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The All Blacks capped their series against France with a 49-14 victory at Forsyth Barr Stadium. Here’s how they fared individually.
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1. Joe Moody – 6.5
Letting Gael Fickou bust through him was the only black mark on a tidy test for the loosehead. Ten made tackles with just two misses, one more glaring than the other.
2. Codie Taylor – 7
Effective over the ball and at lineout time, save for one overthrow. Racked up two turnovers and had a few handy carries.
3. Owen Franks – 7
Sound defensively with identical defensive statistics to Moody. Scrummaged well.
4. Sam Whitelock – 7.5
Also whiffed on Fickou. Great at lineout time, led from the front and made all the right calls as captain.
5. Scott Barrett – 10
Scott Barrett was simply immense. I’ve never given a ten before, and if I could give an eleven I would. Filling in for Brodie Retallick, Barrett was all over the park. Led the match in tackles with 17, had a handful of strong carries and showed excellent hands to offload in the tackle. Caused problems for the French lineout all night long. Had the most influence across the ground.
6. Shannon Frizell – 6.5
Kept himself busy. Had a try rubbed out, made twelve tackles, shows plenty of promise moving forward. He can definitely be happy with his first effort in the black jersey.
7. Ardie Savea – NR
Unfortunately had rare start ended early. Performed well when he was on the park. Matt Todd was excellent as a replacement, filling up the stat sheet and wreaking havoc at the breakdown.
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8. Luke Whitelock – 7
Capped a good series with another solid effort. Nothing outstanding. Converted on all ten of his tackle attempts.
9. Aaron Smith – 6.5
Definitely an improved performance after last week. Kept busy, delivered quick ball.
10. Damian McKenzie – 8.5
Scored a pair of tries, one more dubious than the other. Picked his moments to run, had an excellent night off the tee. Think he has done enough to stay ahead of Richie Mo’unga in the pecking order.
11. Rieko Ioane – 9.5
Outstanding as per usual. The type of performance we have come to expect from the incredible 21-year-old. Once again dangerous with every touch, joins elite company after bagging a hat-trick.
12. Sonny Bill Williams – 7.5
Managed close to an hour, which is more than anyone expected after he was ‘ruled out’ before the series began. Ended up being a nice cameo for the dynamic Williams. Excellent taking on the line and finding his teammates.
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13. Jack Goodhue – 6.5
Another handy debut. Let in Welsey Fofana’s try but looked comfortable on both ends throughout.
14. Waisake Naholo – 7
Made good on his opportunities. Made great metres with every touch. Had a tough night defensively and fell off a few tackles. Racked up 98 run metres but missed half of his eight tackle attempts.
15. Ben Smith – 8
Capped an excellent series with another try. Always in the right place at the right time. Gets himself involved on attack and is solid in defense. Overall an excellent performance from the All Black back three.
Reserves:
As above, Matt Todd had instant impact early after coming in for Ardie Savea. Jackson Hempo was solid on debut, got the call earlier than he would have expected after Frizell left for blood. Made the most of his opportunity and seemed to pop up everywhere. Jordie Barrett slotted in nicely for Sonny Bill around the hour mark. Richie Mo’unga played sparingly but had a great touch finder as his first act in the black jersey.
In other news:
Comments on RugbyPass
Results probably skewed by the fact that a few clubs have foreign fly halves in their 30s, but most teams have young English scrum halves. Results also likely to be skewed by the fact that many teams rely on centres and fullbacks to provide depth at 10, whereas they will need to stock a large number of specialist backup 9s.
1 Go to commentsI really get the sense that when all is said and done, the path of least resistance will end up being a merger of Wasps & Worcester that essentially kills the Worcester Warriors brand and sees Wasps permanently playing at Sixways. I’m not saying that’s what should happen or what I want to happen. I just think it’s the easiest rout to take and therefore, will be what happens. Wasps will definitely return to play first, and I suppose it all depends on if they can find support at Sixways. If people turn up and support Wasps in that community, at that ground, I bet they drop the Sevenoaks plan and just remain at Sixways. Under the radar but not totally unrelated, it looks as though London Irish are going to be brought back from the dead by a German consortium and look set to return, likely to the remade Championship. It’s set to have 12 clubs next season with 14 in 2025/26, what do you want to bet those extra 2 are Wasps and London Irish?
1 Go to commentsThe shoulder is a “joint” with multiple bones. You don’t “fracture” a shoulder, you fracture any one or more of the bones that make up a shoulder.
2 Go to commentsOh dear, bones too suspect to continue?
2 Go to commentsBold headline considering the Canes and Blues are 1 and 2 and the Brumbies were soundly beaten by the Chiefs and Blues. Biggest surprise is Rebels 4 Crusaders 12 - no one saw that coming. If Aus are improving that’s great 👍
1 Go to commentsAnna, You are right, we need to have patience whilst the others catch up to England and France. Also it is the PWR that has been the game changer for England. the RFU put money into that initially at the expense of the Red Roses. I was sceptical at first but it has paid off in spades.
1 Go to commentsI think Matt Proctor became a 1 test AB in the same fixture. Cameron is quality and has been great this season, can’t believe’s he only 27. Realistically how would he not be selected for ABs squad this year. Only Dmac is ahead of him as a specialist 10. With Jordan out, it will come down to where and when Beauden Barrett slots back in, and where they want to play Ruben Love. Cameron seems an absolute lock in for the wider squad though. Added benefit of TJ-Cameron-Jordie combination at 9, 10, 11 too.
1 Go to commentsFarcical, to what end would someone want to pay to keep this thing going.
1 Go to commentsHavili, our best 12 by a mile, will be in the squad, if he stays fit. JB is the most overrated AB in the last 50 years.
61 Go to commentsWe had during the week twilight footy, twilight cricket, tw golf plus there was the athletics club. Then the weekend was rugby 15s plus the net ball, really busy club scene back then but so much has changed and rugby has suffered. And it was all about changing lifestyles.
6 Go to commentsIn the 70s and 80s my club ran 5 Senior sides plus a Vets. Now it is 2 sides with an occasional 3rd team. Players have difficulty getting to training now, not sure why and the commitment is not there. It seems to me more a problem of people applying themselves and not expecting to turn up and play whenever they want to.
6 Go to commentsROG’s contract is until 2027. The conversation about a successor to Galthie after RWC 2027 may be starting now. We can infer that Galthie’s reign stops then. He is throwing the Irish Coaching Job angle in because he is Irish. The next Irish coach MUST be Leo Cullen. As well as being the best coach available, coaching the vast majority of Irish Internationals week in week out, he has shown incredible skill at recruiting the best coaching staff for the job in hand. That was a failing in France. Cullen is a shrewd guy and if there is a need for foreign coaches underneath him he won’t hesitate. Rightly so. Ireland does need to start to bring Irish coaches through. Not just at the professional level but we need to train coaches to man new pathways for developing kids from schools/clubs up through the divisions.
8 Go to commentsNo Islam says it must rule where it stands Thus it is to be deleted from this planet Earth
18 Go to commentsThis team probably does not beat the ABs sadly Not sure if BPA will be available given his signing for Force but has to enter consideration. Very strong possibility of getting schooled by the AB props. Advantage AB. Rodda/Skelton would be a tasty locking combination - would love to see how they get on. Advantage Wallabies. Backrow a risk of getting out hustled and outmuscled by ABs. Will be interesting to see if the Blues feast on the Reds this weekend the way they did the Brumbies we are in big trouble at the breakdown. Great energy, running and defence but goalkicking/general kicking/passing quality in the halves bothers me enormously. SA may have won the World Cup for a lot of the tournament without a recognised goalkicker but Pollard in the final made a difference IMO. Injuries and retirements leave AB stocks a bit lighter but still stronger. 12 and 13 ABs shade it (Barret > Paisami, Ione = Ikitau, arguably) Interesting clash of styles on the wings - Corey Toole running around Caleb Clark and Caleb running over the top of Toole. Reece vs Koro probably the reverse. Pretty even IMO. 15s Kelleway = Love See advantage to ABs man for man, but we are not obviously getting slaughtered anywhere which makes a nice change. Think talent wise we are pretty even and if our cohesion and teamwork is better than the ABs then its just about doable.
11 Go to commentsCompletely agree. More friday night games would be a hit. RFU to make sure every club has a floodlit pitch. Club opens again Saturday to welcome touch / tag. Minis and youths on Sunday
6 Go to comments1.97m and 105Kg? Proportionately, probably skinnier than me at 1.82 and 82kilos. He won’t survive against the big guys at that weight.
56 Go to commentsThe value he brought to the crusaders as an assistant was equal to what he got out of being there. He reflected not only on the team culture but also the credit he attributed to the rugby community. Such experience shouldn’t be overlooked.
8 Go to commentsGood luck Aussie
11 Go to commentssmith at 9 / mounga 10 / laumape 12 / fainganuku 14
61 Go to commentsBar the injuries, it’s pretty much their top team …
2 Go to comments