First post here on SF btw. So far not ideal preparation but hopefully the situation can galvanise us. Given the forwards at this stage are in effected, I would go with a backline of;
Bench:
Fakatava, M’unga, Fainga’anuku
Pretty decent and plenty of go forward
Foster could go on to set more records than any other All Blacks coach. What an achievement!
Who else likes the look of our bench this week? Plenty of impact with the likes of Jordan, Fakatava, Taukei’aho, Ross and PGS.
Early doors but interested to hear which players are seen as the World Cup bolters;
For mine so far, Shaun Stevenson is a standout on current form and his achievements last year.
thankfully Damo is kicking
@antipodean btw, I’m a big A Smith fan, but his box and clearing kick game for Highlanders and ABs last couple of seasons has been poor
Foster just needs time. They will learn and grow from this experience
@Unite agreed, but I’ll take an win
Hunt is woefully bad
how fitting Clarke scores
I am reasonably happy with 23 selected. The areas we need to address to compete with the best teams in the world right, I.e South Africa and France are, power, height to win the aerial contests, competition on the floor and pace out wide.
Given the cattle available for this test, this largely addresses these areas.
Would have love to have seen another fast wing, like CT or LC in there, but they were unavailable or not selected.
@Hooroo all good mate. I am not into the whole banter or trolling, just keen to share and hear views of passionate AB's and NZ rugby followrs
@Tim slightly offside though. We need to punch in close more before going wide
@Bones there's a wine thread? show me the vino to that one
As always this will come to who wins up front. A big test that will answer questions about our team, is JB the answer at 12, is DP our new 7 and can RM run the cutter under genuine pressure?
Withy has been good
To be fair, not a Havili fan, but he has been the best midfielder in this match so far
@KiwiMurph surely they were playing the 9
Pathetic Aussie commentators
we need to score next