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I think one of our worse issues seems to be we cannot defend for long phases without a penalty/card and we cannot attack for long phases without a turnover. Ireland seem to be the masters at this at the moment.

I doubt the lack of pilfer is a Rennie plan. I think it's moreso a lack of skill from the players.

I like White coming off the bench too to finish it. I prefer the strong decision maker, more experienced player finishing a tight match. But I would bring him on very early in the second half.

Nice post. You've convinced me that we should run out a complete B team for this one. But isn't that still better then having no game at all? Although likely to lose, a B team could still win and get valuable test match experience.

How on earth a 34 year old professional rugby player still struggles to do this is just laughable.

I agree, I think you need to keep playing Tupou and probably Hooper too. Both haven't played huge amounts of rugby lately. Both can come off at 40minutes.

I think you nailed the squad BH. I would consider playing Hooper again to get him back into form given his time out of the game and possibly resting Slipper and giving the back-up prop some more game-time.

All I want for this game is Marky Mark (Nawaqanitawase).

5/10 average 6/10 above average 7/10 solid 8/10 great game 9/10 blinder 10/10 MOTM Legendary status. Yeh he probably fits in the 7/10 territory.

Campbell definitely cemented his place as first choice 15. But then again Wright was pretty good in his first outing at fullback against England and it was all downhill from there. Although I have the feeling Campbell will be much more consistent, in the Kellaway mould.

He dropped an offload by Foley early on. He got turned over once I believe (could probably blame the support more there). He was pretty good. I give him a 8/10. I don't know if 8/10 is in the blinder category for you but it isn't for me. EDIT: 7/10

Except Pfizy was spot on when he said Campbell was solid. He did not have a blinder. Your standard must be very low if that's the case. Which isn't really a surprise given how we have been playing over the last decade.

To be fair, it looked like Foley was absolutely cooked when he came off. I doubt he had much left in him. I really don't think it was that bad of a sub, especially given how good Hodge has been in the past off the bench. Hodge just had a bad game. His big boot should have been used more...

3. Holloway 2. Ikitau 1. Tupou HM: White, Valetini, Neville, Frost, Campbell, Foketi (even though he only played 20mins).

I think it's fair to say Foley, Fainga, and Wright have had enough chances now, they are too consistent at making errors at crucial times, time to move on from them.

Well said. Foley makes mistakes. Always has and always will. 95% of the game he is cool, calm, and collected, then 5% of it is a liability.

I think Hooper is losing his effectiveness. He really is a step down this season. He seems to be working hard and trying hard but just doesn't have the same impact anymore. I'd rather go all out attack and bring in Samu or start McReight as his turnovers would be very handy and even he has...

Well said Derpus, this sums up my thoughts also. Holloway starting to hit hi straps. Maybe there is something in giving players enough game time to find there feet? I loved how Tupou, Skelton, and Valetini all hit it up one after the other, that was great to see. I want more of that. Tupou...

But he's made the same mistakes almost every game now? Two games in a row failed to kick for touch off a penalty. Two games in a row pushed a pass under pressure which led to tries. I think with Foley, you just have to accept he is going to give away one or two crucial errors a game. I do...

This was their first game, some key players not in the squad and a few first games back from injury. But Dupont was contained pretty well, I actually think White was the better 9 on the day.