Highlanders blend experience with seven new faces for Waratahs

He’s either good enough or he isn’t, don’t hold that jersey in from of him like a stick to whack a dog into line you’re not happy with.

Change Sotutu or any player too much and then you end up with what the All Blacks have been, mediocre without any flair or individuality. Boring.

Foster’s tactic of box kicking to try to put pressure on the opponent has been a failure, but I’m not sure Robertson has any answers either, given the poor tactical kicking skills of the NZ players.

The 6 will be key. I expect Sititi to be at eight - to take advantage of his running and playmaking skills - he could make a scary combination with Roigard of a midfield scrum. They could really open lanes for McKenzie to exploit. I’d keep Sititi in middle of the park to make use of the combination of his running and playmaking skills.

All the options at seven (A Savea, Kirifi, Lakai, Papali’i) while strong and powerful, lack the pure brutality of a Kaino, Fizzell, or Finau. I think it’s Finau’s race to loose (early days though). He needs a season of consistent form, with a big finals series, to make the 6 jersey his own for the All Blacks vs France series. Sotutu could force his way in at 6; but needs to keep his tackle height down.

I think NZR isn’t happy he just didn’t keep his mouth shut, yes!

NZ would suffer revenue wise, but it is the only that would allow them to also treat it as development and use some youngsters. It would also cause more severe reaction from WR haven’t part of their program treated so poorly.

It’s a shame Haig got injured for the Landers, and Akira left LOL. Grace hadn’t shown much and their mobile locks haven’t been given a chance their yet. Is Frizell returning this year or next at some point? Overall it may be the position he’s least worried about firming up this year, choosing his 7 and 8 and then 6 from whevers left.

Yep a lot left to prove from Sotutu, but nar I’d definitely be keeping him in the middle of the park and asking Sititi or another to do the flank side work of the 6. I’d prefer the running option of Sititi off the back of the scrum but they hardly ever utilize that these days.

So all we know is that Kirifi is the one performing and putting his hand up at the moment, all this is just talk about what has already been in our minds.

But you keep telling yourself it was because the ref was being mean to you.

The denial of the Irish fans is amazing to watch 🤣

They need to go with what is good for them, if that means uniqueness then it’s the way they should go/stay.

Copycatting is never the answer and especially not for something with history.

That would be hilarious and I honestly wouldn’t discredit it from being true!

Comparing yourself to France is moronic. It makes zero difference what model you have, as per the facts referenced by how well the 2016 team did.

Have the regional high performance centers lost quality since then, have the lost funding? I just can’t imagine a situation where there wouldn’t be the same amount of ability amongst them. Are they too independant? Do the best trainers and coaches look over a too small or poorer subset of players now?

These are all problems easily solved. You just always got the impression, from not “Making the right appointments” after the last coach got kicked, that the WRU have no idea what they’re doing. No ability to act perhaps?

Xavi was one of the standout U20 backs together with halfback Dylan Pledger. Cam was very consistent at lock.

Keen to see how Perofeta and Taele combine as a starting pair.

What will be better still:

Fijian Drua breaking their drought and winning on the road

All Aussie teams breaking their drought and winning games in NZ

Reward fans who have Sky Sport/Stan subscriptions and still attend games in person

Entice more fans who have Sky Sport/Stan subscriptions to attend games in person

Having shot clocks at all grounds

Is is too much to ask for better Sky sport commentary team?

Still needs work:

Theme based rounds needs deeper fan engagement from all teams than just putting on a label and wearing new kit

Create a Super rugby pacific app - make it easy for fans to access information on team lists, injury updates, kickoff times, player and game stats, live score updates

I read it as acknowledging that the board are still early in the progress towards making the championship what it needs to be to provide ‘Aspiration and jeopardy’, and disappointed in the realism of how far off that is.

As club with the status of promotion eligible they could easily and quickly turn the tide towards becoming of the Championships best and earning promotion. It is anything but the death knell you make it out to be.

That is a real possibility to occur before RWC 2027. The 6-2 and 7-1 splits are becoming more popular. But a lot of people don’t like those splits as they reduce the impact of fatigue and encourage slow power based play resulting in more heavy collisions.

World Rugby has been pretty clear they would like to see: less heavy collisions, and fatigue to play more of a roll. We’ll see how it goes.

Peter Lakai is tall enough to be a ‘sometimes’ jumping option. About the only 7, currently in contention for the All Blacks, who isn’t is Kirifi. I think Sititi could also make a good 7.

Having watched some URC I’d come to though all teams were developing some universal style amongst each other. Would you think that had been continuing or were/had they staying fairly unique/individual. Would love to know how that aspect had affected Irelands abilities in the past.