New Zealand Rugby Team Watch

[waiopehu oldboy]

* new cap (six in all)

Hookers:
Dane Coles (Hurricanes, Wellington)
Codie Taylor (Crusaders, Canterbury)
Samisoni Taukei’aho (Chiefs, Waikato)

Props:
Aidan Ross* (Chiefs, Bay of Plenty)
George Bower (Crusaders, Otago)
Nepo Laulala (Blues, Counties Manukau)
Ofa Tuungafasi (Blues, Northland)
Karl Tu’inukuafe (Blues, North Harbour)
Angus Ta’avao (Chiefs, Auckland)

Locks:
Samuel Whitelock (Crusaders, Canterbury)
Brodie Retallick (Chiefs, Hawkes Bay)
Scott Barrett (Crusaders, Taranaki)
Josh Lord (Chiefs, Taranaki)
Tupou Vaa’i (Chiefs, Taranaki)

Loose Forwards:
Pita Gus Sowakula* (Chiefs, Taranaki)
Sam Cane – Captain (Chiefs, Bay of Plenty)
Dalton Papalii (Blues, Counties Manukau)
Ardie Savea (Hurricanes, Wellington)
Akira Ioane (Blues, Auckland)
Hoskins Sotutu (Blues, Counties Manukau)

 

[waiopehu oldboy]

Halfbacks:
Folau Fakatava* (Highlanders, Hawkes Bay)
Aaron Smith (Highlanders, Manawatu)
Finlay Christie (Blues, Tasman)

First five-eighths:
Stephen Perofeta* (Blues, Taranaki)
Beauden Barrett (Blues, Taranaki)
Richie Mo’unga (Crusaders, Canterbury)

Midfielders:
Roger Tuivasa-Sheck* (Blues, Auckland)
Quinn Tupaea (Chiefs, Waikato)
Jack Goodhue (Crusaders, Northland)
Rieko Ioane (Blues, Auckland)
David Havili (Crusaders, Tasman)

Outside backs:
Leicester Fainga’anuku* (Crusaders, Tasman)
Jordie Barrett (Hurricanes, Taranaki)
Will Jordan (Crusaders, Tasman)
Caleb Clarke (Blues, Auckland)
Sevu Reece (Crusaders, Tasman)

 

[Dismal Pillock]

 

[Dismal Pillock]

Weber dumped.

Oddjob Aumua dumped.

Lomax, Hodgman and de Groot dumped.

LOL no Crossword Frizzle

Pita Gus Sowakula, fahhhk, would not have picked that a year ago. Good for him, tidied up his titty hands.

No Bridge. Must be a typo.

 

[waiopehu oldboy]

^ told you @Dismal Pillock he's 27 now therefore too old to play Winger for the Rugby Football All Blacks

 

[Dismal Pillock]

No Flapanaaaaara either

PSG must be a temp until Slackbladder gets back. He's in ahead of Jacobsen too. LOL@Cullen Grace.

Fahhk Karl T, just how. Guess they're thinking dont care about his lazy dogshit in the open field, all he has to do is win a couple of big scrum penalties and hello, selection justified. Ditto Nepo.

 

[waiopehu oldboy]

KT a bit of a surprise given he's outta here shortly, surely you'd be blooding the next bloke in line?

 

[Dan54]

Well Weber is a small surprise that he missed out, but generally noone who screams must be there or not. Kind of pleased to see newbies that are in LF and Perofeta seem good additions and would appear that Bridge and Ennor's days are done?

 

[Dan54]

KT a bit of a surprise given he's outta here shortly, surely you'd be blooding the next bloke in line?

You think maybe next in line would be better playing for MABs and KT just providing cover? I think Ollie Norris a maori boy, so I would think packing him down against Irish would be helpful.

 

[Dismal Pillock]

KT a bit of a surprise given he's outta here shortly, surely you'd be blooding the next bloke in line?

Only justification I can think of is Fozzie is terrified of the scrum being on skates vs the Irish and losing the test series.

Not exactly a ringing endorsement of the other prop contenders.

Taavao a bit of a puzzler. Guessing his hands and general coordination in the open field got him in?

 

[Derpus]

Tight five looking a little unconvincing TBH.

The rest as stacked as usual. Controversial opinion: Mo'unga doesn't make the best side except at 22.

 

[KiwiM]

My read is Big Karl is picked specifically to play Ireland.

Those props look very set piece focused.

Backs look a lot better.

Pleased to see the back of dead wood like Frizell, Bridge and Ennor.

All deserving debutants - PGS is the luckiest but at least he's a good ball runner which we need more of.

 

[Dismal Pillock]

Assuming Rieko has locked down centre there could be the mother of all battles for the 2nd 5 jersey.

my 1st dibs order:

1 RTS (Roger Tuivasa-Sheck): the upside is very uppy
2 Goodhue : too slow for centre now. Huge rep, let's see something then c**t.
3 Tupaea: solid but still a donkey
4 Havili : too much failed vanilla unimpactful nothing here. Just get a Umaga Jensen in for a look

 

[Derpus]

Assuming Rieko has locked down centre there could be the mother of all battles for the 2nd 5 jersey.

my 1st dibs order:

1 RTS (Roger Tuivasa-Sheck): the upside is very uppy
2 Goodhue : too slow for centre now. Huge rep, let's see something then c**t.
3 Tupaea: solid but still a donkey
4 Havili : too much failed vanilla unimpactful nothing here. Just get a Umaga Jensen in for a look

RTS (Roger Tuivasa-Sheck) was actually kinda shit against the Brumbies and didn't seem to know what to do in the face of the the Brumbies up the guts attack. I don't think I'd be debuting him against Ireland who won't exactly be expansive.

That said Havili and Tupaea both look pretty average to me. I get Welsh centre vibes from Tupaea. Looks great when he can just bash his way through (i.e. when he's playing the Tahs ffs) but that's kinda all he has to his game. Crusader's made him look amateurish. Hilarity ensued when he was forced to past left to right.

12 still the ABs weakest slot in the backline until ALB comes back.

 

[Dan54]

Yep Foster made it pretty clear RTS (Roger Tuivasa-Sheck) has heaps to learn and having him in squad is best way of doing it.
Reckon I would maybe have Goodhue there, as I reckoned for a while he a bit slow for 13, but think it will depend on them having JB at 15 to be 2nd playmaker, otherwise Havili would get it. Do think Havili looks a quite good bench option , as he pretty competent 12 or 15.

 

[Jeffrey]

On Props - I'm a bit sore Tamati Williams or Fletcher Newell didn't make the cut. Both of em are the future. Karl has been shite all the year, and gets the nod ahead of Hodgman who starts at the Blues.
Ireland have massive props. Absolute beasts. But none of them are really scrummaging monsters, including Furlong. Instead, they kill you around the park.

On scrumhalf - I really do not rate Finlay Christie. I think he is busy. But his execution under pressure is poor. His decision making is average. And all in all his ceiling is fairly limited. There is no part of his game that I think he is World Class at.

On the other side, Jamison Gibson Park, a Finlay Christie back in his day, has really shone for Leinster and Ireland. But this is at the back of a virtuous cycle. Leinster/Ireland (it's about the same really) have an exceptional pack, which gives JGB an armchair ride to dictate the game. More importantly, a lot of the pressure is taken off 9 becuase they play a game heavily focussed around the 10, with all sorts of deocy runners both blind and open running off Sexton, giving him a wealth of options (I really hope the ABs are serious with their video watching sessions). JGB's offensive game flourishes in this context, and this give him confidence, where despite his tiny frame, he even now gets stuck into tackling and the occasional ruck. However, I have no doubts that JGB can be rattled, just like James Lowe, when the going gets tough. While Will Jordan has suspect defence, I also don't rate Lowe's defence, and the earlier Lowe loses a bit of confidence, the more his game might fall apart.

5

 

[Dan54]

On Props - I'm a bit sore Tamati Williams or Fletcher Newell didn't make the cut. Both of em are the future. Karl has been shite all the year, and gets the nod ahead of Hodgman who starts at the Blues.
Ireland have massive props. Absolute beasts. But none of them are really scrummaging monsters, including Furlong. Instead, they kill you around the park.

On scrumhalf - I really do not rate Finlay Christie. I think he is busy. But his execution under pressure is poor. His decision making is average. And all in all his ceiling is fairly limited. There is no part of his game that I think he is World Class at.

On the other side, Jamison Gibson Park, a Finlay Christie back in his day, has really shone for Leinster and Ireland. But this is at the back of a virtuous cycle. Leinster/Ireland (it's about the same really) have an exceptional pack, which gives JGB an armchair ride to dictate the game. More importantly, a lot of the pressure is taken off 9 becuase they play a game heavily focussed around the 10, with all sorts of deocy runners both blind and open running off Sexton, giving him a wealth of options (I really hope the ABs are serious with their video watching sessions). JGB's offensive game flourishes in this context, and this give him confidence, where despite his tiny frame, he even now gets stuck into tackling and the occasional ruck. However, I have no doubts that JGB can be rattled, just like James Lowe, when the going gets tough. While Will Jordan has suspect defence, I also don't rate Lowe's defence, and the earlier Lowe loses a bit of confidence, the more his game might fall apart.

5

Hodgeman I think misses out as he probably not a test scrummager? Tamaiti Williams will get time for Maori I guessing and Newell has had about 4-5 game of Super rugby? Maybe more but doesn't even get to start. Williams is maybe same, hardly seen as a starter at super, but both I agree are future ABs, not sure this series is where we bring in props who are probably looking at coming in after WC.

 

[Dctarget]

Wallaby Jermaine Ainsley into the MABs. Looooool, develop your own players lads, Australia out here being the nursery for the whole world ffs. If you ask nicely we'll let you have Mikey Harris at 10 too.

 

[Dan54]

Wallaby Jermaine Ainsley into the MABs. Looooool, develop your own players lads, Australia out here being the nursery for the whole world ffs. If you ask nicely we'll let you have Mikey Harris at 10 too.

Lol and Micheal Brial's boy is U20s, bloody hell now we training them up for you to make them Wallabies??
One thing to have Ainsely born and bred and trained kiwi, (with AB dad) going over to Aus to practise how to run out of dressiing sheds for tests, but not sure I happy actually having to teach your yound fellas!!!

 

[Dan54]

Full MAB squad
Māori All Blacks squad:

Props: Tamaiti Williams, Ollie Norris, Marcel Renata, Jermaine Ainsley, Tyrel Lomax

Hookers: Leni Apisai, Kurt Eklund, Tyrone Thompson

Locks: Isaia Walker-Leawere, Manaaki Selby-Rickit, Josh Dickson

Loose forwards: Reed Prinsep, Caleb Delany, Billy Harmon, TK Howden, Cameron Suafoa

Halfbacks: TJ Perenara, Brad Weber

First-fives: Josh Ioane, Ruben Love

Midfield: Alex Nankivell, Rameka Pohipi, Billy Proctor, Bailyn Sullivan

Outside backs: Connor Garden-Bachop, Josh Moorby, Zarn Sullivan, Shaun Stevenson