All Blacks named for IVECO series

Oh and don't forget that French were playing an understrength team. This week they will have all the Top 14 players arriving, who couldn't play last week.

Team for the weekend:

1. Tony Woodcock
2. Keven Mealamu
3. Neemia Tialata
4. Brad Thorn
5. Isaac Ross
6. Jerome Kaino
7. Tanerau Latimer
8. Kieran Read
9. Jimmy Cowan
10. Stephen Donald
11. Josevata Rokocoko
12. Ma’a Nonu
13. Conrad Smith
14. Cory Jane
15. Mils Muliaina – captain

Reserves:

16. Aled de Malmanche
17. John Afoa
18. Bryn Evans
19. George Whitelock
20. Piri Weepu
21. Luke McAlister
22. Isaia Toeava

Welcome return of Smith at centers. Latimer gets his first start too.

Good to see Latimer starting, even if Thompson wasn't injured he didn't deserve another start.

Fucked off they have gone with Cowan, he had zero penetration around the fringes and his passing was rubbish.

Harvey- Nonu played 15/16 games last year

and

has the highest winning percentage of any All Black in the current squad at 90.9% (30 from 33 wins) before the recent French Test.


Can't be too flakey aye

Does anyone else think Rokocoko is the luckiest man in All Black rugby? When was the last time he did anything good, in ANY coloured jersey? 3 years ago?

Cowan = shit.

Has Messam been dropped altogether or is he injured?

Glad to see Smith back in the mid field. Toeava needs to go with Rokocoko. The addition of George Whitelock just tells me how I don't follow rugby any more. Who the hell is he?



gc.

Yeah not sure what Jo is still doing in this team however running a little low on wings at the moment? Conrad coming back in is good and I would have started Luke over Donald. Messan got dropped and I think that was a little hard since the just about no one in the forwards did a good job so was pretty hard for him ...

There are no wings left in the country to be fair. Not for the international level. One could argue that Masaga should have been the mix tho. Another one could have been is Gear, who currently plays for Juniors. Ranger should have also been looked at as a prospect. As much as I can't stand Sivivatu, we're really missing him right now...

Smf, Whitelock is a Crusaders player, who played in place of McCaw for the most of the season.

When looking at the ABs playing last weekend, I thought they all looked tired and not interested, apart from few players. Maybe an injection of new players would have brought more spark. I don't know. I'm pretty sure this was the worst game I have ever seen ABs play on our soil.

French team named:

FRANCE: 15 Maxime Medard, 14 Cedric Heymans, 13 Maxime Mermoz, 12 Vincent Clerc, 11 Damien Traille, 10 Francois Trinh-Duc, 9 Julien Dupuy, 8 Louis Picamoles, 7 Fulgence Ouedraogo, 6 Thierry Dusautoir (c), 5 Romain Millo-Chluski, 4 Sebastien Chabal, 3 Nicholas Mas, 2 William Servat, 1 Fabien Barcella. Reserves: 16 Dimitri Szarzewski, 17Thomas Domingo, 18 Remy Martin, 19 Damien Chouly, 20 Dimitri Yachvili, 21 Yannick Jauzion, 22 Mathieu Bastareaud.

Cowan, Donald and Rockocoko were shit useless......



Second game in a row for the first two mentioned

McAlistair totally exposed Donald's lack of class when he came on. That should be his last start as AB first five. Cowan was OK but the conditions didn't sit his game, Weepu made an immediate impact when he came on. Cory Jane was poor, did nothing on attack and was shaky on defense. Smith did nothing but was steady.

Latimer - superb. in fact, Kaino, Reed and Latimer were excellent. Thorn was a hero and Mealamu was back to his very best. Fuck the Blues must a terrible team environment, look at the difference in Mealamu!

Oh and Marius Jonkers - What a plonker!!!! He basically let hands in the ruck, hanging on to the ball, offside play by the French, missed obvious knock-on's etc etc.

and he proved he was no flake tonight

Overall it was ok, for the team that was inexperienced.

Donald is not stepping up seems that way. Although I want point out that him not having much room to move, as he got slow deliveries from Cowan might not have helped. And Cowan's game wasn't thaaat bad tbh. Forwards need to set up a much better platform for him. French infringed at ruck and maul tho. When Thompson (in the first game) attempted to clear the players, he got pinned for going off his feet. Ever since then, I've noticed ABs were more than generous at the breakdown and let French get away with murder in that area.

I thought Smith didn't make particular impact. Although his influence was seen in ABs defense. He's a great orginiser.

More than anything I am disgusted with ABs supporters bashing one of the French players: http://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/2521772/French-player-Mathieu-Bastareaud-bashed

^^^what a fucking bunch of loosers.

LukeyMac was sublime, no one on the field had more time than him in the wet. Take that vadz you hater!

Apart from that and a few forwards I thought the AB's were pretty poor again, they could have easily lost this game

The french try was all kinds of awesome

Donald, Cowan are SHIT.

How awesome is Brad Thorn right now though?

WTF is wrong with Donald? He's come back into the ABs with all the shit that he was dropped for last year ie: those fucking chip kicks. He is a such a cowboy, not to mention seriously dumb.

Doesn't have the temprament or decision-making skills to be a test 1st 5 imo. Stick to Super 14 chump.

I think the AB's played OK for a team that I think is very much still trying to find their feet and way to many injuries. But that might be a good thing ...

Donald is a fucken donkey and I said this last week as well. Time for him to go to the bench if that injury doesnt keep him out. Thank fuck ... Luke looked good, still a little rusty I think and with game time the small errors will dissapear. Cowan

Awesome to see Kevin back at his best wow I love it and Thorne is a beast! Nothing from anyone else Nonu will fire with a play maker on his inside like Luke!

Im predicting a 20+ score vs. Italy.

And how good were Under 20s? Fucking awesome final! The sad part of that win is that Zac Guildford's dad died after the game. Heart attack I'm guessing. Fuck, who wouldn't be happy to see their little boy win a World Cup. He must have died a happy and proud dad...

Keven
Thorn

If you don't even know their names, why would we listen to the rest of your nonsense?

All the Donald haters crack me up.

Two games starting is insufficient to evaluate him. He was great last year - again, you can't judge him on those appearances either.

You judge a player on his day in, day out form over a season, as in the S14.

HE LOST THE SUPER 14 FINALS. NO CHIEFS PLAYERS SHOULD BE IN THE AB'S THERE IS NO PLACE FOR LOOOOSERS!

Are you talking about his 29 missed tackles in the Super 14?

The second highest in the Chiefs team and the 8th highest in the whole Super 14??

sit down *Re-Action* and Lazydog...vadz is right, check it out

lol @ ABs not knowing how much they had to win by to win the series

Fuck, I was going "WTF are you doing Weepu?" when he kicked the ball out. Then after the game in players interview they all going "hang on, why are French taking our trophy?".

Weepu said afterwards that if he knew they had to win by 6 points to retain the trophy he wouldn't have kicked it out ...I wonder if there is some resentment towards Henry from some of the players for this?

Pretty stupid to deliberately not tell the players the full situation isn't it?

He was shit last year too.

I was willing to keep an open mind to his selection this season given his S14 form, but nope...just not cut out for it/up to the task/up to scratch.

I wonder if Henry knew tbh.

^^^^that was reply to harvey.

Judging a first five on missed tackles is like judging a flanker on his goal kicking ability

Grant Fox missed a shitload of tackles, and Grant Fox was the greatest #10 to ever put a jersey on - any team, any time.

If we're going to just use stats, then Toeava is the best back in NZ!!!

You may laugh, but I often beat the commentator to the punch, especially with turnovers... I have an amazing ability to read body language. I also used to pick Warney out of the hand and shout "flipper" at the tv.

DNT!

AMAZING!

Being >6' gives me the height necessary to see things

I guess for you, rugby is just a bunch of legs...

I got a 50" HiDef TV mate. You = listen to the radio!

Not too hard to beat the commentators when watching on tv. Half the time the commentators have no idea what's happening until they see the replay.

Except Grant Fox could kick goals at International level and had great tactical play...

How many games are you going to give Donald to prove himself at International level??
To say the measure of a player is day in/day out form aka The Super 14 is a joke if players can't transfer that to a higher level.


And look how well he has done at International Level.....

Plain and simple:

**Quality Players front up for quality fixtures/Tournaments**

Amen, which proves my point about McAlister etc in the last RWC

Yet you love retards like Tasesa Lavea & Stephen Donald.



gc.

mcalister looks frigging fat with his build (just saying...).

rockococokckckco should go too. he is playing shit. doesn't do anything at all really. they really miss sivivatu.

donald was really solid in super 14, but yes i am not sure if he is quite there yet re: international.

Hmmm, Bastareaud hasn't made an actual complaint, no one appears to have witnessed the assault (at least, no one has come forward) and their doesn't appear to be any CCTV footage of said assault. He didn't see his attackers properly, can't give any descriptions and has returned to France making no further comment.

I smell bullshit.

Lulz. Won't bother posting a pic from Facebook, but he's ripped.



gc.

he may be ripped but he looks pretty chunky wearing a rugby jersey. looks like he is carrying too much weight for his frame.

i have to wonder about some of these rugby players and whether they're on PEDs (performance enhancing drugs).

You reckon he did a "Ryder" and just fucked himself up while drunk. Except concocted some story?

I wouldn't put it past some morons in NZ to lay a smack down on a foreign rugby player though.

Welcome to NZ, home of the 2011 World Cup. Where foreign teams get shit chucked at them when they go to thank their supporters in the crowd after winning and where players get beaten up by thugs.

Codpiece, not likely. We got tested on the regular, random basis when I was playing for the development team on the provincial level. I would imagine, and know from mates who play on the professional level, that testing is much more vigorous on higher levels.

As for assault on the french player, it would not suprise me a bit. I mean if AB's get assaulted on the regular basis (incident involving Cowan, Donald and another player I can not recall, then Mils getting attacked at the Auckland bar) then what would stop similar, small minded people attack someone from another country?

Team for the weekend:

Mil Muliaina, Lelia Masaga, Isaia Toeava, Ma'a Nonu, Joe Rokocoko, Luke McAlister, Brendon Leonard, Kieran Read, Tanerau Latimer, Jerome Kaino, Ali Williams, Brad Thorn, John Afoa, Keven Mealamu, Wyatt Crockett.

Reserves: Aled De Melmanche, Tony Woodcock, Owen Franks, Isaac Ross, George Whitelock, Piri Weepu, Cory Jane.

MASAGA!!!!!!

bar Toeava I like the backline and think they will carve it up.

Classic French name


Seems ol Bastard_au was ridiculously drunk himself, cant remember fark all, there were 0 witnesses so anything could have happened really. He probably tried to pull the wrongs guys girlfriend

Im All for hangin our heads in shame if he was ruthlessly beaten but not convinced yet

Actually I reckon Toeava will play well against the Italian backline. They struggled for speed last week against the Aussies. And Aussie midfield is not the fastest in the world. Let's just hope he can catch the ball this time!

seriously, why is joe rockocoko still there?

I'm assuming there isn't anyone else codpiece. All other wingers are tied up with Juniors.

Intertesting to see ex league player Craig Gower in the Italian team.

Did you not see him vs. Australia?

Didn't watch game, was djing

Ali goneburger

Wtf

Awesome. I had no idea.

You don't SEE games like I do. I think it's because you never really liked soccer.

Team sports are patterns, ebb and flow. Soccer makes it easy to see, but it's also apparent in rugby; it's less about strength, speed etc as it is about angles, space, and position.

Lavea plays in a non-traditional fashion, which renders traditional defences less useful. His approach to the game is qualitatively different to that of #10s - Carter is better than Donald, but they play the SAME style - and it forces alterations into patterns.

Lavea is disruptive. What that means is that he forces teams to change their own tactics, and he creates holes in defences by rendering many of their defensive lines irrelevant.

Sure, he's not the fastest, strongest, or even a fair tackler. With better physical skills, however, his ability to visualise space, time, angles and opportunity would have made him twice as effective as Carter.

Carter is a physical freak. Lavea is the next generation of rugby flyhalf.

He was getting into my beats when I was djing last night

Doesn't say much about your beat, imho.

CHRISTCHURCH DJ TO BLAME FOR ALL BLACK LOCKING CRISIS
Beats proved too phat

Not the convincing win everyone was hoping to see I imagine...

FUCK WE ARE SHIT AT RUGBY


FU HENRY AB CAPT HEAD KISSING ASSHAT........ FU TEW AND THE ENTIRE NZRFU


I propose we fkn flag rugby as a shithouse retarded thuggish game that belongs in the 1960's .......and embrace + send all our natural atheletes into a real sport. Football/golf/tennis/w-e/idk


anything but rugby, I used to love the AB's but we are making right asshats of oursleves.... and have been for the last 20 years or so

Am watching the replay on Prime now -- pretty painful to watch

And ffs, can rugby get their shot together and just have video refs' decisions come up on the big screen instead of all this "can you hear me george? i can award the try? are you sure?" -- so fucking amateurish

no it sure did not

Italy did dominate All Black territory a lot, esp in first half. unfortunately that did not translate into tries, and they squandered some good early opportunities. but then again, they were playing a primarily defensive game. our win should have been more convincing.

Not sure it would work as the video ref often needs to explain things to ref as the referee is responsible for the final decision. League only has about three rules so it's pretty obvious what's happened if it's a No Try - Penalty/Scrum, whereas in rugby there's about 14 million rules. Also in rugby some referees play the advantage for so fucking long that they often give a penalty to the attacking side when the video ref says no try - as though almost scoring a try doesn't count as advantage. So even if it did happen I think the video ref would still need to consult with the referee before his decision went up on the big screen.

:>

As I said to Q over the telephone, Gower treated Lukey Mac like a cheap Hunters Corner slut, bent him over and subjected him to a sustained ass fucking that will hopefully have the AB selectors rethinking their first five choices.

Gower played like Lavea does. So, haters, looks like VAD-Dizzle was rizight. Again.

mcallister did a couple of good things (ie the kick to rokocoko) but was a factor in just about all of the handling errors in the first half. his passing was fucking shit. wtf was he trying to do?

donald>mcallister

Yep, and when a league convert like Gower plays five times as well as you, maybe time to shift out to 12 or 13

Did you see Gower's passing? Fucking awesome. Love the way he found runners at different angles

those chip kicks he did could have been good as well, but to be honest, aside from the kick to joe, his decision making was TERRIBLE.

best current all black backline, if everyone uninjured and available:

muliana
sivivatu
kahui
nonu
masaga
carter
leonard


ps i thought kaino played awesomely. as did isaac ross.

at least he had a reliable goal-kicking boot

mcalister > donald

Donald kicked pretty well for the chiefs...

Mcallister's tactical kicking was shocking throughout much of the match.

I dont think you will find many posters who think number 10 is Lukeys best position, so Im not sure how/why you are championing youirself there vaddykins


So in the meantime the Wallabies completly controlled the French, looks to me that without Ali, Richie and Carter this AB side is incredibly ordinary... if we are missing just one of them for the Tri Nations we are going to finish stone motherless LAST

In the meantime the provincial unions are getting shafted by the arrogant NZRU with a new controversy &^%$# sp nearly every week

Im just about to completly give up on bothering with code, it sucks

yes it was .... but I lost track of how many points Donald lost us last week in missed penalties/conversions

McAlister looks sluggish, I blame that on his English stint, as mentioned by some commentators today

Yep, Aussies looked sharp. Tri Nations will be decided between them and Saffas.

you forgot sivivatu.

i think as nzers we tend to overrate our abilities in international rugby.

I didnt forget him, he's a winger...which isnt exactly the most influential position on the park. And he blows hot and cold like a typical Fijian anyway

Yeah, w/out Carter and McCaw, it seems the ABs pretty much suck

Is it me or has Rokocoko lost a ton of pace?

It could be GB. However I think other teams just learned how to defend against his pace. It's easy to do with organised defense.

Only watched about 20 mins of the SA-Lions game, but it was enough to convince me that we're going to get fucking creamed.

Hell, even that Lions side would probably dick us.

Woe is me, woe is me

Teams take time to gel

This team is still 80% "first choice".

It's not like it's 2nd choice 1-15

We're still the best team in the world

3N winners. You heard it here FIRST

ding ding ding

21pts is 70% of 30

Pretty accurate

sivavatu makes it an influential position however...

he doesn't look as if he can beat his man anymore????

DNT!

codpiece you are a fucken idiot.

well it looks as if i'm not the only one to have the same view on how mcallister played?

he was almost single handedly responsible for all of our errors in the first 20-30 minutes!

Luke McAllister is a 12 though!

And that's where he'll return. Anyway, as soon as DC returns this debate will be resolved - Donald will be sent home.

Gower was awesome. Maybe the Blues could sign him.

Australia are looking damn sharp btw, FUCK

that's what I thought

likely to trounce the ABs unless significant improvement occurs

Never fear, I have been back to training for the past 3 weeks. Although I will not make the Tri Nations squad, I will give the cup that really matters to NZ in 2011.......

thank the rugby gods for Roman

In other news - and this may interest some of the filthy South Africans that frequent this board - Schalk Burger has been suspended for 8 weeks for eye-gouging and Bakkies Botha out for 2 weeks for charging.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/sport/news/article.cfm?c_id=4&objectid=10581404

Both pretty rough if you ask me. Since when do we have a rule that states you need to bind before you can clear the rug? surely thats impossible?

Video shows very little of the Burger incident, all it shows is hands fluffy about from both players while on their backs. Nothing remotely as bad as the Sergio Parisse incident. In the end it doesn't really matter we have an exceptional production line at the moment and have a few people that can easily slot in and do the job.

Henry, Hansen and Smith signed till the end of 2011

http://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/rugby/2578510/All-Blacks-coaches-re-appointed

I suppose it gives us the consistency... of what sort, I don't know yet...

To be honest, I think it is a good move. I mean it would make less sense appointing someone new so close to World Cup. It also gives players an understanding as to what is expected of them. I think.

Can't appoint Deans, so at least we have the second best coaching team.



gc.

This.

ha ha you doofus, your above qoute is from before the 1st test vs France