Ennor was excellent at centre, Lio Willie and Papali'i had great games as did Havili apart from that terrible dropping it cold off the kick under no pressure. Fokatava brought some real energy and hussle off the bench and I wonder why he is not ahead of Finlay Christie in the halfback pecking order. Brodie McCallister also played very well at hooker somewhat surprising me.
Luke Jacobsons career summed up by one awesome run then off for a HIA which he failed.
AB XV equally as woeful under the high ball as the national team. Diabolical and we were lucky England A couldn't go 2 phases without knocking the ball on. Such a massive weakness of our game.
As is kicking, Josh Jacombs field kicking is woefully short and inaccurate and is his goal kicking is Beaden Barret levels of shit. He seemed to settle into running the game a bit better in the second half but wasn't great in this area in the first or last week so I wonder why Reihana isn't been given more time at 10. I guess Robertson and co see Jacomb as the next cab off the rank if their is an injury.
I would like to see how Cam Millar goes in a team that isn't getting eviscerated in the forwards and has some decent attacking threats on the outside It is a shame they selected on Super form only and not NPC. His kicking game is the best in NZ rugby but he gets exposed playing in a weak Highlanders side in a tournament like Super rugby that doesn't place much value on a 10 that kicks well and controls territory.
@BerniesCorner said in Scotland v All Blacks:
Recent criticism of Holland on here.
You wonder whether some people don't actually watch the game
The only two players we have who have a chance of being Best in the world in their positions are Holland and Riogard.
Jordan was a faint hope a year or so back but his inability to catch the high ball doesn't look like something he can rectify now and he is just a massive liability against any team who notices it and plays a standard (doesn't even need to be exceptional) box kick and chase game plan.
I like the way Tickner strode out confidently and patted Mitchell on the back as he passed him with a don't worry mate I have got this strut. Quite reassuring after Nathan Smith looked like a deer in headlights.
I think the dynamic between Robertson and Jason Ryan changed as a result of Ryan coaching the All Blacks for two years with Foster and Schmidt and leading them to the RWC final.
At the Crusader's Robertson the undisputed king but coming into the All Blacks with no previous test experience while Ryan was already a experienced international forward coach has lead Robertson to allowing Ryan too much influence over him and the team. Players Ryan liked and had a relationship with where instantly Robertson's men (Sam Cane and TJ Perenara stand out as the most obvious) and players Ryan disliked were written off without even being given a chance by Robertson.
It appears to me that the last two years Jason Ryan has actually been the All Blacks Head Coach with Scott Robertson in the role of clown media relations man. Robertson needs to put Ryan back in his place as a forwards coach who coaches the best talent NZ rugby can produce or replace him. But this isn't going to happen on this EOYT given the team selected,
@mariner4life said in All Blacks 2025:
@frugby said in All Blacks 2025:
The forwards are going quite well individually (suggests Ryan is doing his job)
i am starting to believe this isn't going as well as we thought. the set piece is going backwards, our ruck work leaves a lot to be desired, and defensively we are soft as butter.
Plus worse loose forward trios the All Blacks have ever put. The loose forwards are part of the forward pack.
Real shame Zack Gallagher is going, he has made a real decent fist of playing 6 in the NPC and looks like he could have proved useful in this position at Super level,. Canterbury lineout has been a real defensive weapon with 4 genuine jumping options.
@MN5 said in All Blacks 2025:
@brodean said in All Blacks 2025:
@Nepia said in All Blacks 2025:
@brodean said in All Blacks 2025:
@canefan said in All Blacks 2025:
So post 2015 we have had a succession of coaches that don't appear to be able to get the best out of a bunch of pretty good players. Is that a failure to relate, is it fault on the part of the players, or more likely a bunch of factors that made these guys leave?
Its a coaching/management failure. Every one of these guys could have been world class just by giving them test matches, experience and managing them better.
Victor Vito
Steve Luatua
Liam Squire
Vaea Fifita
Akira IoaneI do't think being given lack of chances applied to them all. Luatua, Fifita, and Akira yep, they could have had more. But:
Vito got lots of chances, he was just up against Kaino for the main spot, and Messam for the back up (who had a purple patch of form when Kaino was out for a bit). But in spite of that he had a good AB career. and won two RWC's.
Squire was injured then had his mental health issues which meant he couldn't really nail down the spot.
For Vito he was 28 when he left and had 30 odd tests under his belt. He was ready kick on after his apprenticeship and they should have nailed him down
Regarding Squire, speculation, but could he have been managed better so that his mental health issues didn't spiral out of control?
The way Hansen managed Akira Ioane publicly caused Ioane to have his own brief mental health challenges and his weight spiraled. So I suspect that along with the way he treated Luatua that Squire was not getting the support he needed - a management failure. There needs to be systems and support in place for players to cope with injuries etc.
Fifita was better with the ball in hand than any of them but for some reason was shunted into lock for the Canes. Probably so Brad Shields could rack up more games before going to play for England.
Publicly saying he didn’t like playing lock did him absolutely no favours either.
That is Super and even NPC rugby for you. Fast and loose so move your big physical guys into lock and play small fast hybrid 7s in the loose forwards.
It is probably a similar issue for Naitoa Ah Kuoi, Caleb Delaney, Dominic Gardiner, now even Oliver Haig and possibly Will Stoddard in the future.
@nzzp said in All Blacks 2025:
@MN5 said in All Blacks 2025:
@Jet said in All Blacks 2025:
@nzzp said in All Blacks 2025:
@booboo said in All Blacks 2025:
gave up potential greatness
Piutau got offered a big fat contract (biggest in the history of the league I think, when English rugby was flush). I can understand it.
Luatua went saying the selectors didn't talk to him - and Hansen threw his toys. He should have been our blindside for at least a world cup cycle - was some player.
Vito could have stayed longer too in my opinion.
Amazing athlete, possibly lacked a bit of a mean streak though ?
fits our 6 needs better though I suspect. And a ball carrier.
god what we wouldn't give for a Victor Vito now.
Is that because Millar is a facilitator for more attacking threats in any team he plays in but when your only attacking threats are the leftovers no one else wanted that the Highlanders backs have been over the last few seasons and your forward runners gain about as much momentum as the current All Black loose forward trio it is hard to not also below Super Rugby level.
TBH he should leave the Highlanders and go to the Blues or Hurricanes.
Not so sure. Ioane was all class in defense and hustle on the Aussies when the All Blacks were turning the screws and mounting the pressure on them keeping them pinned in their own half.. Tupaea while great on attack allowed them easy metres out wide and at times in the first half hour it looked like they could rip us a new one like the Sprinkboks did. Defense and pressuring other teams into mistakes to turn over possession is just such a critical part of test rugby now and Reiko is the best exponent of this at centre in NZ. It is something we have been shit at all season until the final 20 of this game.
I personally would like to see Tupaea at 12 and Ioane at 13 and Jordie Barrett the only one who looks assured under the high ball at 15. Jordan to the wing and massive practise on catching high balls. I just can't see us ever beating the boks consistently with him at the back catching less than 50% of high balls.
reserve Hotham/Ratima
reserve. Mackenzie
reserve. Leicester Faingaʻanuku
@Darth-Sader said in All Blacks vs Wallabies Bledisloe II:
Solid win in the end. Aussie didn’t live up to the hype second half though.
Reiko Ioane was very solid defensively coming on at centre. Aussie backline never looked threatening out wide once he came on.
but if they don't have a small mobile player attitude they will be excluded for the non playing myth Luke Jacobson
@nonpartizan said in All Blacks 2025:
@sparky said in All Blacks 2025:
@nonpartizan New Zealand used to have extra rugby smarts to make up for lower player numbers than England, South Africa and France. Not any more.
I expect those three nations with their huge resources to pull away in the next few years.
I think small countries can compete with bigger countries in sport - such as how Jamaica is consistently the biggest rival to the US in sprinting despite having a population of only 3 million.
HOWEVER, what you can't afford is waste and inefficiency. Your decision making at all levels of the game have to be very accurate. You need the smartest people in charge making the decisions so that you are always able to use your resources wisely. One bad appointment or poor decision can cripple you. I would say in that sense the AB hiring process for a coach has to be unbelievably thorough next time around. The candidates need to be thoroughly vetted and whatever their weaknesses are there has to be some steps taken to offset them.
Agree waste is a big problem and I can't understand why Jason Ryan gets such a big pass for it. He is the one coach in the setup who has made it obvious he is still stuck in the past where the All Blacks could afford to exclude players with tremendous talent on attitudinal grounds and select players who are not up to it because they have the right attitude.
He is the dumb motherfucker who has excluded 3 of the loose forwards with the most potential talent of their generation in Akira Ioane, Hoskin Sotutu and Dalton Papali'i. Not saying every one of these players would have been a success but a good coach should back himself to get the best out of at least 2 of them. All Black rugby can simply not afford to waste this kind of talent anymore.
He is also the dumb motherfucker who has selected guys not good enough for test rugby like Brodie McCallister, George Bell, Luke Jacobson, Du'Plessis Kirifi while putting to much faith in players like players like Wallace Sititi to be world beaters on the basis of a few Ardie Savea like highlights. Savea is also shit as a 7 and a starter in general and should be on the bench which I put partly on Jason Ryan as well.
Tamiti Ellison is a bigger thief drawing a coaching salary for defence than he was drawing a salary as a Super rugby player.
Have to admire a man who is defense coach of the Crusaders in their worst season in years and then slides into the All Black job and concedes record amounts of points but receives very little scrutiny for either.
He is the invisible man when it comes to accountability.
One of the worst loose forward trios the All Blacks have ever put out
Sititi should not be playing at 8 he is a passenger this season
jeez our defense is soft and disrganised
@booboo said in All Blacks vs Wallabies Bledisloe I:
@tubbyj said in All Blacks vs Wallabies Bledisloe I:
For me they should pick
- T Williams
- C Taylor
- T Lomax
- F Holland
- S Barret
- T Vaai
- D Papali'i
- W Sititi
- C Roigard/K Preston
- R Love
- C Clkarke
- Q Tupeau
- R Iaoane
- L Carter
- J Barret (c)
16,. E de Groot
17. S Takelouko
18. F Newell
19. P Tuipolotu/S Darry
20. A Savea
21. Preston/J Viljoen
22. D Mackenzie
23. L Fainga'anukuGood to see you're picking a few debutantes. Keen on seeing Takelouko.
My spelling isn't too bad considering I couldn't be bothered using Google at all. When they play with a bit of pride they might deserve people taking the time to spell their names right.
For me they should pick
16,. E de Groot
17. S Takelouko
18. F Newell
19. P Tuipolotu/S Darry
20. A Savea
21. Preston/J Viljoen
22. D Mackenzie
23. L Fainga'anuku