Japan v All Blacks
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@Frank Have you seen a better defensive performance than that from us in recent times? No tries until Mounga was charged down in the 2nd half, then not another until almost full time when the subs were on.
@Tim said in Japan v All Blacks:
@Frank Have you seen a better defensive performance than that from us in recent times? No tries until Mounga was charged down in the 2nd half, then not another until almost full time when the subs were on.
And against the might of Japan no less!
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@Tim said in Japan v All Blacks:
@Frank Have you seen a better defensive performance than that from us in recent times? No tries until Mounga was charged down in the 2nd half, then not another until almost full time when the subs were on.
And against the might of Japan no less!
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Anyway, can't see us going far next year while handicapped by MacLeod's terrible, and terribly antiquated, defensive plans.
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What's the best team available for the next game?
1 de Groot
2 Taukei'aho
3 Lomax
4 Barrett
5 Whitelock
6 Ioane
7 Papalii
8 Savea
9 Smith
10 Mo'unga
11 Clarke
12 Barrett
13 Ioane
14 Jordan
15 Barrett16 Coles
17 Tu'ungufasi
18 Laulala
19 Tuipulotu
20 Sotutu
21 Christie
22 ALB
23 PerofetaIt would be great to have Tu'ungufasi as the bench tight head (Laulala is set piece only), but loose head reserves are chop too. Newall has been poor so far. Too young.
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@Tim said in Japan v All Blacks:
Lomax and Tu'ungufasi looked good when they came on. We have three good props now (de Groot).
Would be good if we could say the same about 9's. I think we'd be stuffed if Nugget gets injured. Christie is good off the bench but looked slow today. Fakatava's injury could really hurt us.
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Scanning this thread I'm glad I didn't watch...
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Biggest take away was how much I enjoy watching Japan play, they just seem to love playing
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@Tim said in Japan v All Blacks:
Lomax and Tu'ungufasi looked good when they came on. We have three good props now (de Groot).
Would be good if we could say the same about 9's. I think we'd be stuffed if Nugget gets injured. Christie is good off the bench but looked slow today. Fakatava's injury could really hurt us.
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@Tim said in Japan v All Blacks:
Lomax and Tu'ungufasi looked good when they came on. We have three good props now (de Groot).
Would be good if we could say the same about 9's. I think we'd be stuffed if Nugget gets injured. Christie is good off the bench but looked slow today. Fakatava's injury could really hurt us.
@Victor-Meldrew Well Hodgman was the standout loose head in Super Rugby, was very good in 2020 for the ABs, but seems to have been banished from any rep teams since then. Something is rotten ...
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What's the best team available for the next game?
1 de Groot
2 Taukei'aho
3 Lomax
4 Barrett
5 Whitelock
6 Ioane
7 Papalii
8 Savea
9 Smith
10 Mo'unga
11 Clarke
12 Barrett
13 Ioane
14 Jordan
15 Barrett16 Coles
17 Tu'ungufasi
18 Laulala
19 Tuipulotu
20 Sotutu
21 Christie
22 ALB
23 PerofetaIt would be great to have Tu'ungufasi as the bench tight head (Laulala is set piece only), but loose head reserves are chop too. Newall has been poor so far. Too young.
@Tim said in Japan v All Blacks:
What's the best team available for the next game?
1 de Groot
2 Taukei'aho
3 Lomax
4 Barrett
5 Whitelock
6 Ioane
7 Papalii
8 Savea
9 Smith
10 Mo'unga
11 Clarke
12 Barrett
13 Ioane
14 Jordan
15 Barrett16 Coles
17 Tu'ungufasi
18 Laulala
19 Tuipulotu
20 Sotutu
21 Christie
22 ALB
23 PerofetaIt would be great to have Tu'ungufasi as the bench tight head (Laulala is set piece only), but loose head reserves are chop too. Newall has been poor so far. Too young.
I’d still have RIoane on the left and ALB at centre. BBarrett to start instead of Richie M, much as that worries me, because Richie can’t play well if he hasn’t got an armchair ride from his forwards. Jordan to FB. Richie on the bench with Perofeta.
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Just a reminder that we conceded 31 points against Japan. I assume that's another record.
Defence wins big games, and MacLeod still has a job ... Madness.
@Tim said in Japan v All Blacks:
Just a reminder that we conceded 31 points against Japan. I assume that's another record.
Defence wins big games, and MacLeod still has a job ... Madness.
Was 69-31 last time we played them, so not a record there. So Mcleod hasn't gotten any better in the past 4 years then.
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@Tim said in Japan v All Blacks:
Just a reminder that we conceded 31 points against Japan. I assume that's another record.
Defence wins big games, and MacLeod still has a job ... Madness.
Was 69-31 last time we played them, so not a record there. So Mcleod hasn't gotten any better in the past 4 years then.
@Anonymous Happy for him not to set a new record this time. :folded_hands:
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I'm nowhere near as despondent as others after that, and still very much looking forward to the EOYT. Japan are pretty decent at home these days, and we had a lot of disruption in the lead up so had a pretty makeshift team really. We also clearly don't have the depth of players that we used to, so I was never expecting us to stuff them by 50.
The team that ran out tonight is a far cry from the team that smacked the Wallabies at Eden Park. If we get our first choice 15 on the field then we're a formidable team. Obviously a couple of injuries to key players would put us in a bit of trouble, but that's true of any of the top sides at the moment.
I think we just need to give our top 15 plenty of gametime going into the RWC and hope we don't get any major injuries, which is basically what every other side is doing as well.
Like you, I'm not despondent overall and expected a scrappy first half, but we didn't get much better in the 2nd half and that's a bit of worry for me.
Perhaps it's just too many inexperienced players with minimum game time so hope the likes of RTS & Vaa'i get some gain from the match
