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New Zealand Rugby Team Watch

waiopehu oldboy

Stirling Mortlock (74)
oooh Poms B, dunno about that, the big C word, wouldnt surprise me too much to see the Pomgolians roll NZ in the first one. NZ always rusty first up, and despite being unbeaten last season it wasnt that flash. Plus wouldnt surprise me if some of these blokes have been reading their own press from the last couple of years and think they just have to rock up on the night, combination-less, and expect it to click.

Shag doesn't let them get like that any more than SGH did. Everyone's had plenty of footy so while some of the combinations may take a while to gel I don't see rustiness being a factor. AB by 20 this week, margins will probably get smaller once Poms A-listers arrive, 3rd Test will be the one we really have to worry about as by then they'll be over any travel fatigue.
 

JJJ

Vay Wilson (31)
Gotta be a wind-up surely? He's played against a lot of them hasn't he?
The twitterverse was aghast naturally, but only seems to have been reported in the Guardian, nothing in the Times or Telegraph. Hasn't even made the NZ Herald.

Telegraph has picked it up now. Good click-bait.
 

Dan54

Tim Horan (67)
I've always found it odd how little knowledge pro players have of other players. He must seriously not watch any rugby outside SH.
Actually I not gwerty, most players don't watch a lot of rugby it seems, they tend to be tied to it 5-6 days a week practising and playing, and a lot only seem to watch odd games now and then. And to be fair Retallic has played against Lawes perhaps once or twice, I bet he can recall the christian names of Bok and Wallaby locks!!
 

Lindommer

Steve Williams (59)
Staff member
Yeah, I bet Retallick's quaking in his boots at the thought of running into Wally Matfield, Dick Horwill, Flippie Botha, Harry Simmons et al.....
 

badabing59

Cyril Towers (30)
From rugbydump:

Henry Slade has eye Re-A-Rangered
BpYEAEfCQAEUJKu.jpg
 

waiopehu oldboy

Stirling Mortlock (74)
ha, loved this one, stepped off both feet then thought fuckit I'll just go with the maori sidestep

http://gfycat.com/MilkyScornfulAzurewingedmagpie

That is fucking awesome & one of the reasons I like having a big, hard & straight running guy on one wing & a 2nd FB on t'other. Smith or Jane May or may not have beaten the poor sod with a shimmy or whatever but neither would've trampled him underfoot like that.
 

Dismal Pillock

Simon Poidevin (60)
You couldve been proven right by that vanilla display vs Poms on weekend. Back 3 of Jane, Smith and Dagg with zero penetration, Dagg hooked after 50.

Sadly, as for rest of team, iHomo, those much-vaunted hundreds of caps of test experience are soon, alarmingly soon, going to look like a millstone dragging the team down.

SLOW.

WEAK.

Cane for Mccaw.
Crockett for Woodcock.
Me for Conrad Smith.
Mccaw pumped full of neckoids and converted to hooker by RWC 2019 for Mealamu.
 

waiopehu oldboy

Stirling Mortlock (74)
Well I did notice Jane get pulled down short of the 5m mark, reckon a bigger guy either scores or sets up a pick & drive from 1m out. Poms happy to kick it out & why not, their lineout was way better than ours.

Still reckon if McCaw's gonna be around for RWC he needs to be playing 6 or off the bench, KR's health permitting. Woodcock & Mealamu look past it, time to move on but with whom? FR looking like it could be our Achilles heel next year if not this.
 

Dismal Pillock

Simon Poidevin (60)
All Black captain getting left behind in steroid race.

--NZ Herald--

Richie Mccaw, the All Black captain, is getting left behind in the steroid race. The relatively pokey flanker was little more than a spiky-coiffured passenger during NZ's go-backwards fiesta versus England in the first test.

mccawrobshaw_zps359877e3.jpg

Mccaw, pictured here being dwarfed and left trailing by the best of British medical know-how. And Owen Franks. Who is, admittedly, a bit of a fat fluffybunny.

"Yes, I do need to get with the programme" said Mccaw. "Even their bloody fullback has bigger guns than me. Not to worry, I'll ask the English fellas as to where I can procure some of these beefy boy jellybeans. Maybe they have them in their pockets during the game. For mid-match top-ups. Maybe in the 2nd test I'll take some spare change to the next ruck or maul. We can make the transaction there. Righto."

mccawrobshaw_zps359877e3.jpg

All Black captain Richie Mccaw, seen here looking for next ruck or maul to develop.
 

waiopehu oldboy

Stirling Mortlock (74)
Some potentially really really good news:


The All Blacks will take a wait and see approach over whether to bring back influential No.8 Kieran Read for the second Test against England.

Coach Steve Hansen says Read, who missed New Zealand's 20-15 win in Auckland, has got over his concussion problems and has been training well, and the issue now is one of match fitness.

"He did an hour and a half yesterday with no signs or symptoms," Hansen said on Sunday.

"It's just a matter, with all the lack of games, whether we chuck him back in or we actually do the safer thing and give him a week's more training and build him up and save him for the last Test."

yahoo.nz

Meanwhile on stuff.co.nz:

All Blacks coach Steve Hansen said today Savea "should be okay" after shaking off the knee injury that kept him out of last night's 20-15 win at Eden Park.
 

Dismal Pillock

Simon Poidevin (60)
Fine by me although it would be nice if some uber hacker nerd type could cobble together some sort of cyber-cattlestop binary-sluicage siphon system to redirect every mention of him on the internet off to some deep web internet dump site.

Yes, this post too.
 
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