RugbyRebels

NZ team to play Wales announced, looks pretty tasty. Not sure TJ has earned the starting spot, hopefully he proves me wrong.

1 Joe Moody (54)
2 Codie Taylor (64)
3 Nepo Laulala (37)
4 Brodie Retallick (89)
5 Samuel Whitelock (128) – captain
6 Ethan Blackadder (7)
7 Dalton Papalii (10)
8 Ardie Savea (56)
9 TJ Perenara (76)
10 Beauden Barrett (99)
11 Rieko Ioane (44)
12 David Havili (11)
13 Anton Lienert-Brown (54)
14 Will Jordan (10)
15 Jordie Barrett (32)

16 Samisoni Taukei'aho (7)
17 Karl Tu'inukuafe (23)
18 Tyrel Lomax (11)
19 Tupou Vaa'i (8)
20 Akira Ioane (10)
21 Brad Weber (14)
22 Richie Mo'unga (28)
23 Sevu Reece (14)

Those Barrett boys cover half of the backline between them.

Doesn’t Jeordie do that all on his own anyway?

Is Ioane and Mo’unga on the bench just you guys pissing about because it’s wales? I thought those two had cemented their spots.

Mikey Brown wrote:Doesn’t Jeordie do that all on his own anyway?

Is Ioane and Mo’unga on the bench just you guys pissing about because it’s wales? I thought those two had cemented their spots.

Jeordie shore. The bench is designed for impact. A frowning mulleted Mo'unga on at 50 minutes will do all sorts of damage. Same deal A Ioane, who can mix and match with Ardie if he is on. Without the mullet. The whole squad is in on an 80 minute plan, hopefully.

Oh no, Brodie Retallick might be out for a game, leaving us reliant on Lord or Vaa’i for the match against…*checks notes”…Italy. Ah. Never mind, I’m sure it will be fine.

Vaa'i has had criminally few minutes this test season so it's hardly a bad thing.

Little else to say about the Wales game but I see the undercut afro-mullet is now morphing in to a sort of afro/mullet bowl cut? What are these guys playing at? Is it about distracting the opposition or is there something else going on here?

Mikey Brown wrote:Little else to say about the Wales game but I see the undercut afro-mullet is now morphing in to a sort of afro/mullet bowl cut? What are these guys playing at? Is it about distracting the opposition or is there something else going on here?

I'm sure there must be some kind of long-running bet going on.

ABs team for Ireland match named.

1. Joe Moody, 2. Codie Taylor, 3. Nepo Laulala, 4. Brodie Retallick, 5. Samuel Whitelock (c) 6. Ethan Blackadder, 7. Dalton Papalii, 8. Ardie Savea, 9. TJ Perenara, 10. Beauden Barrett, 11. Sevu Reece, 12. Anton Lienert-Brown, 13. Rieko Ioane, 14. Will Jordan, 15. Jordie Barrett

Reserves: Dane Coles, Karl Tu'inukuafe, Tyrel Lomax, Tupou Vaa'i, Akira Ioane, Finlay Christie, Richie Mo'unga, David Havili

Looks like the form team to me, maybe Samisoni Taukei'aho has made a case for inclusion but they can't pick everyone I guess.

Anyone brave enough to predict the score? As good as that team looks, the loss to SA and not having seen Ireland in action of late, I really don't know what to expect. Should be a cracker.

Ireland are average - not sure about yer coach though

Ireland: 15 Hugo Keenan, 14 Andrew Conway, 13 Garry Ringrose, 12 Bundee Aki, 11 James Lowe, 10 Johnny Sexton (c), 9 Jamison Gibson-Park, 8 Jack Conan, 7 Josh van der Flier, 6 Caelan Doris, 5 James Ryan, 4 Iain Henderson, 3 Tadhg Furlong, 2 Ronan Kelleher, 1 Andrew Porter
Replacements: 16 Rob Herring, 17 Cian Healy, 18 Finlay Bealham, 19 Tadhg Beirne, 20 Peter O’Mahony, 21 Conor Murray, 22 Joey Carbery, 23 Keith Earls

Can't wait for this game. Two full strength teams (although a slightly different ABs one than I would have guessed).

I wonder if Bundee will pass the ball, like, at all? Ireland pretty much shut Japan down the other week. They'll be up for it. They've got some auld feckers in that team though so the respective benches could be a big point of difference.

There's a few chiefs on the ABs team, maybe he'll pass the ball to them? 3 of the starting 15 for Ireland are Kiwis, you poaching sons of sea serpents.

An Ireland player is the first kiwi to score! Tight start.

That’s better

Big D.

Whitelock needs to sort out those dumb penalties.

TJ is the extra flanker. Jaysus what a dog fight.

Ireland could be ahead if they had kicked a penalty or two.

Well that was entertaining. Normally just despise Ireland but it's hard not to admire their attitude and the way they are throwing themselves in to this.

morepork wrote:TJ is the extra flanker. Jaysus what a dog fight.

It seems to be that way with Ireland in the last few years

That was some quality defense. 150 odd tackles. Hope we don't run out of puff in the second half.

Good game

Will we lose more minutes to scrums or Sexton's running repairs in the end?

Bundee is targeting Mo'ounga. Hope he doesn't get broken.

ABs totally choking.