All Blacks v France III
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Went to the game. Tailgated all afternoon. Watched the end of a fun Club semifinal. Ate, drank, and then saw a good quality french outfit push us.
I rated Love at the back live. Thought he did very well.
Our basics let us down - this is a general observation on Rugby in this country at the moment. Kicking isn't valued, so we get popgun, shit kickers, we are very very ambitious on setpiece moves that break down.
The chip on the 10 m line ... frankly astonishing.Good win against a spirited French side. JB was outstanding. France were close, but close is no cigar ... but damn they pushed us right to the end.
Level of physical and speed was a serious tick up on Super.
All in all, a good fun trip
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@KiwiMurph lack of smarts, could not believe some of those attempts to get it over.the line, very low % play with so many bodies there, even if you do get it down, ref and tmo need to see it.
We did a lot of really good stuff mixed with some incredibly dumb stuff, with Ardies chip probably the winner on the day.
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@nzzp said in All Blacks v France III:
Our basics let us down - this is a general observation on Rugby in this country at the moment. Kicking isn't valued, so we get popgun, shit kickers, we are very very ambitious on setpiece moves that break down.
It was noticeable to me how well and deep the French could kick. Obvious benefits of playing in a comp with a longer season - forwards would be less enamoured of having to go backwards.
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@mariner4life said in All Blacks v France III:
Thoughts to generate some chat again.
Anyone who watched that and doesn't think Finau belongs in test rugby shouldn't bother logging back in, just go post on reddit rugby. He was our most effective loose forward for the majority of the match while the other two swanned about doing dumb shit.
Anyone who watched DMac calmy pass the ball to dangerous areas, kick with accuracy and depth, and just calmly guide us around, and doesn't think he should own that 10 jersey should also not bother logging back in.
The fact Jordie Barrett has come back from Europe playing this well is a damning indictment on our domestic coaching. He's night and day better than last year, so thank you Ireland.
If Razor puts Barrett back to starting lock given the form of the other two guys it would be a disgraceful piece of selecting.Geez the French have some depth. They played bloody well, that #8 was a fucking menace. Their forwards were so strong too, stopping us over and over again. Credit to the big lads who eventually got over the top of them.
Good test and a good win.
I'm a massive Finau fan, but was disappointed with his output on Saturday.
I will say I was in the same position with Vaa'i and I am right about him. So am nowhere near writing Finau off.
Don't think he was helped by the tiny other looseforwards. He was the only big guy of the 2.
Would have put CLW at 8 rather than DPK to start.
DPK is like our 5th or 6th loosie against teams that dont have a big trio ... Aussie ... size matters.
I think that lack of size on Saturday affected our physicality. Am pretty sure I said somewhere I would like to have seen Ah Kuoi in the mix. NAK and Vaa'i seem to be similar options at 5.
The old saying about a good big player beats a good small player...
Agree with the rest of your points.
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I couldn't believe that Reece got a 7 from the local scribe. He spent all of the 1st half getting in the way with ineffectual picks that killed any forward momentum, and then didn't back himself to beat a defender on the outside. It was as dumb as de Groot thinking he could barge over with a defender already holding him.
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@1kiwi said in All Blacks v France III:
Time to move on from ALB, Reece and Tuipulotu
Not agreeing.
ALB was adequate. He's better than a lot judge him to be. He's not a world beater but I'm not unhappy with him in our team. Better than some make him out to be.
Reece, not black to his best, but he creates shit from nothing. He's one of our best wingers at ggd moment... but nat not be come 2027 ...
See comments on Reece re Tuipolutu and 2027. But until Darry, Beenre, Lord etc show up better he's one of our two best loxks.
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@mariner4life said in All Blacks v France III:
I thought Finau's clean was his stand out attribute.
He did the same in the earlier tests but haters don't want to see it. It was especially evident in the last 5 mins of the Dunedin test.
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@antipodean said in All Blacks v France III:
ALB was a penalty magnet again.
Although if he was the player penalised as Gardner said, the replay showed that Reece was way in front of him.
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Can I just say though, we were significantly better than the score.
Yeah we were held up 4 times (? Four or five?). Whilst we can complain that was dumb, add those 4 or 5 tries to the 29-19 and it's far more comfortable.
Add the 3 TMO tries to Test I and the scores are significantly one sided.
I do like discounting the "what ifs", but we were all over them in the second half.
Reckon we're not giving ourselves enough credit.
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We was robbed that the Frogs didn’t bring a lunch and - given the ABs injuries - could have been talking about a 3-0 sweep.
Instead we’re talking about varying degrees of depth that won’t matter one bit come the business end of any RWC.
And I hate to mention the RWC 2 years out but when a series is approached like that and becomes meaningless, what else can you do?
Could have lit up world rugby with a Dupont vs Cam best of 3. Instead we’re talking about Harry Wilson kicking the ball out.
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One thing that Kirifi did bring was good link play when we transition to the backs. 2 tries came from his tag / back door balls. The only other player that is really succinct in that play is Tupou Vaai. Ardie etc stagnate our attack when running as first reciever/pod
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@Bovidae said in All Blacks v France III:
@mariner4life said in All Blacks v France III:
I thought Finau's clean was his stand out attribute.
He did the same in the earlier tests but haters don't want to see it. It was especially evident in the last 5 mins of the Dunedin test.
Yep,I thought Finau went ok. I admit a a fan of Vaa'i staying at 6 going forward, but it's not that Finau no good. I like we getting options in these positions.
Oh and is good being back after the Fern disappeared from my computers etc.
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@Dan54 said in All Blacks v France III:
@Bovidae said in All Blacks v France III:
@mariner4life said in All Blacks v France III:
I thought Finau's clean was his stand out attribute.
He did the same in the earlier tests but haters don't want to see it. It was especially evident in the last 5 mins of the Dunedin test.
Yep,I thought Finau went ok. I admit a a fan of Vaa'i staying at 6 going forward, but it's not that Finau no good. I like we getting options in these positions.
Oh and is good being back after the Fern disappeared from my computers etc.
I'm happy to continue with Vaa'i and Finau at blindside and there are other options who may step up. The other two loose forward positions still have question marks over them, in terms of the size of the players the coaches are currently selecting and the way those players play. Sititi and Lakai may make a difference when they're back but we'll have to wait and see there.
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@booboo said in All Blacks v France III:
Can I just say though, we were significantly better than the score.
Yeah we were held up 4 times (? Four or five?). Whilst we can complain that was dumb, add those 4 or 5 tries to the 29-19 and it's far more comfortable.
I actually don't agree with this! They had a clear tactic of soaking people up over the line to get a goal line dropout. It's a tactic we struggled with - and have for some time.
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Some interesting stats form Stuff.co.nz. Below is a graph that shows points for and against for all three-test mid-year tours of New Zealand, dating back to 2005. A key takeaway for me is that we are scoring plenty of points, however we seem to be leaking a lot more compared to previous years (apart from Ireland in 2022).
Maybe a worry when you factor in the French side that toured this year could have been much stronger.
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@ShaquilleOatmeal said in All Blacks v France III:
@Dan54 said in All Blacks v France III:
@Bovidae said in All Blacks v France III:
@mariner4life said in All Blacks v France III:
I thought Finau's clean was his stand out attribute.
He did the same in the earlier tests but haters don't want to see it. It was especially evident in the last 5 mins of the Dunedin test.
Yep,I thought Finau went ok. I admit a a fan of Vaa'i staying at 6 going forward, but it's not that Finau no good. I like we getting options in these positions.
Oh and is good being back after the Fern disappeared from my computers etc.
I'm happy to continue with Vaa'i and Finau at blindside and there are other options who may step up. The other two loose forward positions still have question marks over them, in terms of the size of the players the coaches are currently selecting and the way those players play. Sititi and Lakai may make a difference when they're back but we'll have to wait and see there.
I actually probably as excited about Lakai coming back as Sititi, these 2 could be a big part of our future in loosies.
