Are the All Blacks ripe for the picking?
Could France steal a win on the first match of this tour?
An ‘unheard of’ injury crisis has the All Blacks testing the strength of their depth for the first time in a long time.
Captain Kieran Read has been out all year, Dane Coles hasn’t been seen since November, Sonny Bill Williams is in recovering from knee surgery and Sam Whitelock and Ryan Crotty are dealing with concussion problems. Brodie Retallick has now succumbed to an injury and Sam Cane is struggling to recover from an abdominal strain. Adding to that list are Jordan Taufua and Jack Goodhue who didn’t play last weekend.
Sam Cane, Sam Whitelock, and Ryan Crotty are expected to play but things could go south if they are forced from the field early. Jordie Barrett’s late night Macca’s feed in a strangers house and Rieko Ioane’s scuffle with a Blues teammate certainly adds to the strangeness in the air surrounding the first test.
This French team is not to be underestimated – all the talk of how the Top 14’s ‘free market’ recruitment hurts the national team is overblown. This side beat England and lost to Ireland on a miraculous drop goal in this year’s Six Nations. They lost to Wales by a point and Scotland by six. The only thing stopping France from winning at times is France – they are the architects of their own demise at times.
They play with an unforgiving brutality, which is often criticized for a lack of enterprise. It doesn’t look pretty but in the right conditions can drag any team into a dogfight. They have a host of experienced players coming on tour with Morgan Parra, Wesley Fofana and Mathieu Bastareaud, which could give the French an edge with so much All Black experience on the sidelines.
England’s poor attack encountered a blue wall in Paris that repelled wave after wave of one-out, slow ball rugby. The All Blacks attack is superior but with a host of unfamiliar combinations and a supposed new pod system in place could make for an interesting content.
Aaron Smith looms as the important man for the All Blacks in this series, his recycle speed and pass velocity will keep the match speed high and tire out the French pack. Sonny Bill will be missed – his size and defensive ability would have prevented Bastareaud from making damaging gain line runs.
What to make of Beauden Barrett? His impact in the Lions series was not what was expected, and his form this year has been below his 2016/17 heights. The amount of basic errors like blatant forward passes creeping into his game is concerning. His showing in wet conditions against the Crusaders is a blight on his game management resume. He needs a strong showing a year out from the World Cup or the chorus of Mo’unga preachers will be singing louder.
An injury crisis, an unfamiliar pack, and a new pattern leads to questions about how this All Blacks team will gel together. You could say there isn’t a better time to play the All Blacks then right now.
Things are starting to feel like 2009 when France came under the radar and beat a young All Blacks side 27-22 on a cold winter’s night in Dunedin.
History has a habit of repeating.
In other news:
Comments on RugbyPass
Except for the injured Zach Gallagher this would be Saders best forward pack for the season. Blackadder needs to stay at 7, for all of Christies tackling he is not dominant and offers very little else. McNicholfullback is maybe a good option, Fihaki not really upto it, there was a reason Burke played there last year. Maybe Havilli to 2nd five McLeod to wing. Need a strong winger on 1 side to compliment Reece
1 Go to commentsTo me TJ is clearly the best 9 in the competition right now but he's also a proven player off the bench, there's few playmaking players who can come off the bench as calm and settled as he is, Beauden can, TJ can and I doubt any of the scrumhalves in contention can, if they want to experiment with new 9s I want him on the bench ready to step in if they crumble under the pressure. The Boks put their best front row on the bench, I'd like to see us take a similar approach, the Hurricanes have been doing similar things with players like Kirifi.
33 Go to commentsROG has better chance to win a WC if he starts training and make himself eligible as a player. He won’t make the Ireland squad but I reckon he may get close with Namibia (needs to improve his Afrikaans) or Portugal. Both sides had 1000:1 odds to win the RWC in 2023 which is an improvement on ROG’s odds of winning a RWC as a coach. Unlike Top 14 teams, national teams can’t go shopping and buy the best players - you work with the available talent pool and turn them into world beaters.
2 Go to commentsthat backline nope that backline is terrible why would you have sevu Reece when he’s not even top 5 wingers in the comp why have Blackadder when there’s better players no Scott barret isn’t an automatic the guy is more of a liability than anything why have him there when you have samipeni who’s far far better
33 Go to commentsAh, good to find you Nick. Agree with everything about Cale. So much to like about his game
49 Go to commentsNot too bad. Questions at 6, lock and HB for me. The ABs will be a lot stronger once Jordan and Roigard return. Also, work needs to be made to secure Frizzell back for next season and maybe also Mo’unga; they’re just wasting time playing in japan
33 Go to commentsOn the title, i wonder for many of those people it is a case something like a belief in working smarter, not harder?
1 Go to commentsForget Sotutu. One of those whose top level is Super Rugby. Id take a punt on Wallace Sititi Finau ahead of Glass body Blackadder.
33 Go to commentsI’m a pensioner so I've been around a bit. My opinion of SBW is he is an elite athlete and a great New Zealander and roll model. He has been to the top and knows what he's talking about. To all the negative comments regarding SBW the typical New Zealand way, cut that tall poppy down.
17 Go to commentsI'm not listening to a guy moralise over others when this is the guy who walked out mid season on Canterbury RLFC when he had a contract with them, what a hypocrite. Those praising him are a joke.
17 Go to commentsI’d put Finau at 6 instead of Blackadder but that’s the only change I’d make. Can’t wait to see who Razor picks.
33 Go to commentsTamati Williams, Codie Taylor, and Same Cane? Not sure about Hoskins Sotutu at test level. Wasn’t that impressive last season. Need a balance between experience and talent/youth.
33 Go to commentsInteresting insight. Fantastic athlete, and a genuine human being.
17 Go to commentsThey played at night in Suva last weekend and it’s an afternoon game forecast for 19 degrees in Canberra this weekend. Heat change is a non issue.
1 Go to commentsWishing Rosie a speedy recovery
1 Go to commentsObscene that SA haven’t been knocking
1 Go to commentsChances of Blackadder being injured seem too high to give him serious consideration. ABs loosie combination finally looked good with 2 committed to tackling and clearing rucks in the centre and Ardie roaming. Hoskins/Ardie together would force one of them into where they don’t excel and don’t get to use their talent, or require a change in tactics. If we continue to evolve last years systems I would take Papali’i and Finau at 6 and 7 (conceding that Blackadder will be injured) and Ardie at 8.
33 Go to commentsArdie’s preferred position 7? Where do they get these writers from? I've no idea where he's playing in Japan, but the previous two seasons he wore the 7 jersey exactly twice.
17 Go to commentsNot good to hear Ulster described as “financially troubled”. Did not think it was getting to that level. I would hope the Irish system of spreading players of talent away from Leinster would kick in now. Better to have a Leinster fringe player with Ulster or Connacht, then getting only a few games a season in Dublin. 10, for example, would seem to be a case for spreading the talent. I would not be at all adverse to a SA man coming in as head coach/DR. Ludeke is worth trying. Certainly got a long and impressive coaching career at this level…..149 games in SR, then Japan, 30 years experience. And Ulster’s ledger of successful SA coaches and players is on the positive side. Is talk of Ruan Pienaar interested in coming back as a coach…..could be a good combination with Ludeke. And Pienaar and family would have no settling in to do, one would judge. He loved life in Ulster when there, by all reports.
1 Go to commentsSome thoughts to consider here, Sam. Thanks
2 Go to comments