Abs to play Canada

Starting XV:

1. Tony Woodcock (79)
2. Andrew Hore (58)
3. Owen Franks (26)
4. Samuel Whitelock (21)
5. Ali Williams (69)
6. Jerome Kaino (44)
7. Richie McCaw – captain (100)
8. Kieran Read (32)
9. Jimmy Cowan (49)
10. Daniel Carter (84)
11. Zac Guildford (7)
12. Sonny Bill Williams (10)
13. Conrad Smith (51)
14. Israel Dagg (9)
15. Mils Muliaina (99)

Reserves:

16. Keven Mealamu (88)
17. Ben Franks (13)
18. Brad Thorn (55)
19. Anthony Boric (23)
20. Piri Weepu (52)
21. Colin Slade (8)
22. Isaia Toeava (34)

Dagg on the right wing this time? Weird. Full loose trio too with no specialist cover. Weirder. Thoughts?

more tinkering. Graham henry seems to be obsessed with rotation. I think everybody can see what the best 15 is so why not play them in this game and build the momentum leading into the knock out stages. there is nothing to learn from this rotation. As much as i hate to say it and as much as i am dreading it happen, i can see us falling short again. there is no consistency. its no surprise that the previous world cup winning teams have had a consistent starting 15. i hope I'm proven wrong.

I think he's pretty confident with getting Argentina in the QF and then beating them. If it were clear we'd be getting England I doubt the same tinkering would go on.

i understand what you are saying but will he pick our best 15 for argentina? maybe he'll try a few combinations in that one as we are almost certain to win regardless. then what? go into a semi with oz or sa with a different 15 again?

He'd better bloody not. Top XV from the QF on. We'll all lynch him otherwise!

I seem to recall that rotation was the problem in 2007...but look at the opposition, no disrespect to Canada - i live there- but this is a run out for NZ and a last opportunity for players to put their hands up perhaps before we see a solid 1st XV selected for the knockouts

Hey Gatts. So what can you learn from putting 60+ points on Canada? SBW has a great game at 12. do you then pick him over Nonu? I don't think so. Its clear SBW is better off of the bench. Smith and Nonu are the centre pairing so why not continue to play them?

SBW is a case in point...Nonu and Smith clearly own the shirts but bench players need game time.

i agree with you to a point, i just don't think this is the game to do it. Anyway, time will tell.

Watch, come 1/4 time you'll see very few changes

We might get a major shock saturday if scotland turn over england by the needed 8 point margin. England go home and its odds on ireland get the easy run to the final. as long as we don't slip up in the semi, whoever we face, it should be in the bag

not sure who 'we' is but my money is on France beating England in the quarter and Wales narrowly beating ireland

With Jane and Kahui out, it makes sense to try Dagg at wing in case we need this later on. I´d rather see Mils at fullback than Toeava.

Guilford gets a run on the wing for the first time but no sign of Corey Flynn. Seems like we could have had an extra loose forward like Matt Todd. Boric and Whitelock cover the backrow and Vito has been training at 7. Hopefully Read pulls through as our stocks are wafer thin in the backrow.

I can see the merit of giving McCaw some more game time but question why Carter is there. Seemed like an opportunity to start Slade there and know for sure whether he is up to the task. Nonu deserves a break and Smith will be a nice calming factor for SBW.

I see the bench being emptied again. I hope the same doesn´t happen against Argentina (with the exception of Read). We need to play that A squad together and prepare for that very tricky semi final. If he does tinker (injuries apart of which hopefully there is none) he´ll be roasted by the media. But no real complaints with this side.

Finally, it seems Jonah´s situation is deteriorating. You make sure you pull through bro. NZ and a good deal of the world no doubt have you in our thoughts. kia kaha

When you say deteriorating what exactly do you mean?

i heard jonah was admitted to hospital but i didn't realise it was so bad. what is his condition like at the moment?

That things are not good mate. He´s signed a deal with a woman´s magazine so no one is able to comment on his condition because of the exclusive rights but he´s been in the renal unit longer than he should´ve and close friends apparently say he´s in bad shape. So best wishes for the big guy. It´s difficult to say what the situation is but it´d be great to see him discharged and back to normal.

+1 and everyone else i imagine

Erm, who's covering the back row?

And y'know best wishes to the big guy.

Gatts wrote:+1 and everyone else i imagine

Same.

Sad,to hear best wishes to the big fella and his family.
If you look at the squad,not just the team theres over 1000 caps there.Cory Jane sounds like concussion so that is usually at least a week
Kahui[hamstring[was`nt expected to play],Thomson still not right.
Taking that into account the team picked is the A team with a few rotations
around the core.
The Pack less Thorn[bench] is near the first team squad,the backs ditto
some players getting game time.bench will be cleared.
Strange Vito not on the bench but apart from that should be to strong for Canada.

Why isn´t Brad Thorn on the wing? If the Aussies can do it, why can´t we?

He was probably given the option, but unlike Samo he likes the roiugh stuff in the engine room.

Ritchie McCaw injured,Adam thomson injured,Vito starts at 7,time for Matt Todd to be called up.?

Carter out too. McCaw could play at a pinch but DC is very worrying.

I understand that Carter and Mccaw are both injured.

Very worying time for the Abs, especialy if they are both out of the tournament all together.

Madge from what I saw McCaw would be ok, it's DC that's huge. It makes me want to avoid England in the QF as we'd definitely need him. I like to think we'd get by without him vs Argentina and Scotland but nevertheless I'm very anxious.

There was talk in the week they were both injured,before team was annouced.
Hopefully they are both precautionary,a bonus point loss to Canada,would send France home I think.
After 2007 this is very worrying,Australia looking decidely flaky,Drew Mitchell
damaged a hamstring .
Boks look more likely every minute,scrappy yesterday but keeping the scoreboard ticking is the answer in cup rugby.

Except alan keeping the scoreboard ticking over hasnt happened a lot in many finals, two needing extra time to resolve exactly that issue.
Im not convinced with SA. They werent allowed to play their structured game against either wales or samoa.
But then the who beat who comparisons reflect more on the day than any real form.
I mean tonga beat france by 8.
We beat france by 20.
Suggests were 12 or so on tonga when we actually put 40 on them.
I think youre right about oz. They being the only true helter skelter team with perhaps france then us will be strangled out of it.
Shut down and unable to open up under huge pressure.
With carter out well look more to the forwards and fast crash ball plus nonu and smith shutting down backlines.