Interesting experiment we witnessed tonight. Here are the results:
- Bye bye Aaron Cruden. May you never don the black jersey again. A first five without a boot has no place in the game, and the guy can't goal kick, punt, or drop kick. But he can do sneaky backline runs and has tricks? Seriously, trading that off against having a boot at an international level is suicide. Who's our back up then? Simple, Colin Slade. The dude is reminiscent of Nick Evans. Solid all round skill set and a great first five, but just playing in NZ at the same time Dan Carter is. His first kick off was a peach whereas cruden had been doing low and long all night. Slade is world class and we need to develop him into the #2 man for the WC.
- Corey Flynn sucks too. Oh well, will have Mealamu and Hore by WC so who cares
- Vito's not a loosie. Kaino and Thompson please. Nice of Victor to gift Aussie a try though
Cruden playing #10 means we're stuck with Piri at #9. I'm a Welly boy so don't get me wrong, but Piri is fat and slow. Always takes that extra step to pass. The halfback should primarily provide snappy delivery in this day and age, especially given an attacking backline like ours. Australia are lucky to have had Gregan and now Genia. Cowan's probably our best in this respect. Not ideal for sure, but who else?
We didn't deserve to win that game. Matt Giteau handed it to us with his goal kicking.
How fucking good is Kurtley Beale these days? Had an absolutely stellar tri nations since playing at fullback. Form fullback out there at the moment. Bitched Conrad Smith a few times who is usually Mr Reliable on defence.
GG, but lucky..