Agree entirely with points 1,2,3,4,6,8, and 10 (though didn't think Ali Williams was really that bad when he came on). I think it is too early to make a judgement on McCaw yet, as he is getting back to his best (though do agree we need to blood someone soon!). The only point I disagree with is point 7 (no surprised there!). What exactly did Guildford do so wrong in this game? He didn't get the opportunities that Savea got, but worked hard, defended well, and didn't make any errors (that I can recall). He certainly didn't have a storming game like Savea, but he was very solid, and I'm sure will get more chances in the next match if continues to work hard. I'm also not sure what Ben Smith did this match to suggest he lacked pace? He ran the ball twice - on his first run he made it well past the advantage line, and on his second he went past two defenders and made a great offload to put Carter into the gap. I can't remember a single time in the game he was found wanting for pace ?!?!?!
I was going to comment as well but I think you got it spot on.
Ali Williams did noting wrong, absolutely nothing to give his haters any more ammo, He was solid. Guildford and Ben Smith were both fine, that last play of the game that was almost a try setup by smith was pretty impressive. And he sure is fast enough, no he's not Fijian fast but he's at the next level and he can change direction better than most.
Overall on the game the Irish did ok but really failed to convert the good things they did into points which is credit to the AB's defense but after a period in the game where the Irish had most of the play it was a surprise to see the AB's ahead on the scoreboard. I think the other problem the Irish had was that they were obviously targeting Savea with kicks and their running game was down that side a lot too but it simply was not good enough. If they wanted to put Savea under real pressure they needed kicks to him with 2-3 chasers arriving at the same time - the kicks he took were under very little pressure. Then Savea nailed someone in a tackle and they had run out of options.
For the AB's
All the new guys had good showings. Retalick got through all his grunt work really well, Savea obviously lit up the Scoreboard but I really though Smith was really impressive
Dagg and Carter had very good games though Dagg blew a try at the end of the first half and carter gave a try with a silly kick that was not needed. Mistakes that you would put down to first game of the season but you don't want them happening in the rugby Championship.
Weepu was very average when he came on, backline lost the clear advantage they had.
SBW was used really well, a lot early then later on he was used more as a decoy and gaps were found out wide. Conrad was good as he always is over the last few years. The pack overall was pretty solid, whitelock was really good, Retalick and Ali were good also. Scrum was impressive, I also thought Hika Elliot did a good job when he came on, I think it would be a shame to take him out if mealamu comes back, I think he's a better thrower than Hore or Mealamu anyway.
The other talking point was 6 obviously with the search for a replacement to Kaino. Vito obviously went into the game with the plan to bring the kind of physicality that Kaino had and in that respect for the most part I think he failed. He made tackles and took some ball forward but there was no real physical edge to it, no real crash and bash. He may get another chance but he's also picked up a ****le from the game. I'm not sure what the options are here for Hansen. Vito should get another shot but if he doesn't improve? Thompson is not the Physical player to replace Kaino. IMO I think the next option would be Liam Messam then Brad Shields. The other option is to Move McCaw to 6 and bring in Cane or Todd at 7. Then you still have the presence of McCaw and you have the speed of a youngster in the mix.
Surely moving McCaw to 6 is going to happen at some point? He's doing ok there now but if he's going to stick around to the next world cup it would be best to move him now because he's surely going to be better at 6 come 2014-2015. just comes down to when I think... And with Kaino gone now is a good time and it solves two problems...
