Pretty comprehensive explanation there mate, all points taken on board. I still don't know how you can't see Kahui is injury prone when you kind of even admit it yourself "Sadly Kahui hasn't been fully fit and ready for the all blacks for long enough periods since so that point is moot"
Smith isn't that small, 4cm and 5kg difference aren't exactly deal breakers. If Smith was Giteau's size I could see the argument.
I'd wager on Kahui picking up another injury at some point during the tri nations, please quote me if he doesn't as I'd love to be proven wrong about the guy.
Thanks, and I agree Conrad's size isn't as much of an issue now as it was in 2007-2008. He has got a bit bigger and at the same time there is not the same threat with mortlock out of the picture. SA have big mid fielders but they dont get the ball much
It may seem silly to pick a player just to deal with one oposition but the reality is that there are very few teams out there that are a threat to the AB's australia and SA mainly. And against Australia by far their biggest threat was Mortlock.
I think you have miss quoted me though. Or I didn't get my meaning accross. I think
I said if it wasn't for Kahui's sholder injuries he wouldn't be considered injury prone. Problem is Kahui has had 3 major sholder injuries which have taken him out of large chunks or rugby each time. And I link his sholder injuries directly to the fact he hits tackles harder and more often than pretty much any back in rugby, even guys who are a lot bigger than him.
He knows that if he eases back on his defence he wont have the same injury problems but he chooses to ignore that idea, maybe to his credit - people may say he's stupid not to.
he really hasn't had many injury problems outside his sholder issues. he had an ancle and a few other minor issues.
The good thing is that since he had his first sholder one I dont think that has been a problem since and his other sholder the 2nd injury wasn't the same so that's kinda a good sign for his other sholder re-construction.
I also believe he's been really badly managed as far as his injuries go.
he had an ancle injury mis diagnosed which put him out for a long peroid which if he had been managed properly would have been monir. He also played most of the 2009(?) super rugby season with a busted sholder (only able to tackle one one side, wouldn't have done his good side any good either.) and the injury eventually got so bad it rulled him out for the all blacks. When it should have been sorted right away, he should have taken time off during super rugby to get it fixed he may have been good for the end of the season and all blacks.
Interestingly during that time some other chiefs players were badly managed with injuries as well. Sivivatu was the worst, seemed to have his sholder dislocated every few weeks and rather than get it fixed he played on for the chiefs and it just got worse and worse till surgery forced him out and he missed an international season and hasn't made it back to the AB's yet.
And that wasn't long after Leonard had his knee problem. Leonard busted his Knee, had surgery, was in a moon boot for months. Then they remove his moon boot only to find the surgery was no good and he had to have more surgery and start the whole process again from scratch. I can't imagine how hard that must have been.
I also wouldn't put mony on Kahui not getting injured, though so for this year his sholders havn't been an issue, one neck strain and a monor hammy injury this season so far - most players would be happy with only that. But history is against him.
I do hope he stays injury free. I believe the All Blacks are better off with him in the picture, he just naturally seems good at test rugby. He's even better suited to test rugby than super rugby. And he has a rare ability to lift his game to a high level/intensity when needed. There are a few players around like that and they will be critical come playoffs time.
And heh yeah Giteau isn't huge, but the guy is a walking muscle. for his size and weight he has a ridiculous amount of power. One can only imagine how good some NZ players would be if they worked as hard on their fitness as matt giteau does. Ranger, Masanga, Stowers come to mind. Aussie have a few players like matt giteau that I envy in that regard.
