All Blacks Rugby Champs squad

[cashead]

Hookers
Dane Coles (Hurricanes/Wellington)
Liam Coltman (Highlanders/Otago)
Nathan Harris (Chiefs/Bay of Plenty)
Codie Taylor (Crusaders/Canterbury)

Props
Owen Franks (Crusaders/Canterbury)
Joe Moody (Crusaders/Canterbury)
Tim Perry (Crusaders/Tasman)
Karl Tu'inukuafe (Chiefs/North Harbour)
Ofa Tu'ungafasi (/Auckland)

Locks
Scott Barrett (Crusaders/Taranaki)
Brodie Retallick (Chiefs/Hawke's Bay)
Samuel Whitelock (Crusaders/Canterbury)

Loose Forwards
Sam Cane (Chiefs/Bay of Plenty)
Shannon Frizell (Highlanders/Tasman)
Jackson Hemopo (Highlanders/Manawatu)
Kieran Read (Crusaders/Counties Manukau, Captain)
Ardie Savea (Hurricanes/Wellington)
Liam Squire (Highlanders/Tasman)
Luke Whitelock (Highlanders/Canterbury)

Halfbacks
TJ Perenara (Hurricanes/Wellington)
Aaron Smith (Highlanders/Manawatu)
Te Toiroa Tahuriorangi (Chiefs/Taranaki)

Five-Eighths
Beauden Barrett (Hurricanes/Taranaki)
Damian McKenzie (Chiefs/Waikato)
Richie Mo'unga (Crusaders/Canterbury)

Midfielders
Ryan Crotty (Crusaders/Canterbury)
Jack Goodhue (Crusaders/Northland)
Ngani Laumape (Hurricanes/Manawatu)
Anton Lienert-Brown (Chiefs/Waikato)
Sonny Bill Williams (Blues/Counties Manukau)

Back Three
Jordie Barrett (Hurricanes/Taranaki)
Rieko Ioane (Blues/Auckland)
Nehe Milner-Skudder (Hurricanes/Manawatu)
Waisake Naholo (Highlanders/Taranaki)
Ben Smith (Highlanders/Otago)


Underlined players are injury cover, italicised are uncapped.

[rowan]

I guess if they re-introduced the inter-island clash along Super Rugby lines it would be a pretty even contest these days!

[Lizard]

Seems a lock short?

[cashead]

Seems a lock short?

Jackson Hemopo covers the second row as well.

[Doorzetbornandbred]

Im not convinced about Laumape as good as hes been in the Super Rugby this year. Cant help but think hes a bit of a one trick pony. I may be proven wrong but he doesn't ask as much of defences as the other centres picked imo

[Lizard]

Seems a lock short?

Jackson Hemopo covers the second row as well.

I know, but if there’s an injury presumably they’ll need to draft in a specialist lock at least as cover if not to sit on the bench.

[cashead]

Seems a lock short?

Jackson Hemopo covers the second row as well.

I know, but if there’s an injury presumably they’ll need to draft in a specialist lock at least as cover if not to sit on the bench.

Luke Romano, Paddy Tuipulotu or Tom Franklin, depending on which lock gets hurt.

[rowan]

Pretty silly claim from Hansen that the All Blacks would start 'underdogs' against the Wallabies. They've probably never been heavier favorites - at least, not since the 70s! The mind games used to be a little more interesting than this ...

[Mellsblue]

Im not convinced about Laumape as good as hes been in the Super Rugby this year. Cant help but think hes a bit of a one trick pony. I may be proven wrong but he doesn't ask as much of defences as the other centres picked imo

Yep. He is good at what he does but he is very one dimensional, from the relatively little I’ve seen. If he were a NH player he’d be derided for being so.

Those flyhalves, though. Sexton aside, they’d all walk into any 6N XV.

[Doorzetbornandbred]

Im not convinced about Laumape as good as hes been in the Super Rugby this year. Cant help but think hes a bit of a one trick pony. I may be proven wrong but he doesn't ask as much of defences as the other centres picked imo

Yep. He is good at what he does but he is very one dimensional, from the relatively little I’ve seen. If he were a NH player he’d be derided for being so.

Those flyhalves, though. Sexton aside, they’d all walk into any 6N XV.

I think Barrett and Mo'unga would get in in front of Sexton. Im not sure Mckenzie will be around for long, too many costly errors like intercept passes. Another player with all the talent though, love to see him show up and play for the BaaBaas over here.

[rowan]

All Blacks 32 (Rieko Ioane 3, Waisake Naholo, Nehe Milner-Skudder, Shannon Frizell tries; Beauden Barrett con) Otago 0.
All Blacks 40 (TJ Perenara 2, Ngani Laumape 2, Karl Tu'inukuafe, Ardie Savea, Anton Lienert-Brown, Rieko Ioane tries) Cantabrians 5 (Tom Christie try).
https://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/rugby/all ... ree-halves

[J Dory]

Team announced for the first test.

New Zealand: 15 Ben Smith, 14 Waisake Naholo, 13 Jack Goodhue, 12 Ryan Crotty, 11 Rieko Ioane, 10 Beauden Barrett, 9 Aaron Smith, 8 Kieran Read (c), 7 Sam Cane, 6 Liam Squire, 5 Samuel Whitelock, 4 Brodie Retallick, 3 Owen Franks, 2 Codie Taylor 1 Joe Moody
Replacements: 16 Nathan Harris, 17 Karl Tu’inukuafe, 18 Ofa Tuungafasi, 19 Scott Barrett, 20 Ardie Savea, 21 TJ Perenara, 22 Damian McKenzie, 23 Anton Lienert-Brown

[J Dory]

No complaints really, maybe Jordie Barrett for ALB.

[morepork]

and Matt Todd.

[rowan]

Good to see Fifita back in there:

The All Blacks squad for Argentina and South Africa is:

Forwards: Liam Coltman, Nathan Harris, Codie Taylor, Owen Franks, Time Perry, Angus Ta’avao, Karl Tu’inukuafe, Ofa Tuungafasi, Scott Barrett, Patrick Tuipulotu, Samuel Whitelock, Sam Cane, Vaea Fifita, Shannon Frizell, Jackson Hemopo, Kieran Read (South Africa only), Ardie Savea, Luke Whitelock

Backs: TJ Perenara, Aaron Smith, Te Toiroa Tahuriorangi, Beauden Barrett, Damian McKenzie, Richie Mo’unga, Ryan Crotty, Jack Goodhue, Anton Lienert-Brown, Sonny Bill Williams, Jordie Barrett, Rieko Ioane, Nehe Milner-Skudder, Waisake Naholo, Ben Smith

http://www.allblacks.com/News/33112/all ... rica-named

[rowan]

Team 4 Argentina:

1. Karl Tu'inukuafe (7)
2. Codie Taylor (36)
3. Ofa Tuungafasi (20)
4. Samuel Whitelock (103) - captain
5. Scott Barrett (23)
6. Shannon Frizell (3)
7. Sam Cane (58)
8. Luke Whitelock (6)
9. TJ Perenara (49)
10. Beauden Barrett (67)
11. Rieko Ioane (18)
12. Sonny Bill Williams (47)
13. Ryan Crotty (39)
14. Waisake Naholo (22)
15. Ben Smith (72)

16. Nathan Harris (16)
17. Tim Perry (3)
18. Angus Ta'avao *
19. Patrick Tuipulotu (17)
20. Ardie Savea (29)
21. Aaron Smith (77)
22. Richie Mo'unga (2)
23. Anton Lienert-Brown (28)

[rowan]

I'd like to have seen Mo'unga and Fifita get a run, but they won't want to take any chances against a Pumas' outfit which has won two of its last three games and put up a good fight against the All Blacks in Nelson as well, before fading in the latter stages. As I wrote on another thread, this is as good a chance to notch a first win over the New Zealanders as they're ever going to get. But I'll still pick the tourists to win by 12 regardless.

[morepork]

AB forwards are going to have to adjust to the ref and stop trying it on.

[paddy no 11]

Odd game, couple of breakaway tries and a tragic scrum for Argentina totally undermined them, they need a scrmmager doesn't matter if he's gash around the park.

Is savea going to start 8 at the world cup? Reed is pushing on like and not the total force from a few years back

[morepork]

Ardie looked pretty good behind a functioning scrum, and his scrapping for metres sorted out quite a lot of messy ball for us I thought. Mo'unga really did the damage off the bench too.

[Lizard]

I would have liked to see a drop goal, just to prove we can do it.

No All Black has dropped a goal in a test match since Carter in the RWC2015 final. 3 points would have changed the result of two of the 2017 Lions tests as well as the recent Boks loss.

Beauden Barrett has dropped only 1 Super Rugby goal: v CHI, 23 April 2016, 10th minute (Chiefs won 28-27 after B.B. missed 2 penalties and 1 conversion).

The only other current All Black to have a Super Rugby DG to their name is Ben Smith in 2015.

The only other drop goals since 2015 in Super Rugby by NZers have been:
Mitch Hunt, CRU v HIG, 3 June 2017, 80th minute to win 25-22.
Lima Sopoaga, HIG v WAR, 18 March 2016, 54th minute, to make it 30-0 (Tahs came roaring back to fall short 26-30)
Lima Sopoaga, HIG v LIO, 12 March 2016, 62nd minute to make it 34-3 (Lions ran in 2 late tries to get to 34-15)

Sopoaga kicked 4 DGs in 2015, too...

[morepork]

How many tests have the ABs lost that could have been salvaged by drop goals? Not a Carter "see I can do it" DG, but a distasteful "DG is the only option for a win here".

You can invoice me for your time if need be.

[cashead]

Only a couple come to mind - 2nd Lions test last year and the Wellington loss a few weeks ago. You could say "but what about the 3rd Lions test?" but that would've been won if Poite and Garces not conspired to fuck the home team and awarded the penalty as it should have been awarded.

Mind you, the second Lions test could have had a different outcome had Garces shown Vunipola a red as well. Funny how everyone that's done that since has gone for an early shower and a meeting with the judiciary.

[Puja]

I would also point out that, while the British press have been gleeful about your inability to drop a goal, there's few up North who are specialists. Fazlet's drop goals are woeful (maybe 1 from 5 accuracy), Ford's are only a little better and none of the Celts are particularly practiced. I'd only be confident of the French dropping a goal to win a match and they've got more problems than their kicking.

A dying art.

Puja

[cashead]

The issue is that they're too much of a gamble, and patiently recycling the ball and going for a try would be a more secure method. This entire drop goal hysteria? We've been here before, right down to Lizard moaning about a lack of drop goals in a 20+ point win.