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The Rugby Championship 2023
Weakest position in the All Blacks squad
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<blockquote data-quote="Darwin" data-source="post: 614717" data-attributes="member: 24910"><p>As Nick states he is a good all round player. Up until 3-4 years ago he was a specialist TH prop (and he still plays there on occasions for Otago). This means he is a very good scrummager for a hooker - I have heard he is regarded as the top scrummaging hooker in the country. His lineout throwing is a still a work in progress (as it is only something he has been doing for the last few years). He has certainly made big improvements in this area over the last year, but I do worry how he will cope if the pressure goes on (a full season of Super Rugby will help here). He is a good ball runner (though not as dynamic as Coles or Mealamu), and is a very good defender - I would suggest he makes more tackles than any other hooker in the country (at a very high percentage too). Probably his only issue at the moment (apart from in-experience) is that he can be a bit over eager at times, so does give away a few too many penalties. I suspect he will thrive as the Highlanders starting hooker next season, so it would be no surprise to see him involved in the AB's squad vs England next June.</p><p></p><p>Personally I remain unconvinced about Dane Coles. He certainly has some good points, in particular his running game (which we haven't seen the best of at test level yet). His ball handling is pretty phenomenal too for a hooker, and he is an accurate lineout thrower. However while he has certainly tightened up his game in recent years I still think he plays too loose at times. While he can make yards with ball in hand this is often out in the midfield - he can pose a threat out in these wider channels, but we do need someone making the hard yards in close (especially when we have Read and/or Luatua ranging wide too). I think he needs to up his work-rate on attack a bit too - far too often I see him sea-gulling out on the wing when he should be hitting rucks (see the AB's last try vs Ireland). He does have the skills to be pretty effective running on the wing, however those skills aren't much good if we don't have tight-forwards hitting the breakdowns to secure our ball!</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Looks like he has just ****** himself. Possible because the true God gave him the death stare:</p><p></p><p><img src="http://db3.stb.s-msn.com/i/BE/34AD71DA6F7ED4F44B4B48B4FF9DF.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" /></p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Darwin, post: 614717, member: 24910"] As Nick states he is a good all round player. Up until 3-4 years ago he was a specialist TH prop (and he still plays there on occasions for Otago). This means he is a very good scrummager for a hooker - I have heard he is regarded as the top scrummaging hooker in the country. His lineout throwing is a still a work in progress (as it is only something he has been doing for the last few years). He has certainly made big improvements in this area over the last year, but I do worry how he will cope if the pressure goes on (a full season of Super Rugby will help here). He is a good ball runner (though not as dynamic as Coles or Mealamu), and is a very good defender - I would suggest he makes more tackles than any other hooker in the country (at a very high percentage too). Probably his only issue at the moment (apart from in-experience) is that he can be a bit over eager at times, so does give away a few too many penalties. I suspect he will thrive as the Highlanders starting hooker next season, so it would be no surprise to see him involved in the AB's squad vs England next June. Personally I remain unconvinced about Dane Coles. He certainly has some good points, in particular his running game (which we haven't seen the best of at test level yet). His ball handling is pretty phenomenal too for a hooker, and he is an accurate lineout thrower. However while he has certainly tightened up his game in recent years I still think he plays too loose at times. While he can make yards with ball in hand this is often out in the midfield - he can pose a threat out in these wider channels, but we do need someone making the hard yards in close (especially when we have Read and/or Luatua ranging wide too). I think he needs to up his work-rate on attack a bit too - far too often I see him sea-gulling out on the wing when he should be hitting rucks (see the AB's last try vs Ireland). He does have the skills to be pretty effective running on the wing, however those skills aren't much good if we don't have tight-forwards hitting the breakdowns to secure our ball! Looks like he has just ****** himself. Possible because the true God gave him the death stare: [IMG]http://db3.stb.s-msn.com/i/BE/34AD71DA6F7ED4F44B4B48B4FF9DF.jpg[/IMG] [/QUOTE]
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Weakest position in the All Blacks squad
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