- Joined
- Apr 9, 2010
- Messages
- 11,758
- Country Flag
- Club or Nation
St James Park, Newcastle upon Tyne (09/10/2015,20:00)
Pool C, Round 4
Referee: John Lacey
All Blacks will win easily . The question is how will they perform? . I am not buying into Hansens's excuses that they are holding back .The players need to feel the pressure to perform not Just for their country but also for their places . Kieran Read is not playing to his potential . He is a key player who at his best is amongst the best no 8 in the world. Jerome Kaino has been very disappointing. As I said before he rarely breaks the gain line . His work at the breakdown is not noticeable . We saw how effective hooper and Pocock were. Therefore the argument that he does the unseen stuff should not be raised in his defence. Patience with Carter because of past form may cost the side the World Cup. The next best replacement is Lima Sapoaga who has been left behind because of Colin slade 's versatility ! How is his versatility going to help the backs begin to fire?! Milner skudder & Beauden barret can cover full back !!!
The scrum is not stable even with our put ins! This frankly has been an issue for a while . The so called third tier teams have managed to slow the ball down at the break downs. This is not all down to lax refereeing . The breakdown is a big issue which is not being properly addressed. The tactic of using Brodie retallick has become predictable and thus ineffective ! Improvements needed by both the players and the coaching staff!!
Whether or not the AB's are playing their normal game is not the primary concern. That concern would have to be Daniel Carters form. His kicking in particular. He needs this to go well v Tonga, both for his own and all the AB supporters confidence.
I don't even know about this game, with what Hansens been saying and the players elusive relaxed press conferences it's really hard to get a genuine read on what's going on and we probably won't know until the quarter finals or even the semi-finals if we get there. Also the Tongans aren't good enough to give us a real test either, let's be honest.
Let's avoid injuries as well, I don't think the Tongans are as physical as they used to be, but still, let's not put out bodies on the line for the cause.
Not saying don't play our best team, just don't over extend themselves, more or less talking to Richie and Retallick.
On the Slade thing from the other thread. I'm not against his selection because of his utility role, I'm slightly against his selection because ironically he's meant to be the injury cover himself incase we do suffer injuries. He ends up being the one that needs covered, therefore exposing our better players. If he's back fit, then what ever, but I find that hard to believe, he's had injuries and ****les all for a large part of his career and he had problems at the start of September, I now believe we are carrying him, while the inform 10 in the world is sitting at home. We made a mistake here, no point trying to justify it or think otherwise, it's a mistake.
Haha, in form 10 in the world?? Jeepers mate, you are stretching that a bit aren't ya? He has only had 1 test cap!! Anyway, I don't want to get into a Sopoaga debate AGAIN! you can't help yourself can you No need to justify it buy the way - the selectors did that weeks ago.
The pertinent discussion, in this case, should be around Slade and whether or not he can do the job asked of him. With that in mind he trained in full this week after Hansen saying he could have played against Georgia if needed, so its all precautionary as far as I can tell. I have no reason to think Hansen is lying about that, nor should you tbh!
I'm not sure Richie and Retallick know any other way tbh! Play their best team, go hard, and get things right for the QF, that's what I want to see. I'd be happy if they gave Whitelock a rest though! I wanna see Savea and DC in particular get more minutes under their belt!
Slade sounds like he's a jumping jack away from snapping an ACL
With the DC thing, I feel a large part of it is we have had Cruden as our first choice for a few years now and the backline plays around his style, which is more running based and hitting the ball going forward, DC doesn't play like this anymore so the rest need to adjust a little this and this could be the cause of a few issues.
If you look at the Eden park test you did see DC take on the line a little, giving Nonu going forward ball when he received the pass.
The more you think about it we needed Sopoaga to be there from the 1st test this year, would have given him 5-6 games to get used to it, as Sopoaga plays more like Cruden does.
Starting props for Tonga should be Crockett and Franks.
Kaino and Whitelock need a rest in the forwards but now is the wrong time to be resting the 1st choice players, we have to though I feel.
If Nahalo is fit I reckon we see him and NMS start on the wings and Savea get a rest.
Well it sounds like Naholo might be injured.
"All Blacks coaches are watching Waisake Naholo to determine if he will be available to play against Tonga this weekend. #RWC2015"
- - - Updated - - -
NMS and Savea are under suspicion as well, we might have a winger crisis this RWC instead of a first 5 crisis, sounds all pretty minor though, fingers crossed.
Interesting! Where did you hear/read that? Cause the quote I read from Foster (I think) implied Naholo was likely to be good to go, and no mention of the other two...
Just on the main news mate, also various other mainstream news outlets were reporting it. They weren't at training etc.
Well it sounds like Naholo might be injured.
"All Blacks coaches are watching Waisake Naholo to determine if he will be available to play against Tonga this weekend. #RWC2015"
- - - Updated - - -
NMS and Savea are under suspicion as well, we might have a winger crisis this RWC instead of a first 5 crisis, sounds all pretty minor though, fingers crossed.