All Blacks B team to face Springboks

First topic message reminder :

The All Blacks have named what Rugby Week are calling 'a talented B team' to face the Springboks this weekend.

http://www.rugbyweek.com/news/article.asp?id=31580

All Blacks Starting XV:

Number of Test caps in brackets

1. Tony Woodcock (74) , 2. Keven Mealamu - captain (84) , 3. John Afoa (32) , 4. Samuel Whitelock (16) , 5. Ali Williams (64) , 6. Jerome Kaino (40) , 7. Adam Thomson (20) , 8. Liam Messam (8) , 9. Jimmy Cowan (46) , 10. Colin Slade (4) , 11. Hosea Gear (7) , 12. Sonny Bill Williams (6) , 13. Richard Kahui (11) , 14. Isaia Toeava (30) , 15. Israel Dagg (6) ,

Reserves: 16. Andrew Hore (53) , 17. Ben Franks (10) , 18. Jarrad Hoeata (2) , 19. Victor Vito (6) , 20. Andy Ellis (19) , 21. Piri Weepu (47) , 22. Cory Jane (23)


That is a serious 'B' team. A number of players in the side who are clearly not first choice would walk into most test sides. Frightening.

Of interest is Ellis and Weepu on the bench indicating to me that we will see Weepu at 10 at some point in the game, with him being 3rd choice 10 for the World Cup. I also suspect that Kahui, Toeava and Dagg are in effect competing for 2 shirts in the final squads, with Toeava's ability to play in the most positions likely to sway the decision his way.

Any thoughts?

Graham Henry has added to the pressure basically admitting the Boks simply has to win this test.

PDV on the other hand has been saying the win is not all important.

I wonder for how much longer he will bury his head in the sand.

Perhaps he is saying all this to appease his masters.

Tomorrow we will all know won`t we?

Hi,Taylorman it proves no such thing,the Boks have as much depth as NZ.
IF the coaches has the courage to pick them,time was player did`nt perform
All Black or Bok he got RESTED.
A lot of senior players got cocky thought they could jus t go through the motions.a dose of cold water.concentrated the minds.
Both Colin Meads ,and Kel Tremain were dropped 1962,they came back foaming at the mouth.
IF the best forwards of there generation can be dropped?

I think it is unfair to compare depth for different teams on face value.

There are many factors that influence a second string performance.

As an example I will use the Crusaders this year, ona number of occasions Carter and McCaw weren't available ( suspected secret training camp in rustenburg)

But yet the Cusaders had a seemless transition when they replaced their top players. Coaching has a lot to do with this.

An astute coach will know his players and mix the experienced and new guys to the point where thay can find confidence in each other and perform collectively as a team. The proof is in how the Crusaders never missed a beat during all of this.

I suspect if you go and look at how they are trained and coached you will see the justification in my point.

When you look at PDV vs Graham Henry.

Henry puts a forward pack together with over 300 caps as his second stringers, the caps are well balanced between the players.

PDV puts a second stringer pack together with 160 caps, half of that of Henry's team, 150 of those caps belong to John Smit and Danie Rossouw.

Now we all know the battle is first won up front and then only do the backs do their thing.

It is impossible to give a fair comparison between the Bok second string pack and the all Black second string pack.


The fact is, Henry over the past 8 years has always exposed 1 or 2 players per match, very seldom did you see the first choice players all play in a test.

That shows the astuteness of Henry compared to the willy nilly decisions on selection PDV makes.

There simply is no comparison.

Hi,Biltong very true BUT if the All Blacks lose tomorrow,as I expect.
Then lose the 3Ns because of it,fails to win the RWC. Ted will be thought of as a loser just like the other RWC coaches.
Then the choking bit will really be coming out big time,can`t even win at HOME.

I don`t think you have to concern yourself too much Alan. The boks are on a hiding to nothing. PDV has effectively ruined our preparation and the pressure on the Boks today will most likely make them too desperate to be effectively executing anything. Expect a lot of mistakes from the boks today

Hi biltong. Good luck.
Ive been playing snooker all day today.
Top qualified so back tomorrow.
Will be watching the match though have had a couple.
Good luck. Though i think abs by 12.