Bridge

[Victor Meldrew]

Can't really vote on this one. Consummate team effort.

Apart from Coles' brain-fart (and apart from that he was bloody good), they were all outstanding. E.g. Ardie & Read stood out but it was Sam Cane's work allowed them to do that.

[sparky]

@Canes4life

Best performance by the ABs backrow since Kaino, McCaw and Read against South Africa in 2015 RWc semi.

[Nevorian]

Savea, Read, Mo'unga

[Nepia]

I'm going the three loosies as well.

Edit: Wondering how the fudgecakes Cane is polling so low.

[DMX]

I take it that an Aussie voted for Coles!

[canefan]

@Nepia said in MOTM vs Australia, Bledisloe II 2019:

I'm going the three loosies as well.

Edit: Wondering how the fudgecakes Cane is polling so low.

He was great. Others might have stood out more, that is all

[nzzp]

@DMX said in MOTM vs Australia, Bledisloe II 2019:

I take it that an Aussie voted for Coles!

nah that was me with a fat fingered stupid click. Still thinking of last week.

If I had my votes again would definitely go Smith/SBW/Reado

[dogmeat]

Ardie, Read, Tuipulotu. Really wanted to choose a couple of others but the win was down to the pack.

[Bones]

Ok, so those voting for SBW - what was it that swayed you?

[sparky]

@Bones Physicality and his passing. He committed defenders and made space for others outside him. Loved his focus and discipline.

He was my third vote (behind Read and Ardie), it could have very easily (and perhaps should have) gone to ALB, Aaron Smith, Cane, Mo'unga or Bridge. The fact he was better than I expected and it was his best game in Black for a long-time perhaps influenced my choice.

[Bones]

@sparky yeah that's the feeling I'm getting - the votes thrown his way seem to be more aimed at the fact he looked adequate and didn't shit the bed. To me he was one of the more ordinary players on the park and made some errors, but was comparatively good when compared to SBW previously.

[sparky]

@Bones SBW did a job I'm not sure Laumape or ALB could do. He acted as an extra backrow player at times and then showed a high-quality passing game at others.

Crotty for me is the AB's best 12 but I can see why Hansen and co persist with SBW. On evenings like Saturday he can be a vital cog in a high-quality team performance..

[Bones]

@sparky said in MOTM vs Australia, Bledisloe II 2019:

@Bones SBW did a job I'm not sure Laumape or ALB could do. He acted as an extra backrow player at times and then showed a high-quality passing game at others.

Crotty for me is the AB's best 12 but I can see why Hansen and co persist with SBW. On evenings like Saturday he can be a vital cog in a high-quality team performance..

I guess I simply didn't notice this.

[MajorPom]

@Bones said in MOTM vs Australia, Bledisloe II 2019:

@sparky yeah that's the feeling I'm getting - the votes thrown his way seem to be more aimed at the fact he looked adequate and didn't shit the bed. To me he was one of the more ordinary players on the park and made some errors, but was comparatively good when compared to SBW previously.

I texted my old man when he came off that I thought it was his best game in a long time.

Dominant tackles, some good offloads and his try was very Nonu-esque. I just thought our backline functioned a lot better with him in it.

[Bones]

@MajorRage oh I can understand that, it was definitely his best game in aaaaages. Best AB though? Not by a long shot for me.

[cgrant]

I went for A. Smith, Read and Tuipolutu because they all had their best game in Black for years (ever for Tuipolutu).

[MajorPom]

@Bones said in MOTM vs Australia, Bledisloe II 2019:

@MajorRage oh I can understand that, it was definitely his best game in aaaaages. Best AB though? Not by a long shot for me.

I wouldn't say he was best AB either ... I would probably give that to Savea. But I thought our backline looked the best it had in the last couple of years, and felt he was key to that.

Although it's probably more the forwards that caused that, but they get too much kudos on this forum already ...

[Bones]

@MajorRage said in MOTM vs Australia, Bledisloe II 2019:

@Bones said in MOTM vs Australia, Bledisloe II 2019:

@MajorRage oh I can understand that, it was definitely his best game in aaaaages. Best AB though? Not by a long shot for me.

I wouldn't say he was best AB either ... I would probably give that to Savea. But I thought our backline looked the best it had in the last couple of years, and felt he was key to that.

Although it's probably more the forwards that caused that, but they get too much kudos on this forum already ...

I thought the backline looked great too, I'm pretty hesitant to put that at SBW's feet though, especially when I didn't see anything that I think isn't done by any of the other options (plus it seems most rating him are missing the errors he made).

[KiwiMurph]

I think the conditions suited SBW - the wet weather meant more direct play which suits his strengths at this stage of his career where his lack of pace was not exposed.