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Kieran Read battling injury to face Wales
All Blacks captain Kieran Read has been given extra recovery time in order to be fit for the test match against Wales, missing the first training session of the week.
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“He’s a bit battered after the last couple [of tests], so we took him out of training today to give him a chance to have an extra 24 hours. He’ll recover quick,” said assistant coach Ian Foster said after the session.
“He gets through a lot of work and at this stage of the year he’s just a bit sore. It’s really a management decision to pull him out today, and give him a chance to walk around and watch training, and hopefully freshen up for later in the week.
“With his experience, he’ll be firing later on.”
The All Blacks will be hoping the precautious approach will give Read and the All Blacks a rejuvenation after Read expressed his concerns over the All Blacks start against Scotland after the match.
“I think for us in that first half it wasn’t a skill thing. We were just 5 percent off maybe attitudinally and we made it hard for ourselves. We were not winning gainlines, we were not winning the chance to make the Scots go backwards so they had front foot ball and were coming off the line really quick.
“In a test match, if you win those, you generally get the rub of the green. It comes from within. It starts with the individual, doesn’t it? So we have to look at ourselves and our preparation to see what we can do better.”
There are already two guaranteed changes to the side that beat Scotland, with star wing Rieko Ioane (shoulder) and lock Luke Romano (plantar fascia) both ruled out.
Meanwhile, Read has copped a blast from Scotland assistant coach Dan McFarland for a “cynical” play late in the Murrayfield test.
In the 72nd minute of the match, with Scotland attacking the All Blacks line, Read appears to deliberately slap the ball out of the grasp of Scotland lock Jonny Gray from an illegal position on the ground.
“That was just cynical wasn’t it,” McFarland told media in Edinburgh in assessing Read’s play. “It should have been a yellow card, quite possibly a try, and quite possibly a penalty try.
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“I can see that [all those options] would be something for discussion, but that’s not up for discussion now is it?
“New Zealand are an extremely competitive side and everybody in world rugby knows that when you get the ball into their 22, the very last thing they want to do is concede a try. That’s how they play. They’re very streetwise, they’re very clever.”
Comments on RugbyPass
To 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.
30 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
30 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
30 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.
30 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.
30 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.
30 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.
30 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 commentsI think he is right, SBW is respected in RSA. The guy who never stood up is a worm. Sseems lots of NZ SBW hate, you do the crime do the time.
17 Go to comments