Could the All Blacks' midfield pairing against Namibia take them to the final?
With one game against Italy to come before a quarter-final against Ireland, Japan or Scotland, what is likely to be the top All Blacks‘ midfield of Anton Lienert-Brown and Jack Goodhue is building nicely.
Second-five Lienert-Brown was again probably the pick of the All Blacks during the 71-9 victory over Namibia at Tokyo Stadium. He was recognised as the player of the match with a high-quality performance which is becoming his default setting. Need someone to carry the ball across the gain line? Lienert-Brown is your man.
Centre Goodhue, with 61 minutes after playing the first half against Canada, is getting to the level he needs to be at following his recovery from a hamstring strain, and, as the pair eye selection for the Italy match in Toyota City on Saturday, it was all a far cry from the last time they played together; the drubbing at the hands of the Wallabies in Perth.
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The pair are forming a partnership that Steve Hansen will hope carries the All Blacks to the retention of the William Webb Ellis trophy and it’s based on trust, similar attacking instincts, and the ability to put teammates into space. It’s probably helpful too that they are both 24 years old and appear to have similarly laidback characteristics.
“He’s a real selfless player – he’ll always do the job for the team, and it’s a real pleasure playing with him,” Lienert-Brown said of his midfield mate.
“I’m just fortunate to be out on the park… at the moment the ball is falling my way. It’s a real honour.”
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Neither player was particularly interested in talking about themselves after the victory over the game Namibians but their talent is abundantly clear. They were both superb for their respective Super Rugby teams this year and Lienert-Brown in particular impressed because for a long time the Chiefs didn’t know how to win.
“I guess you’re just confident and you trust your ability and what you see,” he said. “It’s good to have that confidence and call the right things.
“To be honest, it’s just doing the basics well. The best tries that we look back on are just draw and pass and the wingers score. That’s what we pride ourselves on.”
For Goodhue, the respect is mutual. “He’s a quality player; I love his workrate, it’s probably his greatest attribute,” he said of Lienert-Brown. “Outstanding, he’s lifting the standard.
“He’s always creating. He thoroughly deserved his player of the match award today. It’s exciting where he’s taking his game.
“I was able to get a few more touches compared with the Canada game which was nice. I was able to get the confidence up and now I’ll just have to wait and see [in terms of selection].”
After a thrilling opening few weeks to a Rugby World Cup which has lived up to its billing as the most competitive yet, @rhigarthjones picks the team of the tournament so far.https://t.co/JqrXe4DK3M
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) October 7, 2019
If any of the 11 tries the All Blacks scored against Namibia typified where they want to get to here, it was TJ Perenara’s in the corner at the end following a freakish no-look pass from Brad Weber.
Lienert-Brown, though, revealed practising such moves at training is not recommended.
“That try was pretty special and it might be up for try of the year at this stage,” he said.
“To be honest if we do that stuff at training we’ll be told off; we’re big on the basics. That’s just being that little kid again – backing your instincts – and it’s cool to see.”
This article first appeared on nzherald.co.nz and is republished with permission.
Rassie Erasmus has been forced to make an explanation after questions of racism were made about the Springbok:
Comments on RugbyPass
🤦♂️🤣 who cares who’s the best . All I know is the All Blacks have the star coach but have few star players now …
27 Go to commentsJe suis sûr que Farrell est impatient de jouer avec Lopez et Machenaud et d’être entraîné par Collazo… 🤭
1 Go to commentsAn on field red (aka a full red) in SRP must surely carry a bigger suspension than a red card given by the bunker as that carries a 20 minute team punishment. Had Damon Murphy abdicated his responsibility as a ref and issued both Drua players a yellow, which would have been upgraded to a 20 minute red by the bunker, that would have killed Australia and New Zealand’s push for the 20 minute red to be trialled globally from July this year.
11 Go to commentsEver so often you all post a Danny Care story that isn’t the announcement that he has finally re-signed for one more, victory tour season at Quins and I’m just like, “well you fooled me again!” My absolute favorite player ever, we need to make his final year at the Stoop (and Twickers) official already. I know he supposedly snubbed France but I won’t feel better until he signs.
1 Go to commentslate hit what late hit it wasn’t at all late and can clearly see he was committed before the tackle
1 Go to commentsChristian Lio -Willies 2 try perfomance was a standout. As was captain Scott Barrett. Up front was where the boys won it.They are a great team and players. Fantastic Crusades , you can keep going.
1 Go to commentsI don't know how the locals feel about that? I guess if you call yourselves the Worcester Wasps that might be appease. But really we need more teams in the Premiership in my view so they are not padding it out as they are at the moment. It might curtail so many players going abroad as well
5 Go to commentsNZ 😭😭😭is certainly rivaling England for best whingers cup!😭😭😭 !!!
27 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
27 Go to commentsShould've done this years ago. Change Saturday kick off times to around 11am. Up and off and back home before 3pm, limit travel time too. Allows players to actually do something else with their Saturday that's family oriented or being rugby fans they could ‘watch’ pro rugby. Increases crowds etc. How can anyone that enjoys grassroots and pro rugby have to choose between the two on Saturdays?
9 Go to commentsI bet he inspired those supporters just as much.
1 Go to commentsBen Smith Springboks living rent free in his head 😊😂
67 Go to commentsGood to hear he would like to play the game at the highest level, I hadn’t been to sure how much of a motivator that was before now. Sadly he’s probably chosen the rugby club to go to. Try not to worry about all the input about how you should play rugby Joey and just try to emulate what you do on the league field and have fun. You’ll limit your game too much (well not really because he’s a standard athlete like SBW and he’ll still have enough) if you’re trying to make sure you can recycle the ball back etc. On the other hard, you can totally just try and recycle by looking to offload any and everywhere if you’re going to ground 😋
1 Go to commentsThis just proves that theres always a stat and a metric to use to justify your abilities and your success. Ben did it last week by creating an imaginary competition and now you did the same to counter his argument and espouse a new yardstick for success. Why not just use the current one and lets say the Boks have won 4 world cups making them the most successful world cup team. Outside of the world cup the All Blacks are the most successful team winning countless rugby championships and dominating the rankings with high win percentages. Over the last 4 years statistically the Irish are the best having the highest win rate and also having positive records against every tier 1 side. The most successful Northern team in the game has been England with a world cup title and the most six nations titles in history. The AB’s are the most dominant team in history with the highest win rate and 3 world cups. Lets not try to reinvent the wheel. Just be honest about the actual stats and what each team has been good at doing and that will be enough to define their level of success.
27 Go to commentsHow is 7’s played there? I’m surprised 10 or 11 man rugby hasn’t taken off. 7 just doesn’t fit the 15s dynamics (rules n field etc) but these other versions do.
9 Go to commentsPick Swinton at your peril A liability just like JWH from the Roosters Skelton ??? went missing at RWC
14 Go to commentsLike tennis, who have a ranking system, and I believe rugby too, just measure over each period preceding a world cup event who was the longest number one and that would be it. In tennis the number one player frequently is not the grand slam winner. I love and adore the All Blacks since the days of Ian Kirkpatrick when I was a kid in SA. And still do because they are the masters of running rugby and are gentleman on and off the field - in general. And in my opinion they have been the majority of the time the best rugby team in the world.
27 Go to commentsHaving overseas possessions in 2024 is absurd. These Frenchies should have to give the New Caledonians their freedom.
21 Go to commentsBell injured his foot didn’t he? Bring Tupou in he’ll deliver when it counts. Agree mostly but I would switch in the Reds number 8 Harry Wilson for Swinton and move Rob Valentini to 6 instead. Wilson is a clever player who reads the play, you can’t outmuscle the AB’s and Springboks, if you have any chance it’s by playing clever. Same goes for Paisami, he’s a little guy who doesn’t really trouble the likes of De Allende and Jordie Barrett. I’d rather play Carter Gordon at 12 and put Michael Lynagh’s boy at 10. That way you get a BMT type goalkicker at 10 and a playmaker at 12. Anyways, just my two cents as a Bok supporter.
14 Go to commentsThanks Brett, love your articles which are alway pertinent. It’s a difficult topic trying to have a panel adjudicating consistently penalties for red card issues. Many of the mitigating reasons raised are judged subjectively, hence the different outcomes. How to take away subjective opinions?
11 Go to comments