2nd England test

[Painty]

Good first half 20-0: 50-50 possession and territory

Quote of the half:

Jonathon Kaplan to teh Eng Capt at lineout time: "...if it's too hard for you to count..."

bahahaaa

[JERI]

great game

[Rince]

Kaplan had a good game for about 60 minutes - the last 20 minutes he was coming up with some bullshit calls..... but the English were so shite it didn't make any difference.

plus teh TMO ruling "dangerous play" for Thompson's try... WTF? He was going for teh ball - but we made up for it by getting another try 5 seconds later.

[orpheus]

Originally Posted by Rince

but we made up for it by getting another try 5 seconds later.

same with Carter...theres no doubt that ball hit the ground, but rules are rules i guess...justice was served seconds later from the scrum that ensued

[caffiend]

Yep - agreed with comments above. Thomson's try definitely should've been allowed - it was a normal 'compete for the ball' situation. Dangerous my ass. The Carter one was possibly understandable, but the benefit of the doubt should clearly have gone to it being a try.

Good match, nice performance by the ABs, especially with big changes from injuries to Ali and Richie. Ellis had a good game, and Kahui was phenomenal on debut

But we'll really see how we are in a fortnight methinks...

[fixed_truth]

Originally Posted by caffiend

Kahui was phenomenal on debut

shit yeah he's the mantis

[Spidey]

Originally Posted by caffiend

Ellis had a good game.

Rofl, you can't be serious

[caffiend]

I am... his ball delivery was pretty solid all night. He did some clever cut-out passes. Nothing too flashy - he just did what a 9 is supposed to do very reliably.

I notice the papers are mostly saying he wasn't that good - but meh; I disagree.

[Ab]

Some of Carter's play, like his pass to set Kahui up for his try, was just gold. I've been quite critical of Carter this year, but he had a good'un in this game.

[_Incubus_]

Richie out for 6 weeks....NOOOOOOO

[Rince]

caff - sorry I think you're on your own re Ellis..... stupid litle chip kicks into nothing makes me forget "good delivery of the ball"

[mr selfdestruct]

I'll say I can't stand Ellis he's so hopeless but we're stuck with him for another 6 weeks till Leonard gets over knee surgery. Cowan looked much more aggressive to me, he works so hard, I rate him over Ellis any day.

Ab: Did you SEE the Waikato magic in that last 20 minutes? It was ALL Waikato players baby Awesome to see Donald, Siti, Lauaki and Kahui all over it. Donald was so close to pulling off his classic chip and regather try :P Was cool to see him slot the final conversion.

[pig]

So who replaces Richie then - nfw they should rejig the loosies to get Lauaki in there. I can see them bringing Kaino back in at 8 and Rodney at 7 but i wonder if Braid or Masoe have any chance.

[Spidey]

I think Messem deserves a shot, if not Masoe to cover.

[buckies]

I called Kahui waay before this test. He's young enough too that he would be peaking when the next world cup comes around too - no more centre issues.

Hurry up Leonard and get over your injuries.

[Ab]

Originally Posted by mr selfdestruct

Ab: Did you SEE the Waikato magic in that last 20 minutes? It was ALL Waikato players baby

Sure did mate when Donald made that little chip over the top I was ready to jump down the intertubes and strangle Murray Mexted for complimenting "Daniel Carter" on such a great move.

Kahui looked impressive and about time too - been dying to see him get the profile he deserves. It's gonna be a tough job picking between Kahui and Smith at centre, but in my books Kahui's defence is much stronger.

[mr selfdestruct]

buckies: That's a little premature on the strength of watching him in a single test against a shit team isn't it? Let's see how he plays if he gets a chance against a REAL team. Lots of people said Toeava was the next big star at Centre after his incredible Super 14 last year and how did that pan out?

Spidey: You must be dreaming. Messam had a pretty shit Super 14 and there are half a dozen I'd rate ahead of him at the moment.

Kaino at 8
So'oiolo at 7
Eaton to replace Ali

Braid is also injured and out for several weeks. They might bring Masoe into the squad though that would be VERY interesting considering how at odds he is with the selectors for being totally snubbed :P

[mr selfdestruct]

Originally Posted by Ab

Sure did mate when Donald made that little chip over the top I was ready to jump down the intertubes and strangle Murray Mexted for complimenting "Daniel Carter" on such a great move.

Kahui looked impressive and about time too - been dying to see him get the profile he deserves. It's gonna be a tough job picking between Kahui and Smith at centre, but in my books Kahui's defence is much stronger.

LOL yeah! Stupid Mex!! Carter went off 5 minutes ago you stupid mug!

The word around the traps is that Kahui is stronger on defense. Personally what I was looking for were moments when Kahui linked up with Carter and Nonu to get that cohesian that the selectors rate Conrad for. I was stoked that there were several occasions when Nonu and Kahui worked together with great passing to keep the ball in play and read eachother and the way Kahui read Carter to cut inside to take the pass for his try was just superb. The selectors certainly have their work cut out for them now, who to choose? Conrad has more experience but Kahui didn't put a foot wrong it's very tough.

[Spidey]

Originally Posted by mr selfdestruct

Spidey: You must be dreaming. Messam had a pretty shit Super 14 and there are half a dozen I'd rate ahead of him at the moment.

Well, this is based on the fact that he is next in the list.
I mean who else apart from Masoe, Braid, Read, and Messam left on the list

[buckies]

Originally Posted by mr selfdestruct

Kaino at 8
So'oiolo at 7
Eaton to replace Ali

Yeah, I'd go with these starters too, and add Thompson at #6 for the Tri Nations.

Tuitivake to start at wing. Selectors will be conservative and pick Smith to start at 13.

[mr selfdestruct]

Originally Posted by buckies

Yeah, I'd go with these starters too, and add Thompson at #6 for the Tri Nations.

Tuitivake to start at wing. Selectors will be conservative and pick Smith to start at 13.

Agreed on Tuitivake and Thompson but unsure about Conrad. Henry might as well flip a coin if you ask me. I'll go against you on this one though and say that the selectors will think to be conservative and stick with Conrad but decide to take a punt on Kahui's superior defense and give him a shot at the big time and see if he can handle the heat.

Did Wulf even touch the ball in the 2nd test? Man I didn't even notice him after the kick off whistle eh?......

[Ab]

Best moment of the 2nd test: when Lauaki scored and the stadium reverberated with "Business Time".

[mr selfdestruct]

el oh el :P

Does anyone else have a really bad feeling the boks are going to pummel us? I remember thinking in the Super 14 last year how good our teams looked despite missing so many All Blacks but I was naive as our teams did pretty shithouse. It's looking that way again.....

[mr selfdestruct]

Just clicked, Joe Rocks will be back for 1st Tri Nations test so neither Tuitivake or Wulf will start. It will be Joe and Siti.

[buckies]

Would you throw Roko straight back into the starting line up? Sounds risky if you ask me. Might be better to start with Tuitivake and have Roko on the bench for the last 20/30 (either as an impact player or once we've got it in the bag).

Saffa are still underdogs. They still haven't proved that they can tour and our backs are looking deadly. Provided our forwards can get ball we should be good.

[blynk]

Yeah, I wouldn't be too concerned that we will get pummeled by either of the 2 teams.
Lose by a small margin, possible.

[mr selfdestruct]

Depends how fit he is when he's ready to play really. If he's 100% theres no reason why he can't start and would you want to risk NOT playing arguably your 2nd best winger against a Tri Nations side?? Tough call.

South Africa Half time, All Blacks full time could be on at the TAB buckies!

[a-tech]

South Africa always struggle to front up to us in the Tri-nations.

Especially considering they seem to travel here first all the time. I wouldn't be too worried about the saffars.

[pig]

I dunno, those dirty bastards always lift when they play us + they'll be offside the majority of the time. If our lineout is good then we should be okay depending on what combination we have in the midfield.
Man if Nonu & Kahui get picked & an are able to combine well I can see other teams backs getting nervous.

[mr selfdestruct]

Originally Posted by mr selfdestruct

Kaino at 8
So'oiolo at 7
Eaton to replace Ali

Almost right, but Borric bracketed for Ali... :P