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AB’s v Aussie { Sydney }
Sat – 16th Aug : 10.05pm
Sky Sport 1.1. Wyatt Crockett (27)
2. Dane Coles (18)
3. Owen Franks (57)
4. Brodie Retallick (27)
5. Samuel Whitelock (54)
6. Jerome Kaino (51)
7. Richie McCaw (c) (127)
8. Kieran Read (62)
9. Aaron Smith (29)
10. Aaron Cruden (32)
11. Julian Savea (22)
12. Ma’a Nonu (91)
13. Conrad Smith (77)
14. Cory Jane (48)
15. Ben Smith (29)Reserves:
16. Keven Mealamu (113)
17. Ben Franks (31)
18. Joe Moody *
19. Steven Luatua (11)
20. Sam Cane (14)
21. TJ Perenara (3)
22. Beauden Barrett (19)
23. Malakai Fekitoa (2)Boks v Argentina { Pretoria }
Sun – 17th Aug : 3.05am
Sky Sport 1.Fekitoa has come in as a late replacement for Conrad Smith… AB’s selectors have said they like Fekitoa because of his ability to learn ? I’ve seen stuff all of that in terms of his option taking, when in possession the bloke always tends to have his hands glued to the fuckin’ ball, yeah, smash the ball up when required, but if it’s on to free up the outside backs for try scoring opportunities the drongo needs to pass the pill !!!
Conrad’s played his last AB game. I’m dead keen to see a drongo play for another 10 years. (Wasn’t Smokin’ Joe accused of being a sticky hand centre once??)
For me to change my mind about the drongo he needs to show a lot more thought to his game, lets see how he goes tonight ?
Important things to note from last night’s game.
Age shall not wary them, nor the years condemn, at the going down of the sun, we will remember them.
Australia should have won, a few decisions going our way when Aussie on attack that could have (and should have) gone Aussies way.
Playing with 14 men for a good part of the game will not win a RWC (or Rugby championship)
McCaw gave away 4 (or was it 5) in the breakdown area, two scored from. Not leading by example.
If Crotty and Moody are the next best thing then NZ Rugby is in tatters.
And SM, the drongo went well given the conditions. His tackling was exemplary. Nonu missed two (before the injury occured).
One person needs mentioning when it comes to talking about defense especially inside the 22, Aaron Cruden. And Aaron Smith saved the loosies bacon a few times around the breakdown.
Yeah, with all the possession the ‘ horse scratchers ‘ had they should of won, think they had 65% of the pill, but wasted their opportunities… with rain throughout the whole match I suppose it was never going to be much of a spectacle.
Ref was a bit of a shocker, the dickhead thought he was more important than the players, he reminded me of that clown Steve Walsh.
SSMO – the drongo went well in defence, but so did most of the team, didn’t get himself involved enough though, him & Nonu are power players, Nonu took the ball up plenty of times, but Fekitoa went walkabout too much.
Oi! If you’re going to quote For the Fallen, reckon you could get the words right? Cheers.
Hansen’s faith in Fekitoa reminds of Graham Henry and that bloke from Auckland who couldn’t catch the ball. Forget his name now, but he was part of that drongo backline when we lost to France at the 2007 World Cup. Henry spent about five years telling us he was going to be the next big thing in NZ rugby but it never happened.
I can normally remember names, but I think subconsciously I’ve erased it on purpose and I’m not going to look it up either. Don’t tell me.
What ? …anyway, until he can show some decent vision in his decision making on attack I’ll keep calling him a drongo.
Ok I won’t say anything about Toeava, oops too late… the bloke could be a brilliant runner, but tended to lose complete focus when it come to doing the real basic stuff, hence he had hands like feet.
At least Fekitoa doesn’t drop the pill as much Toeava did… fact is can’t see Fekito having the insight for playing at centre, reckon it’s vital to say have a thinking player at centre & more of a power player at 2nd-five.
And with that in mind I’d like to see Fekitoa starting at 2nd five this week and Crotty left to cover centres (I rate Crotty very low).
agreed, I’d have Fekitoa starting inside Conrad Smith as well… Crotty’s only a solid sort of player, but generally takes good options & doesn’t make many mistakes, so with him coming off the bench reckon he’d do a good job of either covering 2nd-five or centre.
Surprised Crotty got the start at 2nd-five.
AB’s v Aussie { Auck }
Sat – 23rd Aug : 7.35pm
Sky Sport 1.Argie’s will never be any good unless they start working on ways to use the ball on attack… they’re clearly obsessed with their scrum, therefore boring people to fuckin’ death, in fact they mucked around that much in the scrum just before halftime the AB’s turned the pill over & scored a try.
Other than that poor kicking option by Nonu where one of their players charged the ball down { should of been awarded a try } otherwise didn’t even come close to creating something to get over the line.
Especially against the Boks you need a physical number 6, Luatua has never really being in that category, with Kaino & Messam out I would of had McCaw at 6.
Sat – 13th Aug { Wgtn }
7.35pm – Sky Sport 1.ALL BLACKS : Israel Dagg, Ben Smith, Conrad Smith, Ma’a Nonu, Julian Savea, Aaron Cruden, Aaron Smith, Kieran Read, Richie McCaw, Steven Luatua, Jeremy Thrush, Brodie Retallick, Owen Franks, Dane Coles, Wyatt Crockett. Reserves : Keven Mealamu, Joe Moody, Ben Franks, Patrick Tuipulotu, Sam Cane, TJ Perenara, Beauden Barrett, Cory Jane.
SOUTH AFRICA : Willie le Roux, Cornal Hendricks, Jan Serfontein, Jean de Villiers (captain), Bryan Habana, Handre Pollard, Ruan Pienaar, Duane Vermeulen, Marcell Coetzee, Francois Louw, Victor Matfield, Eben Etzebeth, Jannie du Plessis, Adriaan Strauss, Tendai Mtawarira. Reserves : Bismarck du Plessis, Trevor Nyakane, Marcel van der Merwe, Lood de Jager, Warren Whiteley, Francois Hougaard, Pat Lambie, Damian de Allende.
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This reply was modified 7 years ago by
How many more chances is Luatua going to get ??? other than him taking the pill up a couple of times in the early stages of the test he was non-existent,work rate & cleanout at the breakdowns by the loosies was much better when he went off & Cane came on.
Bok’s had a golden opportunity to win that match, should of taken that shot at goal in front of our posts when there was still 8 minutes remaining, brain explosion stuff !
Looks like Fekitoa is going to start at 2nd-five against Argies, a position that is much more suited to him that centre, Nonu & Crotty are out through injury, some good news though, Kaino, Messam & Whitelock return.
Rugby Championship :
1. ABs – {p 4} – 16pts
2. Aussie – {P 4} – 10pts
3. Boks – {p 4} – 10pts
4. Argies – {p 4} – 3pts-
This reply was modified 7 years ago by
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This reply was modified 7 years ago by
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