AB Depth Chart 2020
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@Duluth said in Hurricanes v Crusaders:
@nzzp said in Hurricanes v Crusaders:
@cgrant depth really improving, but we are missing that tall timber at 6 as a lineout option. Robinson possibly the best candidate in the lineout, but not sure the others are that good are they?
Not a 6, but Sotutu has been winning a lot of lineout ball
which is good, because Read was an important target for us
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I admit my bias at the beginning of this post, but
i absolutely believe that you cannot win rugby games with a poor lineout. The higher you go, the more important it is. If your lineout is suspect, you just get trapped in your own end, and eventually that field position deficit takes its toll.
It's why at test level i am so dead against dual opensides. You shorten your lineout (both jumper and lifter options) too much. And for what ever resaon you never make up that shortfall around the paddock.
Last year we were forced in to it because we had absolutely no one at 6. But by christ i hope this year we take a punt and develop a 6 and 8 that have a bit of height, and then just pick the best 7 at 7.
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@mariner4life said in AB Depth Chart 2020:
Last year we were forced in to it because we had absolutely no one at 6. But by christ i hope this year we take a punt and develop a 6 and 8 that have a bit of height, and then just pick the best 7 at 7.
Ioane/ Robinson, Cane, Sotutu.
Problem solved.
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@antipodean said in AB Depth Chart 2020:
@mariner4life said in AB Depth Chart 2020:
Last year we were forced in to it because we had absolutely no one at 6. But by christ i hope this year we take a punt and develop a 6 and 8 that have a bit of height, and then just pick the best 7 at 7.
Ioane/ Robinson, Cane, Sotutu.
Problem solved.
it's got my vote
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@mariner4life said in AB Depth Chart 2020:
I admit my bias at the beginning of this post, but
i absolutely believe that you cannot win rugby games with a poor lineout. The higher you go, the more important it is. If your lineout is suspect, you just get trapped in your own end, and eventually that field position deficit takes its toll.
It's why at test level i am so dead against dual opensides. You shorten your lineout (both jumper and lifter options) too much. And for what ever resaon you never make up that shortfall around the paddock.
Last year we were forced in to it because we had absolutely no one at 6. But by christ i hope this year we take a punt and develop a 6 and 8 that have a bit of height, and then just pick the best 7 at 7.
Before the ABs recent improvement in LOs, they used to win a fuck load of games with the worst Tier 1 lineout, so not totally true IMO. It is just like anything else, any weaknes can be exploited. Doesn;t mater where, physicality, scrum, kicking, whatever. But the ABs used to be reknown for their awful LO, still won lots
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@antipodean said in AB Depth Chart 2020:
@mariner4life said in AB Depth Chart 2020:
Last year we were forced in to it because we had absolutely no one at 6. But by christ i hope this year we take a punt and develop a 6 and 8 that have a bit of height, and then just pick the best 7 at 7.
Ioane/ Robinson, Cane, Sotutu.
Problem solved.
LOL no Ardie, WR Nominee and ABs best player previous year. And two utter noobs
YEAH RIGHT
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@Machpants said in AB Depth Chart 2020:
@antipodean said in AB Depth Chart 2020:
@mariner4life said in AB Depth Chart 2020:
Last year we were forced in to it because we had absolutely no one at 6. But by christ i hope this year we take a punt and develop a 6 and 8 that have a bit of height, and then just pick the best 7 at 7.
Ioane/ Robinson, Cane, Sotutu.
Problem solved.
LOL no Ardie, WR Nominee and ABs best player previous year. And two utter noobs
YEAH RIGHT
if he's the best 7, he plays 7, it's very simple.
No matter if Ardie is just the absolute besterest rugby player eva, he's still a no more than adequate test match 6 or 8. So if he is the best 7 he plays 7. But don't shoehorn him in just to do the tried and test dumb thing of trying to fit the "best" players in and ignoring positions.
I just don't think he's a better test match 7 than Cane in teh first 55 mins of a test. I think he would be brilliant in the last 25 though.
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@Machpants said in AB Depth Chart 2020:
@antipodean said in AB Depth Chart 2020:
@mariner4life said in AB Depth Chart 2020:
Last year we were forced in to it because we had absolutely no one at 6. But by christ i hope this year we take a punt and develop a 6 and 8 that have a bit of height, and then just pick the best 7 at 7.
Ioane/ Robinson, Cane, Sotutu.
Problem solved.
LOL no Ardie, WR Nominee and ABs best player previous year. And two utter noobs
YEAH RIGHT
He can come off the bench, but on current form he doesn't demand to start ahead of the others.
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@mariner4life said in AB Depth Chart 2020:
@Machpants said in AB Depth Chart 2020:
@antipodean said in AB Depth Chart 2020:
@mariner4life said in AB Depth Chart 2020:
Last year we were forced in to it because we had absolutely no one at 6. But by christ i hope this year we take a punt and develop a 6 and 8 that have a bit of height, and then just pick the best 7 at 7.
Ioane/ Robinson, Cane, Sotutu.
Problem solved.
LOL no Ardie, WR Nominee and ABs best player previous year. And two utter noobs
YEAH RIGHT
if he's the best 7, he plays 7, it's very simple.
No matter if Ardie is just the absolute besterest rugby player eva, he's still a no more than adequate test match 6 or 8. So if he is the best 7 he plays 7. But don't shoehorn him in just to do the tried and test dumb thing of trying to fit the "best" players in and ignoring positions.
I just don't think he's a better test match 7 than Cane in teh first 55 mins of a test. I think he would be brilliant in the last 25 though.
This and this.
It's the best way of using two great players.
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@antipodean said in AB Depth Chart 2020:
@mariner4life said in AB Depth Chart 2020:
Last year we were forced in to it because we had absolutely no one at 6. But by christ i hope this year we take a punt and develop a 6 and 8 that have a bit of height, and then just pick the best 7 at 7.
Ioane/ Robinson, Cane, Sotutu.
Problem solved.
Almost there.
Papali'i in for Cane...
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@Dice said in AB Depth Chart 2020:
@antipodean said in AB Depth Chart 2020:
@mariner4life said in AB Depth Chart 2020:
Last year we were forced in to it because we had absolutely no one at 6. But by christ i hope this year we take a punt and develop a 6 and 8 that have a bit of height, and then just pick the best 7 at 7.
Ioane/ Robinson, Cane, Sotutu.
Problem solved.
Almost there.
Papali'i in for Cane...
Brings to mind the old... Auckland is just proof Australians can swim...
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@antipodean said in AB Depth Chart 2020:
@mariner4life said in AB Depth Chart 2020:
Last year we were forced in to it because we had absolutely no one at 6. But by christ i hope this year we take a punt and develop a 6 and 8 that have a bit of height, and then just pick the best 7 at 7.
Robinson, Cane, Sotutu.
Problem solved.
More decisive!
Ardie on the bench.
Makaele Tu'u as the back-up 8.
And one of a number of decent options as the back-up 6.
Robinson is 1.98 m, so really gets himself around for a taller man than Kaino.
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@Chris-B said in AB Depth Chart 2020:
@antipodean said in AB Depth Chart 2020:
@mariner4life said in AB Depth Chart 2020:
Last year we were forced in to it because we had absolutely no one at 6. But by christ i hope this year we take a punt and develop a 6 and 8 that have a bit of height, and then just pick the best 7 at 7.
Robinson, Cane, Sotutu.
Problem solved.
More decisive!
Ardie on the bench.
Makaele Tu'u as the back-up 8.
And one of a number of decent options as the back-up 6.
Robinson is 1.98 m, so really gets himself around for a taller man than Kaino.
I'm considering joining this club, do you have a flier?
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@Nepia said in AB Depth Chart 2020:
@Chris-B said in AB Depth Chart 2020:
Makaele Tu'u as the back-up 8.
Keep your dirty invitational XV hands away!
Had to google the reference, which threw up as first hit....
Born in Miramar, Wellington, Marino Mikaele Tu'u moved to Hastings....
As an act of mercy, they probably should pick Frizell as the back-up 6.
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@Crucial said in AB Depth Chart 2020:
@kiwiinmelb said in Blues v Highlanders:
Apologies if it’s already been discussed, And to go with that, is beaudy at 15 the best option for the ABs going forward ?
If it’s a yes , I’m all for him playing 15 at this level
This comment in another thread is worthy of discussion here.
We have had this problem for a while now IMO. As good a player as BB is, IMO he is not the type of 10 that we really need in the ABs.
Trouble is that we don't have any of those 10s around. Old Cruden (minus the chip kicks) would be the closest we have to a 10 that reads the opposition well and calls the shots on the fly. Someone that watches the opposition and works the ball into weak areas while changing gameplans when they have your own areas figured out.
BB has never been that guy and Mounga is also BB light.
So back to the reality and is BB the best option at the moment?
He has to be on the field at 10 or 15 so it will simply be a case (as per last year) of whether we gain more from a DMac or JB at the back than we do from Mounga at the front.Yeah, a tough one. I was firmly in the camp that moving BB to 10 in 2016 was a big mistake and that we should have persisted with Cruden at 10 instead of pushing him and Sopoaga out of NZ. I still held that view up until last year in the basis that I didn’t think BB was the guy to get the best out of our backline.
However, with the benefit of RWC failure induced hindsight, we absolutely should have played him at 10 last year and the decision not to was, IMO, a major factor in us not getting the business done last year.
Truth is, Richie simply wasn’t up to it and may never be. BB had also been running the cutter reasonably well for the previous 4 years, during which he won World Rugby POTY in 2016 and 2017. We had an entire backline and forward pack who’d been playing pretty well with him as their 10. He was also our best player and so there was some logic in having his hands on the ball frequently.
I personally think he should return to the 10 jersey until the next legendary 10 comes along because he’s frankly the best of the bunch we currently have and by quite a way.
