All Blacks July Internationals

[Dismal Pillock]

Razor going to have to made a hard call over his Cantab bumchum Codie. He was pathetic and AGAIN went into his shell.

Was Finau even playing? Poor kid was lost.

Ardie, yet another test where he wasnt a leaders arsehole. Just hovers around the ruck waiting for his gloryboy pilfer attempt which works about once every 2 matches. Hit a ruck, tuff guy.

The Ranga defends well but ffs there is just nothing going on going forward for him. Laborious box kick, tinpot pass that leaves everyone flat-footed

 

[The_Brown_Hornet]

I did wonder about Taylor. There must be better hookers in NZ now surely.

 

[zer0]

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.

 

[zer0]

Was Finau even playing? Poor kid was lost.

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.

The Ranga defends well but ffs there is just nothing going on going forward for him. Laborious box kick, tinpot pass that leaves everyone flat-footed

Ratima was good. Just need to survive this year, without Roigard. Roigard/Ratima looks like it could be a good future combo.

 

[zer0]

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 Barrett at blindside is looking.

Hopefully some selection changes occur and these new systems are more mature by the time the RC rolls around. Was a much better series than what we usually get down here.

 

[Dismal Pillock]

Hope they persist with Perofuture at FB and see if BB can reprise his wondersub role again. Dont start him he'll only go into cotton wool mode ffs.

Maybe not a given Will Wonderballz will waltz into 15, what with his iffy D at FB. Platoon him there with BB and Pero?

Telea played like he was lost in space for most of the match and almost cost them the test ffs.

Paper Tiger Pat has flattered to deceive. Again.

Newell and Aumua came on and did the biz there.

Jordie seemed totally rocks and diamonds but really put himself about once his brother subbed on.

 

[The_Brown_Hornet]

Equally to Taylor, I also wonder about Reiko. Did some good things on D but I've never been convinced he's AB level.

 

[KiwiM]

ABs bench excellent.

Starters not so much.

Papalii was good though - felt like he made a million tackles.

Badly need one of Clarke or Narawa on the wings. Need more pace out there.

Hopefully Ratima has earned the selector's faith.

 

[Dismal Pillock]

 

[Dismal Pillock]

guessing they'll rotate the whole squad for the shits and giggles banana skin match in SeppoLand

1 Fletcher Newell
2 Asafo Aumua
3 Tamaiti Williams
4 Scrote Barrett
5 Tupou Vaa’i
6 Ethan Blackadder
7 Luke Jacobson
8 Wallace Sititi
9 Cortez Ratima
10 Damian McKenzie
11 Emoni Narawa
12 Anton Lienert-Brown
13 Billy Proctor
14 Caleb Clarke
15 Stephen Perofeta

 

[zer0]

Equally to Taylor, I also wonder about Reiko. Did some good things on D but I've never been convinced he's AB level.

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 Proctor or ALB at centre for the RC.

 

[Linerunner2023]

With centre being less utilised now especially in international rugby maybe reiko is best to go back to wing which I think he would calve up
But with so many wingers it’s hard to fit them all in
ALB doesn’t really excite me at 13 with a lack of pace but maybe proctor?

 

[KiwiM]

guessing they'll rotate the whole squad....

I'm not sure they will. The game is Friday night San Diego time and they only fly out from Auckland today

 

[KiwiM]

Proctor is the man for 13 if he can translate his Super form to tests. Rieko could be an excellent bench impact player covering midfield and wing. I think that's his future.

 

[Yoda]

The ‘Coward’ did ok from the bench Dismal!

 

[Dismal Pillock]