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[EOYT] England vs New Zealand 16/11/13

I think this should be a good match - but I'd be very suprised if we lost this one. I'm just hoping Wade is in the lineup, I'll still chear if he scores.
 
Carter is way way overdue for a MOM performance. Thats my pick.... he is just to good a player to of been as quiet as he has been the last year or two.
 
i think AB to win between 7 to 12.. it will be a tight test match, i've a lot of respect for England front row and in my opinion is better than AB at present; interesting to see the battle between Messam and Robshaw :cool:
 
Swap Piutau and Ben Smith around,Smith is more dangerous on the wing and Piutau would make a better center then Smith.
 
lance2010 said:
Swap Piutau and Ben Smith around,Smith is more dangerous on the wing and Piutau would make a better center then Smith.
Click to expand...

What?

I'm pretty sure everyone would disagree with that, I know Hansen does. He's explicitly said he doesn't see Piutau as a centre.
 
Surely this is the game of the tour even if the 'finals' of the 6N and RC were bigger for the year.

I expect NZ to be highly motivated. I respect England but am picking NZ by 12. Probably the fact that there is no or should be no pressure on England will mean they might step it up again? Who knows! I'm sure it's going to be a cracking match either way it goes.
 
Mr Fish said:
What?

I'm pretty sure everyone would disagree with that, I know Hansen does. He's explicitly said he doesn't see Piutau as a centre.
Click to expand...


Its pretty obvious to anybody though that Ben Smith to some degree is wasted at centre. He is not going to get as many oportunities in that position to score or break the defence which i think is what he's been the best at in the world this year.

Piutau to me makes just as much sense at centre as Ben Smith. (the best fullback in the world playing at wing and centre... go figure).

In the end though im happy that Ben Smith will do fine for us in this game at centre... im just ****** that Dagg seems to get preferential treatment for whatever reason when i think he's just a pretty lazy player that isnt playing to his potential.
 
I'm like Ben Kenobi, I have a bad feeling about this.

Last year England won when a relatively uninaginitive, if highly comited and hard to break down, team played out of their skins. This year we have the ingredients for a much more exciting side that would be able to seriously challenge the All Blacks. However a combination of injury and interesting selection choices will probably result in a team similar to last year. In effect we'll be hoping lightening strikes twice.

Only hope for England is to go in at half time ahead. We're a hard team to break down so that isn't too outlandish a goal. From there is the All Blacks get a bit shaky and our confidence builds in the second half we might just steal it.

But I think New Zealand but 7-10 points is much more likely.
 
Mr Fish said:
What?

I'm pretty sure everyone would disagree with that, I know Hansen does. He's explicitly said he doesn't see Piutau as a centre.
Click to expand...

I have actually heard a number of people mention that Piutau should start at centre, but I agree with you that would be absolute madness. Starting someone in a key test match at centre who has not played any rugby in the postion would be suicide....

Centre is technically the most difficult position on defense - it can take some players years to master the position from a defensive point of view. Likewise a prime-requisite of a centre is a strong distribution game - something Piutau lacks. Indeed that is one of the few weaknesses in Piutau game (along with decision making - another area where a centre needs to excel). He can offload the ball, but this is really only used as a last resort after he has had a run himself. When Piutau gets the ball he doesn't think about setting up other players, he simply thinks about how he is going to beat the next man. That is exactly what I want from my wing. It is not what I want from my centre. This is not to say that Piutau won't evolve into a quality centre one day - with his size, pace, and offloading skills he could develop into a real handful at centre if he spent a few years learning the subtleties of the position....

Anyways... Ben Smith had a pretty good game at centre last weekend, and looks to be growing into the position. He didn't offer much with ball in hand (but few of the AB's did), but his defensive work was generally very impressive. He topped the tackle count among the backs, didn't miss a single tackle, and made a couple of really crucial tackles. He hasn't been near as effective at centre as he had been on the wing earlier in the season, but he looks to be growing into the position. It wouldn't surprise me if we start to see a bit more of him on attack this week...
 
I'd be quite happy is Ben Smith didn't show more in attack this week to be honest...
 
Oh that's good news... I mean, why would we want any of our best looseheads fit anyway!?

Actually on reading that article there's literally no reason to think Corbs won't be fit...its rather vague, and could just mean Corbs went for a routine post-rehab check-up on his knee? It seems rather likely we could have both Marler and Corbs fit, or maybe I'm just being hopelessly optimistic.
 

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