[2016 Rugby Championship] New Zealand v Australia (27/08/2016)

[The Jones Boy]

On Clyde Rathbone...

He said the only two players who would make an Anzac XV would be Israel Folau and David Pocock.
Both fine players but... if Pocock was hoping to make it passed Kaino or Read, I'd never give him the nod, only at 7, where he rarely plays anymore, would he have a shot. He's too small to be a world class number 8 and he doesn't have the brutality or power of a Kaino at blindside, at Open side he could make the team.
On Folau, if Dagg was the full back then yes Folau would get the nod, but if Ben Smith is the full back then Folau to the bench.
Not being harsh on Folau or Pocock, they are both excellent players but it's only fair to point out the truth.

 

[Maverick1987]

On Clyde Rathbone...

He said the only two players who would make an Anzac XV would be Israel Folau and David Pocock.
Both fine players but... if Pocock was hoping to make it passed Kaino or Read, I'd never give him the nod, only at 7, where he rarely plays anymore, would he have a shot. He's too small to be a world class number 8 and he doesn't have the brutality or power of a Kaino at blindside, at Open side he could make the team.
On Folau, if Dagg was the full back then yes Folau would get the nod, but if Ben Smith is the full back then Folau to the bench.
Not being harsh on Folau or Pocock, they are both excellent players but it's only fair to point out the truth.

Don't think there's anything wrong with what you have said . Seems fair enough to me . Kurindrani would have a chance when he's in form but he was simply terrible last week .....

 

[XIII]

On Clyde Rathbone...

He said the only two players who would make an Anzac XV would be Israel Folau and David Pocock.
Both fine players but... if Pocock was hoping to make it passed Kaino or Read, I'd never give him the nod, only at 7, where he rarely plays anymore, would he have a shot. He's too small to be a world class number 8 and he doesn't have the brutality or power of a Kaino at blindside, at Open side he could make the team.
On Folau, if Dagg was the full back then yes Folau would get the nod, but if Ben Smith is the full back then Folau to the bench.
Not being harsh on Folau or Pocock, they are both excellent players but it's only fair to point out the truth.

What about Folau in the wing??, also, Pocock's prowess at rucks isn't exploited as much as it could, i think that the wallabies and any SR team in aus are very shallow towards the TOs, in the best case scenario, TOs= 3 points. With the sharp counterattack that the ABs and Nz SR teams posses, Pocock's TOs= decent amount of tries and ****load of metres. However, the ABs have lacked a true TO specialist for some years now, they probably dont see any value on having one.

 

[Pieter Steph du Teague]

Or Folau at 13. Fekitoa hasn't been performing particularly well and Folau was maybe the best 13 in Super Rugby this season.

 

[The Jones Boy]

Folau at 13 at international level?
Hmmm...
For me it would be Moala overtime, the guy is a Beast. It also means you can have someone creative to play off him, like a Barrett, Crotty or Charlie Ngatai because Moala will punch the gap and take two tacklers, much like Nonu did for years.
Maybe Folau can do it but I need to see him do it in the yellow jersey first.

 

[Ludders93]

Are we gunna see a game like the Hurricanes' playoff matches. Awful weather, defences dominating? Is the wind going at about 100mph as usual tomorrow?
If so we could see something like NZ 30-8 Australia

 

[Ludders93]

I just put a grand on Under 49.5 points but I'm a bit worried because Roman Poite's refereeing and he's always in charge of high scoring games

 

[austingtir]

Yep if the weather where I live is anything to go by which is a long way from wellington. The Aussies are super screwed.

 

[smartcooky]

I just put a grand on Under 49.5 points but I'm a bit worried because Roman Poite's refereeing and he's always in charge of high scoring games

Another thing to consider about Poite is that he tends to make up his mind early about who has the dominant scrum, and pretty much canes the weaker scrum from then on. It is vital for the All Blacks that they completely muller the Wallaby scrum early.

 

[nzlizard]

Classy.. Your the kind of person Rugby needs to lose..

Go eat a ****

 

[Ludders93]

anyone in Wellington got an update on the weather?

 

[die_mole]

Go eat a ****

give me more

 

[Ludders93]

Combined XV

Sio
Coles
Kepu
Rettalick
Whitelock
Pocock
Hooper
Read
Smith
Barrett
Naholo
Giteau
Folau
Smith
Mackenzie

6/9 Aussie/AB split so on paper it's pretty even

I'd love to see Hansen one day put Ben Smith at 13, I think he'd be so good there, Ngatai 12, Smith 13, Naholo and Savea on the wings, with Mackenzie at 15

Rugby porn!

 

[TRF Mr Fish]

anyone in Wellington got an update on the weather?

Nice at the moment, even a bit of sun! Not supposed to be any rain this evening, but who knows...

 

[nickdnz]

Combined XV

Sio
Coles
Kepu
Rettalick
Whitelock
Pocock
Hooper
Read
Smith
Barrett
Naholo
Giteau
Folau
Smith
Mackenzie

6/9 Aussie/AB split so on paper it's pretty even

I'd love to see Hansen one day put Ben Smith at 13, I think he'd be so good there, Ngatai 12, Smith 13, Naholo and Savea on the wings, with Mackenzie at 15

Rugby porn!

He's already played there a fair bit for the All Blacks. Never quite nailed it there for whatever reason though.

 

[austingtir]

We've got plenty of others that could be trialed at 13 other than Ben Smith. Why even think about putting the best fullback in the world at 13? The mind boggles sometimes.

Matt Faddes is going good for otago at 13.

 

[Pieter Steph du Teague]

Combined XV

Sio
Coles
Kepu
Rettalick
Whitelock
Pocock
Hooper
Read
Smith
Barrett
Naholo
Giteau
Folau
Smith
Mackenzie

6/9 Aussie/AB split so on paper it's pretty even

I'd love to see Hansen one day put Ben Smith at 13, I think he'd be so good there, Ngatai 12, Smith 13, Naholo and Savea on the wings, with Mackenzie at 15

Rugby porn!

Kepu's out of form, Frank's is definitely the TH. Kaino's been playing far better than Hooper, he should be at 6 with Pocock 7. Giteau's injured. McKenzie hasn't played international rugby yet, you can't justify putting him ahead of Dagg or Folau at fullback.

My combined XV would be:
1. Sio
2. Coles
3. Franks
4. Retallick
5. Whitelock
6. Kaino
7. Pocock
8. Read
9. Smith (Aaron)
10. Barrett
11. Savea
12. Fekitoa
13. Kerevi
14. Folau
15. Smith (Ben)

 

[Ludders93]

****'s sake. My weather app says 20mph winds! I looked at Westpac stadium's twitter and the pitch looked wet, i think it rained this morning so hopefully it's still slippy

- - - Updated - - -

Yeah your probably right, only thing I'd say is Naholo ahead of Savea. Naholo is a phenomenon, even his performance for the Highlanders losing to the Lions was amazing.

My World XV

Ayerza
Coles
Cole
Itoje
Retallick
Pocock
Read
Vunipola
Smith
Barrett
Naholo
Fofana
Folau
Imhoff
Smith

 

[Pieter Steph du Teague]

Naholo too is injured. Otherwise I definitely would've had him over Savea.

 

[austingtir]

It boggles my mind whenever I see people do a world 15 and kaino isnt in it.

The guy is legit one of the best blind sides of ALL TIME. He's 33 years old and was an absolute beast in the game last week and I expect nothing different tonight. Nobody in the world stops opposing forwards dead in their tracks like Kaino has done for his entire career NOBODY.

These idiots above would rather have the likes of Pocock or Hooper and Vunipola... Jesus wept you people are dumb.