[2014 Mid-Year Tests] New Zealand vs England (2nd Test)

[nzlizard]

Manu v Savea. Now that is a contest worth watching. Hopefully, Manu does a fireman's carry on Savea ala North did to Folau last year. .

Wonder if Manu was put on the wing to try contain Savea, one of Saveas strengths is to bowl people out of the way and maybe putting Manu there was a way of trying to stop that.

 

[donmcdazzle]

Manu in 14 sounds good for kiwi fans as he would steam train the other wing. It will be a good battle with the big boys out wide. Go Savea...

Cause he never plays big polynesian wings in Super Rugby or anything.. oh wait. But you're right him on the wing could be good for us; he may not get as much quality ball, I've never seen him under the high ball or kicking for territory so I'm not sure if he is good at either. If he has any weakness at those then he'll be getting peppered I reckon.

Another caveat is I've never seen Burrell play. Is he the same type of player as Tuilagi?

 

[j'nuh]

Does Tuilagi really have the skills? Does he have a kicking game? A kick-chase game? Will he cope with the pace out there? Does he have an instinctual grasp of when to drop back in tandem with the 10, 11 and 15? Can he adapt to the very different defensive game of the wing? In attack, will we give him special permission to roam, or are we going to keep our best attacking player out of the game like we have done with all of our other wingers?

Why is it that May has to go? He was one of our best players last week. Showed more than Yarde. Made some great runs on his limited chances. And Ashton? Really?

There are some good points to having Tuilagi on the wing and I would have liked to see it eventually. But I'd have liked to see him there for at least half a season at Tigers. Is a test against the best team in the world really the place to find out whether Tuilagi can play 14? :huh:

The rest, I am relatively happy with.

 

[Maverick1987]

Wonder if Manu was put on the wing to try contain Savea, one of Saveas strengths is to bowl people out of the way and maybe putting Manu there was a way of trying to stop that.

Possibly but to be fair most teams have a big wing now . Savea, North, Pietersen etc I just the SL didn't have the stones to drop Burrell

 

[Maverick1987]

Does Tuilagi really have the skills? Does he have a kicking game? A kick-chase game? Will he cope with the pace out there? Does he have an instinctual grasp of when to drop back in tandem with the 10, 11 and 15? Can he adapt to the very different defensive game of the wing? In attack, will we give him special permission to roam, or are we going to keep our best attacking player out of the game like we have done with all of our other wingers?

Why is it that May has to go? He was one of our best players last week. Showed more than Yarde. Made some great runs on his limited chances. And Ashton? Really?

There are some good points to having Tuilagi on the wing and I would have liked to see it eventually. But I'd have liked to see him there for at least half a season at Tigers. Is a test against the best team in the world really the place to find out whether Tuilagi can play 14? :huh:

The rest, I am relatively happy with.

Bugger off we don't pick our best player on the wing . I hope for lancasters sake this experiment goes well otherwise it will be the furthest a team has gone backwards in a week ever lol

 

[Bada-Bing!]

http://www.rfu.com/news/2014/june/news-articles/120614_eng_dunedin_team

Well here's Stuart's reasoning for his selections.

 

[j'nuh]

Oh, and now I find out that Manu will be defending against Ben Smith and Savea. Baptism by fire?

 

[barkinghooker]

Any score predictions anyone?

 

[nzlizard]

Possibly but to be fair most teams have a big wing now . Savea, North, Pietersen etc I just the SL didn't have the stones to drop Burrell

My angle was how much has Manu played at wing and is he proven at this level at wing? If he hasn't played much there and is not proven then it sounds more like a tactic to counter Savea then to add attack out wide(which it will do as he is a good attacker).

If he is put there purely to counter Savea then not a good call.

 

[j'nuh]

Bugger off we don't pick our best player on the wing . I hope for lancasters sake this experiment goes well otherwise it will be the furthest a team has gone backwards in a week ever lol

Yeah you do. But let's stop talking about Croft, this is about Manu.

 

[Maverick1987]

Any score predictions anyone?

I'm expecting it to be tight still because of the forwards . Just think this back line won't be cohesive . I'll go for 28-22 NZ

 

[Maverick1987]

Yeah you do. But let's stop talking about Croft, this is about Manu.

Jonny May wishes he was as good on the wing as croft

 

[ratsapprentice]

Wonder if Manu was put on the wing to try contain Savea, one of Saveas strengths is to bowl people out of the way and maybe putting Manu there was a way of trying to stop that.

Unlikely... this has been banded about for a while now - we were expecting to see him play on the wing vs Italy in the 6n although it didn't happen.

 

[Kapa O Pango]

Is it just me or does Kyle Eastmond remind of Jason Robinson. I know it's not the greatest comparison, but they got similar traits.

 

[nzlizard]

Unlikely... this has been banded about for a while now - we were expecting to see him play on the wing vs Italy in the 6n although it didn't happen.

So it was banded about but never happened and he hasn't played much at wing I take it?

Then he randomly appears on the wing against one of the most in form wingers at the moment, this seems odd.

Why would you blood a new winger in a game like this?

 

[donmcdazzle]

So it was banded about but never happened and he hasn't played much at wing I take it?

Then he randomly appears on the wing against one of the most in form wingers at the moment, this seems odd.

Why would you blood a new winger in a game like this?

I just read that he played his age grade footy on the wing so I don't thin kit's wholly foreign to him. I think it's more a case of wanting to get the best attackers out there. Especially so given the perfect conditions they'll have.

 

[Big Ewis]

So it was banded about but never happened and he hasn't played much at wing I take it?

Then he randomly appears on the wing against one of the most in form wingers at the moment, this seems odd.

Why would you blood a new winger in a game like this?

Again lol, England are obviously looking for power there. They want power throughout the XV. May is a skinny dude with a headless chicken style on the wing, and Yarde is pretty small too. The fact that they're putting Eastmond (1m70, 83kg) out whom everybody has been praising for almost a week for Twelvetrees (1m93, 106kg), along with Burrell (1m91, 109kg) at midfield and forcing Tuilagi to play a position he's never played before just so they can get all 3 bulls playing at the same time speaks volumes.
It's blindingly obvious and it's funny because it's almost like it's hard to admit or a 'shameful' thing or smt...England want power, they want MASS.
Tuilagi can't kick for shht and isn't exactly a specialist under the high-ball or in fact anything a winger does, but they're willing to take that risk although they've got 3 true natural wingers on the roster.

P.S.: this is my 6'666th post. So, like, boooo....I guess.

 

[FlukeArtist]

Sir Ian on England (interesting bit of Analysis):

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/ru...ancaster-a-sturdy-platform-to-build-from.html



I speak with a bit of experience when i say that Zinzan Brooke is a very unpleasant man.

Why is/was Zinzan unpleasant?
*just curious - I know this isn't rugby related really

 

[Jaguares]

Hey Big E, you must edit the first message and put the ABs lineup

:whip:

 

[Kapa O Pango]

Clash of the ***ans - Savea vs Tuilagi. NZ Coconut vs British Coconut.