Best players in SR this week

cgrant

@Canes4life said in Best players in SR this week:

@cgrant said in Best players in SR this week:

A bit off topic but what would be your form team so far (eligible NZ players only) ?
Mine :
De Groot
Taukei'aho
Lomax
Retallick
?
Finau
Papali'i
Sotutu
Weber/Roigard
MacKenzie
Fainganu'uku
T. Umaga Jensen
Aumua
Narawa/Telea
Stephenson

I could not find a lock to partner BBBR : Whitelock has been sidelined for weeks and Vai'i goes missing sometimes. It's the same with PPP. Maybe the most constant in his performances is Cameron Suafua but he is not a standout either. Bird has been good in his outings but he is not even considered as a starter at the Canes. So who ? Gardiner (he's just a stop gap in the Crusaders team as he is more a 6 than a lock) ? Barrett (pretty anonymous so far) ?
I could not make a choice between Roigard and Weber. The latter is slightly in front because of a bad Roigard's performance from the bench. The same for Telea and Narawa. Both have been outstanding so far.

Solid team, but I’d have Proctor over Aumua. Proctor has been exceptional and was sorely missed against the Chiefs on Saturday.

Also when he was fit, Blackadder was playing the house down so maybe he deserves a mention.

Sorry, I forgot Proctor. Yes, I would take him over Aumua. He could be a bolter for the ABs if the likes of ALB and Goodhue don't come back strongly.

mariner4life

that's not a bad shout for a form side

what should be concerning is, maybe only the first 4 blokes there will start for the ABs

Kiwiwomble

@Canes4life said in Best players in SR this week:

@cgrant said in Best players in SR this week:

A bit off topic but what would be your form team so far (eligible NZ players only) ?
Mine :
De Groot
Taukei'aho
Lomax
Retallick
?
Finau
Papali'i
Sotutu
Weber/Roigard
MacKenzie
Fainganu'uku
T. Umaga Jensen
Aumua
Narawa/Telea
Stephenson

I could not find a lock to partner BBBR : Whitelock has been sidelined for weeks and Vai'i goes missing sometimes. It's the same with PPP. Maybe the most constant in his performances is Cameron Suafua but he is not a standout either. Bird has been good in his outings but he is not even considered as a starter at the Canes. So who ? Gardiner (he's just a stop gap in the Crusaders team as he is more a 6 than a lock) ? Barrett (pretty anonymous so far) ?
I could not make a choice between Roigard and Weber. The latter is slightly in front because of a bad Roigard's performance from the bench. The same for Telea and Narawa. Both have been outstanding so far.

Solid team, but I’d have Proctor over Aumua. Proctor has been exceptional and was sorely missed against the Chiefs on Saturday.

Also when he was fit, Blackadder was playing the house down so maybe he deserves a mention.

i was very impressed with Proctor against the Highlanders, the backline actually sparked at 13 rather than petered out

@mariner4life said in Best players in SR this week:

that's not a bad shout for a form side

what should be concerning is, maybe only the first 4 blokes there will start for the ABs

definitely concerning

Duluth

@mariner4life said in Best players in SR this week:

what should be concerning is, maybe only the first 4 blokes there will start for the ABs

Why? The knockout stages of the RWC are in mid to late October. I would expect regular ABs to be on a program to peak then. We’ve seen that in previous years

Crucial

@mariner4life said in Best players in SR this week:

that's not a bad shout for a form side

what should be concerning is, maybe only the first 4 blokes there will start for the ABs

Not too concerning unless this is the same weekly form side by the tail end of the comp. (edit: as @Duluth just said)

Finau an interesting call. Is he in bolter discussions? If they still want a 'strong man' 6 he is doing that role better than others atm.

Personally I think Cane is at 7 due to winning a points decision against Paps.

mariner4life

@Duluth said in Best players in SR this week:

@mariner4life said in Best players in SR this week:

what should be concerning is, maybe only the first 4 blokes there will start for the ABs

Why? The knockout stages of the RWC are in mid to late October. I would expect regular ABs to be on a program to peak then. We’ve seen that in previous years

i don't subscribe to that way of thinking at all. Good players should be good no matter what. But for some reason in World Cup years NZ rugby fans are cool with our so called Elite talent playing like ass for half the year in the vain hope that it all comes good later on.

Duluth

@mariner4life

Are you suggesting their should be no periodisation of training? There should be no plan for the national team to have their players peaking in October? Or are you claiming rugby players should be playing their best from February to October with no dips in form?

mariner4life

@Duluth said in Best players in SR this week:

@mariner4life

Are you suggesting their should be no periodisation of training? There should be no plan for the national team to have their players peaking in October? Or are you claiming rugby players should be playing their best from February to October with no dips in form?

i am saying that, if there is a top of the table clash mid-season of Super Rugby, i would expect that the best players show up for it

unlike two guaranteed starting ABs who were dogshit on Saturday afternoon.

And if you don't agree, then Super Rugby is even more worthless than we initially thought.

Kiwiwomble

guys out performing incumbent AB's week in week out and not getting a call up because we're sure those incumbent AB's will turn up at the big show has to be a big issue when it comes to keeping talent in NZ

Duluth

@mariner4life

There's been very good performances in the derby games. Even from the losing team, particularly in the close matches.

However I don't expect the ABs to dominate a form xv at this time of the year. There's plenty that would be in a 2nd or 3rd xv and I would expect them to rise up later. We're halfway through the regular SR season or a third the way through the season for ABs

Also not being in the form xv after round 8 is not the same as playing shit. Which seems to be an angle getting pushed

@mariner4life said in Best players in SR this week:

unlike two guaranteed starting ABs who were dogshit on Saturday afternoon.

I assume one of those was Ardie? He's also played some very good games already in SR. Who knows what the reason for that game was.. but it isn't a pattern of poor form for him

nzzp

@mariner4life said in Best players in SR this week:

i am saying that, if there is a top of the table clash mid-season of Super Rugby, i would expect that the best players show up for it

we don't know the physical condition or training loads. I think at the elite level you have to know when you're trying to peak, and then work towards that.

And yes, it really does devalue Super. NZR don't treat Super with any respect, why should fans?

Winger

@Duluth said in Best players in SR this week:

unlike two guaranteed starting ABs who were dogshit on Saturday afternoon.

I assume one of those was Ardie? He's also played some very good games already in SR. Who knows what the reason for that game was.. but it isn't a pattern of poor form for him

Both have made teams of the week. And neither were shithouse in this game.

And but for 2-3 fucked up lineouts due in part to idiotic replacements by our coaches (short locks and a shortish back row) and a very poor clearance by Morgan the team could have won. This wouldn't happen with 2 of our ABs playing poorly

Rugbypass gave them a 7 and 7.5 rating. Maybe a bit high but not by much

Duluth

@cgrant said in Best players in SR this week:

Whitelock has been sidelined for weeks and Vai'i goes missing sometimes. It's the same with PPP. Maybe the most constant in his performances is Cameron Suafua but he is not a standout either. Bird has been good in his outings but he is not even considered as a starter at the Canes. So who ? Gardiner (he's just a stop gap in the Crusaders team as he is more a 6 than a lock) ? Barrett (pretty anonymous so far) ?

Is two games good enough to make a form xv? My pick would be Darry, he's been excellent since returning from injury. He seems like he's added some quality weight and he's shifting bodies

Chris

@cgrant said in Best players in SR this week:

Gardiner (he's just a stop gap in the Crusaders team as he is more a 6 than a lock)

He still has been really good the last 3 weeks playing out of position,So should be considered.

KiwiMurph

I'm not surprised Jordie was poor on the weekend. He was in between Morgan and a centre who hadn't played rugby in 6 months.

There's plenty of ABs playing well despite not being in form team of the competition; Cane, Weber, Smith, Ennor, Clarke etc.

The likes of Akira and Jordan should be back playing soon (this week?) which will help.

I'm hoping with Rieko's contract issue now behind him his game will flow.

kiwi_expat

@cgrant said in Best players in SR this week:

A bit off topic but what would be your form team so far (eligible NZ players only) ?
Mine :
De Groot
Taukei'aho
Lomax
Retallick
?
Finau
Papali'i
Sotutu
Weber/Roigard
MacKenzie
Fainganu'uku
T. Umaga Jensen
Aumua
Narawa/Telea
Stephenson

Only one Crusaders player, more Highlanders even, surprisingly.

How come these form teams, or 'team/s of week' rarely ever feature more than a couple of Crusaders while the same people claim a certain coach gets all the best players when he ends up doing yet another headspin around the super rugby trophy.

An interesting dichotomy.