Bledisloe 2 - Saturday 25th August 2018 - Eden Park, Auckland

[Rugbynutter39]

Still no Tupou is super balls. Any word on how bad his injury is?

Was prime opportunity for Tupou to start and make huge impact - I feel we will miss him more than Folau personally.


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[Rugbynutter39]

Tupou still out. No real surprises, a bit of a change up in the front row, that's about it.

Faingaia deserves his chance - will be watching with interest how he goes along with Maddocks and banks. Be good to see new blood coming in and performing.


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[ACR]

For future reference ACR - itsrugby.co.uk will do all this for you in the players profile section!

Haha, thanks.

 

[Derpus]

Faingaia deserves his chance - will be watching with interest how he goes along with Maddocks and banks. Be good to see new blood coming in and performing.


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Settle for literally anyone performing.

 

[Up the Guts]

Laumape is the one I fear, running right at the Foley/Beale channel

I do see his inclusion as a bit of a concession that (1) NZ lacked go forward in their attack off set piece and (2) they didn’t do a good enough job of keeping Pocock tied up in Foley’s channel. Laumape likes to attack from depth, if you rush up you can cut him down behind the gain line and, as brilliant as he is, he can become anonymous as he was in the Crusaders/Hurricanes game.

 

[Brumby Runner]

Exactly Derpus. But Rodda, Tui, Maddocks, Fainga'a, Samu and Banks are rookies when it comes to playing the ABs. In the likely scenario of another beating, these players just can't be shipped after one or two matches if they fail to set the world alight. They are the future and must be persevered with.

 

[Quick Hands]

The Irish seem to manage players quite well. Perhaps we could look at what they do.

They have a coherent administration.

 

[Brumby Runner]

I do see his inclusion as a bit of a concession that (1) NZ lacked go forward in their attack off set piece and (2) they didn’t do a good enough job of keeping Pocock tied up in Foley’s channel. Laumape likes to attack from depth, if you rush up you can cut him down behind the gain line and, as brilliant as he is, he can become anonymous as he was in the Crusaders/Hurricanes game.

He is also a bit suspect in defense when the attacking player runs to his inside shoulder. Not exactly the way Beale is inclined to play, but opens up opportunities for inside passes to a winger coming in from the blind.

 

[Braveheart81]

I do see his inclusion as a bit of a concession that (1) NZ lacked go forward in their attack off set piece and (2) they didn’t do a good enough job of keeping Pocock tied up in Foley’s channel. Laumape likes to attack from depth, if you rush up you can cut him down behind the gain line and, as brilliant as he is, he can become anonymous as he was in the Crusaders/Hurricanes game.

Isn't it mostly that he was the third choice 12 before the series began and wasn't in the squad. SBW withdrew so he joined the squad and then Crotty got injured?

I don't know it's tactical more than just he's their third choice and the first two are unavailable.

 

[Up the Guts]

Isn't it mostly that he was the third choice 12 before the series began and wasn't in the squad. SBW withdrew so he joined the squad and then Crotty got injured?

I don't know it's tactical more than just he's their third choice and the first two are unavailable.

Goodhue and ALB performed their roles fine last week. They could easily have stuck with them but I think Laumape has been chosen to put us on the back foot more in defence.

 

[Up the Guts]

He is also a bit suspect in defense when the attacking player runs to his inside shoulder. Not exactly the way Beale is inclined to play, but opens up opportunities for inside passes to a winger coming in from the blind.

Agree, he likes to go for the big shot a lot, not as solid as Goodhue or Crotty

 

[Braveheart81]

Goodhue and ALB performed their roles fine last week. They could easily have stuck with them but I think Laumape has been chosen to put us on the back foot more in defence.

Yes, they did but that was the replacement from within the 23. The preferred position for both is 13.

 

[Up the Guts]

Yes, they did but that was the replacement from within the 23. The preferred position for both is 13.

That is true, still I’m not that alarmed by Laumape’s inclusion. I feel Beale sometimes defends better against players that run directly at him as he did against SBW in Dunedin last year.

 

[waiopehu oldboy]

I'm hoping Laumape's selection means they intend to "earn the right to go wide" by dominating the narrow channels first rather than immediately flinging it wide against a spread D. Forcing Pocock to make a heap of tackles so he can't be first man over the ball would also be good, as would putting the ball in behind Koroibete which is something else they barely did n Sydney.

 

[Derpus]

I'm hoping Laumape's selection means they intend to "earn the right to go wide" by dominating the narrow channels first rather than immediately flinging it wide against a spread D. Forcing Pocock to make a heap of tackles so he can't be first man over the ball would also be good, as would putting the ball in behind Koroibete which is something else they barely did n Sydney.

Yeah they really failed to identify and exploit the wallabies weaknesses last week. Hopefully they'll do a little better this time round.

 

[Up the Guts]

Yeah they really failed to identify and exploit the wallabies weaknesses last week. Hopefully they'll do a little better this time round.

I realise you’re saying that tongue in cheek but the Wallabies really handed the ABs scoring opportunities through their mistakes last week rather than the ABs creating them (who knows whether that is a good or bad thing).

 

[waiopehu oldboy]

Yeah they really failed to identify and exploit the wallabies weaknesses last week. Hopefully they'll do a little better this time round.

LOL but considering the Wob lineout & scrum were both pants it should* be worrying Shag & Foster how little constructive play AB were able to generate off their dominance. They'll need to be better in both regards v Sethfricka so now's a good time to start working on those things imo, esp given a number of first-choice players (including Beaugan & probably ASmith) will be rested v Pumas. I don't think AB can rely on half the Bokke running out've steam by 3/4 time, either, so they need to get into that Crusaders tractor mode.

* EDIT: at today's presser Shag declared that they weren't that happy with their Sydney performance, so clearly it is worrying them.

 

[Brumby Runner]

Yeah they really failed to identify and exploit the wallabies weaknesses last week. Hopefully they'll do a little better this time round.

Sarcasm D? Just wondering, if meant to be a legit comment, what exactly was exploited in their humbling of the Wallabies last weekend? But more I look at your post, the more I am convinced of the dripping sarcasm.

 

[Derpus]

Sarcasm D? Just wondering, if meant to be a legit comment, what exactly was exploited in their humbling of the Wallabies last weekend? But more I look at your post, the more I am convinced of the dripping sarcasm.

All of the sarcasm. All of it.

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[Rugbynutter39]

I reckon we could win this game.....must have had a few too many optimism drinks....