[November Tests 2016 EOYT] Italy vs. New Zealand (12/11/2016)

[The Jones Boy]

Good warm up for the boys as they head in to the revenge game with a stronger looking first XV.
Great to see Fekitoa coming into form again, he's a cracking defender but his offensive game dried up in the latter part of the home season Internationals.
He needs to take this golden chance with both hands and go for it.

 

[Makos]

How come Italy have not improved?

 

[Bruce_ma gooshvili]

I only watched the first half then hid from the result. NZ taking it very easy. Cruden a maestro when there is no pressure on him. Damien Mackenzie did not take his chance. I think the lad may have issue under pressure (e.g. He says he smiles when kicking penalties to help him relax). Outrageous offload by ALB for one of the tries.

How come Italy have not improved?

The main issue is no attempt to replace a good generation of forwards and playing the old generation for too long. If you don't consistently blood and develop youngsters you take a massive step backwards (I'd argue SA is similar in this respect).

Very odd selections by O'Shea, players out of position and debutants in this match. No attempt to develop a fullback or centres.

Indecision about whether to fully commit to the Pro12 or their own domestic league.
Indecision about whether to have top players play in other leagues or for the two Italian Pro12 sides.
A failure by other Unions in Pro12 to do anything to help the Italian sides be competitive to improve TV interest for the club game in Italy.
Inferior conditioning of Italian Pro12 sides.
An insistence on playing only teams that are better than them and avoiding a lot of suitable Tier2 matchups.
The 6N being a closed shop encouraging mediocrity and making it acceptable.
And now political opposition to hosting RWC removes any pressure to improve.

In short, it's going nowhere fast. However, they seem more intent on having top Italian players in the two Pro12 sides this year. This is the only glimmer of hope long term for me.

 

[The Jones Boy]

It was a good warm up for the AB's as they get ready for the Dublin encounter.
Good to see Retallick come through unscathed
Kano can go back to being a blindside flanker again where he plays his vey best rugby.

 

[Larksea]

Good warm up for the boys as they head in to the revenge game with a stronger looking first XV.
Great to see Fekitoa coming into form again, he's a cracking defender but his offensive game dried up in the latter part of the home season Internationals.
He needs to take this golden chance with both hands and go for it.

Fekitoas attaking game is stale as old bread, the two try's he scored were part of set moves that put him into huge holes as he ran a set line where all he had to do was catch the ball and put it down. Owen Franks could have run those in (slight exaggeration but I would say without a doubt any super rugby level back and most forwards could have scored those trys.
See him operate in other areas of the game and you can see hes just so deflated on attack. he got set free down the right wing at one stage but was pulled down easily. he needs to put some confidence in his power. Try to fend or step or something. Hes got no footwork, he doesn't fend and often doesn't make good decisions.
At least his defense is sound, hes not dominating tackles. Just making them and he has been good at the breakdown at times. But on attack, overall now despite two trys he's still well below par.
I do hope he goes well next week as hes basically the last man standing. Seta would be a much better attacking option, he and ALB do have an established combination as well.
I think the most we can hope for is that ALB makes Fekitoa look good. ALB can genuinely attract 2-4 defenders and get a pass away, and he can actually see space and opportunities.

- - - Updated - - -

It was a good warm up for the AB's as they get ready for the Dublin encounter.
Good to see Retallick come through unscathed
Kano can go back to being a blindside flanker again where he plays his vey best rugby.

Retalick got on the park but it must be said he looked poor. Hopefully he gets some good training in this week and finds his form again.

 

[Pieter Steph du Teague]

In Retallick, I think he got pretty greedy. He saw how players were just running through the Italian defence and so instead of playing his usual offloading game, he always looked to carry himself and got isolated, resulting in that one turnover virtually on Italy's try line. Was disappointing to see.

 

[Larksea]

he missed and slipped of tackles, dropped ball. Threw a pass and his own leg got in the way. Just generally looked... bad, messy and not like him at all.

 

[The Jones Boy]

Sometimes a bad dress rehearsal can make for a great show...
I hear what you are saying about Fekitoa's tries, they were dead easy but he ran the right line and supported nicely to take the pass from Crockett.
However, everyone, including Crotty is being completely overshadowed by this new kid Lienert Brown. He looks like a champion, mad skills, just the coolest head on attack, he's making all the other midfielders look a bit average. I didn't really notice him a lot at the Chiefs but as soon as he put the Black jersey on the kid has oozed class all the way to the bank. It looks like he's been playing centre for the AB's for half a dozen seasons already.
Must be hard for a bloke like Fekitoa who has been around for 3 seasons getting ***bits to see a young kid come along and look so good and seem to naturally be the heir in waiting for midfield.
If Moala can stay out of the injury bin he might be the ideal foil for ALB.
I like Crotty but I'd like to some size in the midfield too and Moala is a chunky monkey.

Whats the word on Whitelock? Is he out for the whole tour?

 

[Five Meters Out]

In Retallick, I think he got pretty greedy. He saw how players were just running through the Italian defence and so instead of playing his usual offloading game, he always looked to carry himself and got isolated, resulting in that one turnover virtually on Italy's try line. Was disappointing to see.

So he wasn't offloading in those 50-50 cases. Good!. No doubt practising the role he'll play in the Ireland game.Those 50-50 offloads killed the All Blacks in the final 15 minutes of that Chicago game.

 

[Makos]

Retallick was probably out there to throw it around a bit to get back into the groove of things. I wouldn't worry overly about his performance now he's blown away the cobwebs. Some regular training this week and he'll be up for the Ireland game.