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How has this bit of crucial preparation flown under the radar? The ABs to wear their blackest ever boots. Sounds like something Gavin Henson would say. http://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/rugby/opinion/71077064/brown-all-blacks-risk-end-of-dynasty-in-bledisloe-cup-decider-against-wallabies

Yeah I reckon they'd be pretty nervous playing us at a neutral venue, like a RWC in England. At Eden Park less so. Although the build-up should fill the house. A revenge-match Bled decider with bonus Quade to boo at? Standing room only, surely.

I'd call that a wet-weather looking pack if not for the fact that we're basically conceding the lineout. The ABs should get a lot of mileage out of kicking for touch and I'm not sure there'll be much we can do about it. As far as scrums go this has to be Skelton's chance to stand up and prove...

He was definitely complimentary to Kepu. I'll settle for that.

The Louw hand pushing the scrum sideways looks like an unfortunate optical illusion to me. I think he'd have to push a hell of a lot harder than he would've been to from that angle to have that big (and immediate) an impact.

That seems to be a bit out of keeping with the narrative that the Aussie scrum problems were mostly on the loosehead side. Our worst scrum of the night he blamed directly on Skelton.

Yeah he's going to be around for a while.

3. Hooper 2. Folau 1. Phipps Honourable mentions for Pocock who played a nigh-perfect cameo and Heyneke for his timely substitutions.

Didn't he get suspended for an attempted headbutt? Against us? Perth, iirc. Not a strong argument against a punch in the mouth.

I was referring more to his grinning at opposition players during/after scuffles than playing ability. You can't tell me that isn't modelled on Bakkies. I guess it depends on if he plays for your team how you feel about it. If he does then it's great to see a young guy enjoying his handbags...

Does anyone know enough about the Argies to know if that was their first-string team playing the ABs? Because they looked decidedly mortal at scrumtime, probably not surprising considering their pack was 40kg lighter. Would be surprised if they don't start their best side against us.

Really? Haven't paid much attention to the venues, obviously. That's a shame for them but good for us. I would've expected a scoreline in the vicinity of 40-5. Late unconverted consolation try for us, not-entirely-baseless moans about the ref being influenced by the crowd. Every hot woman...

Just watched the game. First impressions: Genia has to be, at best, a bench option from now on. Or get his running game back. Don't really understand the Cooper praise I've been reading around the internet. I thought he had a bad game. Wallaby scrum once more less than solid. Not very...

The great thing about having 2 decent front rows is that they'll get a better return from opposed scrum training. It could also give them a better read on the scrummaging hierarchy of the locks.

At least it's ribbed for her pleasure. They are the hosts after all.

I think the Bloem kick and the Lions last-gasp penalty slip pretty much cancel each other out. Clutch player he is not.

With both of them starting teams would be setting up driving mauls from their own 22.

Surely they'll toss PAE 20 mins off the bench to lock him in to Aus? It's not like we have so many likely young props running around that we'd risk having him line up against us next world cup. Give him a spell against Argentina then pat him on the back and send him on his way.

I think a bit of that might just be the glory and visibility of the openside position. I remember someone saying there was a representative side running a training camp who asked for a group of clubs to send their best couple of players and half of the players who got sent were openside...

I'd definitely take Gits over Beale, but saying he's an upgrade because Beale crabs too much is surely taking the piss?