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<blockquote data-quote="Vieux Talonneur" data-source="post: 1190685" data-attributes="member: 73144">He&#039;s been thrown in at the deep end for sure, but given availability he&#039;s a logical selection.&nbsp; But yes, the scrum&#039;s a concern and if that folds it sends ripples throughout the whole team.Shame for Furbank - wonder if that&#039;s why selection was later than last week. Actually quite excited to see what Steward can do in a side that may be much more adventurous than those he&#039;s played in to date. Not as individually quick or elusive as Furbank but he can pick an angle and pass well enough. Also adds some power to complement the ball players.Yes and no. Team game, collective responsibility etc. But if everyone mostly does their jobs OK then the ultimate difference is often made by individual brilliance or mistakes - which rightly or wrongly get highlighted.Last week it obviously wasn&#039;t wholly Smith&#039;s fault we lost. But if he&#039;d done what his track record tells us he should have, we&#039;d have ended up with more points than NZ ultimately got. Sugarcoat it all you like but that&#039;s unarguable.One thing that hasn&#039;t really been mentioned is the line out - good to see CCS and Martin used more, but they were being challenged while Itoje was our only jumper going after NZ ball. NZ&#039;s not the best or biggest line out in town and tougher challenges await.One day I wouldn&#039;t mind seeing a back 5 of ItojeIsiekweMartinUnderhillCCS.You&#039;re not really going to lose much in the scrum with Isiekwe and he&#039;s great in the air with Martin better round the park. We copped a bit of flak last week for coming off 2nd best at the breakdown but that was partly offset by also posing NZ more problems with damaging carries from CCS etc. Always a trade off.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Vieux Talonneur, post: 1190685, member: 73144"] He's been thrown in at the deep end for sure, but given availability he's a logical selection. But yes, the scrum's a concern and if that folds it sends ripples throughout the whole team. Shame for Furbank - wonder if that's why selection was later than last week. Actually quite excited to see what Steward can do in a side that may be much more adventurous than those he's played in to date. Not as individually quick or elusive as Furbank but he can pick an angle and pass well enough. Also adds some power to complement the ball players. Yes and no. Team game, collective responsibility etc. But if everyone mostly does their jobs OK then the ultimate difference is often made by individual brilliance or mistakes - which rightly or wrongly get highlighted. Last week it obviously wasn't wholly Smith’s fault we lost. But if he’d done what his track record tells us he should have, we’d have ended up with more points than NZ ultimately got. Sugarcoat it all you like but that’s unarguable. One thing that hasn’t really been mentioned is the line out - good to see CCS and Martin used more, but they were being challenged while Itoje was our only jumper going after NZ ball. NZ’s not the best or biggest line out in town and tougher challenges await. One day I wouldn’t mind seeing a back 5 of Itoje Isiekwe Martin Underhill CCS. You’re not really going to lose much in the scrum with Isiekwe and he’s great in the air with Martin better round the park. We copped a bit of flak last week for coming off 2nd best at the breakdown but that was partly offset by also posing NZ more problems with damaging carries from CCS etc. Always a trade off. [/QUOTE]

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