The Silver Fern

Shame to see him go, felt like he was teetering on the precipice of being a very good player but thanks to injuries we never quite saw the best of him.

Can see him having a very successful career in Japan.

@delicatessen said in Manawatu v North Harbour:

Laumape started his AB's return campaign on the right note. First touch was a dinky chip to no space just outside his 22 with no advantage. Lovely.

There's that kicking game all his supporters love to talk up.

@Dodge said in Wallabies vs Lions III:

can't say i think that is the best available XV, on reflection throughout the tests, i'm a bit disappointed by the shoe horning in of Irish players. Genge is better than Porter, not sure what Ryan's done to deserve a spot, think Conan is lucky.

Think the bench is mental, Farrell covers 10 and 12, Earl covers back row and 12 but there's a dramatic lack of cover for the other backline positions. Think Marcus should be on the bench instead of Farrell.

Jones can cover wing, Kinghorn can cover fullback. Don't think Smith's utility value should be enough to see him getting selected over Farrell (though you could argue he's simply a better player).

@sparky said in Hawkes Bay v Counties:

@Duluth said in Hawkes Bay v Counties:

No Dalton Papali'i?

Hopefully he'll be on the plane to Argentina.

Still unusual given he was released, and only had minimal minutes throughout July, but maybe plans have changed.

@Bovidae Great insight! Completely forgot Wrampling was playing for the Maori.

While it's entirely possible that's the case for Dyer, I don't personally know why they would do that. Since the Super Rugby final on 21 June he's only played 40 minutes for the AUNZ side. I'd be wanting him to have at least some proper recent minutes before potentially being whistled up to play against Argentina.

@Bovidae said in Auckland v Waikato:

Are these the teams? Waikato are including players outside of the main squad.

A lot of players missing from the Waikato team that are a part of the squad - and obviously no injury news available anywhere...

From recent frequent flyers, no Aki Tuivailala, Anton Lienert-Brown, D'Angelo Leuila (understandable given the presence of Cruden and Sopoaga), George Dyer, Gideon Wrampling (injured at the end of Super but unclear for how long), Hamilton Burr, Jahrome Brown, Liam Coombes-Fabling, Mitch Jacobson, Sean Ralph, or Senita Lauaki.

Plus a few longer-term injuries like Malachi Wrampling and the unavailable All Blacks.

@Bones know you're being facetious but that's sort of my point. Wing isn't anywhere near as specialised a position as halfback. We know what Carter can do on the wing so if Razor's want a 6/2 bench option and sees Carter as a potential asset in that from then he should be encouraging him to play halfback now.

@Steven-Harris said in All Blacks 2025:

Would love to see Leroy Carter selected as a wing and halfback cover great option for a 6-2 bench split
Did a great job for Bay of Plenty last year , it’s not as if the options under Hotham are jumping out at us .

I'm not against this in principal but if Carter is to be selected as genuine halfback cover for the All Blacks then he needs to be playing halfback at Super level (or for BOP at the very least).

I'd be surprised if Morgan isn't starting and Pollock isn't in the 23.

@Catogrande

Very recent!

World Rugby Passport - Clarification 1-2025

@Catogrande said in Wallabies v Lions II:

@MiketheSnow

Going back to the Sheehan try, I can quite see his view about it being dangerous but, and I know this is a little different, how many times to we see a ruck near the line and a player picking up the ball and diving over the ruck to score? As i say I can see that it is different, but the question is, how do you police this? A ruck still has defenders which are being dived over. In truth it might have been better for the Lions if he hadn't scored and Slipper penalised for being on the ground and interfering with play. That would have been the third or fourth penalty on the trot and maybe a team yellow. Assuming the officials even noticed the offence that is.

We shouldn't be seeing this anymore - it's been outlawed.

@antipodean said in Wallabies vs Lions III:

@Tordah for me it will come down to the fitness of Skelton and Valentini, with the admission of Schmidt he needs Salakaia-Loto on the bench.

That alone will determine if the Wallabies can compete for 80mins.

The biggest concern is if Farrell Snr is smart enough to let the better players in the squad have an opportunity. As I see it a fit Wallaby squad can take this Irish Invitational - if Farrell mistakenly selects on form, then they're destined to win 3-0.

Who would you bring in on form?

Morgan, Pollock are probably the two obvious ones. Go back to Tuipulotu in the midfield maybe? Freeman wasn't great on Saturday but has been in good form, Lowe is a little bit of the reverse.

Don't think any of the above changes would make a big difference though.

On the Fainga'anuku sitch:

New Zealand Rugby has told The Post that Fainga’anuku isn’t available for the Rugby Championship, due to the amount of time he has spent away from New Zealand and the fact that he was only 24 years old when he took up the contract with Toulon. NZ Rugby requires players to have built up a record of long service before they can go overseas and immediately come back into the All Blacks frame upon returning to New Zealand.

So basically the policy is whatever they want it to be on the day.

The Post

@DaGrubster said in All Blacks 2025:

@brodean said in All Blacks 2025:

@DaGrubster

They were missing a bunch of their best players against England including Albernoz. It was effectively a couple of development games for them.

They beat the Lion's a month ago. They beat the Springboks September last year in Argentina. They beat us in Wellington. They shouldn't be underestimated.

I dont underestimate them.

But England beat them twice without their 10 best players

Contempomi rested more than 10 players from the England series:

Gonzalo García, Tomás Albornoz, Joaquín Oviedo, Franco Molina, Joel Sclavi, Mateo Carreras, Bautista Delguy, Juan Cruz Mallía, Santiago Chocobares, Efraín Elías, Guido Petti, Gerónimo Prisciantelli, Ignacio Calles, Eduardo Bello, Ignacio Ruiz, Marcos Kremer.

Not suggesting that they had more firepower out than England, but it was far from a full-strength team.

@Bones said in All Blacks 2025:

@Mr-Fish said in All Blacks 2025:

@Bones said in All Blacks 2025:

@Mr-Fish said in All Blacks 2025:

He doesn't have to play any games. If Robertson wants Leicester in the squad, NZR will let Robertson select him.

NZR might publicly say that the requirement is to play NPC but they've ignored that rule in recent years when convenient.

I can't think of any, who did they do that with?

TJ Perenara when he returned from Japan a couple of years back.

Oh true, that wasn't a sabbatical?

Nope, Perenara signed a new deal while he was overseas.

Same situation with Barrett last year. Contract ended at NZR, didn't take a sabbatical, but signed a deal with NZ before going to Japan and was ushered straight into the team for July (though that was something Barrett would have specifically negotiated in his new contract).

Would be shocked if it weren't Christie.

Otherwise probably Fakatava? Roe maybe.

@Canes4life said in Wallabies v Lions II:

@Mr-Fish said in Wallabies v Lions II:

@Canes4life said in Wallabies v Lions II:

If you want a laugh, rewind back to when Kurtley Beale is on the mic. He predicts Drew Mitchell will pull a hammy, about half a minute later Drew gets in space and pulls his hammy. Bloody funny. He then proceeds to accept a beer from a fan and necks it before limping off the park.

Do you know approximately when? Don't want to go through the whole game haha.

Matt Giteau scored a classic chip and chase try too.

Kurtley comes on the mic just after the 11 min mark on the game clock.

Brilliant.

@Canes4life said in Wallabies v Lions II:

If you want a laugh, rewind back to when Kurtley Beale is on the mic. He predicts Drew Mitchell will pull a hammy, about half a minute later Drew gets in space and pulls his hammy. Bloody funny. He then proceeds to accept a beer from a fan and necks it before limping off the park.

Do you know approximately when? Don't want to go through the whole game haha.

Matt Giteau scored a classic chip and chase try too.

@Canes4life

This is the (most recent) official requirement but, again, the NZR will make exemptions if need be.

But given Ta$man play before the Rugby Championship kicks off, they probably won't have to.

@Bones said in All Blacks 2025:

@Mr-Fish said in All Blacks 2025:

He doesn't have to play any games. If Robertson wants Leicester in the squad, NZR will let Robertson select him.

NZR might publicly say that the requirement is to play NPC but they've ignored that rule in recent years when convenient.

I can't think of any, who did they do that with?

TJ Perenara when he returned from Japan a couple of years back.