NZ July 2021 Tests (& other matches)

[Dan54]

Ioane second half watch (26 mins): One tackle halting the carrier. One tackle driving the carrier backwards. One cover tackle. Two turnovers earned (strip in a tackle, forced knock-on). Post-contact metres made on his three carries. First forward back after Volovola's intercept. Offside penalty was tight but looked more legitimate than the first one.

I hope Akira gets another run, think he perhaps could do a bit more at breakdown, but thought in general he went well tonight.
Actually along with WOBs Sco B post he went well tonight too, still think he will have a reserve jersey.

 

[KiwiM]

Yep Akira was very good. As was Jacobson. Considering Ardie hadn't played in yonks he went well.

It was nice to have dangerous wings all around this week.

I really like the Mounga-Havili combo. Please stick with it.

Much better AB performance.

 

[Dan54]

Yep Akira was very good. As was Jacobson. Considering Ardie hadn't played in yonks he went well.

It was nice to have dangerous wings all around this week.

I really like the Mounga-Havili combo. Please stick with it.

Much better AB performance.

I thought the whole 9-10-12-13 looked bloody good to me. I like Reiko on the bench, or on wing, prefer ALB at 13.

 

[waiopehu oldboy]

Highlights

Props seem interchangeable ATM & I doubt any particular pairing will have SA etc overly worried so I'll leave it to the forward-play experts to nominate no.s 1, 3, 17 & 18 but other than that I think our Bledisloe 23 (allowing for injuries) probably looks like:

2. Taylor 4. Lurch 5. SamW 6. Akira 7. Papali'i 8. Jacobson 9. Smith 10. Mo'unga 11. Reece 12. Havili 13. AL-B 14. Jordan 15. DMac
16. Coles or Aumua or Taukei’aho 19. ScoBar 20. Ardie 21. Weber 22. Beaugan 23. Rieko

 

[Dan54]

Highlights

Props seem interchangeable ATM & I doubt any particular pairing will have SA etc overly worried so I'll leave it to the forward-play experts to nominate no.s 1, 3, 17 & 18 but other than that I think our Bledisloe 23 (allowing for injuries) probably looks like:

2. Taylor 4. Lurch 5. SamW 6. Akira 7. Papali'i 8. Jacobson 9. Smith 10. Mo'unga 11. Reece 12. Havili 13. AL-B 14. Jordan 15. DMac
16. Coles or Aumua or Taukei’aho 19. ScoBar 20. Ardie 21. Weber 22. Beaugan 23. Rieko

I would think Ardie will get 7 spot and Papali'i on bench, I suspect that Ardie's experience will be wanted. Also not sure how Papli'i is tracking injury wise. I liking Jacobson more ll the time at 8, and thought if Akira keeps up that kind of play we will be ok. see I reckon we can allow for Akira may need a bit more work on ruck/maul time by the fact that Jacobson in particular and Ardie do so much there.

 

[waiopehu oldboy]

^ your comments re: Akira are similar to Foster's a week or two ago but if Jacobson & Papali'i/ Ardie are doing the business in tight I don't really see the problem if Akira plays a bit wider than the traditional NZ six. At seven I prefer Papali'i for his strength over the ball, both in attack & D, I think that will be crucial v the big boys we'll be playing shortly. Need to get Lurch back into smashing-cnuts-outta-the-way mode, too, ditto at least one & preferably two props, we seem a bit lacking itr right now.

 

[Dan54]

^ your comments re: Akira are similar to Foster's a week or two ago but if Jacobson & Papali'i/ Ardie are doing the business in tight I don't really see the problem if Akira plays a bit wider than the traditional NZ six. At seven I prefer Papali'i for his strength over the ball, both in attack & D, I think that will be crucial v the big boys we'll be playing shortly. Need to get Lurch back into smashing-cnuts-outta-the-way mode, too, ditto at least one & preferably two props, we seem a bit lacking itr right now.

Agree on Akira, he works better with a Jaconson type 8 than perhaps a Sotutu who is probably more like him. I just think the 3 we had last night had a good balance. I could actually see Jacobson being bloody good at 6 with Sotutu at 8. And agree wholeheartedly about Lurch getting back into angry mode, and think maybe De Groot has the makings of slightly more physical type prop we wanting, though tend to think the man mountain at Crusaders looks to have the look of someone in future to do to it. Taukel'aho looks to have enough angry atoms in his body to be ok too.

 

[KiwiM]

A young Read used to play wide. Instead of the 8 doing it they are having the 6 do it which suits both Akira's and Jacobson's games.

 

[waiopehu oldboy]

Kinda got overlooked or at least overshadowed by other matches over the weekend but Samoa's win over Tonga confirmed their place in RWC 2023. Tonga now go into a one-off v Cook Islands that they really should win comfortably, followed by the top team out of Asia that hasn't already qualified which I think means either Hong Kong or Korea, not sure if that's been determined yet.

 

[waiopehu oldboy]

Tonga 26-10 Cook Islands at oranges in the RWC qualifier.

Edit: saw a story during the week that Kefu was pretty much crowd-sourcing potential players.

 

[waiopehu oldboy]

FT Tonga 54-10 Cook Islands