All Blacks 2021-2024 Thread

[Kiwiwomble]

New Zealand: Scott Barrett to captain All Blacks in England Tests

Lock Scott Barrett is named New Zealand's new captain as five uncapped players are called up for the All Blacks' upcoming Tests against England and Fiji.

www.bbc.co.uk

Interesting that Scott Barrett is captain. Maybe NZ fans have a different perspective, but I never thought of him as a captain.

nope...lots of us dont see him as a captain either....especially because of his card record...and not for off side in ruck kind of stuff....shoulder charging players prone on the ground kind of stuff

 

[Reiser99]

nope...lots of us dont see him as a captain either....especially because of his card record...and not for off side in ruck kind of stuff....shoulder charging players prone on the ground kind of stuff

Maybe he's a transition captain. He's 30, so would be 33/34 at the next WC. I don't see him as a guaranteed starter. Possibly they have someone else in mind for the future?

 

[Kiwiwomble]

Maybe he's a transition captain. He's 30, so would be 33/34 at the next WC. I don't see him as a guaranteed starter. Possibly they have someone else in mind for the future?

maybe but would be another disappointing decision, there is a contingent of us who were willing to give razor a LOT of leeway as far as results this year if we could see the long term goal, new young players, new captain, new game plan....all take time to settle in so some losses this year but with the aim of building for the future.....some of us could really get behind. any kind of stop gap choices are just disappointing as its just setting the table for going into the next RWC with some players (maybe captain) who have only been in place for a year or two

if Nikora Broughton is who you see as a strong option in 4 years time (random example/rumor)....get him in now and come the RWC we'll have a 26 year old with 50 caps....not guys like Patrick Tuipulotu who is 31 and already has +40 uninspiring tests and wont make the end of the season let alone the next world cup

 

[Umaga's Witness]

Maybe he's a transition captain. He's 30, so would be 33/34 at the next WC. I don't see him as a guaranteed starter. Possibly they have someone else in mind for the future?

Out of the candidates for captain now, he is the most likely to be starting at the World Cup. I doubt he is a stop gap as much as I'd like that to be the case. If they were looking for a stop gap solution then why not ardie who has captained and vice captained the all blacks quite a bit already. Scooter was razors captain last few years with crusaders. He's it I'm afraid

 

[Umaga's Witness]

maybe but would be another disappointing decision, there is a contingent of us who were willing to give razor a LOT of leeway as far as results this year if we could see the long term goal, new young players, new captain, new game plan....all take time to settle in so some losses this year but with the aim of building for the future.....some of us could really get behind. any kind of stop gap choices are just disappointing as its just setting the table for going into the next RWC with some players (maybe captain) who have only been in place for a year or two

if Nikora Broughton is who you see as a strong option in 4 years time (random example/rumor)....get him in now and come the RWC we'll have a 26 year old with 50 caps....not guys like Patrick Tuipulotu who is 31 and already has +40 uninspiring tests and wont make the end of the season let alone the next world cup

I think razors group is looking to the future already more than the previous group. There will be a balance to this though and they will be most conservative for the first few tests.

We haven't really seen much in the way of development players from fosters group(s). I remember wrongly predicting a few times that they would pick someone for development eg numia several years ago. This group has picked tosi and sititi at least.

In terms of Patrick, and only taking three locks, instead of developing players, well patty is playing very well, we have a few injuries (lord, Delaney, PPP) plus a few promising players that didn't get the opportunites this year (ah kuoi, suafoa), then two players who are clearly future all blacks but are either ineligible (holland) or way too fresh (hannah). So I can see the logic.

Also personally I'm not too fussed about the World Cup, so I'm not willing to sacrifice much for it. But I think you should always be developing players even to meet an objective of highest possible win rate over a four year period

 

[Kiwiwomble]

I think razors group is looking to the future already more than the previous group. There will be a balance to this though and they will be most conservative for the first few tests.

We haven't really seen much in the way of development players from fosters group(s). I remember wrongly predicting a few times that they would pick someone for development eg numia several years ago. This group has picked tosi and sititi at least.

In terms of Patrick, and only taking three locks, well patty is playing very well, we have a few injuries (lord, Delaney, PPP) plus a few promising players that didn't get the opportunites this year (ah kuoi, suafoa), then two players who are clearly future all blacks but are either ineligible (holland) or way too fresh (hannah). So I can see the logic.

i wish i was in your shoes, my first thoughts when looking at the squad was favouritism (blackadder, bell) or "safe but might not be here in 4 years" (TJP, BB, PT)...and a bit random (perofeta)

I hope you're right and im wrong

 

[Umaga's Witness]

i wish i was in your shoes, my first thoughts when looking at the squad was favouritism (blackadder, bell) or "safe but might not be here in 4 years" (TJP, BB, PT)...and a bit random (perofeta)

I hope you're right and im wrong

Bell is another example of development player. Why choose riccitelli as your fourth choice (noting samisoni will come back) when his upside is nowhere near bells. Bells lineout throwing has been awful no doubt, but they have also brought in Corey Flynn as throwing coach.

I wouldn't have picked Blackadder given how fragile he is but he is very good when he plays. I just tend to give selectors the benefit of the doubt I guess. Even when I try and rate pkayers I find it a lot easier when I focus on one player during a game. The selectors have been analysing these players carefully and have all the stats.

 

[Bada-Bing!]

Was disappointed no Sotutu picked but instead picked Sititi. Had to have a chuckle when I saw that. Not Seen anything of Sititi. Any good? Was reading on stuff a big part of Robertson's
decision was because of Sotutu's penalty record and also his upright tackling style and
Sititi's better ball carrying abilities if he shifts Ardie to 7.

The engine room, despite SB still being there, is a bit threadbare now Retallick and Whitelock
are retired.

Also massive shame that Jordan won't be playing in these two tests. One of my favourite players.

 

[Kiwiwomble]

and this is where it gets frustrating because they also said they see savea as an 8, no plans to move him to 7....so have they dropped one of the best 8s in super rugby.....to make room for a guy whos major selling point is doing something that they dont want to do and will only do if they really need too

the more i think about it the more i think we wont see much of these new guys, all the old names will play and nothing will change

 

[Umaga's Witness]

Was disappointed no Sotutu picked but instead picked Sititi. Had to have a chuckle when I saw that. Not Seen anything of Sititi. Any good? Was reading on stuff a big part of Robertson's
decision was because of Sotutu's penalty record and also his upright tackling style and
Sititi's better ball carrying abilities if he shifts Ardie to 7.

The engine room, despite SB still being there, is a bit threadbare now Retallick and Whitelock
are retired.

Also massive shame that Jordan won't be playing in these two tests. One of my favourite players.

Can you show me this stuff article? Is any of it actually coming from the horses mouth or is it just a reporters speculations?

Sititi is very good. Good with ball in hand but also handy in defense and gets involved in rucks. He is the son of the great samoan captain semo sititi - one of my favourite non all black players in history.

Im disappointed sotutu is seemingly not liked by Ryan or robertson because I love his passing game and think he could have become one of the greatest impact players.

 

[Bada-Bing!]

Can you show me this stuff article? Is any of it actually coming from the horses mouth or is it just a reporters speculations?

Yeh, looked again for the article but couldn't find it, it was Stuff journalists opinion/analsysis rather than from Robertson's.

 

[Umaga's Witness]

Yeh, looked again for the article but couldn't find it, it was Stuff journalists opinion/analsysis rather than from Robertson's.

All good, I just remembered I can't view stuff articles anyway. On my phone the ads in stuff come up over the whole screen but the x is outside the screen so I can't close the ads.

 

[Which Tyler]

All good, I just remembered I can't view stuff articles anyway. On my phone the ads in stuff come up over the whole screen but the x is outside the screen so I can't close the ads.

Someone needs a better and blocerk

 

[Reiser99]

Someone needs a better and blocerk

Someone needs a better spell check.

 

[Kiwiwomble]

All good, I just remembered I can't view stuff articles anyway. On my phone the ads in stuff come up over the whole screen but the x is outside the screen so I can't close the ads.

thats weird, what phone/browser do you use?

 

[Which Tyler]

Someone needs a better spell check

I am Typo Man
The writer of wrongs!

 

[Umaga's Witness]

thats weird, what phone/browser do you use?

It's an iPhone 7 using Safari, but it's probably due to some settings I have made somewhere eg increasing text size.

 

[Kiwiwomble]

It's an iPhone 7 using Safari, but it's probably due to some settings I have made somewhere eg increasing text size.

probably, might also just be an 8 year old phone freaking out

 

[Umaga's Witness]

So what do we think with progress so far?

I think we've seen what we should have expected. Crusaders rugby.

We are doing what is required to win, even though it's been close. The game plan is sensible as we might expect. The team looks composed.

We are adapting, after half times, after the first game, to the players we have available (eg playing differently with christie). I would guess we are playing to the opposition, but we'll have to wait and see.

It's not ambitious, but it's only the start.

I do hope we get better through time.

 

[Kiwiwomble]

i think hes playing it very safe, largely the same team as we might have expected under fozzie, only a couple of changes, a tweaked gameplan playing deeper with more players in movement too confuse the rush...things people have been asking fozzie to try for years. we still have some cross field kick passes and a bit of mad cap attack from anywhere....but mostly reserved for the final quarter when there should actually be the space for them to work

A test for me will be if we see 33 year BB stay on the bench....he's proven a game changer there...a real weapon that i believe will be dulled if he has to start

to me it looks like hes taking this very seriously and has long term plans rather than a all in roll of the dice right from the start