[2013 Bledisloe Cup] New Zealand v Australia in Dunedin (19/10/2013)

[Bada-Bing!]

It's a pity Luatua has not made the 23. It probably means he will definitely start v Japan.

 

[Larksea]

Ben Smith at 13 could mean he gets a lot more ball and that will only spell bad news for the opposition. I think we saw that recently when smith came into midfield to replace Nonu. He difinately got a few extra touches on the ball and made a big impact before scoring a Ben Smith special right on fulltime.

still no wallabies team yet as far as I can see.

 

[Jaguares]

I would say
15 Folau
14 Ashley-Cooper
13 Kuridrani
12 Toomua
11 Betham
10 Cooper
09 Genia

Seems like Betham will get a start. Lively on attack, but both he and Folau are very easy targets in defence.

Betham?? Joe Tomane had a good game in Rosario against The Pumas. He broke the Pumas defense for the first try of Folau.

I would say:

1 James Slipper
2 Stephen Moore
3 Ben Alexander
4 Rob Simmons/Sitaleki Timani,
5 James Horwill
6 Dave Dennis
7 Michael Hooper
8 Ben Mowen
9 Will Genia
10 Quade Cooper
11 Joe Tomane
12 Matt Toomua
13 Tevita Kuridrani
14 Adam Ashley-Cooper
15 Israel Folau

Cheers

 

[Darwin]

Betham?? Joe Tomane had a good game in Rosario against The Pumas. He broke the Pumas defense for the first try of Folau.

Cheers

Tomane has been ruled out with a hamstring injury (Feauai-Sautia has been ruled out with the same injury).

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[InsaneAsylum]

most confusing call for me is Thrush I didn't even know he was in the squad!

There's a cream you get at the pharmacy for that

 

[InsaneAsylum]

Wallabies team named:
1. James Slipper
2. Stephen Moore
3. Ben Alexander
4. Rob Simmons
5. James Horwill (c)
6. Ben Mowen
7. Michael Hooper
8. Ben McCalman
9. Will Genia
10. Quade Cooper
11. Peter Betham
12. Matt Toomua
13. Tevita Kuridrani
14. Adam Ashley-Cooper
15. Israel Folau
Replacements
16. Saia Fainga'a
17. Benn Robinson
18. Sekope Kepu
19. Sitaleki Timani
20. Dave Dennis
21. Nic White
22. Mike Harris
23. Bernard Foley

Betham makes his debut and you'd assume cooper to kick. not expecting to win, hopefully we at least make it entertaining to watch for wallaby fans

 

[TRF Mr Fish]

Interesting that Mike Harris has been recalled into the squad after a fair bit of time away.

 

[smartcooky]

......Quade Cooper?

BOOOOOOOOOOO !!!!!!!

(just kiddin')

 

[Larksea]

I think the All Blacks will be looking to avoid Quade Coopers Channel.

Apparently hes like some awesome defender, better than McCaw they say.

 

[Jaguares]

I want to see ABs without the great Conrad Smith. Long time ago they don't play without him. He's the most complete back of the team.

Cheers

 

[Larksea]

conrad smith is an interesting player.

I wouldn't call him a complete player. Not like a Dan Carter or Ben Smith, I say Ben Smith because he is the one guy who could probably play any position 10-15 for the All Blacks with distinction.

Conrad
Not a prolific wide ranging kicking game though every once in a while he does come up with the odd pearl of a kick which proves he is Obviously well drilled with a few kicks that he can use in the right situation.
Not a prolific line breaker but he always seems to make more ground than he should, seems to always get go forward and present the ball well. I style well suited to tight games.
Hes not going to knock anyone's teeth out on defense but hes so accurate and always seems to be in the right place, does well to manipulate ball runners.

If anything I would class Conrad as a "decision maker" someone who seems to do the right thing at the right time. with a superb level of accuracy.

Maybe thats one reason Ben Smith is a good fit to fill the gap because he has a similar knack for making good choices. Ben Smith generally has better all round skills, more speed, more attacking weapons and just naturally more gifted. But people will be looking for him to just make the right choices like Conrad does and fill the void Nonu leaves when he is generally off doing his thing. What Conrad does for the AB's is do the right thing at the right time, he sees what needs to be done and he does it.

 

[donmcdazzle]

conrad smith is an interesting player.

I wouldn't call him a complete player. Not like a Dan Carter or Ben Smith, I say Ben Smith because he is the one guy who could probably play any position 10-15 for the All Blacks with distinction.

Let's not get carried away with Ben Smith, he needs to be as good as he has been this year for the next 5-6 years before you start lumping him in with DC.

 

[Larksea]

man, hilarious and well.... kinda dodgy All Black interview

Jane Spooning Ben Smith, Thrush sucking whitelock? What?

http://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/rugby/all-blacks/9295061/Cory-Jane-revels-in-the-media-spotlight

 

[Larksea]

Let's not get carried away with Ben Smith, he needs to be as good as he has been this year for the next 5-6 years before you start lumping him in with DC.

No thanks, I'm quite happy to just get carried away with Ben Smith. You are the one who just needs to let go and join the Ben Smith band wagon.

People told me not to get carried away before the french series... Now hes the record holder for most trys by any player in a Tri nations or championship.

Let go man... Let go

 

[smartcooky]

I think the All Blacks will be looking to avoid Quade Coopers Channel.

Apparently hes like some awesome defender, better than McCaw they say.

Yeah I heard that. Obviously Ewen McKenzie has graduated from the Alistair Campbell University of Spin Doctoring.

Sure, Quade might make 80% of his tackles.... when the ball carrier doesn't blast right past him without Quade getting a hand on him!!!

ETA: His tackle stats from the RC make interesting reading

AUS v NZL 0/0
NZL v AUS 2/0
AUS v SAF 9/1
AUS v ARG 5/0
SAF v AUS 17/1
ARG v AUS 7/1

40 tackles, 3 missed, 93%

If that pushed him up to 84%, I dread to think what his tackle rate must have been like beforehand.

 

[Jaguares]

conrad smith is an interesting player.

I wouldn't call him a complete player. Not like a Dan Carter or Ben Smith, I say Ben Smith because he is the one guy who could probably play any position 10-15 for the All Blacks with distinction.

Conrad
Not a prolific wide ranging kicking game though every once in a while he does come up with the odd pearl of a kick which proves he is Obviously well drilled with a few kicks that he can use in the right situation.
Not a prolific line breaker but he always seems to make more ground than he should, seems to always get go forward and present the ball well. I style well suited to tight games.
Hes not going to knock anyone's teeth out on defense but hes so accurate and always seems to be in the right place, does well to manipulate ball runners.

If anything I would class Conrad as a "decision maker" someone who seems to do the right thing at the right time. with a superb level of accuracy.

Maybe thats one reason Ben Smith is a good fit to fill the gap because he has a similar knack for making good choices. Ben Smith generally has better all round skills, more speed, more attacking weapons and just naturally more gifted. But people will be looking for him to just make the right choices like Conrad does and fill the void Nonu leaves when he is generally off doing his thing. What Conrad does for the AB's is do the right thing at the right time, he sees what needs to be done and he does it.

Mister efficiency!!!!!!!!!! He's the number one!!!

 

[Aspry]

About the discussion of the hooker spot in the All Blacks, I think I read sometime ago that Hore was retiring after TRC.

 

[jessta]

Yeah is hore retired, whats the story there? If so that was a pretty subtle exit from nz rugby for such a prolific character

 

[jessta]

Pretty upset piutau isnt starting, let alone on the bench. He deserves a start over thrush thats for sure. Dont see how leaving jane out of the team this week and giving him a good crack on the eoyt would have hurt anyone. Unlucky for luatua but hel get alot more soon. Lastly francis saili should be on bench over taylor, really want to see him have a crack against the kangaroo riders

 

[TRF Mr Fish]

Yeah is hore retired, whats the story there? If so that was a pretty subtle exit from nz rugby for such a prolific character

As I said earlier, it looks like thoughts that he was going to shut up shop after the RC were ill-founded. It appears that the three hookers on the EOYT will simply be Coles, Mealamu and Hore now.