Bledisloe II: All Blacks vs Wallabies: MATCH THREAD: Sunday 18th Oct

[Not_Couch]

TJ!

[Kiwias]

Another meaningless kick

[Ymx]

Aus run out of gas

[mat the expat]

It's turned into an All Black training run

[Not_Couch]

I think we play Perenara vs Aus in the next game, he offers a physicality we lack around the ruck area and his pass is clean

[Enzedder]

Aus run out of gas

Some of our guys too

[Kiwias]

Complete turnaround in the scrums. We are dominating now.

[Carter's Choice]

Complete turnaround in the scrums. We are dominating now.

Nepo Laulala is the best scrumming TH prop in NZ.

[Kiwias]

AB defense is suffocating the Wobblies

[Not_Couch]

Australia besides their defense and some dropped ball still look like the better coached side

Individual brilliance have saved the All Blacks today

[Gumboot]

That'll do.

[Kiwias]

Defense is not down to individual brilliance but I agree our backline still lacks any sort of consistent threat.

Still I'll take a 20-point win at Eden Park

[Jimmy Smallsteps]

A much better performance from the ABs.

The pack went a lot better and it all flowed from there.

Mo'unga looked better off a better platform, ALB and Goodhue proved they are our best midfield and Barrett (B) looked good out the back.

Barrett was industrious, and welcome to test rugby Caleb Clarke. An outstanding starting performance.

[Flockwitt]

Bit more route one from the forwards. Good to see Plumtree got them back to basics...

[Kiwias]

Bit more route one from the forwards. Good to see Plumtree got them back to basics...

Some pretty tough training sessions during the week, I bet

[Not_Couch]

Defense is not down to individual brilliance but I agree your backline still lacks any sort of consistent threat.

Still I'll take a 20-point win at Eden Park

That 10 minute spell early in the 2nd where we played unstructured rugby is where we looked good. Our structured game looked a mess, and box kicks is not a good strategy especially when we are losing the breakdown battle in the first half. Our defense were lucky korobeiti had butter fingers, because we got caught out numbered more than once today, just hands let Aussie down. Jordie is not a 14, and Snecky is getting monstered at ruck time because of lack of numbers.

[Enzedder]

Those loosies were bloody awesome - Oz unlucky with untimely injuries but we could argue the same really.

[Jb1981]

Caleb Clarke just outed Hooper as a nut grabber*

* no suggestion of intent.

[mrbrownstone]

Happy with that

Clarke looks like some talent. Hopefully he do one better than Reiko and Savea before him can hold this sort of form for more than 2 seasons

I think this team is close to right, hopefully we can pick and stick for a while now. Only tweaks I'd make going forward is Nepo starting and Ofa off the bench, S Barrett starting, and ALB and Goodhue back to their best positions. I'm still not convinced Jordie is a winger, but now that Foster has shown faith in him I'd prefer he stay there for continuity.

I think bigger changes should be tactical. Not sure our kicking tactics are right (Jordie's massive boot goes to waste), and I'm not sure we have a game plan which gets the best out of Mo'unga.

[Carter's Choice]

The AB forwards were better this week, they ran aggressively with ball in hand and tackled with intensity. They were given the chance to run the ball because Aaron Smith didn't keep box kicking away possession. I'm wondering whether Foster over-thought about the weather last week which led to us kicking far too much possession away?

In attack, we looked better. That's the best I've seen Mo'unga and BB combine at 10/15. Barrett didn't overplay his hand, he stayed out wider and looked to create opportunities on the edge. This allowed Mo'unga to lead the team around the park and work his way into the match. Caleb Clarke was outstanding and has played himself into the vacant All Black no.11 jersey for the rest of the year. The jury is still out on the AB midfield.

[Kiwias]

The AB forwards were better this week, they ran aggressively with ball in hand and tackled with intensity. They were given the chance to run the ball because Aaron Smith didn't keep box kicking away possession. I'm wondering whether Foster over-thought about the weather last week which led to us kicking far too much possession away?

In attack, we looked better. That's the best I've seen Mo'unga and BB combine at 10/15. Barrett didn't overplay his hand, he stayed out wider and looked to create opportunities on the edge. This allowed Mo'unga to lead the team around the park and work his way into the match. Caleb Clarke was outstanding and has played himself into the vacant All Black no.11 jersey for the rest of the year. The jury is still out on the AB midfield.

I would love to have seen Lumpy coming on for the last 20mins or so.

[Ali Cadoo]

That was/is a brilliant Australian team... and the AB’s just didn’t GAF. Great match!

[Jimmy Smallsteps]

I wonder what game Not Couch and Steve were watching. It wasn't the All Blacks v Australia at Eden Park.

[Jb1981]

The AB forwards were better this week, they ran aggressively with ball in hand and tackled with intensity. They were given the chance to run the ball because Aaron Smith didn't keep box kicking away possession. I'm wondering whether Foster over-thought about the weather last week which led to us kicking far too much possession away?

In attack, we looked better. That's the best I've seen Mo'unga and BB combine at 10/15. Barrett didn't overplay his hand, he stayed out wider and looked to create opportunities on the edge. This allowed Mo'unga to lead the team around the park and work his way into the match. Caleb Clarke was outstanding and has played himself into the vacant All Black no.11 jersey for the rest of the year. The jury is still out on the AB midfield.

I agree with this. It’s for that reason that I would prefer Barrett to stay at 15 provincially and in Super Rugby. For the combo to work he needs to lose the habit/instinct of heading to first receiver too often, and it’s hard to break a habit for test matches only.

[Enzedder]

Can Carter go into the camp for a week and teach these bastards how to kick though.

I pulled my bloody hair out.

[Not_Couch]

I wonder what game Not Couch and Steve were watching. It wasn't the All Blacks v Australia at Eden Park.

Don't underestimate this Australia team, this game game just papers over the cracks.

[mrbrownstone]

I still think there's plenty for Wallabies fans to be optimistic about after these performances. If Koroibete scored that try, which he should have, it's 20-14 and a different game. They still look a much improved team with a lot of improvement in them, and will be interested to see what impact playing at home has.

[Tussock]

Good performance... step up from last week
.. 6 out of 10.

Clarke unbelievable performance. Cane lead from the front. Savea strong. Mo'unga directed traffic well.

[Jimmy Smallsteps]

I wonder what game Not Couch and Steve were watching. It wasn't the All Blacks v Australia at Eden Park.

Don't underestimate this Australia team, this game game just papers over the cracks.

27-7, we looked better in most areas.

I think the Not Couch doth protesteth too much.

[Jimmy Smallsteps]

Good performance... step up from last week
.. 6 out of 10.

Clarke unbelievable performance. Cane lead from the front. Savea strong. Mo'unga directed traffic well.

Mo'unga was great today. Looked like the general who directs the Saders around the park.

[Enzedder]

Good performance... step up from last week
.. 6 out of 10.

Clarke unbelievable performance. Cane lead from the front. Savea strong. Mo'unga directed traffic well.

Mo'unga was great today. Looked like the general who directs the Saders around the park.

Not coincidental that when the forwards do their job, he can do his.

[Jimmy Smallsteps]

Jimmy's maligned player watch:

Paddy T: Had a big game after sleeping through last week's match.

Sammy Cane: Should never have been on this list. Amazing again.

Mo'unga: See above. The general had a great game.

Goodhue: Jacky back in a big way.

[Jimmy Smallsteps]

Good performance... step up from last week
.. 6 out of 10.

Clarke unbelievable performance. Cane lead from the front. Savea strong. Mo'unga directed traffic well.

Mo'unga was great today. Looked like the general who directs the Saders around the park.

Not coincidental that when the forwards do their job, he can do his.

Yep, hard to play 10 with a pack in reverse Enz.

[Enzedder]

So you are saying Snecky wasn't maligned and deserved the bad press last week

(Good, cos he did too)

[stemoc]

so much hype for Bridge by the canta fans here, the FACT is if Caleb started last week, NZ would have won.... Bridge brings nothing nor provides anything on attack..time for AB coaches to rethink the AB backline..the FACT has been that NZ always plays well when they have a POWER WINGER..last week they had ZERO until caleb came on...the AB's posses 2 Power wingers, use them both...personally , wanna see BB back at 10 and WJ at 15 now.. tired of Jordie, he disappears most games and ppl don't even realise it..

[Jimmy Smallsteps]

So you are saying Snecky wasn't maligned and deserved the bad press last week

(Good, cos he did too)

Nah Smith walks on water.

[Jb1981]

so much hype for Bridge by the canta fans here, the FACT is if Caleb started last week, NZ would have won.... Bridge brings nothing nor provides anything on attack..time for AB coaches to rethink the AB backline..the FACT has been that NZ always plays well when they have a POWER WINGER..last week they had ZERO until caleb came on...the AB's posses 2 Power wingers, use them both...personally , wanna see BB back at 10 and WJ at 15 now.. tired of Jordie, he disappears most games and ppl don't even realise it..

Bridge offers plenty in attack. As for two power wings, if you mean Reece, and I say this as a Crusaders and Reece fan, he is an undersized power winger. Out of our wings, I see Reece most under threat from Clarke’s form. With who we have available I would like to see a back three of Jordan, Clarke and B Barrett.

[Gumboot]

Clarke reminds me of 2012-14 Julian Savea.

[Ted.]

I've said for a while that Moody and Whitelock are our most important players at the moment, given our poor depth at loosehead and lock. We're now without both. This is probably the weakest tight five we've fielded in a long time - hopefully they can stand up in the second half.

We finished that half without a single Crusaders player in the pack. Our pack was comprised of 4 Blues players, 2 Chiefs players and 2 Hurricanes players. Welcome to the foster era!

RIP the queen, long live the king.

TBF, Hodgman showed Moody up as a penalty machine (known) and past it is the scrum (, a surprise to me).

[Turbster]

Whisper it quietly, but apart from Clarke today, I thought Hodgman had an outstanding debut. The scrum went better when he came on, and that was before Laulala's arrival. He was also strong in all the other areas. I think in one outing he's leapfrogged Tuinukuafe and Lomax.