ABs versus Oz tonight- they sure are a c*o*c*k*y bunch...

First topic message reminder :

http://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/rugby/all-blacks/5400896/Everybody-show-a-little-R-E-S-P-E-C-T

In typical Ozzie fashion they've come across the Tasman to once again try and punish the AB's a la sxv style. Certainly the confident approach has to be applauded given their dismal record for all but 1.30 minutes in Hong Kong last year.

Lets hope they live up to the occasion and that this isn't just some 'face' they're pulling and are instead 'shaking' beneath the covers.

I enjoy the clowning around and wish both teams tonight- a loss will provide the ABs with a well needed boost in motivation. But an AB over aussie win will seat them, and Deans on their butts all the way back to Coolangatta airport- perhaps with Deans on the next plane in through the back door.

Gotta admire their confidence though it feels a bit like Luke running around yoda with the light sabre rolling his eyes...

Just ignore it TGG
anyway I thought we played VERY well for about 60 mins.
I think our defense was excellent though if you look at the stats for missed tackles its a bit scary 20? I think

TheGreyGhost wrote:

Artful_Dodger wrote:McCaw getting away with it again.....

One day, just once, I'd like to see NZ win a game of rugby without someone jumping in to accuse Richie McCaw of cheating and getting away with it.

It's just tired. Would you like to point to the specific incidences where you think this was occurring?

It is highly unlikey there will ever be a game where he isn't cheating and getting away with it. I'm not sure what you're getting so annoyed about, mccaw cheats but so does every other rugby player when they get the chance. I love watching him play and love the fact he gets away with some ridiculously blatant cheating. Its a part of the game and everyone admires it when their own players do it. McCaw just happens to be much better at it than anyone else. In Ireland I'm sure if you asked any munster fan they'd be disappointed if quinlan played a game and wasn't accused of cheating after it by the other team's fans. It would mean it wasn't as effective as usual.

In defence of McCaw,a backrows job is to cheat,it's not his fault he doesn't get caught. He is just very good at his job. Sure we love Quinny and he was as big a cheating Bar Steward as anyone!

McCaw sure does cheat a lot. Crafty oh dear. My favorite was when he lay on Pocock and wouldnt let him up. Then Pocock got penalised for not rolling away.

Gosh the McCaw cheat thing... man we have a great smokescreen going on...

The All Blacks,seldom go in for flashy spur of the moment stuff,when they are defeated they look at what went wrong and fix it.
More than most the play simple Rugby,the basics every on e learns at school.
But the do it to a very high degree of effiency,you are taught simple things
speed of pass will always beat speed of man.
When in doubt ,don`t pass keep the ball in hand,Dan Carter dropping goals.about time too.
When you consider the humble drop goal,has won two RWCs,bombed england out in 1999,and several teams fell to argentina by that method in 2007.
About time it was re-instated to the AB armoury ,andy ellis to is useful in that department.
Australia as they always have is living off about 40 % possession,when there backs fire they run riot.But deny them ball and you can close them down.
Before people get carried away,the all Blacks have won there 2 home Matches,no surprise there th`yve lost 33 at home in 108.years
Today they put down a marker they wanted the Bledisloe,and possibly the 3Ns.
They got through today with a win,conceded no points,were there any injuries?
Just going by reports not yet seen match.unfortunately we now have the away leg.
A truncated more experimental squad to accomodate injured players coming back.
The Boks at Port elizabeth will be hard it is the AB Hoodod ground,against a well rested and prepared Bok side.
The Wallabies at Brisbane is winnable.and a couple of bonus points from the last two matches may be enough to decide the 3Ns this year whoever wins it.

Only 2 points off again this week Alan- 18 vs 16.

2 points last week with my 35.

Not too bad so far...

Well called Taylorman!

Only 22 off this week. Bad case of delusion!

yeah lucky. Last year got a few around the 2 mark.
whats next?
and meant to get back to you on the stadium thing.
Very interesting, I thought there was more to it when you mentioned it.

Hi Alan,
Yes I'm thinking we'll lose one of the next two matches yet still win the 3N. 2 bonus points vs 1 for Oz means SA can only draw with NZ if we get no more- I think that's correct.Oz can still win it with 2 wins themselves and won at Durban last outing and in SA last test there.I think without admitting it GH will want to focus on matches in NZ and simply avoid injury away, hoping what hes done is enough.

So I think some fringe players will be back for the away leg, and perfect time to give Woodcock and Toeava and perhaps Dagg if hes ready a run. The 3 must be chomping at the bit to get amongst this action.

Remaining matches I think will go like this:
-SA bt Aus in Durban
-NZ bt SA at PE
-Aus to beat NZ at Brisbane

ABs are primed for the SA match but it just depends what Henrys motivation for this one is.

By the 3rd we'll have won the 3N and Aus are at Suncorp and will get their 'Hong Kong' for 2011.

By the way Alan am I getting it wrong but why is Pt Elizabeth the ABs hooded ground? Looking at the stats we last played there in 1970. Is that correct?

Hardly think its a jinx venue if that's the case.

Since 1992 we're 14 10 up away in SA so the home advantage isn't even there. I just think it will be a good old fashioned hard fought SA AB match- first for this year.

I think Port Elizabeth,then Loftus Versfeld historicaly is where the All Blacks have lost most matches.But just another away game in the Republic such is my respect for Bok Rugby I Always expect them to win at Home.
That is Super rugby and 3Ns standard,the Norm of course glad if AB`s nick one.
What worries me is that a lot of unproven,injured players are coming back
and will be fitted in.
A fit Woodcock,Crockett,plus the Brothers Grimm are my RWC starters,locks Thorn,Ali Williams,Whitelock,Boric if fit ,if not Donnelly.
For Boks I think start Williams and Whitelock,for added lineout option.start Woodcock,Hore,Owen Franks as the better scrummaging trio.
Backs Cowan,[more robust] ,Carter,Nonu .Smith,Muliana.Gear with Kahui on the bench Dagg startiing Toeva covering FB/Wing.
Final 3Ns the strongest squad available the RWC side an early run out.

Yep agree there.
Cowans a usual starter for boks as a better defensive option.
Overall wasnt it a great perfornance. The intensity was so full on and the ability to scramble to whatever oz threw at them was great. Especially in that latter part of the first half.
Carter was at his very best for some time, nonu was everywhere, read showed why hes the premier 8 and generally all did themselves proud.
On the irish scottish boards they've rated most of the irish components as better than this oz team.
Depending on how SA go next week i cant see anyone else stopping those lines of attack that oz tried to deploy.
ABs were stretched all over the place and lesser teams wont stop them.
And for those critics knocking mils for that miss tackle be real.
No one player would stop a 2 man run in of ioane and beale.
Anyway. Mission 1 completed. I seem to be able to pick when kapo o pango is going to rear its head. That win signalled things to come.

Well done to the ABs they deserved to win. In effect it was all over at 17-0, with the rest being somewhat academic. I decided to watch the scrum and Elsom closely to see where it was at.
But firstly the W performance was ordinary - not as bad as Samoa - but similar themes. Defensively in the first half they were poor. Fell off tackles and were soft around the rucks. The ABs seemingly gained 10-15 metres every time a player took the ball up. There should be some nervous players in this team based on that defensive effort especially around the rucks. Players who offended in this area against Samoa were on the park again: Moore, McCalman, Elsom. Lazy, slow and soft.

Secondly, despite all the talk before the match about avoiding aimless kicking _ I have to say, their kicking was aimless and it lead directly to one AB try. Both Genia and Cooper were at fault in that department. It was just dumb. Cooper generally had a forgettable night, including one poorly executed up and under and his cross kick into the in goal area was also very poor.

Even when building a lot of pressure in the AB 22, they were let off the hook immediately when giving up possession on restarts - immensely frustrating - they simply should have returned more than zero i the first half, even excluding the 9 points O'Connor left out there. Last week 6/7 .This week 0/3.

The second half was more even, but any chance of a resurgence at 7-20 was snuffed out. It did not change the outcome of the match thank goodness, but the try off the kick off was not a try it was a knock on and should have been called back - at least most refs would have called it back. Joubert generally had a poor game - some people think his the no 1 ref in the world - Yikes. W are are in trouble.

Despite the pre match concerns the scrum was solid. I'm sure England, Ireland and Wales were hoping for another implosion. Not to be and with a full second string front row as well. They have gone well now against Samoa, SA, and ABs. NH sides will need another strategy against W - not sure they will have one.

I know Rocky has some fans and people know I have previously posted that he should not be playing for the W. Based on last night, I maintain he should be dropped. He is a passenger and there can be no passengers in test rugby when playing SA and ABs on a regular basis. Why was the defense around the ruck so bad last night? I put a fair bit of it as his feet. he missed at least 6 tackles and for several others he was just hanging off around someone's boot laces. There was simply no grunt in defense and he has to take a lot of the blame as No6 and as captain. Yet again he comes out with his brainless explanation of why W lost "we weren't good enough in attack". Really. What about all your missed tackles Rocky? Rocky??!?

I am encouraged Samo is going to SA. I hope Deans shows some guts and does the overwhelmingly obvios thing to do:

Samo for McCalman (an underperformer)

Higginbotham for Elsom

Find some people who want to do the hard work.

Elsom should have gone long ago rob i agree. Retaining him as captain and 6 is a risk and its probably too late to change now.
I thought the kick off was knocked back by oz and ref called it at the time.
Just watched the replay and looks correct.
Oconnors missed kicks at those 3 critical moments were pressure misses. they werent difficult.
The oz effort to get to those two kicks should have been rewarded and oconnor let them down. He knee he had to get them and didnt execute them correctly.
Anyway. Match went pretty much as i expected. On and up from here. SA may be too fresh for oz who really should have converted their chances.
Next week i think they will but SA will be very fresh.

No sorry looks like read got a hand to it.

It was a knock on. Right in front of Joubert.

3 penalties kicked and a no try 23-23 ??

It wasn't that close - but it could have been.

The other thing is after looking at the replay cooper looks very disinterested with 20 to go. As expected abs shut them down for the most part.
Cooper was shown the full 10 role on one of carters best matches in a while.
In defence he was everywhere while cooper sprayed a few forward passes.