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LuckyGent88

Looks like Conrad smith is going to miss this weekends match. His missus has decided to have their first baby 2 weeks early.
Massive match for Fekitoa now. Big step up for him.
Thought Hansen might have went with Ben smith at centre and brought dagg into full back

sydthebeat

LuckyGent88 wrote: »

Looks like Conrad smith is going to miss this weekends match. His missus has decided to have their first baby 2 weeks early.
Massive match for Fekitoa now. Big step up for him.
Thought Hansen might have went with Ben smith at centre and brought dagg into full back

Excellent, been waiting a while to see malakai have his first run out. He'll need a lot of help from nonu in the defensive arrangement but I don't doubt he's up to it.
That adds some extra pace to the ab backline as well.

Swiwi.

LuckyGent88 wrote: »

Looks like Conrad smith is going to miss this weekends match. His missus has decided to have their first baby 2 weeks early.
Massive match for Fekitoa now. Big step up for him.
Thought Hansen might have went with Ben smith at centre and brought dagg into full back

sydthebeat wrote: »

Excellent, been waiting a while to see malakai have his first run out. He'll need a lot of help from nonu in the defensive arrangement but I don't doubt he's up to it.
That adds some extra pace to the ab backline as well.

Advantage Aussie if you ask me. Nonu & Fekitoa are kind of the same style of players, and I can see the midfield defence being ruthlessly targeted. I would have almost been inclined to promote Crotty directly to the starting lineup.

I'm also disappointed in the AB management - 9 months ago, what happened to contraceptive awareness week? I mean at the start of the season, at the first training camp, you spread out a calendar on the floor, you mark down the AB test matches, you subtract 9 months, +/- margin of era of a couple of weeks either side, and you talk about the birds and the bees.

pickarooney

He was probably on sabbatical and missed the class.

Swiwi.

pickarooney wrote: »

He was probably on sabbatical and missed the class.

He he. I guess also that the coach isn't called Shag for nothing.

sydneybound

Right then many about to watch the South Africa V Argentina game?

Hope Argentina can give them a decent match.

Although the NZ V Aus match lacked tries it was exciting till the bitter end so hope this is half decent least.

Pudsy33

I'll be watching. I set up a thread.

matthew8

Great start for SA. Hopefully a long afternoon for the Pumas.

Swiwi.

ALL BLACKS: Ben Smith, Cory Jane, Conrad Smith, Ryan Crotty, Julian Savea, Aaron Cruden, Aaron Smith, Kieran Read, Richie McCaw (c), Liam Messam, Sam Whitelock, Brodie Retallick, Owen Franks, Dane Coles, Wyatt Crockett. Reserves: Keven Mealamu, Ben Franks, Charlie Faumuina, Steven Luatua, Sam Cane, TJ Perenara, Beauden Barrett, Malakai Fekitoa

For a country that is supposed to rape and pillage the South Seas, that backline has more than a hint of "skinny white man" about it. There's hope for yous yet .ak and awec! I kind of agree with playing Crotty at 12 rather than Fekitoa, but poor old Piutau seems to have fallen off the radar. NZ is not supposed to do journeyman wingers, but Jane is 1 from 4 when it comes to tests this season IMO. Last chance saloon for me. I'd even consider moving Benjamin back to 14 and restoring Izzy to 15. Does anyone else think Cruden has kind of peaked...at a Wicklow Mountains rather than Mt Everest sort of level? I've kind of been having lustful dreams about Cian Healy in a black jersey too...

Ah well, we see what happens, I could actually see Aussie winning this weekend...at Eden Park...which would lead to more rebuilding after an earthquake, such the seismic effect that would have. More jobs for Irish ex-pat labourers I guess

English Lurker

Cruden's only 25, wouldn't surprise me if he kicked on and broke onto the next level from the plateau he's currently on. Think he's unlucky to be the first NZ fly-half in some time to play behind a pack that's not handing out very regular periods of total dominance - give him that sort of platform and he'll tear into teams, put him under pressure and it's much easier to see the flaws in his game.

Australia could win this but I don't think they will.

Swiwi.

English Lurker wrote: »

Cruden's only 25, wouldn't surprise me if he kicked on and broke onto the next level from the plateau he's currently on. Think he's unlucky to be the first NZ fly-half in some time to play behind a pack that's not handing out very regular periods of total dominance - give him that sort of platform and he'll tear into teams, put him under pressure and it's much easier to see the flaws in his game.

Australia could win this but I don't think they will.

I agree 100% on everything you've written there...except I'm not sure about Cruden...wouldn't surprise me to see Barrett or one of the other tyros coming thru just zoom right past.

You might be well advised to slip a quiet tenner on England for the game in November there EL, before NZ lose a couple and the odds shorten...

English Lurker

Swiwi. wrote: »

I agree 100% on everything you've written there...except I'm not sure about Cruden...wouldn't surprise me to see Barrett or one of the other tyros coming thru just zoom right past.

You might be well advised to slip a quiet tenner on England for the game in November there EL, before NZ lose a couple and the odds shorten...

Well it wouldn't surprise me if he didn't either, plenty of players don't. I haven't watched him enough to make a big judgement - although Barrett has immense natural talent and has no excuse for not making the very top - but I feel he's of an age where a little stalling is not a huge surprise.

I'd rather wait for a few losses to inflate the price on NZ winning! There's blood in the water when it comes to NZ, in terms of their comparative strength to a few years back, but I don't think England are the team to take advantage.

Morf

Why would they have Savea on the right wing with Jane on the left?

Swiwi.

Morf wrote: »

Why would they have Savea on the right wing with Jane on the left?

They wouldn't. Unless you know something I don't Morf.

sydthebeat

australia -11 must be the bet of the weekend !!!

.ak

Hopefully the games are a bit better quality than last weekend. No rain please. Although I enjoyed the Aus-NZ clash anyway.

sydthebeat

yeah the quality in that game wasnt great....
the all blacks missed an amazing 21 tackles in the game, 13 in the first half. Owen Franks must have had lube on cos he missed 7 tackles and only made 3 !!!

also just noticed that RMC made 20 tackles and missed none perhaps im writing him off too early... though his 3 penalties were costly.

I just hope the ref relaxes on the whistle a bit. It was too stop/start last weekend.

matthew8

Deleted User wrote: »

I just hope the ref relaxes on the whistle a bit. It was too stop/start last weekend.

Whistle had to be blown last week with all the cynical play. Weather better this week hopefully, as to be honest most of the action last week originated from penalties. Not many breaks.

Morf

Swiwi. wrote: »

They wouldn't. Unless you know something I don't Morf.

I watched the announcement video and the way the graphic was laid out (having not looked at numbers) suggested it was.



Odd way to arrange it.

Swiwi.

Poor old Pat McCabe has had to retire after breaking his neck for a 3rd time. Wish him the best for the future, he certainly never lacked for bravery.

sydthebeat

Swiwi. wrote: »

Poor old Pat McCabe has had to retire after breaking his neck for a 3rd time. Wish him the best for the future, he certainly never lacked for bravery.

Jesus, i feel for the guy. Just seemed to be so injury prone.
Best of luck in whatever else you do pat.

.ak

Has he actually announced his retirement? My understanding of it is he's been asked to retire by his doctor - which he was asked to do so before but made a full recovery.

Probably semantics anyway, three neck breaks and the writing is on the wall... Cats only have so many lives.

The Pheasant2

Does anybody know why Juan Figallo hasn't been playing for the Pumas? Is he injured?

That said, 4time capped Ramiro Herrera seems to be something of a revelation at TH - Argentine scrum looking very strong these days.
If they were able to do a number on the Boks it'll be very interesting to see how the ABs get on with them and furthermore whether the Wallabies will be able to hang with them at all at scrum time.

Buer

JF has an ongoing neck injury which is threatening his career. Under T14 rules, he is not allowed play there due to the classification of the injury. Saracens have signed him as there are no such protocols in England. However, he is still yet to fully recover.

Swiwi.

Buer wrote: »

JF has an ongoing neck injury which is threatening his career. Under T14 rules, he is not allowed play there due to the classification of the injury. Saracens have signed him as there are no such protocols in England. However, he is still yet to fully recover.

Has made no difference to the pumas scrum which was awe-inspiring vs the Boks...will be a good test for NZ let alone Australia.

thomond2006

Herrera was picked up by Castres at the end of last season as a medical joker. He turned out to be such a success that the club offered him a three year extension pretty quickly.

Hopefully Figallo can come back. He's still only 26.

Swiwi.

thomond2006 wrote: »

Herrera was picked up by Castres at the end of last season as a medical joker. He turned out to be such a success that the club offered him a three year extension pretty quickly.

Hopefully Figallo can come back. He's still only 26.

Pretty funny alright. That SA scrum was pulverised. But I'm not going to laugh until I see how NZ go, Figallo did a pretty decent number last year as well.

Morf

Swiwi. wrote: »

Pretty funny alright. That SA scrum was pulverised. But I'm not going to laugh until I see how NZ go, Figallo did a pretty decent number last year as well.

Ayerza looks back in TH-mincing form . . .

matthew8

15 Israel Folau, 14 Adam Ashley-Cooper, 13 Tevita Kuridrani, 12 Matt Toomua, 11 Rob Horne, 10 Bernard Foley, 9 Nick Phipps, 8 Wycliff Palu, 7 Michael Hooper (c), 6 Scott Fardy, 5 Rob Simmons, 4 Sam Carter, 3 Sekope Kepu, 2 James Hanson, 1 James Slipper.

Kuridrani! Phipps! Foley!

Should beat the Boks.

1. James Slipper
2. James Hanson
3. Sekope Kepu
4. Sam Carter
5. Rob Simmons
6. Scott Fardy
7. Michael Hooper (c)
8. Wycliff Palu
9. Nick Phipps
10. Bernard Foley
11. Rob Horne
12. Matt Toomua
13. Tevita Kurdrani
14. Adam Ashley-Cooper
15. Israel Folau

Reserves:
16. Saia Fainga’a
17. Pek Cowan
18. Ben Alexander
19. James Horwill
20. Scott Higginbotham
21. Matt Hodgson
22. Nic White
23. Kurtley Beale

.ak

Bout time Foley started. Backline looks much better, but I'd like to see Beale go to 12 at some point.

thomond2006

Is Genia persona non grata at this stage? I don't watch Super Rugby but it's unbelievable to me that he is not picked in the 23.

Buer

Well, he did his ankle which ruled him out for the last 5 or 6 games of the S15 season. Regardless of that, he's just not a patch on the player he was and wasn't guaranteed to make the 23. He should be back fit now, I'm sure so he's just not in the mix.

sydthebeat

matthew8 wrote: »

15 Israel Folau, 14 Adam Ashley-Cooper, 13 Tevita Kuridrani, 12 Matt Toomua, 11 Rob Horne, 10 Bernard Foley, 9 Nick Phipps, 8 Wycliff Palu, 7 Michael Hooper (c), 6 Scott Fardy, 5 Rob Simmons, 4 Sam Carter, 3 Sekope Kepu, 2 James Hanson, 1 James Slipper.

Kuridrani! Phipps! Foley!

Should beat the Boks.

nah, the boks will beat them up up front......

did will skelton get injured? capatain fantastic returns to bench

Swiwi.

matthew8 wrote: »

15 Israel Folau, 14 Adam Ashley-Cooper, 13 Tevita Kuridrani, 12 Matt Toomua, 11 Rob Horne, 10 Bernard Foley, 9 Nick Phipps, 8 Wycliff Palu, 7 Michael Hooper (c), 6 Scott Fardy, 5 Rob Simmons, 4 Sam Carter, 3 Sekope Kepu, 2 James Hanson, 1 James Slipper.

Kuridrani! Phipps! Foley!

Should beat the Boks.

Rearranging deck chairs there. While I agree with the back line changes it was the forwards that got destroyed by NZ. At the least I would have promoted Horwill and probably Higganbotham too.

Could still see Aussie winning this, SA have looked mediocre so far this RC.

matthew8

Horwill and Higginbotham have all the reputation but none of the form. McKenzie places a big emphasis on form. Forwards had one good game then one bad one, should do enough at home though. SA looked terrible first 2 games but it's hard to tell which SA will show up. If they play like last 2 times out they'll be destroyed. The front row have been flogged to death with the Sharks and Boks, maybe the week of rest will help, and maybe Etzebeth will come back too.

Swiwi.

matthew8 wrote: »

Horwill and Higginbotham have all the reputation but none of the form. McKenzie places a big emphasis on form. Forwards had one good game then one bad one, should do enough at home though. SA looked terrible first 2 games but it's hard to tell which SA will show up. If they play like last 2 times out they'll be destroyed. The front row have been flogged to death with the Sharks and Boks, maybe the week of rest will help, and maybe Etzebeth will come back too.

Ah come on. The Aussie pack was blown off the park. The first test was nullified by the rain and the ref which made Aussie look better than they are. I really think there would have been nothing to lose by the changes above but anyway the weekend will reveal all I guess.

sydneybound

So how will the Puma's get on against the All Blacks? To lose by 20 point or less would be a result for them in Naiper.

Tox56

Swiwi. wrote: »

Ah come on. The Aussie pack was blown off the park. The first test was nullified by the rain and the ref which made Aussie look better than they are. I really think there would have been nothing to lose by the changes above but anyway the weekend will reveal all I guess.

Surely if anything the pack comes under more pressure in crap weather

matthew8

Swiwi. wrote: »

Ah come on. The Aussie pack was blown off the park. The first test was nullified by the rain and the ref which made Aussie look better than they are. I really think there would have been nothing to lose by the changes above but anyway the weekend will reveal all I guess.

What do you mean by ah come on? I never said they played well at Eden Park at all but they did have one good game. The ref and rain? They're no excuse for a forward pack. If anything a rainy day should expose a soft set of forwards. Forwards have also done well in every other game since last year's rugby championship. Australia are bookie's favourites FWIW.

Chance of rain for both games, only chance for Argentina to keep it close.

.ak

Tox56 wrote: »

Surely if anything the pack comes under more pressure in crap weather

In terms of skill and tactics, yes. In terms of power and strength? Not really. You can defo get away with spoiling the oppositions power over you in the tight in sludge conditions. A small man can spill a big fella when the ground is loose underfoot far easier than ground where he can get purchase.

matthew8

Home field advantage is bigger than people like to admit. Since 2005, Australia have won 9 and lost 3 at home to South Africa. Away from home, that record if reversed.

Swiwi.

sydneybound wrote: »

So how will the Puma's get on against the All Blacks? To lose by 20 point or less would be a result for them in Naiper.

They'll lose, I imagine, but I will be keeping beady eyes on the NZ scrum. I was also impressed with the Argie 15, so I'll be keeping a watch on him.

Swiwi.

Tox56 wrote: »

Surely if anything the pack comes under more pressure in crap weather

matthew8 wrote: »

What do you mean by ah come on? I never said they played well at Eden Park at all but they did have one good game. The ref and rain? They're no excuse for a forward pack. If anything a rainy day should expose a soft set of forwards. Forwards have also done well in every other game since last year's rugby championship. Australia are bookie's favourites FWIW.

Chance of rain for both games, only chance for Argentina to keep it close.

.ak wrote: »

In terms of skill and tactics, yes. In terms of power and strength? Not really. You can defo get away with spoiling the oppositions power over you in the tight in sludge conditions. A small man can spill a big fella when the ground is loose underfoot far easier than ground where he can get purchase.

I'm not just talking about the set-piece. They were caught out on defence and in the loose. The wet conditions made for a tighter game, and then the scrum was kind of reffed leniently, so I don't think the WBs forwards were so exposed. Horwill has been out of form, but at his peak (admittedly 2011) he was world class. Whereas Carter and Simmons strike me as journeyman-esque. Higginbotham has his faults, but was excellent in 2013 pre-injury, and Fardy has been anonymous so far.

matthew8

Thing is, out of all Australia's recent performances, the away match to New Zealand, when the pack was destroyed, was the odd one out, not the home one when they did well. Australia's scrum, especially, did very well in the Autumn and against France so shouldn't be judged too harshly. Carter and Simmons aren't great, but you can't pick players like Horwill and Higginbotham on old form (See Adam Jones being dropped one year after being the star for the Lions). Fardy generally plays quite well I think. Australia don't have anyone right now on the same level as NZ's 6s so he can be outshone by them.

Swiwi.

matthew8 wrote: »

Thing is, out of all Australia's recent performances, the away match to New Zealand, when the pack was destroyed, was the odd one out, not the home one when they did well. Australia's scrum, especially, did very well in the Autumn and against France so shouldn't be judged too harshly. Carter and Simmons aren't great, but you can't pick players like Horwill and Higginbotham on old form (See Adam Jones being dropped one year after being the star for the Lions). Fardy generally plays quite well I think. Australia don't have anyone right now on the same level as NZ's 6s so he can be outshone by them.

Yeah, I sort of agree, although France are such a poor benchmark at the moment, with their terrible coach. I guess a stay of execution is warranted, but really with such backline riches at their disposal, Aussie are just short of a decent 3, lock and 6 from having RWC-winning aspirations.

Morf

Hmmm I think the Bok scrum has been relatively poor for quite a while. Not hugely surprised to see Pumas mince them.

I'll keep an eye on Lavanini after the Retallick piece. Hernandez at 12 seems to be playing solid mixed with fantastic which could favour a tighter game rather than a collapse.

NZ should be rightly worried about scrum time though. Although I think they'll punish Puma mistakes clinically with less overall possession.

LuckyGent88

New Zealand: Israel Dagg, Ben Smith, Conrad Smith, Ma'a Nonu, Julian Savea, Beauden Barrett, Aaron Smith, Kieran Read, Richie McCaw (capt), Liam Messam, Sam Whitelock, Brodie Retallick, Owen Franks, Dane Coles, Wyatt Crockett.

Reserves: Keven Mealamu, Ben Franks, Joe Moody, Jeremy Thrush, Sam Cane, TJ Perenara, Colin Slade, Malakai Fekitoa.

Beauden Barrett gets a massive opportunity to show his skills with his first start for the all blacks. Cruden has a chest injury but will be available for the boks game next weekend.
Jane is omitted from the squad entirely with dagg coming back into the team at full back. Game is on in Napier in front of his home crowd and the weather looks like it will be bad so his big boot may come in handy.

Swiwi.

LuckyGent88 wrote: »

New Zealand: Israel Dagg, Ben Smith, Conrad Smith, Ma'a Nonu, Julian Savea, Beauden Barrett, Aaron Smith, Kieran Read, Richie McCaw (capt), Liam Messam, Sam Whitelock, Brodie Retallick, Owen Franks, Dane Coles, Wyatt Crockett.

Reserves: Keven Mealamu, Ben Franks, Joe Moody, Jeremy Thrush, Sam Cane, TJ Perenara, Colin Slade, Malakai Fekitoa.

Beauden Barrett gets a massive opportunity to show his skills with his first start for the all blacks. Cruden has a chest injury but will be available for the boks game next weekend.
Jane is omitted from the squad entirely with dagg coming back into the team at full back. Game is on in Napier in front of his home crowd and the weather looks like it will be bad so his big boot may come in handy.

Well I might as well provide life support to this thread and make your post worthwhile LG88. Am very happy with the backline, it's the strongest NZ has in its possession, minus DC (and unsure about AC vs BB), although at some stage I want Piutau to have another shot. I don't think Jane did enough to hold his place, despite the soothing noises from Hansen. It's also NZ's strongest pack, minus the injured Kaino & Woodcock. So respect to Argentina. The reserves are always open for discussion, but with my Crusaders hat on, it's nice to see Colin Slade's strong season rewarded, and I hope he goes well if he gets on the field.