[2021 Rugby Championship] Round 6 South Africa v New Zealand (02/10/2021)

[Umaga's Witness]

Irrespective of the quoted comment above, some of the selector's decisions seem questionable to me.

For instance, I see no point in having DMac on the bench instead of Tupaea, as bringing him in later in the game would only mean that he would play 14 (why?) or fullback, while moving Jordie to the right wing again (why ?).

Furthermore, I should have given the start to Blackadder at 6, as last week Akira was the invisible man.

Mo'unga not starting was actually a good call from Foster. He's been in isolation for the past two weeks, he's probably not trained as good or hard as the rest of the squad, there was really no need to push him in the starting block.

The mckenzie decision is no doubt because he is a game changer, a good impact player. I agree it would be silly if he came on to the wing, which yes he has done under foster, but from fullback is a different story. likely the plan is for him to come in at fullback, jordie probably goes to wing, rieko to centre and lienert brown comes off. It's not the greatest to shift jordie to the wing but nor is tupaea coming in at 13 necessarily a better option when they probably see rieko at 13 and mckenzie at 15 a good attacking set up for late in the match. Can see the argument either way, it's not obvious which selection is better.

I can certainly see the Blackadder instead of akira argument too. Blackadder to me was the best forward in super rugby but I had my doubts about how he'd step up to tests. He's been pretty good in tests and I agree akira didn't have his best game last week. I think there's also a good argument to stick with akira though as he has for the most part played really well and he provides a bit more power and potentially balances their long term trio better, with cane at seven and savea at eight. He will definitely have to play well this game to keep his place I reckon.

And that's bang on regarding mounga.

I'm mostly worried about the bower selection. He's a good scrummager but Koch is immense so I'd rather karl was facing him.

 

[Jer1cho]

Im home alone tomorrow, with 0 responsibility, and as such, I will be drinking a clean brandy shot with every kick from either Faf or Pollard. I will report my progress in this thread. Might pass out before half time but that saves me from having to watch the rest of it. Wish me luck dudes!

 

[geostar]

Im home alone tomorrow, with 0 responsibility, and as such, I will be drinking a clean brandy shot with every kick from either Faf or Pollard. I will report my progress in this thread. Might pass out before half time but that saves me from having to watch the rest of it. Wish me luck dudes!

Think I might join in on this

 

[TRF_Olyy]

Im home alone tomorrow, with 0 responsibility, and as such, I will be drinking a clean brandy shot with every kick from either Faf or Pollard. I will report my progress in this thread. Might pass out before half time but that saves me from having to watch the rest of it. Wish me luck dudes!

 

[ChicagoKid]

Im home alone tomorrow, with 0 responsibility, and as such, I will be drinking a clean brandy shot with every kick from either Faf or Pollard. I will report my progress in this thread. Might pass out before half time but that saves me from having to watch the rest of it. Wish me luck dudes!

You won't make it to the second scrum when Eben has to readjust his socks and scrap the grass from his cleats.

 

[ChicagoKid]

Think I might join in on this

Interesting that Brandy and Coke Cola are so big in SA. What is the history there? We have something similar with bourbon and Coke Cola, but brandy isn't very popular in the states.

 

[Umaga's Witness]

You won't make it to the second scrum when Eben has to readjust his socks and scrap the grass from his cleats.

The second scrum will come after the second kick.

I'm not going to, but a drink every time the alll blacks turn the ball over could be pretty hard too

 

[ChicagoKid]

The second scrum will come after the second kick.

I'm not going to, but a drink every time the alll blacks turn the ball over could be pretty hard too

Shocked Havili wasn't dropped after committing a baker's dozen of handling errors last week. We have a term for that here: Butterfingers.

 

[NZbloke]

So, given he hasn't changed a lot of players you must be happy with his selections? Jacobson was supposed to start last week, Lienert brown is the incumbent but was injured. So the only real changes are to bring bower into the reserves, Reece in (he's been the consistently in form winger this year), and mounga into reserves ( who you want there, although you'd rather he started), and aumua to the bench because we struggled in the lineout and taukeiaho was the worst lineout thrower in super rugby.

And are you suggesting he is a bad coach for not selecting mounga? I mean you must realise that 95 per cent of professional coaches wouldn't have started mounga in this game right?

Yeah, I am glad he's not stuffing around with the team too much - we have 4 top wingers, reckon the best winger we have though is Jordan... there's not really an excuse for a hooker throwing poorly into the lineouts at any level, the throw has got to be accurate & also get the timing right with their lifters & jumpers.

I'm definitely not saying he is a bad coach for not selecting Mo'unga, it's never just about one selection in a team - what I'm saying is Foster's an average coach in general... if we had two 10's in this squad of 23 that made consistently good decisions under pressure I'd have Mo'unga coming off the bench... that's not the case though, as Mounga is far better at running the ship under real pressure compared to BB, against the Boks we needed our best 10 to start.

 

[NZbloke]

Sat October 2nd {Cbus Stadium, Gold Coast} - 11.05pm {nzt}

ABs : 1. Joe Moody, 2. Codie Taylor, 3. Nepo Laulala, 4. Brodie Retallick, 5. Scott Barrett, 6. Akira Ioane, 7. Ardie Savea {c}, 8. Luke Jacobson, 9. Brad Weber, 10. Beauden Barrett, 11. Rieko Ioane, 12. David Havili, 13. Anton Lienert-Brown, 14. Sevu Reece, 15. Jordie Barrett.
Reserves : 16. Asafo Aumua, 17. George Bower, 18. Ofa Tuungafasi, 19. Patrick Tuipulotu, 20. Ethan Blackadder, 21. TJ Perenara, 22. Richie Mo'unga, 23. Damian McKenzie.

Boks : 1. Ox Nche, 2: Bongi Mbonambi, 3. Trevor Nyakane, 4. Eben Etzebeth, 5. Lood de Jager, 6. Siya Kolisi (capt), 7. Kwagga Smith, 8. Duane Vermeulen, 9. Faf de Klerk, 10. Handre Pollard, 11. Makazole Mapimpi, 12. Damian de Allende, 13. Lukhanyo Am, 14. S'busiso Nkosi, 15. Willie le Roux.
Reserves : 16. Malcolm Marx, 17. Steven Kitshoff, 18. Vincent Koch, 19. Franco Mostert, 20. Jasper Wiese, 21. Herschel Jantjies, 22:.Elton Jantjies, 23. Francois Steyn.

Referee : Matthew Carley

 

[Umaga's Witness]

Shocked Havili wasn't dropped after committing a baker's dozen of handling errors last week. We have a term for that here: Butterfingers.

Yeah, more like anxiety hands I'd say, or anxiety eyes looking at the defence, or anxiety feet overrunning the ball because he wasn't calm enough. He had an absolute shocker but no one has really mentioned it.

Still, bad one week doesn't mean you'll be bad the next. It's his first big game in the midfield against rush defence. He should be given opportunity to learn. I can't remember if it was foster or fox who said that If they picked entirely based on form they'd be changing the whole team every week.

 

[NZbloke]

Yeah, any incumbent player can have a shocker in one match - it's when they continue to keep playing poorly, that's when they need to be replaced in the starting team.

 

[Umaga's Witness]

Yeah, I am glad he's not stuffing around with the team too much - we have 4 top wingers, reckon the best winger we have though is Jordan... there's not really an excuse for a hooker throwing poorly into the lineouts at any level, the throw has got to be accurate & also get the timing right with their lifters & jumpers.

I'm definitely not saying he is a bad coach for not selecting Mo'unga, it's never just about one selection in a team - what I'm saying is Foster's an average coach in general... if we had two 10's in this squad of 23 that made consistently good decisions under pressure I'd have Mo'unga coming off the bench... that's not the case though, as Mounga is far better at running the ship under real pressure compared to BB, against the Boks we needed our best 10 to start.

Jordan is our best winger at times, and in potential, but not in consistency of performance. He makes a lot of mistakes, and doesnt handle pressure. I'd be tempted to play him but Sometimes I think they ease players in so as to protect them against the risk of developing performance anxiety, like happened to toeava. Certainly jordan seems prone to it ( eg in super rugby the first game the crusaders were under pressure he just went from bad to worse, had an absolute shocker), so I can understand them being a bit careful with him.

On foster, if you want to say he is a bad coach in general then maybe start a thread about it because it's kinda off topic here. And then I'll be less likely to misunderstand what you are trying to say, because I won't be trying to link it to this game or to the conversation happening in the thread. If you want to talk about how something about this game, eg selections for this game, has to do with foster being a bad coach then you should say so here.

 

[Gay-Guy]

Shocked Havili wasn't dropped after committing a baker's dozen of handling errors last week. We have a term for that here: Butterfingers.

I watched the game again and the problem in the midfield was Reiko's soft hands..definitely not a Crotty when it comes to ball handling. Havili has better handling so it looks like they are keeping with him and bringing ALB back into the midfield which was a combination that worked very well against the Wallabies...I was surprised they didn't keep it for the Boks last week.

Reiko though has shown a renewed work effort as a winger so keeps his place there. I do wish he had those finer skills as a centre as I see big potential there.

 

[Umaga's Witness]

I watched the game again and the problem in the midfield was Reiko's soft hands..definitely not a Crotty when it comes to ball handling. Havili has better handling so it looks like they are keeping with him and bringing ALB back into the midfield which was a combination that worked very well against the Wallabies...I was surprised they didn't keep it for the Boks last week.

Reiko though has shown a renewed work effort as a winger so keeps his place there. I do wish he had those finer skills as a centre as I see big potential there.

I thought Both havili and rieko had poor games. Did you get any other insights on your second watch?

 

[LeinsterMan (NotTigsMan)]

That charge down looked dirty AF

Dude just jumped into him IMO never looking for the actual charge down but whatever, just don't see who it isn't reckless

 

[Umaga's Witness]

That charge down looked dirty AF

Dude just jumped into him IMO never looking for the actual charge down but whatever, just don't see who it isn't reckless

Wrong thread?

 

[LeinsterMan (NotTigsMan)]

Wrong thread?

all you SH game threads look the same too me.

 

[Gay-Guy]

I thought Both havili and rieko had poor games. Did you get any other insights on your second watch?

Yeah they both had bad games but Reikos mistakes you know he can't fix in 7 days.

Watching it twice the kiwis on defence left space out wide not bothering to mark it...it was almost like they didn't expect the Boks to spread it like the Wallabies had. Reminds me when GH used to tell Sivi to stand deep on defence and invite O'Gara to run it from their half.

 

[GoTheNaki]

Commentators{John Kirwan) talking about the South African physio getting another cap tonight for the game.