Tri-Nations - NZ vs AU - Page 2

funnel web · 27th July 2008, 11:42

ha ha...that is all.

buckies · 27th July 2008, 11:50

No specialist #7 equals sh*tty ABs. Good work substituting your one breakdown specialist loosie for an overweight number six who single handedly gave away possession on 5 occasions (at least by my count), and was never to be seen in the defensive line.

The main problem with the ABs is that we don't have depth right across the park anymore. Leonard is miles ahead of Cowan and Ellis, and McCaw is lightyears ahead of any other number 7 we have. I'm not saying we should do rotation, but we need established back-up players to all positions who are adequate substitues. The NPC should help clean this up.

Breakdown to turnovers waas 10 to 4 in Aussies favour.

Other key stat was handling errors (something like 8 to 22).

It was just tragic to watch, as Deans effectively Canterbury'd the All Blacks. Solid defense, good ball retention, and just waiting patiently and then making you pay whenever you do a mistake. We all know that the better defensive team that can retain ball possession will win matches in this modern era of rugby. The ABs continue to leave too big a hole close to the ruck, and the Aussie pick and go really exploited this.

My biggest disappointment was not getting to see Henry squirm in the post match interview. Hansen did the clean up talk instead.

Taking a positive out of this game, we still have plenty of time to rebuild in time for the World Cup if we axe Henry soon. If we leave it till next year it may be too late.

ipee · 27th July 2008, 12:32

Quote:

Originally Posted by buckies

Taking a positive out of this game, we still have plenty of time to rebuild in time for the World Cup if we axe Henry soon. If we leave it till next year it may be too late.

And replace him with who? The only other potential AB coach (excluding Hansen or Smith) i can see out there at the moment would be Pat Lam. He's been a successful NPC coach but I would like to see how he goes in the S14 next year. If he wins it at his first attempt then I think he's a shoo in for the coaching job.

blynk · 27th July 2008, 12:50

Quote:

Originally Posted by buckies

The main problem with the ABs is that we don't have depth right across the park anymore. Leonard is miles ahead of Cowan and Ellis, and McCaw is lightyears ahead of any other number 7 we have. I'm not saying we should do rotation, but we need established back-up players to all positions who are adequate substitues. The NPC should help clean this up.

But that is rotation.
Everyone hates the thought of McCaw not playing (when he's fit), but then he gets injured and we are screwed. I believe there are times for rotation.

Why didn't Luakaki goto blindside when it was found he couldn't clear the scrum?

Ab · 27th July 2008, 13:03

I must confess... one thing that really irked me was the sight of Richie sitting in the stands with three days of stubble on his face, wearing a tracksuit. Jesus christ Richie, you're the captain of the All Blacks, making a bajillion dollars a year, representing your country and supporters and sponsors. Have a fucking shower and put on a fucking suit, is it too much to ask?

Every time the camera swapped from injured captain Richie in a tracksuit to injured captain Stirling in a suit and tie I cringed. The message was that the Wallabies were professionals who were there to do business, while the All Blacks were turning up to have a bit of a run and chuck the ball around a bit.

ZoSo · 27th July 2008, 13:18

^ Slightly offtrack but somewhat in relation to that.. it's been a pet peeve of mine for ages.. why oh why the fuck do we constantly waltz out of the tunnel cold as fuck, rark it up via the Haka, then go back to cold, all the while Aussies, SA and everyone else who has a clue, is nice and warm and tucked up in a tracksuit?
I was amazed we actually bothered wearing them for the last few games but I see we're back to being the heroes we are, pimping the brand and suffering shit starts like a dumbass boxer starting out cold.

TnT · 27th July 2008, 13:51

Quote:

Originally Posted by mr selfdestruct

I would have LOVED to have heard the Aussie commentary on that certain penalty try, I bet they ignored it COMPLETELY, dead silence in the box eh?

Nope they were just as shocked as the rest of us.

Not enough numbers to the breakdown, far too much isolation happening, and good god did the ABs grease their hands before they took the field, (I'm looking at YOU Luaki).

Ard Righ · 27th July 2008, 14:08

I love it how so many people jump on Rodney So'oialo as being a weak All Blacks number 8, and when they replace him, the back of the All Black scrum turns to absolute shit.

Next time people want to hate on So'oialo, they should remember Lauaki's performance from last night.

QWERTY? · 27th July 2008, 14:45

i dont think anyone had brought this up...
why was brad thorn given 10 mins? there was zero intent, the only reason it went high is because hes a fucken mammoth compared to gitteau

I think we probably could have pulled it back within 2 if lauaki hadnt have come on, dunno how well old donald would have done as half-back, but i guess it would have been better than nothing ( if cowan wasnt allowed back on, and if we'd won, the shit storm that would have come out of aussie)

TnT · 27th July 2008, 14:57

Yeah when that happened I just knew he was going to get a yellow card. I thought it was a harsh call.

I didn't want to jump all over the ref, it seems AB fans have a habit of doing that. However the he handed the Aussies 14 points easily.

badassmofo · 27th July 2008, 15:02

I thought it was just fu*kups all round.
Poor hands, no vision, no support at the breakdown.
I thought Kaino had a strong showing, as did Mils. Carter gave 110%, but was well contained.
Kahui looked ok, but was a bit out of his depth, and Nonu was quiet.
It was obvious the halfback issue was pretty much cheating, don't know what we were up to there, and we suffered because of it. Carter could of played halfback if necessary.

The Aussies had our number all night, they looked calm and collected, much like a Crusaders side. We were urgent and tried too hard to make something out of nothing rather than looking for territory, much like a Crusaders opposition.

I don't think I've ever seen an All Blacks side play so badly, and noone is excusable, so we shouldn't just be blaming Lauaki

pig · 27th July 2008, 15:55

Soon as Thorne got binned i could see the writing on the wall.
We played ordinary but the ref was cack, Aussies were offside & tackling people without the ball & nothing happpened.
Sivavatu gets tackled without the ball a few metres out & i thought here we go, penalty try & maybe a sin bin but no. How they can make non decisions like that in this day & age is unbelievable.
Fcking Lauaki was hopeless yet again, get Messam or Latimer or someone else in there ffs. Carter had an awesome game, Mils had an awesome game & i thought Kaino was good. Seemed like our gameplan & execution were both lacking tbh, played to much time in our own half it seemed.

pervy · 27th July 2008, 16:01

Aussie played better, plain and simple. The call with regards to the penalty try was absolute shit...... even the Aussies sitting beside us couldn't believe it wasn't given.

Ab · 27th July 2008, 17:26

Quote:

Originally Posted by badassmofo

It was obvious the halfback issue was pretty much cheating

Yeah, it's disgusting. It was the All Blacks coaching staff cheating, plain and simple.

Pimp-X · 27th July 2008, 17:35

NZ deserved to lose.

Playing like that? What options do you have but to cry into your beer? Not many, if any.

I am thinking however, that the match officials were all too busy dreaming about how INTO EACH OTHER they are. They clearly weren't paying a great deal of attention to their respective responsibilities, in my opinion.

They didn't lose NZ the match though. The AB's bringing a badly rehearsed pantomime of a game, did.

crocos · 27th July 2008, 17:57

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pimp-X

Not many, if any.

You've been living a lie, a secret double life as Scribe - shithouse rap artist extraordinaire!

badassmofo · 27th July 2008, 18:01

Has anyone been living a double life as a quality halfback? Cause I think we're needing one.

Haydos · 27th July 2008, 18:11

Graham Henry lives and dies by his power/size/strength players and has done since his days with Auckland.

It's why he constantly picks Soailo, Nonu, Lauaki, Kaino and why they consistently dick him over in the big matches.

How many balls were dropped by those four players? How many tackles missed? How many times were they beaten to the break down.

That is the major difference between Graham Henry and the crew before him of Robbie Deans and Mitchell. Deans and Mitchell gave the Reuben Thorne type players a go. Consistently good players who may not have the pacific flair of brilliance but will grind you out a win.

The All Blacks have too many big stupid guys who drop the ball (literally and figuratively) when the pressure goes on.

Also they've reduced the amount of flair the backline shows by ultimately handicapping them with a guy like Nonu in the centres, not distributing the ball out.

The best 11,14 and 15 in the game and we hardly involve them in space.

Tactically, the AB's have been playing shit for the last four years, it's just been the amount of brilliance by guys like McCaw, Carter and Ali Williams that gets them out of it.

With other teams now playing tactically smarter and with a guy like George Smith now the equal of McCaw, it won't work anymore.

s0nic · 27th July 2008, 20:53

i thought that whole 'penalty try' wasnt given cause tuquiri was back to cover it. wasnt the ball was heading his direction too? but it should have definitely atleast been a penalty.

blynk · 27th July 2008, 21:27

Quote:

Originally Posted by s0nic

i thought that whole 'penalty try' wasnt given cause tuquiri was back to cover it. wasnt the ball was heading his direction too? but it should have definitely atleast been a penalty.

I think it would have been. But even if it wasn't it should have been a penalty and a sending of for a professional foul 1 meter from the line.

I think with Thorn having just been suspended probably meant he was going off after that tackle.

The Ellis-Cowan affair. Obviously it was a bit of a scam, but they must of shown it to the ref/touchie/some official that their was blood.

Spoon1 · 27th July 2008, 23:05

Why the fuck was Thorne sent off? First infringement, non-malicious... Fucking ridiculous.

WTF were the officials looking at when Sivivatu was tackled? None of the 3 on-field match officials saw it??!!?? That needs some disciplinary action.

However, that said we didn't deserve to win. Braid was non-existant at the breakdowns and was pathetic overall IMO. Breakdowns in general were just a fucking joke for us - no cover.

Lauaki had a Vatuvei night. Send him off to the NRL IMO.

Both haflbacks are sloooooooooooooooooow. Bring back Mr Pie Weepu IMO.

Bah. Just bah.

DeskJet · 28th July 2008, 00:28

Quote:

Originally Posted by mr selfdestruct

I would have LOVED to have heard the Aussie commentary on that certain penalty try, I bet they ignored it COMPLETELY, dead silence in the box eh? Never in my life have I seen a better candidate for a penalty try. How fucking many times did Aussie get away with being off side? It was unbelievable!! Why the fuck was that muppet reffing such an important game again? Where was Jonathan Kaplin?? We put our best ref's in nz/sa matches why can't the other nations do the same? Let them learn reffing pacific nations matches not Bledisloe matches!

At first the Aussie commentary went similar to this "There's a few NZ supporters in the crowd claiming that should be a penalty try, get over it !!" then the slow mo replay shows the take down without the ball "hmmmm on second thoughts.....they might have a point" the end

Interestingly enough one of them didn't think Thorne should have been binned, where as the other two figured it wasn't so much due to the high tackle as the professional foul aspect of slowing the game down when aussie were so close to the line.

I agree we have a lot of league style players that I don't think is really working out too well for us. Nonu is way too one dimensional, and is not even effective at the one thing he does (head down, full steam ahead) But at the same time I'm not familar enough with the S14/NPC to know who you would get in to replace these guys, after losing so many players recently I guess you would have to say we're in a rebuilding phase.

blynk · 28th July 2008, 09:15

Nonu has advanced some from where he used to be. He does distribute more now.
Braid was just not match fit. He had played squat all in the last couple of months.
I also thought Ellis was a little bit better.

Quote:

Originally Posted by badassmofo

Carter gave 110%, but was well contained.

What, well contained, can't say I saw that. He must of lead the game for line breaks.

Haydos · 28th July 2008, 09:21

Carter was the reason we remained competitive, but tactically we were shot, you don't run the ball in your own half as often as they did. The one area Carter struggles is kicking for territory, other kickers seem to return with interest what he kicks.

Too many big dumb idiots dropping the ball and not grinding it out when it counts, the groundwork was laid out by Mitchell, his team and tactics would have beaten this team and tactics.

Yoda · 28th July 2008, 10:09

Someone needs to show Cowan's effort to stop a try to Sivivatu. No idea wtf he was doing when he just body slammed Tuqiri. It's the ABs, you put your body on the line.

Ellis was so slow.

I think he made one, maybe two runs from behind the ruck himself in the first half? Wallabies never needed to worry about him. Added to his one-step-two-step-look-who's-running-at-me-then-lob pass routine... At least when Cowan came on the back line started to get a little snappier.

Just felt like there were three-four ABs on the park who actually wanted to be there.

Carter showed some fantastic ability. So good to watch.

Also, Henry not doing the post match interview strikes as gutless. Wtf.

_Incubus_ · 28th July 2008, 11:19

Under Henry the AB's scrum has improved vastly, the breakdown area is a hit or miss affair with one week poor and the following week dominant...the biggest issue with Henrys AB's is handling...I dont think I have seen a side with such poor handling apart from the Hurricanes.

Ab · 28th July 2008, 11:53

Quote:

Originally Posted by Yoda

Also, Henry not doing the post match interview strikes as gutless. Wtf.

?
He did an interview on the Aussie coverage...

Haydos · 28th July 2008, 12:03

Quote:

Originally Posted by _Incubus_

Under Henry the AB's scrum has improved vastly, the breakdown area is a hit or miss affair with one week poor and the following week dominant...the biggest issue with Henrys AB's is handling...I dont think I have seen a side with such poor handling apart from the Hurricanes.

The backline has fallen apart during his reign, there isn't the tactical brilliance or ability to put players in gaps. They're often too flat and not in formation which means they're catching the ball with a defender.

They've also lost a lot of the ball running skills from the back of the scrum they used to have.

blynk · 28th July 2008, 12:11

Maybe they need to resign Jerry under similar deals to Carter.

Yoda · 28th July 2008, 12:14

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ab

?
He did an interview on the Aussie coverage...

Watching on Sky at my old man's there was Hansen, Deans, Mils, and the new wallaby back interviewed. Maybe I left too early.

Haydos · 28th July 2008, 12:16

Quote:

Originally Posted by blynk

Maybe they need to resign Jerry under similar deals to Carter.

Why? He played shit all season long anyway and went missing on the big match encounters except for a few big tackles.

They should give Kieran Read a shot. The one guy they should desperately try getting back into NZ Rugby is Marty Holah - at least in Holah you knew you had world class coverage if McCaw was out.

Ab · 28th July 2008, 12:26

Quote:

Originally Posted by Yoda

Watching on Sky at my old man's there was Hansen, Deans, Mils, and the new wallaby back interviewed. Maybe I left too early.

Ahhh, ok. The interview I referred to was a simple one-on-one with a commentator sticking a microphone under Henry's nose in the corridor outside the dressing rooms. It wasn't the post-match press conference.

DeskJet · 28th July 2008, 13:26

Quote:

Originally Posted by Haydos

The one guy they should desperately try getting back into NZ Rugby is Marty Holah - at least in Holah you knew you had world class coverage if McCaw was out.

Didn't he go overseas to a Welsh team tho ?

Haydos · 28th July 2008, 13:33

That's why I said "Get Back"

Claymore · 28th July 2008, 13:36

Interesting, from a news.com.au article the reinforcements have arrived.

"Wellington halfback Piri Weepu and Hawke's Bay hooker Hikawera Elliot will join the camp in Auckland, with Auckland halfback Taniela Moa also to train with them."

No idea who Hikawera is, anyone have any ideas on his skills?

http://www.foxsports.com.au/story/0,...-23217,00.html

Ab · 28th July 2008, 13:45

Fantastic, I guy I've never fuckin' heard of is going to be the All Blacks hooker.

blynk · 28th July 2008, 14:00

What is interesting is the reported injury to Cowan is his knee and a broken nose. So, if his nose was broken, then there is a high chance there really was blood.

oOo Dragon oOo · 28th July 2008, 14:19

But broken before or after the knee issue?

mr selfdestruct · 28th July 2008, 14:57

Ab: I've had the Rugby channel ages and you only see the Press Conference if it's a home game. Why would the NZ press all be over there anyway? Doesn't make sense.

There was NO interview with Henry on NZ TV's! How the hell did Australia get one?! I just figured he was too busy being wrapped around the porcelain puking his ring out to talk to anyone, thought it was odd that the camera didn't focus on the All Black coaches once during the entire match.

Ab · 28th July 2008, 18:48

Tracey's stats.

ouch.

http://haka.co.nz/haka-column.php?st...er_npc_general

27th July 2008, 17:35	#55
Pimp-X Drunken Annoying Superhero Bastard	NZ deserved to lose. Playing like that? What options do you have but to cry into your beer? Not many, if any. I am thinking however, that the match officials were all too busy dreaming about how INTO EACH OTHER they are. They clearly weren't paying a great deal of attention to their respective responsibilities, in my opinion. They didn't lose NZ the match though. The AB's bringing a badly rehearsed pantomime of a game, did. __________________ If there is one movement I could get behind in this world, it would be the discrimination and abuse of fucking idiots.

27th July 2008, 23:05	#61
Spoon1 Mmm... Sacrilicious	Why the fuck was Thorne sent off? First infringement, non-malicious... Fucking ridiculous. WTF were the officials looking at when Sivivatu was tackled? None of the 3 on-field match officials saw it??!!?? That needs some disciplinary action. However, that said we didn't deserve to win. Braid was non-existant at the breakdowns and was pathetic overall IMO. Breakdowns in general were just a fucking joke for us - no cover. Lauaki had a Vatuvei night. Send him off to the NRL IMO. Both haflbacks are sloooooooooooooooooow. Bring back Mr Pie Weepu IMO. Bah. Just bah. Last edited by Spoon1 : 27th July 2008 at 23:10.

28th July 2008, 14:57	#79
mr selfdestruct The Deliverator	Ab: I've had the Rugby channel ages and you only see the Press Conference if it's a home game. Why would the NZ press all be over there anyway? Doesn't make sense. There was NO interview with Henry on NZ TV's! How the hell did Australia get one?! I just figured he was too busy being wrapped around the porcelain puking his ring out to talk to anyone, thought it was odd that the camera didn't focus on the All Black coaches once during the entire match. __________________ My real signature is not nearly as legible as this one.

27th July 2008, 11:50	#42
buckies	No specialist #7 equals shtty ABs. Good work substituting your one breakdown specialist loosie for an overweight number six who single handedly gave away possession on 5 occasions (at least by my count), and was never to be seen in the defensive line. The main problem with the ABs is that we don't have depth right across the park anymore. Leonard is miles ahead of Cowan and Ellis, and McCaw is lightyears ahead of any other number 7 we have. I'm not saying we should do rotation, but we need established back-up players to all positions who are adequate substitues. The NPC should help clean this up. Breakdown to turnovers waas 10 to 4 in Aussies favour. Other key stat was handling errors (something like 8 to 22). It was just tragic to watch, as Deans effectively Canterbury'd the All Blacks. Solid defense, good ball retention, and just waiting patiently and then making you pay whenever you do a mistake. We all know that the better defensive team that can retain ball possession will win matches in this modern era of rugby. The ABs continue to leave too big a hole close to the ruck, and the Aussie pick and go really exploited this. My biggest disappointment was not getting to see Henry squirm in the post match interview. Hansen did the clean up talk instead. Taking a positive out of this game, we still have plenty of time to rebuild in time for the World Cup if we axe Henry soon.* If we leave it till next year it may be too late.

27th July 2008, 13:03	#45
Ab A mariachi ogre snorkel	I must confess... one thing that really irked me was the sight of Richie sitting in the stands with three days of stubble on his face, wearing a tracksuit. Jesus christ Richie, you're the captain of the All Blacks, making a bajillion dollars a year, representing your country and supporters and sponsors. Have a fucking shower and put on a fucking suit, is it too much to ask? Every time the camera swapped from injured captain Richie in a tracksuit to injured captain Stirling in a suit and tie I cringed. The message was that the Wallabies were professionals who were there to do business, while the All Blacks were turning up to have a bit of a run and chuck the ball around a bit.

27th July 2008, 13:18	#46
ZoSo	^ Slightly offtrack but somewhat in relation to that.. it's been a pet peeve of mine for ages.. why oh why the fuck do we constantly waltz out of the tunnel cold as fuck, rark it up via the Haka, then go back to cold, all the while Aussies, SA and everyone else who has a clue, is nice and warm and tucked up in a tracksuit? I was amazed we actually bothered wearing them for the last few games but I see we're back to being the heroes we are, pimping the brand and suffering shit starts like a dumbass boxer starting out cold.

27th July 2008, 14:08	#48
Ard Righ	I love it how so many people jump on Rodney So'oialo as being a weak All Blacks number 8, and when they replace him, the back of the All Black scrum turns to absolute shit. Next time people want to hate on So'oialo, they should remember Lauaki's performance from last night.

27th July 2008, 14:45	#49
QWERTY?	i dont think anyone had brought this up... why was brad thorn given 10 mins? there was zero intent, the only reason it went high is because hes a fucken mammoth compared to gitteau I think we probably could have pulled it back within 2 if lauaki hadnt have come on, dunno how well old donald would have done as half-back, but i guess it would have been better than nothing ( if cowan wasnt allowed back on, and if we'd won, the shit storm that would have come out of aussie) __________________ please discontinue your lies.

27th July 2008, 14:57	#50
TnT	Yeah when that happened I just knew he was going to get a yellow card. I thought it was a harsh call. I didn't want to jump all over the ref, it seems AB fans have a habit of doing that. However the he handed the Aussies 14 points easily.

27th July 2008, 15:02	#51
badassmofo	I thought it was just fukups all round. Poor hands, no vision, no support at the breakdown. I thought Kaino had a strong showing, as did Mils. Carter gave 110%, but was well contained. Kahui looked ok, but was a bit out of his depth, and Nonu was quiet. It was obvious the halfback issue was pretty much cheating, don't know what we were up to there, and we suffered because of it. Carter could of played halfback if necessary. The Aussies had our number all night, they looked calm and collected, much like a Crusaders side. We were urgent and tried too hard to make something out of nothing rather than looking for territory, much like a Crusaders opposition. I don't think I've ever seen an All Blacks side play so badly, and noone is excusable, so we shouldn't just be blaming Lauaki Last edited by badassmofo : 27th July 2008 at 15:04.*

27th July 2008, 15:55	#52
pig	Soon as Thorne got binned i could see the writing on the wall. We played ordinary but the ref was cack, Aussies were offside & tackling people without the ball & nothing happpened. Sivavatu gets tackled without the ball a few metres out & i thought here we go, penalty try & maybe a sin bin but no. How they can make non decisions like that in this day & age is unbelievable. Fcking Lauaki was hopeless yet again, get Messam or Latimer or someone else in there ffs. Carter had an awesome game, Mils had an awesome game & i thought Kaino was good. Seemed like our gameplan & execution were both lacking tbh, played to much time in our own half it seemed.

27th July 2008, 16:01	#53
pervy	Aussie played better, plain and simple. The call with regards to the penalty try was absolute shit...... even the Aussies sitting beside us couldn't believe it wasn't given.

27th July 2008, 18:01	#57
badassmofo	Has anyone been living a double life as a quality halfback? Cause I think we're needing one.

27th July 2008, 18:11	#58
Haydos	Graham Henry lives and dies by his power/size/strength players and has done since his days with Auckland. It's why he constantly picks Soailo, Nonu, Lauaki, Kaino and why they consistently dick him over in the big matches. How many balls were dropped by those four players? How many tackles missed? How many times were they beaten to the break down. That is the major difference between Graham Henry and the crew before him of Robbie Deans and Mitchell. Deans and Mitchell gave the Reuben Thorne type players a go. Consistently good players who may not have the pacific flair of brilliance but will grind you out a win. The All Blacks have too many big stupid guys who drop the ball (literally and figuratively) when the pressure goes on. Also they've reduced the amount of flair the backline shows by ultimately handicapping them with a guy like Nonu in the centres, not distributing the ball out. The best 11,14 and 15 in the game and we hardly involve them in space. Tactically, the AB's have been playing shit for the last four years, it's just been the amount of brilliance by guys like McCaw, Carter and Ali Williams that gets them out of it. With other teams now playing tactically smarter and with a guy like George Smith now the equal of McCaw, it won't work anymore.

27th July 2008, 20:53	#59
s0nic	i thought that whole 'penalty try' wasnt given cause tuquiri was back to cover it. wasnt the ball was heading his direction too? but it should have definitely atleast been a penalty.

28th July 2008, 09:21	#64
Haydos	Carter was the reason we remained competitive, but tactically we were shot, you don't run the ball in your own half as often as they did. The one area Carter struggles is kicking for territory, other kickers seem to return with interest what he kicks. Too many big dumb idiots dropping the ball and not grinding it out when it counts, the groundwork was laid out by Mitchell, his team and tactics would have beaten this team and tactics.

28th July 2008, 10:09	#65
Yoda	Someone needs to show Cowan's effort to stop a try to Sivivatu. No idea wtf he was doing when he just body slammed Tuqiri. It's the ABs, you put your body on the line. Ellis was so slow. I think he made one, maybe two runs from behind the ruck himself in the first half? Wallabies never needed to worry about him. Added to his one-step-two-step-look-who's-running-at-me-then-lob pass routine... At least when Cowan came on the back line started to get a little snappier. Just felt like there were three-four ABs on the park who actually wanted to be there. Carter showed some fantastic ability. So good to watch. Also, Henry not doing the post match interview strikes as gutless. Wtf.

28th July 2008, 11:19	#66
_Incubus_	Under Henry the AB's scrum has improved vastly, the breakdown area is a hit or miss affair with one week poor and the following week dominant...the biggest issue with Henrys AB's is handling...I dont think I have seen a side with such poor handling apart from the Hurricanes.

28th July 2008, 12:11	#69
blynk	Maybe they need to resign Jerry under similar deals to Carter.

28th July 2008, 13:36	#75
Claymore	Interesting, from a news.com.au article the reinforcements have arrived. "Wellington halfback Piri Weepu and Hawke's Bay hooker Hikawera Elliot will join the camp in Auckland, with Auckland halfback Taniela Moa also to train with them." No idea who Hikawera is, anyone have any ideas on his skills? http://www.foxsports.com.au/story/0,...-23217,00.html

28th July 2008, 13:45	#76
Ab A mariachi ogre snorkel	Fantastic, I guy I've never fuckin' heard of is going to be the All Blacks hooker.

28th July 2008, 14:00	#77
blynk	What is interesting is the reported injury to Cowan is his knee and a broken nose. So, if his nose was broken, then there is a high chance there really was blood.

28th July 2008, 14:19	#78
oOo Dragon oOo	But broken before or after the knee issue?

28th July 2008, 18:48	#80
Ab A mariachi ogre snorkel	Tracey's stats. ouch. http://haka.co.nz/haka-column.php?st...er_npc_general