[EOYT] Canada vs. New Zealand Maori. 03/11/13

[jonny24]

They just mentioned that there are over 22000 in attendance. Entertaining game so far, even if we're not winning

 

[Thingimubob]

Anyone else finding this interview awkward as hell? Piri Weepu looks ridiculously camera shy bless him

 

[Jaguares]

This try was merit of Zac Guildford...

 

[big ginger 8]

Nicely worked try for Canada there.

 

[Jaguares]

Who enters as a substitute for Guildford? I couldn't see

Edit: I just watching him, is Matt Proctor!!!

 

[ABs2011]

Good win by the Moari ABs!

 

[Jaguares]

I like the new Maori ABs jersey:

 

[LittleGuy]

Decent game, thought the boys were game but the missing pro's very evident and the finishing lacked quality. That bench was always going to struggle against the Maori depth. Way too many unforced errors due to nerves and the cold I think. It's a fairly reasonable scoreline though, I think the home crowd were pleased we got a couple of tries and showed some attacking flair. Would have loved to see how our top team would have done today. I think it's a decent start to the November tour if the guys put that kind of effort into our other games we can go 3-0 on the trip.

 

[rusty_lock]

Really pleasantly surprised by the game. I don't think the scoreline truly reflected the contest. I expected that it would be a really lopsided affair but really it was fairly even for good stretches and the Canadian desire to entertain vs. sound tactical decisions was costly. Did they even one time kick for territory?

Hassler looked good and so did Trainor and I really like Evans at 15. Except for Pritchard's world class goal kicking he might start having a hard time cracking the lineup. Too bad for Hearn because he really looked like he was having one of his better games. Braid was disappointing in relief. I thought Underwood had some good patches and showed some good attacking flair but made some questionable decision that marred the performance. Jones at 12 was pretty disappointing. My biggest disappointment of the day was Mack. Not for his effort, he was tenacious, but he just seemed to be trying to do to much and it just wasn't coming off. I am and will continue to be a big Mack fan he just needs to remember it's 15's and not 7's. I thought Mackenzie coming in was an upgrade on this day and he provided good service, even under pressure.

Carpenter ran hot and cold, maybe more cold than hot, I had mixed feelings about his performance. Dala looked good early so his injury hurt us badly at the break down. Kleeberger was decent but he is still not up to his old form. Perhaps more game time over the next 3 weeks will see that reemerge. Moonlight was Ok. He tackled well enough but just didn't have enough impact at the break down and more than anything that is what you need from your 7. Ardron was a beast and showed his class all over the park, even though he was playing out of position. Phelan was adequate if uninspiring but the entire front row deserves a hand for a solid performance. Woolridge scumaged much better than I expected. Barkwell probably had his best lineout day that I have ever seen and Buydens was very good all day long. He was much better with ball in hand than I remember being or expected on the night.

Overall the two things that cost the most was the handling errors and ball security at the tackle/ruck.

All in all not a terrible performance against a pretty strong side and it just begs the question... "What if the missing pro's had been available" I'll be interested to read other's opinions as I know mine is probably very biased. This should give them good confidence knowing they ran with a bigger than average dog and didn't get mauled and prepare them really well for a big test next week against Georgia.

 

[Draggs]

I think the Maori "All Blacks" thing is kind of ridiculous.
Seems over the past few years the All Blacks have been getting more commercialised. They were resistant to a sponsor logo and eventually changed, now they are tacking the All Black name to everything (All Black Sevens, right?).

 

[ABs2011]

I think the Maori "All Blacks" thing is kind of ridiculous.
Seems over the past few years the All Blacks have been getting more commercialised. They were resistant to a sponsor logo and eventually changed, now they are tacking the All Black name to everything (All Black Sevens, right?).

A lot of people do in NZ mate, but the flip side is this could be the only way NZ rugby stays dominant... Anyone got any better ideas?

 

[TRF Mr Fish]

How did Squire, the NZ 6 play?

 

[nickdnz]

How did Squire, the NZ 6 play?

I thought he did reasonably well - nothing that stood out to me as exceptional but was reasonably busy. Other than the set piece the NZ forwards were generally more dominant in my opinion (the scrum was pretty even). The backs looked pretty messy though - a lot of knock ons they ran too flat in my opinion, which meant they were forcing passes.

I liked the look of Hearn for Canada - looks to have quite a bit of pace for a pretty big dude.

 

[psychic duck]

Really pleasantly surprised by the game. I don't think the scoreline truly reflected the contest. I expected that it would be a really lopsided affair but really it was fairly even for good stretches and the Canadian desire to entertain vs. sound tactical decisions was costly. Did they even one time kick for territory?

Hassler looked good and so did Trainor and I really like Evans at 15. Except for Pritchard's world class goal kicking he might start having a hard time cracking the lineup. Too bad for Hearn because he really looked like he was having one of his better games. Braid was disappointing in relief. I thought Underwood had some good patches and showed some good attacking flair but made some questionable decision that marred the performance. Jones at 12 was pretty disappointing. My biggest disappointment of the day was Mack. Not for his effort, he was tenacious, but he just seemed to be trying to do to much and it just wasn't coming off. I am and will continue to be a big Mack fan he just needs to remember it's 15's and not 7's. I thought Mackenzie coming in was an upgrade on this day and he provided good service, even under pressure.

Carpenter ran hot and cold, maybe more cold than hot, I had mixed feelings about his performance. Dala looked good early so his injury hurt us badly at the break down. Kleeberger was decent but he is still not up to his old form. Perhaps more game time over the next 3 weeks will see that reemerge. Moonlight was Ok. He tackled well enough but just didn't have enough impact at the break down and more than anything that is what you need from your 7. Ardron was a beast and showed his class all over the park, even though he was playing out of position. Phelan was adequate if uninspiring but the entire front row deserves a hand for a solid performance. Woolridge scumaged much better than I expected. Barkwell probably had his best lineout day that I have ever seen and Buydens was very good all day long. He was much better with ball in hand than I remember being or expected on the night.

Overall the two things that cost the most was the handling errors and ball security at the tackle/ruck.

All in all not a terrible performance against a pretty strong side and it just begs the question... "What if the missing pro's had been available" I'll be interested to read other's opinions as I know mine is probably very biased. This should give them good confidence knowing they ran with a bigger than average dog and didn't get mauled and prepare them really well for a big test next week against Georgia.

Good analysis rusty_lock. One question that crossed my mind watching this though, was will Canada be playing such a loose wide game next week away in Tbilisi? Or was it due to the non test status of the fixture?

 

[Jaguares]

I think the Maori "All Blacks" thing is kind of ridiculous.
Seems over the past few years the All Blacks have been getting more commercialised. They were resistant to a sponsor logo and eventually changed, now they are tacking the All Black name to everything (All Black Sevens, right?).

New Zealand Sevens change their name because the Olympic Games. NZRU want to have a more marketable name like: "All Blacks Sevens" to appeal to the masses in the Olympic Games. The name: "All Blacks" is well known around the world. That's the main reason, Olympic Games coming soon.

Cheers

 

[Big Ewis]

I managed to check out most of the first half. Honestly, I wasn't impressed by Canada and I mean this in the most neutral way possible.
How do you guys feel about that Canada performance ? I'm guessing not thrilled but, I haven't followed Canada in a while and I just would like to know the kind of expectations you fans had.

 

[Dougydeluxe]

Hassler was great, every time he got the ball he made moves. He will become a great Pro if he continues on this. Our game was "loose" but pretty easy to read, most of our cut out passes were easy for Maori to defend.

I liked that they brought energy and flair to the game, but you can't keep losing balls in the contact area. Just stupid. It was also stupid in the final 10ish minutes to kick at the points instead of the corner. This game has no effect on any standings, you might as well go for trys, especially since they wanted to play so loose.

Better game from Canada then other ones I have watched. We have more players that are becoming adequate internationals, and the crowd was great to see. Most people even stayed until the very end.

 

[Toko_11]

how long til they announce squad facing the Lelos ?

 

[rusty_lock]

I managed to check out most of the first half. Honestly, I wasn't impressed by Canada and I mean this in the most neutral way possible.
How do you guys feel about that Canada performance ? I'm guessing not thrilled but, I haven't followed Canada in a while and I just would like to know the kind of expectations you fans had.

MOst people that had realistic expectations didn't expect to much. With a number of top professionals unavailable because the game fell outside the Irb test window there was a thought that this would be real thrashing. That it wasn't probably makes everyone feel a little better about things in general. The reality of a tier II rugby nation is the best you can hope for is 15 better than average player. And that on the given day they all play out of their skins and cause and upset. I happens but not all that often. For most tier II countries there is no depth and limited ability create it. It is not as simple as saying just get more players more overseas contracts. While that would be an answer there are obstacles to making that happen. Player quota's and work permits being top among them there is also the inherent bias against players who come from non-rugby playing nations. There is a natural assumption that they won't have the same rugby IQ that someone growing up tier I country has by naturally being exposed to the game, at it's highest level from a young age. These aren't excuses just explanations why development isn't always as should be for tier II countries since the professional era. Countries like Argentina and Samoa give us hope. They are doing it and starting to knock on the door of the big boys. Both have a ways to go but many tier countries are sitting up and taking notice and the global game will be better for it when it happens

The reality of this game was they were sloppy and were poor securing the ball at the break down. Hopefully that improves next week.

 

[Big Ewis]

MOst people that had realistic expectations didn't expect to much. With a number of top professionals unavailable because the game fell outside the Irb test window there was a thought that this would be real thrashing. That it wasn't probably makes everyone feel a little better about things in general. The reality of a tier II rugby nation is the best you can hope for is 15 better than average player. And that on the given day they all play out of their skins and cause and upset. I happens but not all that often. For most tier II countries there is no depth and limited ability create it. It is not as simple as saying just get more players more overseas contracts. While that would be an answer there are obstacles to making that happen. Player quota's and work permits being top among them there is also the inherent bias against players who come from non-rugby playing nations. There is a natural assumption that they won't have the same rugby IQ that someone growing up tier I country has by naturally being exposed to the game, at it's highest level from a young age. These aren't excuses just explanations why development isn't always as should be for tier II countries since the professional era. Countries like Argentina and Samoa give us hope. They are doing it and starting to knock on the door of the big boys. Both have a ways to go but many tier countries are sitting up and taking notice and the global game will be better for it when it happens

The reality of this game was they were sloppy and were poor securing the ball at the break down. Hopefully that improves next week.

Thanks man. That's the kind of answer I was looking for. Also, cool username
I don't even understand how there are fans at all of Rugby in places like Canada or the US. Especially the U.S., they've got their own football which is much bigger there than their northern neighbors which is basically their own Rugby, so why the heck would they turn to something a little different and not at all an American thing.
But Canada in specific, how the hell do you guys (fans) exist at all ?! Where does the conscience of the sport even come into your lives, and at what point do you decide to try checking it out ?...
I'm sure many people don't even know what "Rugby" is, which is a near impossible thing to find in France or England.