All Blacks v England. Oh sh**.

[cashead]

According to Chris Ashton and Danny Care the following is what a combined NZ/England team would look like.

Backs: 15 Beauden Barrett, 14 Jonny May, 13 Sonny Bill Williams, 12 Manu Tuilagi, 11 Sevu Reece, 10 Owen Farrell, 9 Aaron Smith.

Forwards: 1 Joe Marler, 2 Jamie George, 3 Kyle Sinckler, 4 Brodie Retallick, 5 Maro Itoje, 6 Ardie Savea, 7 Tom Curry, 8 Billy Vunipola.

Any thoughts?

1. Moody
2. George
3. Sinckler
4. Big Bad Brodie
5. The World's Most Literal Man, Sam Whitelock
6. Curry
7. Cane/Underhill (1 goes on the bench)
8. Savea or Read
9. Smith
10. Mo'unga
11. May
12. ALB
13. Goodhue
14. Reece
15. Big Beaudy B

16. Coles or Taylor
17. Marler
18. Tu'ungafasi
19. Itoje
20. Underhill/Cane
21. Perenara
22. SBW
23. Watson

Guy on the bench isn't there for being lesser, but for what they would bring. Looking at it holistically as a XXIII, rather than a XV.

[Lizard]

I guess it depends on whether you’re picking a team to play England’s game plan or NZ’s. I would probably go for Moody and Coles for their handling game. Sinckler is good though.

Oddly, I'd be picking Mako and George for the same reason!

Puja

So it’s probably just pig-ignorance on both sides, then.

(If I suffered from hubris, which I do not, I might suggest that as a Kiwi my standards for ball handling skills are a bit higher than those of a follower of the great white orcs. As it is, I shall defer judgment until Saturday night.)

[Doorzetbornandbred]

Moody
Taylor
Sinckler
Whitelock
Retallick
Savea
Curry
Read
Smith
Mo'unga
May
ALB
Goodhue
Bridge
Barrett

Bench
George
Mako
Laulalu
Itoje
Cane
Perenara
Tuilagi
Watson

[Stom]

I guess it depends on whether you’re picking a team to play England’s game plan or NZ’s. I would probably go for Moody and Coles for their handling game. Sinckler is good though.

Mako is the best handling prop around, and George is pretty damn good.

Take Coles or Moody out of a black shirt and you'll see how they match up. It's always hard to compare as you guys have had a team situation that has evolved really nicely over 15 bloody years. There has always been continuity and there has always been change, and it's meshed together to create an environment it seems easy to flourish in.

I think our pack is as good as anyones. The front row are superb, Itoje is excellent, and the backrow is fantastic. The only certainty I'd pick from NZ in that pack is Retallick. The backrow would scrap it out, and Itoje would oust Whitelock for me.

[Lizard]

I guess it depends on whether you’re picking a team to play England’s game plan or NZ’s. I would probably go for Moody and Coles for their handling game. Sinckler is good though.

Mako is the best handling prop around, and George is pretty damn good.

Take Coles or Moody out of a black shirt and you'll see how they match up. It's always hard to compare as you guys have had a team situation that has evolved really nicely over 15 bloody years. There has always been continuity and there has always been change, and it's meshed together to create an environment it seems easy to flourish in.

I think our pack is as good as anyones. The front row are superb, Itoje is excellent, and the backrow is fantastic. The only certainty I'd pick from NZ in that pack is Retallick. The backrow would scrap it out, and Itoje would oust Whitelock for me.

It’s going to be a bloody good scrap, isn’t it!

[Stom]

I guess it depends on whether you’re picking a team to play England’s game plan or NZ’s. I would probably go for Moody and Coles for their handling game. Sinckler is good though.

Mako is the best handling prop around, and George is pretty damn good.

Take Coles or Moody out of a black shirt and you'll see how they match up. It's always hard to compare as you guys have had a team situation that has evolved really nicely over 15 bloody years. There has always been continuity and there has always been change, and it's meshed together to create an environment it seems easy to flourish in.

I think our pack is as good as anyones. The front row are superb, Itoje is excellent, and the backrow is fantastic. The only certainty I'd pick from NZ in that pack is Retallick. The backrow would scrap it out, and Itoje would oust Whitelock for me.

It’s going to be a bloody good scrap, isn’t it!

Yeah. But if we can’t deal with your ability to suddenly speed up play and spread it wide, we’ll be hammered. The difference in quality at 9, and at 10 if Farrell is there, is huge.

[Renniks]

Yeah, I really struggled to not pick a pack with England + Retallick
But the backs are much closer, with probably only May and Tuilagi making it

Interesting that our flankers are even an option in this conversation now, that would have been laughable 18 months ago (or even shorter)!

[Lizard]

Which is better, Curnderhill or Cavea?

[J Dory]

Eddie looking a bit panicky with the spy gate accusations followed by a swipe at the media, feeling the pressure maybe?

Queue the trademark Hansen super dry come back.

[Puja]

Which is better, Curnderhill or Cavea?

Instinctually, I want to say Cavea, but that's possibly back to pig ignorance on both sides again, this time with us both favouring the other's.

Puja

[Mikey Brown]

Eddie looking a bit panicky with the spy gate accusations followed by a swipe at the media, feeling the pressure maybe?

Queue the trademark Hansen super dry come back.

Hard to tell because he’s such a petulant dickhead basically all the time.

I believe that sometimes it’s a genuine act of making himself the lightning rod it most of the time I think he’s just being a twat.

[Digby]

Eddie looking a bit panicky with the spy gate accusations followed by a swipe at the media, feeling the pressure maybe?

Queue the trademark Hansen super dry come back.

Hard to tell because he’s such a petulant dickhead basically all the time.

I believe that sometimes it’s a genuine act of making himself the lightning rod it most of the time I think he’s just being a twat.

Eddie or Slim Steve?

[Puja]

Eddie looking a bit panicky with the spy gate accusations followed by a swipe at the media, feeling the pressure maybe?

Queue the trademark Hansen super dry come back.

Hard to tell because he’s such a petulant dickhead basically all the time.

I believe that sometimes it’s a genuine act of making himself the lightning rod it most of the time I think he’s just being a twat.

It feels like this week he's making a song and dance so that the players are mostly left alone. It's a good tactic IMO.

Puja

[Which Tyler]

For the love of god - any god; fuck it, ALL gods - can we please stop this insistance on amalgamating 2 names into 1.
I hate it with dog breeds; it has absolutely no place when talking about human!

We're not German, we're allowed to use the space bar when required!

[Digby]

For the love of god - any god; fuck it, ALL gods - can we please stop this insistance on amalgamating 2 names into 1.
I hate it with dog breeds; it has absolutely no place when talking about human!

We're not German, we're allowed to use the space bar when required!

Just to clarify Edd and Dee are not separate people, his name actually is Eddie, hope this helps.

[Which Tyler]

For the love of god - any god; fuck it, ALL gods - can we please stop this insistance on amalgamating 2 names into 1.
I hate it with dog breeds; it has absolutely no place when talking about human!

We're not German, we're allowed to use the space bar when required!

Just to clarify Edd and Dee are not separate people, his name actually is Eddie, hope this helps.

Now that genuinely made me chuckle out loud - well played sir

[zer0]

Suggestions that S.Barrett will start at blindside, Savea at openside, and Cane on the bench.

The All Blacks are in line to spring a major surprise when naming their team to play England in their Rugby World Cup semifinal on Saturday.

NZME understands that Scott Barrett is set to be given the nod to start at blindside flanker, with Ardie Savea moving to openside flanker and Sam Cane dropping to the bench.

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/sport/news/a ... d=12279196

I'm unconvinced this isn't just a ploy to make sure Cane sets some sort of unbeatable record for 'most caps without playing all of the top tier nations'.

EDIT: And supposedly some other suggestions that Moli will start ahead of Ta'avao, which I would not be at all opposed to. Quite the opposite, really.

[Mikey Brown]

I feel like I’ve literally never seen Cane do anything. Like, anything at all. I mean he’s played a lot of games so he must have done something. What does he do? Unseen work I’m guessing.

[zer0]

He's a blindside flanker who pretends to be an openside; mostly makes a lot of tackles in-close to the breakdown and shifts bodies. He's just a more brutal, head-on, version of that Welsh blindside from a few years ago who used a lot of chop tackles.

EDIT: Dan Lydiate is the Welsh flanker I was thinking of.

[Puja]

Suggestions that S.Barrett will start at blindside, Savea at openside, and Cane on the bench.

The All Blacks are in line to spring a major surprise when naming their team to play England in their Rugby World Cup semifinal on Saturday.

NZME understands that Scott Barrett is set to be given the nod to start at blindside flanker, with Ardie Savea moving to openside flanker and Sam Cane dropping to the bench.

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/sport/news/a ... d=12279196

I'm unconvinced this isn't just a ploy to make sure Cane sets some sort of unbeatable record for 'most caps without playing all of the top tier nations'.

EDIT: And supposedly some other suggestions that Moli will start ahead of Ta'avao, which I would not be at all opposed to. Quite the opposite, really.

Is he a good back row? I've only ever seen him at lock. Bear in mind that our experience of shoving a spare lock in at 6 (please god, don't let Eddie be thinking of following suit) inevitably ends up with us being hilariously outmatched at ruck time, so it feels like a very odd decision from our perspective.

Puja

[zer0]

Barrett has played there plenty for the Crusaders, and 9 of his 34 test caps (26%) are on the flank. He also came on at blindside in two of our more important recent matches: against you guys at Twickenham in 2018, and against Ireland in the quarterfinal. Both of those changes came at, or around, halftime, so they're at least confident that he can produce against the big boys for long periods.

He's typically done a good job as he strengthens the lineout significantly (doubly so with the Savea/Cane/Read trio) without giving too much away at the breakdown. Though, if it does eventuate, this would obviously be his greatest test to date.

[Lizard]

I don’t like the idea of playing guys out of their best position in RWC play offs. It never ends well.

I hope that Hanster know what they’re doing. I guess they want the presence of S Barrett but without breaking up the Whitallick locking partnership. Unless they’ve been doing some huge shifts in training, this move on top of using Beau’unga could be a shift too far. Even having Breece on the wings instead of Nahoane is a bit recent, as is using Moolala as props in place of Frankuafe.

[Puja]

I don’t like the idea of playing guys out of their best position in RWC play offs. It never ends well.

I hope that Hanster know what they’re doing. I guess they want the presence of S Barrett but without breaking up the Whitallick locking partnership. Unless they’ve been doing some huge shifts in training, this move on top of using Beau’unga could be a shift too far. Even having Breece on the wings instead of Nahoane is a bit recent, as is using Moolala as props in place of Frankuafe.

{golfclaps} Excellent work.

Puja

[zer0]

And on the English side of things...

George Ford has been tipped to make shock return to the England starting team for Saturday's World Cup semifinal against the All Blacks. UK newspaper, the Telegraph, has reported that Ford will come into the starting team at first-five, with Owen Farrell moving out to No 12 and Manu Tuilagi playing at centre.

England coach Eddie Jones is also expected to tinker with his forwards and call up George Kruis to play a lock, in place of Courtney Lawes. Kruis is expected to be more of a handful in the lineouts than Lawes, with Jones believing this will be a crucial part of Saturday's game in Yokohama.

Jonny May, the winger who scored two tries against the Wallabies last weekend, is expected to recover from his hamstring injury and will be available to play.

...

Ford's recall will be bad news for Henry Slade, who'll be making way in the starting team for him. Slade got the nod to play against Australia because Jones feared the physical presence in the midfield of Samu Kerevi. The expected All Blacks midfield of Anton Lienert-Brown and Jack Goodhue will provide England with challenges, but running directly up the middle of the field won't one that features as prominently as it did with the Wallabies.

https://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/rugby/rug ... -semifinal

Potentially dual playmakers and reinforced lineout's on both sides. Have a sneaky suspicion that there just may be a bit of kicking in this one.

[Mikey Brown]

All sounds about right. Big question with May's fitness concern is Slade on bench covering midfield/fullback (and wing via Daly) or take a proper winger? There's only rookie Coka or semi-fit Nowell.