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#1 choice all black winger

Invictus said:
Oh...?
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yeah as you may know the AB coaches spent the week with the chiefs and had meetings with many players who are in selection frame and other key players as well. Though the meetings were private some of the players have talked about their meeting and some information has come through.

Messam - He was really nervous about his meeting and aparently was really happy when he came out. Coaches were very happy with how he was going and gave him good Posative feedback.

Kahui - Coaches overall very happy with how he is going but asked him to work on improving his combinations or "mini team" work with Donald and Sweeny. They also said that in the All Blacks he will be asked to cover both Wing and center.

Sivivatu - All I've heard is that he was told he's not currently in the frame for selection.

masanga - Was told he needs to work on his high ball and defence skills. Interestingly it was that area the Crucaders exposed

That message to Sivi from the coaches may be very blunt but true I think. Sivi has shown he's still a threat on attack but he has made some blunders on defence, he doesn't have the speed he used to and he has lost the ball in contact quiet a bit. has to be said that another factor in that calculation is that the depth on the wing in NZ right now is Huge! With a long list of young form outside backs coming through.

Maitland
Poki
Gear
Ranger
Guildford
Even Masanga would be ahead of Sivi in the pecking order right now.
 
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i likw masanga ALOT he is small VERY fast and VERY powerful for his size...
i like guildford and maitland but i think neither is ready atm.. as with poki not quite ready
i like rocks but i would personally pick gear and masanga atm their both similiar mold and both very good
but one things for sure with poki maitland guildford and savea the future of all blacks wings looks VERY VERY good
 
Personally I'd go for Gear and Masaga. The All Blacks have perfect cover for their back three positions (and I really don't use that lightly) with Toeava and Dagg capable of playing anywhere in the back like bar Scrum-Half to a decent level, and exceptionally well in the back three. Therefore I think it would pay to keep two completely specialist wingers in the frame.

That said I still rate Maitland and Guildford and the coaches might give them a shot at the black jersey come RWC given they've been/will continue to play outside of Carter and SBW all season.
 
The Crusaders v Chiefs game illustrated beautifully why Masaga should not be anywhere near an AB squad in my opinion. His poor tactical positioning was exposed numerous times by Matt Berquist's accurate kicks - considering the Boks in particular will likely have a game plan involving a lot of kicking to the wings, Masaga is about the last wing I would want to have! Incidentally Guildford again showed his quality again in that game - his workrate was phenomenal, in one case he was involved in a ruck on one side of the field, then somehow managed to make the last pass for a try of the opposite side of the field! Not saying he should be back in the AB's yet, but if he keeps up his outstanding play I wouldn't be surprised to see him make his way back into the AB's this year.
 
your being very harsh on masaga ... he is an excelent winger.. may be abit wary under the high ball but an amazing winger.. guildford may be hard working but his strike rate... and i knwo you will speak bout how he creates oppertuniteas but i am a massive fan of both but especially of masaga at the moment
 
jordiev said:
your being very harsh on masaga ... he is an excelent winger.. may be abit wary under the high ball but an amazing winger.. guildford may be hard working but his strike rate... and i knwo you will speak bout how he creates oppertuniteas but i am a massive fan of both but especially of masaga at the moment
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It wasn't even the high ball that Masaga was having problems with against the Crusaders - Berquist just kicked he ball over his head, and he had all sort off issues attempting to tidy up the bouncing ball. Not saying Masaga is a bad wing - he is arguably the most dangerous NZ wing with the ball in hand (though Gear and Ranger are probably just as dangerous), I just think his weaknesses (positioning, high ball, defense) will be badly exposed at test match level.

I wouldn't be at all worried by Guildford's strike rate - he is traditionally among the leaders in the try scoring stakes, as he has an amazing ability to put himself in position to take the last pass. He has only scored 1 try this season (though he has only started three games since coming back from injury), but has been on hand to make the last pass in at least 4 other tries. It won't be long before he starts scoring a pile of tries for the Crusaders - indeed I wouldn't be surprised if he ends up with more tries than Masaga by the end of the season.
 
idk tbh ... for guildford there needs to be a clinical finisher like maitland at hand so... (just going from form this season) so who would you suggest on teh other side to reap teh rewards from guildfords workrate..?
 
I'm a big supporter of masanga and I believe he has some rare qualitys on attack that would surve the AB's well. But he was exposed quite badly against the crusaders kicking game, I dont honestly believe he's a realistic option for the AB's this year after that performance. For the world cup reducing errors is key. having x-factor is not enough it's more important to have a player who is mostly error free and good on attack than a player who is awesome on attack but prone to errors.

Another player who I didn't list though I've talked about him alot is Ben Smith.

right Now I'd have him in the AB's over Masanga, Rok's, ranger, Maitland or Sivivatu.

ben Smith almost never makes mistakes and he's fantastic on attack too. And heck he's got the skill to cover 12 - 15.
 
jordiev said:
idk tbh ... for guildford there needs to be a clinical finisher like maitland at hand so... (just going from form this season) so who would you suggest on teh other side to reap teh rewards from guildfords workrate..?
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I wouldn't have Guildford starting for the AB's.... yet. I'd stick with Gear and Toeava, with Jane as the primary backup, but do think that the likes of Guildford (and Ben Smith, as mentioned by Larksea) are not far behind though.

It really depends what you want you want out of your wings. Clearly you think that speed, and ability to break tackles and finish tries is the main priority in your wings - you will a number of people who will agree with this philosophy (Nickdnz is definitely one in this camp.). I can understand this line of reasoning entirely - one of the major aims in rugby is to get the ball to the man in space, and you want players on the wings that are able to exploit this. I'm probably slightly more conservative; while I want my wings to be able to cause damage if they get the ball in space, I think it is equally important that they do the basics well (like defense, catching the high ball, high work-rate etc).... my theory is there is no point in scoring 3 tries for your team, if you end up conceding 4!

Larksea said:
I'm a big supporter of masanga and I believe he has some rare qualitys on attack that would surve the AB's well. But he was exposed quite badly against the crusaders kicking game, I dont honestly believe he's a realistic option for the AB's this year after that performance. For the world cup reducing errors is key. having x-factor is not enough it's more important to have a player who is mostly error free and good on attack than a player who is awesome on attack but prone to errors.

Another player who I didn't list though I've talked about him alot is Ben Smith.

right Now I'd have him in the AB's over Masanga, Rok's, ranger, Maitland or Sivivatu.

ben Smith almost never makes mistakes and he's fantastic on attack too. And heck he's got the skill to cover 12 - 15.
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I'd have Ben Smith in the All Black's over anyone, though I suspect I might be a bit biased! Seriously though, the way he is playing he will be very close to making the AB's squad, as he has all the skills that the AB's selectors are looking forward in a wing/fullback. In my opinion the only NZ outside back who has probably been his equal this year is Toeava.
 
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Toeava has been more than his equal.
Toeava is the form back of the comp in my opinion.

Guildford and Maitland are good wings, but there are better players going round these days. I'd personally pick Gear, Jane and Dagg over these two guys. Plus of course, Toeava.
 
FlukeArtist said:
Toeava has been more than his equal.
Toeava is the form back of the comp in my opinion.

Guildford and Maitland are good wings, but there are better players going round these days. I'd personally pick Gear, Jane and Dagg over these two guys. Plus of course, Toeava.
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I agree entirely - Toeava has been phenomenal. Perhaps my point should have been that Ben Smith is the only NZ outside back who has been remotely close to Toeava in terms of form...
 
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Hang on, would you expect anyone to catch him there? He had at least a metre on the chasers, if had been run down it would've been awesome chasing and poor on his behalf.

Sivivatu has never been a super fast winger - faster than most of the white boys admittedly, but it's more his ability to change directions and put on short bursts of speed which make him so dangerous. Maitland on the other hand is pure pace.
 
Guildford's a bit 'gumby' for me, he struggles to throw a crisp pass and hes really only good in a straight line, Maitland looks better to me.
 
markshaw said:
Guildford's a bit 'gumby' for me, he struggles to throw a crisp pass and hes really only good in a straight line, Maitland looks better to me.
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Interestingly, we don't actually know how well Maitland can pass, because he has never thrown a pass! Guildford can look a bit 'gumby' but his awareness with the ball in hand has increased phenomenally over the last year - he used to just put his head down and run in a straight line, but now he seems aware of team-mates, and has thrown the last pass in 3-4 Crusaders tries so far this year (and set up a few tries for Hawkes Bay last year through clever kicks). In contrast when Maitland gets the ball there is no chance he is going to pass it...
 
darwin_23 said:
Interestingly, we don't actually know how well Maitland can pass, because he has never thrown a pass! Guildford can look a bit 'gumby' but his awareness with the ball in hand has increased phenomenally over the last year - he used to just put his head down and run in a straight line, but now he seems aware of team-mates, and has thrown the last pass in 3-4 Crusaders tries so far this year (and set up a few tries for Hawkes Bay last year through clever kicks). In contrast when Maitland gets the ball there is no chance he is going to pass it...
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As a Crusaders fan, I lol'ed, so very true about turbo boots. That coupled with his penchant for having at high kicks slip straight through his arms means he's not really yet, even if he is one of the fastest and also a deceptively strong runner. However, Guilford is looking better every game and is looking to pass quite a bit, although I prefer those lines he runs off DC and SBW where you know he's gonna burn 3 defenders and then make it cinch for someone else to score. He's quickly becoming an important part of that Crusaders backline.
 
Maitland is a great player, and he will be even better in a couple of years. Now he is lucky being in the right place at the right moment; there are others more suited for the job.

Gear is brilliant, but I doubt if he will perform at the top level in a world cup. Anyway Gear, Toeava and Jane are on top of the list. Too soon anyway to choose one instead of the other.

Guilford woul be the next in my list. I love Ranger but is is too weak in defense right now.
 

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