Geekzone Rugby (Union) Discussion Thread

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#2992113 5-Nov-2022 07:48

Wales has named two specialist open sides and Faletau has been passed fit to play. He’s such an influential player, it’ll be great to see him playing. Having Tipuric back will help them a lot as well, he’s a pest.

It’ll be interesting to see if they can get Louis Rees-Zammit in space around Clarke. He’s insanely quick, possibly the quickest in international rugby today. The All Blacks will do the same with Reece and Dyer I guess.

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artbloke

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#2992130 5-Nov-2022 09:45

We will have to clean really well at the breakdown... these UK teams like to lay all over the ball a lot to slow it down.

artbloke

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#2992132 5-Nov-2022 09:58

Taukei'aho should clearly be starting ahead of Taylor... think Jordon is out injured ?

Bench wise always need 5 forwards, as they do all the hard yakka - glad to see Weber on the bench, replacing the average Christie... doesn't make any logic having two midfielders in the reserves ? one of them needed to be dropped & replaced by McKenzie who is a top utility back.

Not a good sign that all the officials are from England, France & Ireland... we needed at least a couple from either Aussie, Argentina or S.A.

Nov 6th {Cardiff} - 4.15am

ABs : 1. Ethan de Groot (10), 2. Codie Taylor (73), 3. Tyrel Lomax (21), 4. Samuel Whitelock (140-C) 5. Scott Barrett (55), 6. Shannon Frizell (22), 7. Dalton Papali’i (19), 8. Ardie Savea (67), 9. Aaron Smith (113), 10. Richie Mo’unga (42), 11. Caleb Clarke (12), 12. Jordie Barrett (45), 13. Rieko Ioane (56), 14. Sevu Reece (22), 15. Beauden Barrett (109)

Reserves : 16. Samisoni Taukei’aho (18), 17. Ofa Tu’ungafasi (49), 18. Fletcher Newell (4), 19. Tupou Vaa’i (16), 20. Akira Ioane (19), 21. Brad Weber (17), 22. David Havili (22), 23. Anton Lienert-Brown (57).

WALES : 1. Gareth Thomas (13), 2. Ken Owens (82), 3. Tomas Francis (65), 4. Will Rowlands (21), 5. Adam Beard (37), 6. Justin Tipuric (85-C), 7. Tommy Reffell (3), 8. Taulupe Faletau (91), 9. Tomos Williams (36), 10. Gareth Anscombe (32), 11. Rio Dyer (Debut), 12. Nick Tompkins (23), 13. George North (105), 14. Louis Rees-Zammit (19), 15. Leigh Halfpenny (96)

Reserves : 16. Ryan Elias (30), 17. Nicky Smith (41), 18. Dillon Lewis (41), 19. Alun Wyn Jones (153), 20. Christ Tshiunza (2), 21. Kieran Hardy (14), 22. Rhys Priestland (52), 23. Owen Watkin (33)

Referee : Wayne Barnes (England)
Assistant Referee 1 : Karl Dickson (England)
Assistant Referee 2 : Gianluca Gnecchi (France)
TMO : Brian MacNeice (Ireland)

tukapa1

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#2992139 5-Nov-2022 11:12

artbloke:

Taukei'aho should clearly be starting ahead of Taylor... think Jordon is out injured ?

Bench wise always need 5 forwards, as they do all the hard yakka - glad to see Weber on the bench, replacing the average Christie... doesn't make any logic having two midfielders in the reserves ? one of them needed to be dropped & replaced by McKenzie who is a top utility back.

Not a good sign that all the officials are from England, France & Ireland... we needed at least a couple from either Aussie, Argentina or S.A.

Taukei'aho has to come off the bench at some stage - either now or against Scotland. Problem is how poor we have been at getting quality hookers into the mix with the stubborn reliance on Taylor and Coles for so long. What we don't want is Taylor to come off the bench and get injured, which there is a high likelihood of.

We need five forwards because the laws dictate you must have a full front row replacement on the bench. That leaves you with cover for lock and a loosie. Sometimes even have six forwards on the bench depending on the make up of your backs and the risk you're willing to take.

We would be going backwards at a rate of knots if we were to pick McKenzie. We've moved on from his flighty, erratic play. Look at the make-up of the backs. We've got Jordie at 12 - he can cover wing or fullback. We've got Ioane in at 13 - he can cover wing. We've got Beaudy at the back who can move to 10. We've got Havili on the bench who can play 12, 13 or 15. There's plenty of cover there with Havili and ALB on the bench (regardless of my thoughts about Havili being there at all). So glad to see Weber back - he's been the second best halfback option in NZ for years and should have been in the squad from day one.

Handle9

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#2992209 5-Nov-2022 14:48

McKenzie is bolted on for the World Cup if he has a decent super campaign. Ignoring his ability to play 10 or 15 he’s one of the top 3 goal kickers in the country and has played 40 odd tests. Perofeta or Ioane aren’t making a World Cup squad ahead of him.

His omission is about having the temerity to go to Japan without NZRs blessing.

Handle9

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#2992272 5-Nov-2022 17:50

The All Blacks XV game is available on YouTube, not sure if it's geoblocked in NZ.

Handle9

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#2992356 5-Nov-2022 21:41

Well that was a cool game.

Handle9

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#2992638 6-Nov-2022 21:00

What a fun day of rugby. I managed to watch the Black Ferns, All Blacks and the Ireland-SA games. They were all extremely entertaining in different ways.

The France Australia game looked great as well but it started around midnight here so was a bit much. A friend of mine was at the game and loved it.

Roll on next week!

JPNZ

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#2992720 7-Nov-2022 08:02

I watched the Black Ferns, the AB's and the France v Aus game. Great weekend of rugby the black ferns game being the best.

Also see this morning that the Argies upset England at home 29-30. Gives NZ a real hope of smashing Scotland this weekend then England the next at home.

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Earbanean

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#2992733 7-Nov-2022 08:41

After Foster's shocker against Japan, it was great to see Ryan and Schmidt hammer Wales. 🙂

Importantly, the selectors now must agree with what I had been telling them for months now, that Jordie is our 12. All those that said the Wallabies game was a one-off, should now have the proof they need. Next, we need to get ALB back in at centre and move Reiko to the wing. Could happen against Scotland? It's a shame Jordan not over there, as we still haven't been able to put our absolute best backline together all year.

Taylor was better, but anyone paying attention, would have seen another Earbanean early pick, Brodie McAlister, showing some form for NZ XV. I'd still like him in the mix at the top table. Surely Coles' calves have now effectively ended his career? I'd like to see McAlister move past Aumua into the third hooker slot (or higher). (Although having an All Black with a palindrome name, would have been unique?)

JonnyCam

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#2992844 7-Nov-2022 09:37

Did anyone watch the replay of the AB's game at 06:35?

I put it on via Sky Sport Now (but delayed by a couple of hours) , and the wrap up from the live coverage was still going on with the score proudly displayed.

Thanks Sky, surely they could have had a ten minute break between them and just put the same filler in they usually do.

Wanted to know if STB users had the same issue.

artbloke

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#2992871 7-Nov-2022 10:16

tukapa1:

artbloke:

Taukei'aho should clearly be starting ahead of Taylor... think Jordon is out injured ?

Bench wise always need 5 forwards, as they do all the hard yakka - glad to see Weber on the bench, replacing the average Christie... doesn't make any logic having two midfielders in the reserves ? one of them needed to be dropped & replaced by McKenzie who is a top utility back.

Not a good sign that all the officials are from England, France & Ireland... we needed at least a couple from either Aussie, Argentina or S.A.

Taukei'aho has to come off the bench at some stage - either now or against Scotland. Problem is how poor we have been at getting quality hookers into the mix with the stubborn reliance on Taylor and Coles for so long. What we don't want is Taylor to come off the bench and get injured, which there is a high likelihood of.

We need five forwards because the laws dictate you must have a full front row replacement on the bench. That leaves you with cover for lock and a loosie. Sometimes even have six forwards on the bench depending on the make up of your backs and the risk you're willing to take.

We would be going backwards at a rate of knots if we were to pick McKenzie. We've moved on from his flighty, erratic play. Look at the make-up of the backs. We've got Jordie at 12 - he can cover wing or fullback. We've got Ioane in at 13 - he can cover wing. We've got Beaudy at the back who can move to 10. We've got Havili on the bench who can play 12, 13 or 15. There's plenty of cover there with Havili and ALB on the bench (regardless of my thoughts about Havili being there at all). So glad to see Weber back - he's been the second best halfback option in NZ for years and should have been in the squad from day one.

Players can get injured at any stage... both hookers hadn't played for 5 weeks, so either one of them didn't need to be managed.

Know about the front law rule on the bench, but the best balance is 5 forwards & 3 backs... you're taking a massive risk only having 2 backs on the bench, I remember the Boks trying it once, and their backline got into all sorts of trouble.

Disagree about McKenzie, as said before really rate the bloke - J.Barrett is a huge asset for us at 12, so I wouldn't want to be moving him to fullback or wing... from the squad we have I would have J.Barret/ALB or J.Barrett/Havili, put Ioane back on the wing, which is clearly his best position.

B.Barrett is too much of a brain explosion at 10 when the pressure is really on, keep him at fullback where he can use his very impressive pace, if he or Mo'unga come off injured bring on McKenzie to cover 15 or 10.

For me Havili should just cover the midfield, he doesn't have the pace or x-factor that B.Barrett or McKenzie have to cover the back 3 positions.

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#2992873 7-Nov-2022 10:20

As @handle9 says, it was quite a weekend if you are a Rugby Fan.

I watched the Black Ferns, talk about tense. Ruby Tui is such a legend!

They are pretty fortunate to be in the final however, that kick would have gone over if anyone else on any other day had kicked it. Fairly regulation, but her kicking was a mess all night.

I am so pleased they made a home final. It was slightly disconcerting hearing Wayne Smith sound so uncertain when asked if they could beat England. I know it's going to be a challenge, but it almost sounded like did absolutely didn't think they could.

It was the best performance from the Black Ferns both on Defense and with fewer handling errors than previously.

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#2992890 7-Nov-2022 10:58

I enjoyed the Wales NZ game. Probably one of our best performances for a while. Big difference this week was the forwards, who for the first time in a while have gone back to the pick and go, and hard charging, which has been really effective for us when we have used it. Last year in France, we were struggling, and our best phase, was the period by which we went direct through the forwards. We made up a lot of points and looked like we actually could have won, and then stopped doing it. I was quite surprised at the time. We still have a reasonable amount of improvement, I think we left at least 14 points unscored.

I see TJP has been recalled, and Brad Weber has been dropped to the XV. TJP would have been the perfect Center, but he is a pretty average halfback, his passing, even for the XV was ponderous at best. What he offers in defence and attack is good, but the XV would have made an even bigger mess of Ireland A had the delivery from the base been faster. It's quite a shame that we haven't seen decent development in our 9's. There is still a gulf between Smith and everyone else. I do wonder he will actually end up playing...

artbloke

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#2992896 7-Nov-2022 11:19

Was a top effort by the forwards - that's the consistent type of forward play I'd expect from an AB pack... come RWC time we will be right in the mix to win the tournament.

Easily the best test A.Smith has played this year, was helped by having such a great platform from the forwards - good to see Smith mixing up his game with darting runs around the edges too, from one of those runs he scored a very good try... he did a couple of really dumb box kicks though in the first 10 minutes from inside his 22, both of them only landed in the field of play only 10 metres outside the 22, instead he needed to exit well, box kicking the ball out near the halfway mark.

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