All Blacks v France III

[sparky]

The team is going to be named at 10:30 NZ time apparently so in 23 minutes.

[sparky]

The forwards are apparently:

De Groot, Taukei'aho, Lomax, Tuipolutu, Holland, Finau, Savea (c), Jacobson

[JK]

All Blacks squad to play France

1- Ethan de Groot, 2. Samisoni Taukei’aho, 3. Tyrel Lomax, 4. Patrick Tuipulotu, 5. Fabian Holland, 6. Samipeni Finau, 7. Ardie Savea, 8. Luke Jacobson, 9. Cortez Ratima, 10. Damian McKenzie, 11. Rieko Ioane 12. Quinn Tupaea, 13. Anton Lienert-Brown, 14. Sevu Reece, 15. Ruben Love.

Reserves
16. Brodie McAlister, 17. George Bower, 18. Fletcher Newell, 19. Dalton Papali’i, 20. Du Plessis Kirifi, 21. Noah Hotham, 22. Timoci Tavatavanawai, 23. Will Jordan.

[MN5]

Big test for Finau. Let's see if he is the goods.

Can some nerd tell me out of interest the last time an AB match day squad had zero Barretts in it ?

[brodean]

So Papali'i covers lock.

[brodean]

@MN5 said in All Blacks v France III:

Big test for Finau. Let's see if he is the goods.

We know that PT won't last the game so the plan will be for Finau to move to lock and for Papali'i to cover Finau if he gets injured.

[nostrildamus]

@brodean said in All Blacks v France III:

So Papali'i covers lock.

I assumed they'd move Finau and shuffle the loosies maybe?

[nostrildamus]

Biggest call for me is no Taylor

[brodean]

Interesting there is no BB on the bench. So Love covers 10.

[brodean]

Personally I would have gone with Lio Willie over Kirifi. Lio Willie has been accurate and performed his core role although a bit quite.

[nostrildamus]

Not a very big backline. But 4 7s in the 23..

[brodean]

@nostrildamus said in All Blacks v France III:

Not a very big backline

Yes though probably France's won't be big either.

[Landers92]

A late change with BB not on the bench. Have just asked why that changed

[brodean]

It's surprising that they didn't include Ah Kuoi in the team. Ah Kuoi and Papali'i makes more sense

[brodean]

This post is deleted!

[nostrildamus]

Yes it was an opportunity to test another lock/6 methinks.
They seem to like Finau and want to give Kirifi another chance

[Bovidae]

Worst case scenario is that Tuipulotu goes down early. Having lock cover on the bench would be better than expecting Finau to play big minutes there.

Noah Hotham's Dad should be able to see him play as he is currently in NZ with the Hong Kong U20s.

[MN5]

@nostrildamus said in All Blacks v France III:

Not a very big backline. But 4 7s in the 23..

3 guys over 100kg and we know Ratima is a gym powerhouse. They'll be ok.

[ARHS]

Perhaps they have chosen to stick to named squad, then confirmed injury replacements to replicate a tour or RWC situation. I.e. testing their planned contingency options to the max.
Thought Norris might play given his feature article. Is that 7 Waikato players in starting lineup though?
I am hoping the plan is to play an expansive style this week and move the French forwards around a lot.
I have tickets and am looking forward to this.

[Pepe]

@Landers92

I think I read somewhere BB had a hand injury?