Geekzone Rugby (Union) Discussion Thread

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# 1580423 26-Jun-2016 09:22

Savea never had any "mojo". He is a Jonah Lomu. Strong runner, the longer the runs. Standing start has always been difficult for him. When not given space he basically can't do anything. Same applies to Lomu. THe fashion seems to have changed slightly. Last year if you put to strong fast wingers you score tries. This year something's changed about defending strong runners, maybe the system has adapted. Not sure - ask Justin Marshall. Maybe he's just a bit too fat. Anyone knows his weight this year vs last?

Involuntary autocorrect in operation on mobile device. Apologies in advance.

Handle9

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# 1580514 26-Jun-2016 14:53

Savea has been pretty inconsistent for the last couple of years. He can build to a peak but falls off the peak pretty quickly. The other big change is the defence isn't being held by the threat of the centres we have. If you drifted off Nonu and Smith they could make you pay. Crotty and Fekitoa haven't, Moala offered much more there last night.

The other thing I did mean to mention is how good Aarons Smith is as a player and what a pleasure he is to watch. He plays so hard and with so much emotion that he makes me smile pretty much every game. He's playing the best rugby I have ever seen from an All Black half back.

networkn

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# 1581717 28-Jun-2016 09:41

joker97:

Savea never had any "mojo". He is a Jonah Lomu. Strong runner, the longer the runs. Standing start has always been difficult for him. When not given space he basically can't do anything. Same applies to Lomu. THe fashion seems to have changed slightly. Last year if you put to strong fast wingers you score tries. This year something's changed about defending strong runners, maybe the system has adapted. Not sure - ask Justin Marshall. Maybe he's just a bit too fat. Anyone knows his weight this year vs last?

I can't find it, but I saw stats showing he was in the best shape of his life right now. Savea seems to be suffering from a crisis of confidence. I am happy to give him a chance to correct it. DC, ID, and lots of other players have had times where their form hasn't been quite as high.

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# 1581718 28-Jun-2016 09:43

Handle9: Savea has been pretty inconsistent for the last couple of years. He can build to a peak but falls off the peak pretty quickly. The other big change is the defence isn't being held by the threat of the centres we have. If you drifted off Nonu and Smith they could make you pay. Crotty and Fekitoa haven't, Moala offered much more there last night.

The other thing I did mean to mention is how good Aarons Smith is as a player and what a pleasure he is to watch. He plays so hard and with so much emotion that he makes me smile pretty much every game. He's playing the best rugby I have ever seen from an All Black half back.

If Moala can fix his decision making he certainly seems to have the strength and footwork. I haven't seen the stats but I think he made a couple of defensive misses. All of those things, I believe could be fixed, but I wonder if in reality he is a serious contender for the centres long-term.

networkn

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# 1581723 28-Jun-2016 09:51

Poor Zac, yet another excursion that hasn't panned out for him! The sooner he realizes that running from his issues won't work, the better he will be. There will be temptation where ever he goes and until he can learn to live with himself, I don't see repeated venue changes helping too much.

I really feel for the guy, he is obviously struggling with his disease, but as yet doesn't seem like he has hit rock bottom.

All you can do is hope he can find some peace.

I do, however, believe he will be better off at home.

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# 1581728 28-Jun-2016 10:01

networkn:
Handle9: Savea has been pretty inconsistent for the last couple of years. He can build to a peak but falls off the peak pretty quickly. The other big change is the defence isn't being held by the threat of the centres we have. If you drifted off Nonu and Smith they could make you pay. Crotty and Fekitoa haven't, Moala offered much more there last night.

The other thing I did mean to mention is how good Aarons Smith is as a player and what a pleasure he is to watch. He plays so hard and with so much emotion that he makes me smile pretty much every game. He's playing the best rugby I have ever seen from an All Black half back.

If Moala can fix his decision making he certainly seems to have the strength and footwork. I haven't seen the stats but I think he made a couple of defensive misses. All of those things, I believe could be fixed, but I wonder if in reality he is a serious contender for the centres long-term.

Put him with sbw and see what happens ...

Involuntary autocorrect in operation on mobile device. Apologies in advance.

ludez

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# 1581775 28-Jun-2016 10:49

Well in reality moala has been the best in that position. He will be playing beside sbw at the blues anyway, so could be a great combo

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# 1581779 28-Jun-2016 10:53

ludez: Well in reality moala has been the best in that position. He will be playing beside sbw at the blues anyway, so could be a great combo

He's played 1 game! By all means, give him some more game time (Assuming they are happy he can make better decisions on the timing of his passes). I don't think until we have seen 4 consistent games you could make a call like that reasonably.

Also worth noting it was Wales worst game, they were clearly off their feet and Moala was able to make gaps that weren't there previously.

Having said that I am not the Fekitoa fan that a lot of people are. He had a good season or two for the highlanders, but for me he has been pretty poor for the AB's.

ludez

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# 1581919 28-Jun-2016 13:27

But then saying it was Wales worst game surely takes the brilliance of daggs performance away somewhat then?

Either way he came in and did his core role well and then some. Was solid all round

ludez

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# 1581929 28-Jun-2016 13:32

Also when I said in that position I meant even in super rugby, even in a struggling super side moala is a key player. I have never rated fekitoa, he is very slack on defense and he was great two years ago as an impact player but now he's not.

Have to admit the dagg,smith combo was pretty insane and with Barrett running it's a formidable force.

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# 1582057 28-Jun-2016 14:56

ludez: Also when I said in that position I meant even in super rugby, even in a struggling super side moala is a key player. I have never rated fekitoa, he is very slack on defense and he was great two years ago as an impact player but now he's not.

edit: (to clarify, this is obviously super rugby)

Funny you should talk about defence, I was looking at the herald stats page for Fekitoa vs Moala. Fekitoa has had 59 successful tackles (from 82 - 78.1%) where Moala has 37 tackles (from 52 - 77.6%)

allowing for extra game time, Fekitoa tackles once every 16 minutes of game time, and Moala tackles once every 21 minutes of game time. (fekitoa 952 mins, Moala 808 minutes)

It's a lot less tacking than I expected, but I guess there are scrums, lineouts, pens, etc all taking time out of the game

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# 1582069 28-Jun-2016 15:11

I really enjoyed the final Australia-England match.

I'm surprised (given England's rush defence) that Aussie didn't kick over there heads more often. Turn the England pack around and wear them out early.

Aussie showed England can be opened up repeatedly by a back line and it was anyone's game till the final 10 minutes.

Mike

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# 1582177 28-Jun-2016 17:16

ABs are still the most complete team at the moment. No one is unbeatable, that's life, but the ABs seem to have all the answers on the park. If only we have global tournaments every year! Hopefully the Boks and Wallabies put up some good performances. Don't like one sided tests ... bring on the Bledisloe!

Involuntary autocorrect in operation on mobile device. Apologies in advance.

ludez

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# 1582210 28-Jun-2016 17:54

Fekitoa vs moala in tests
2 Tries 0
10 Points 0
13 Carries 15
120 Metres 42
5 Clean Breaks 1
8 Defenders Beaten 2
1 Offloads 2
0 Try Assists 1
6 Passes 18
2 Open play kicks 0

8 Tackles 9
2 Missed Tackles 3
80% Tackles Success 75%
2 Turnovers Conceded 3
0 Yellow cards 0
0 Red cards 0

Moala leads in stats just after two games

ludez

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# 1582211 28-Jun-2016 17:57

JonnyCam:
ludez: Also when I said in that position I meant even in super rugby, even in a struggling super side moala is a key player. I have never rated fekitoa, he is very slack on defense and he was great two years ago as an impact player but now he's not.

edit: (to clarify, this is obviously super rugby)

Funny you should talk about defence, I was looking at the herald stats page for Fekitoa vs Moala. Fekitoa has had 59 successful tackles (from 82 - 78.1%) where Moala has 37 tackles (from 52 - 77.6%)

allowing for extra game time, Fekitoa tackles once every 16 minutes of game time, and Moala tackles once every 21 minutes of game time. (fekitoa 952 mins, Moala 808 minutes)

It's a lot less tacking than I expected, but I guess there are scrums, lineouts, pens, etc all taking time out of the game

Moala has 15 missed tackles and fekitoa has 23

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