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Bledisloe 2 at Eden Park 18/10/20

Dctarget

John Eales (66)
Felt like we practiced our lineouts all week and no defence work. I'm more chipper than most on that. We have some real talent, lets ease them in.
 

rugboy

Bob Loudon (25)
Great first half and a second to forget. Will be a few changes in two weeks time, for me they'd be:

Simone in for To'omua if he's out
Wright drops back out, probably for Samu
Petaia to start over Paisami
And possibly Wright in for Koroibete, DHP in for Banks, and Hosea in for Simmons. That may be a couple to many changes though

I might also look at swapping Tupou and Ala'alatoa to give us more punch at the back end of the game when Wilson has come off.

It will be interesting to see if Rennie makes as many changes again although he was willing after a draw so maybe. all these have merit. Would have liked to see Wilson and Philip out there for longer we lost a lot when they both were replaced.
 

Drew

Bob Davidson (42)
A crystal ball would’ve helped Rennie today. We carried Lolesio last week on the bench, would’ve been handy having a replacement for To'omua. We seemed to lose a bit of direction when he came off. Missed first up tackles, poor handling and inaccuracy at the breakdown were obviously our major problems.
 

Up the Guts

Steve Williams (59)
Good first half, lost their heads in the first ten minutes of the second half and the no try to BPA really killed them. Chasing the game after that and obviously not going to play with the precision of last week.

Still forwards getting over the gain line with ease and dominant tackles in defence when they were made. Break down presence looked better in defence as well. Slipped into old habits when the ball was turned over and missed too many tackles.
 

tragic

John Solomon (38)
No need to panic. Pretty even for all but the 10 after half time. Crossed the line twice without points.
Let’s wait and see what happens at home.
Petaia starts
Banks shown up - DHP or hodge (hodge for me)
That’s all
And don’t drop the ball, make your tackles and it’s back on track.
 

Slim 293

Stirling Mortlock (74)
Bit too knee jerk for me there. That would be half a new backline. Have a bit of faith in Rennie I think, he needs time to work miracles. Hopefully To'omua recovers in the next 2 weeks. Same backline but with Petaia and DHP in, Lolesio to come on with 30 to go.



Nah, time to give Lolesio a run........

Our attack is going nowhere, and the kid outplayed both of them this year.
 

PhilClinton

Geoff Shaw (53)
I think when the smoke settles everyone can calm down a bit.

JOC (James O'Connor) was pretty good considering their game plan was out the window when To'omua goes down. They planned for two playmakers in attack not two ball runners. I think people saying he was average need to rewatch the game.

The main difference is when the all blacks are hot, they finish their passages of play. We reach about 90% boil and drop the lollies. Their good periods and superb whereas ours aren’t quite there.
 

KOB1987

Rod McCall (65)
No need to panic. Pretty even for all but the 10 after half time. Crossed the line twice without points.
Let’s wait and see what happens at home.
Petaia starts
Banks shown up - DHP or hodge (hodge for me)
That’s all
And don’t drop the ball, make your tackles and it’s back on track.
And Samu for Wright. I wouldn’t do anything else provided To'omua is fit. If he’s not, we may see Kerevi. Edit: except bring Skelton in.
 

Rebels3

Jim Lenehan (48)
We need to win more collisions, they dominated the contact area and it was very noticeable. Any injuries might see Naisarani come into the squad or Valetini looked at as a no.8 option.

JOC (James O'Connor) kicking options will be looked at, without a 2nd play maker it was easy for the ABs to Target the only man that will put boot to ball. Very difficult position to be put under, if the centre options are limited might see DHP at fullback (although Banks played a solid game) to provide a foil for a 2nd kicker.

We picked some extra ruck monkeys but gave up people that would win the contact to do so. The balance need to be found especially on the bench. Once Wilson went we went from slightly losing the collisions to definitively losing the collisions.

Last point Simmons has to go, try Hosea there is nothing to lose. He might be slightly worse after his first test but would surely offer more after a handful.
 

Highkicks

Herbert Moran (7)
It always looks to me like the AB's are able to play to 100% of their potential and we rarely get into 2nd gear mentally. I mean there weren't many positives to take out of that, Hanigan had his best game but even he made some pretty bad errors.

How do we not dominate in the lineouts? 3 good jumpers against their 1? We were positioned in front of their jumpers multiple times and didn't even get in the air.

Also our bench is an issue, the forward pack we ended with was completely limp. It seems a bit strange Rennie decides to take off our 2 biggest carriers early and replace them with 2 of the worst in Wright and Simmons.

Hard to single out bad performances when the entire team was poor. How do you make changes after this one? Everyone was well below their best.
 

Rugbynutter39

Michael Lynagh (62)
To’omua and Willson off hurt us. Plus Caleb Clarke - not sure how good vs how shit players stopping him - sway towards how good.

Wright tested and failed so he goes. Koriobete had shocker and JOC (James O'Connor) not same as last week. but to me how much To’omua brings to the team as felt completly lost direction once he went off.

Positives was Hanigan - negatives - line out
 

molman

Peter Johnson (47)
No need to panic. Pretty even for all but the 10 after half time. Crossed the line twice without points.
Let’s wait and see what happens at home.
Petaia starts
Banks shown up - DHP or hodge (hodge for me)
That’s all
And don’t drop the ball, make your tackles and it’s back on track.

Yeah, I'd be curious where DHP is at. Petaia is worth the rave. Impresses me every time. Paisami still concerns me on defense, positioning not what it needs to be a times.
 

Teh Other Dave

Alan Cameron (40)
The thing missing this week: composure. At least two tries from the counter-attack following brain farts and a lack of positional awareness to regroup in defence.

When we ran the ball straight and hard, we looked dangerous. On the few occasions where we were patient and held possession, we'd end up making inroads.

As usual, the box kick and midfield up-and-under on back foot ball made the team's job so much harder. It's such a low-yield play - it's a much leaner chance of retaining possession, and when the opposition (almost) invariably wins it, they take the ball at speed into a defensive line that's actively re-aligning. All for minimal territorial advantage. If we're going to put up the white flag, surely we're better off putting the back three under pressure with a deep, flat kick.
 

molman

Peter Johnson (47)
I think when the smoke settles everyone can calm down a bit.

JOC (James O'Connor) was pretty good considering their game plan was out the window when To'omua goes down. They planned for two playmakers in attack not two ball runners. I think people saying he was average need to rewatch the game.

The main difference is when the all blacks are hot, they finish their passages of play. We reach about 90% boil and drop the lollies. Their good periods and superb whereas ours aren’t quite there.

It was't what he did right that was the issue (becuse there were some really nice plays and passes at times), it was some of his decision making and what he did wrong. There were some god aweful passes and a pretty pointless kick. Maybe Noah wouldn't be a step up, but if To'omua out it's worth a consideration.
 
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