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Oddjob gets ~55 minutes whereas the Ghost of Codie Taylor had to haunt us for ~75. Checks out. The Proctologist absolutely has to start at centre. I don't even know if Rieko would make the squad tbh. Perhaps as the second power winger? I wouldn't want him covering the midfield from the bench...

Aumua's throwing and carrying have been good. Williams has been getting stuck in as well. Proctor has looked good and the midfield in general has been great. At a minimum one of them needs to be at centre for the RC. Clarke's power running is much needed. Two wingers running sideways is sus...

Innovative choice to have the ref officiate via a 1930s radio broadcast.

Lets see how Blackadder goes against Fiji. Last time he played them (also at openside) he was part of the loose forward trio that got bullied by Blues Super Rugby winning HC Ven Cotter's Fiji in 2021. He got smacked around and regularly beaten to the breakdown, yet he, somehow, managed to avoid having...

Given he did the square root of nothing behind a Blues pack that was flattening all and sundry, there's no basis to think he'd do any different for the All Blacks. I am hoping it was conservatism brought about by the short preparation time that lead him to being selected, and that we'll see...

Holding out England for so long was a good effort and all the impact players were great. A new centre, power winger, and blindside would be the immediate pressing changes for me. Fortunately two of those are easily fixed, but a shame Akira has chosen to head overseas. I wonder how tempting Scott...

He's been invisible against any proper physical pack. Twice against the Blues and twice now against England. Guess it's not so easy to bully the opposition #10 when you're getting molested yourself. Ratima was good. Just need to survive this year, without Roigard. Roigard/Ratima looks like it...

There's one from the Hurricanes on the bench who has been given scraps at the end of the two tests. One at the Blues. One at the Chiefs. Neither in the squad. The squad does, however, feature the Crusaders backup hooker. There's a theme here but I can't quite figure it out.

idk about the frequencies of either, but players have regularly talked about preferring Kapo o Pango because it's specifically for/about the ABs whereas Ka Mate is about a dude hiding in a hole with some potatoes to avoid getting got by another tribe. EDIT: Which is why it's funny when people...

The ghost of Codie Taylor has devolved into the spirit of George Bell; Kurt Eklund could do a better job at the lineout. Get Oddjob on. If his throwing is also cooked then we'll still be in the same set-piece situation, but at least he'll be maiming some Englishman on both sides of the ball...

Christie the Clown laying out forwards was not something I was expecting tonight.

We are a technologically sophisticated nation. I hope this telegram finds you well. Stop.

Just the one forced change. Would've liked to see Ratima on the bench last week but this also works. Hopefully the attack is a bit smarter than the first half of last week.

Will see how he goes without Tony Brown. His current Super Rugby HC record without Brown is 23-38 (38%) vs. 30-17 (64%) with him. This is the reason why I've never rated too highly as a HC. Just like Hansen with and without Wayne Smith (and the GOAT pro rugby team).

I know it's only the first game and they've "ripped up the playbook", so the attacking shape wil take time, but I was pretty uninspired by the attacking approach/philosophy. Just seemed to be more of the same airy fairy 2016-2021 'yeet it wide asap' nonsense just with better/more experienced...

I do really enjoy Robertson happily talking coaching detail during these interviews. Much more interesting than the forward defensive shots you typically see.

1/1. Addendum to the Eden Park prediction: Stern Vern will not allow the airy fairy ABs to enter Auckland without agreeing to an intensive four-day lecture on killdozer forward play.

They absolutely need NFL style shot clocks at the ground. Those clocks would have to be the definitive version as well. Last thing you want is the ground clock saying one thing and the ref trying to use a watch that says different.

Reece has really been channeling 2011 Richard Kahui off these high kicks. tbf to Christie, the kicks have been good as well, save for the last one that was only 1m off.

Good old popgun Beauden. Might be okay for the All Blacks but not going to cut it for the killdozer.