The Reds have to be one of the favorites for the title after withstanding that assault.
Rene Ranger and Luatua should be shoe-ins for the AB squad, and perhaps even the starting 15.
The Reds are looking good aren't they? I like watching them play as I did the Brumbies when Larkham was in his pomp.
The Reds are notionally in the lead because the Brumbies haven't played as I write this. The standard table is a poor indication sometimes, but especially when some teams have had byes and some haven't.
When I bother to look at a table I try to calculate what the teams have lost to date.
For example: the Reds have lost 10 points with their two losses and a draw but made up 3 with bonus points to make them minus 7 on the LG table.
The Brumbies have lost 8 points as I write this, from a loss and two draws, but have made up 3 to make them minus 5 on the LG table.
Minus 5 is better than minus 8. And so on - and if I wanted to be anal about it I'd figure that if team A has played more games than team B and are on the same amount of minus points they should be ranked higher because teams will always have a net minus for any game, on average.
So I'd tweak the LG table by dividing table points lost by the number of games played - if I ever did one. No bye points would be given, by the way.
Where was I - I digressed.
On the All Blacks' candidates. Isn't Ranger going to Montpellier - or isn't that confirmed yet? If he's staying he would be a strong chance at centre because, with Conrad Smith having a break and Kahui going back to Japan (IIRR), NZ are not exactly stocked with good players wearing the 13 jersey. (And the same with the 2 jersey).
He would be at longer odds to play on the wing as I think they will want to try Piutau there now and then, or from the bench, to get test match experience.
First thing though - Ranger will have to get his handling right both as a passer and receiver. Passing is more important at centre than on the wing because the 13 has to be a facilitator and be able to pass the golden ball to wingers and fullback.
Luatua? Yeah I've written elsewhere that he should be on an All Black bench, at least, this year. He wasn't as noticeable last night as he was at the Cake Tin where he terrorised half of the Hurricances team, but he was still good.
I reckon Messam will still start for a while whilst Luatua is eased in. Luatua probably has to show more in the tight stuff as Kaino did, and break defensive lines like him, because you don't as many semi-open spaces in Super Rugby as in test matches - as Adam Tompson found out.
Though he is still very raw, Piutua could be on a bench sometime this year, but probably not at fullback yet. His eye for the gap, that is not there sometimes before he makes it, and his leg drive when stopped, are considerable attributes for a young bloke to have.
Not quite to the point but I thought that Retallick was one of the best in the Blues' team last night. He doesn't have the skill set of cousin Brodie, the All Black, but he's improved a lot in 2013 - and he has picked up some of Ali's sly play.
It probably rubbed off from Ali after packing down in so many scrums together.
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