Allblack season end player review

[Steve]

Akira, Jordan, Whitelock, Laulala, Ardie, Cane, Moody,Snecky solidified their credentials. Can be happy with contributions.

Codie,Goodhue,Coles, ALB, Reece. Look a bit stagnant

Beauden and Mo'unga ..... don't think either will overly worry the NH or South Africa going forward. Dan Carter does'nt need to worry about being eclipsed.


Frizell, Scott Barrett, Lomax, Ofa,Rieko, Patrick T, Perenara, Big Karl,DMAC. Didn't do anything to demand selection going forward.

Caleb Clarke . Jury is out. Dining out on two great runs for the whole tournament.

Jordie Barrett . Lucky to be there or unlucky to be put on the wing. No idea at this stage.


Laumape, Sotutu and Vaai deserve more chances to impress.


Aumua, Hodgeman, Grace, Papalii, Weber. Not enough time to judge fairly.

[sban052]

Props - Behind Laulala and Moody, it becomes murky regarding which props are international quality. Massive shame Ofa couldn't translate his form to international rugby
Hooker - Looking a little bare behind Coles, who I feel offers more than Taylor. Time to blood in Aumua and see how he goes.
Locks - problematic. Hopefully Retallick returns in top form - not a guarantee. Also no guarantee Whitelock will maintain form until the world cup. S.Barrett prone to idiocy. Tuipolotu has never been able to dominate at international level. Really need to blood in some new players here
Backrow - Although balance might not be quite right, we have a lot of quality players to pick from. Frizzell struggled to translate form. Akira ioane in limited time was impressive. A.Saves is consistently pretty excellent as is Cane. Papilli'i, Grace did not get a chance but are quality. Sotutu needs time to show what he can do.
Halfbacks a problem area. TJ not international quality. Time to blood 1-2 new players.
Flyhalf - I strongly feel Mounga and Barrett can shine with a dominant forward back. The biggest problem this year has been the forwards being pushed around. Consequently the flyhalves have struggled.
Centres - Balance seems wrong. ALB and Goodhue are great, safe players, but very similar, and can lack some incisiveness
Back three - I don't know why Jordie has been given so many chances. He clearly is not an international winger. Will Jordan to take over either at wing or fullback. Clarke I feel has been great, even if not scoring a lot of tries.

[Not_Couch]

Props - Behind Laulala and Moody, it becomes murky regarding which props are international quality. Massive shame Ofa couldn't translate his form to international rugby
Hooker - Looking a little bare behind Coles, who I feel offers more than Taylor. Time to blood in Aumua and see how he goes.
Locks - problematic. Hopefully Retallick returns in top form - not a guarantee. Also no guarantee Whitelock will maintain form until the world cup. S.Barrett prone to idiocy. Tuipolotu has never been able to dominate at international level. Really need to blood in some new players here
Backrow - Although balance might not be quite right, we have a lot of quality players to pick from. Frizzell struggled to translate form. Akira ioane in limited time was impressive. A.Saves is consistently pretty excellent as is Cane. Papilli'i, Grace did not get a chance but are quality. Sotutu needs time to show what he can do.
Halfbacks a problem area. TJ not international quality. Time to blood 1-2 new players.
Flyhalf - I strongly feel Mounga and Barrett can shine with a dominant forward back. The biggest problem this year has been the forwards being pushed around. Consequently the flyhalves have struggled.
Centres - Balance seems wrong. ALB and Goodhue are great, safe players, but very similar, and can lack some incisiveness
Back three - I don't know why Jordie has been given so many chances. He clearly is not an international winger. Will Jordan to take over either at wing or fullback. Clarke I feel has been great, even if not scoring a lot of tries.

Your criticism of TJ is unfounded when the pack itself was the issue. Snecky also looks average when the pack is going backwards, effecting Moungas timing of the run. TJ can walk into any team he just needs a solid platform which he All Blacks simply lack. Look at Super Rugby Aotearoa his form was superb earlier this year, so cut it out. Brad Weber was definately poor during Super Rugby, some might say he was lucky to get a Call up. But him and Snecky looked terrible in the loss against Argentina (ironically TJ didn't feature) are we going to say Aaron Smith isn't international standard???

[sban052]

Props - Behind Laulala and Moody, it becomes murky regarding which props are international quality. Massive shame Ofa couldn't translate his form to international rugby
Hooker - Looking a little bare behind Coles, who I feel offers more than Taylor. Time to blood in Aumua and see how he goes.
Locks - problematic. Hopefully Retallick returns in top form - not a guarantee. Also no guarantee Whitelock will maintain form until the world cup. S.Barrett prone to idiocy. Tuipolotu has never been able to dominate at international level. Really need to blood in some new players here
Backrow - Although balance might not be quite right, we have a lot of quality players to pick from. Frizzell struggled to translate form. Akira ioane in limited time was impressive. A.Saves is consistently pretty excellent as is Cane. Papilli'i, Grace did not get a chance but are quality. Sotutu needs time to show what he can do.
Halfbacks a problem area. TJ not international quality. Time to blood 1-2 new players.
Flyhalf - I strongly feel Mounga and Barrett can shine with a dominant forward back. The biggest problem this year has been the forwards being pushed around. Consequently the flyhalves have struggled.
Centres - Balance seems wrong. ALB and Goodhue are great, safe players, but very similar, and can lack some incisiveness
Back three - I don't know why Jordie has been given so many chances. He clearly is not an international winger. Will Jordan to take over either at wing or fullback. Clarke I feel has been great, even if not scoring a lot of tries.

Your criticism of TJ is unfounded when the pack itself was the issue. Snecky also looks average when the pack is going backwards, effecting Moungas timing of the run. TJ can walk into any team he just needs a solid platform which he All Blacks simply lack. Look at Super Rugby Aotearoa his form was superb earlier this year, so cut it out. Brad Weber was definately poor during Super Rugby, some might say he was lucky to get a Call up. But him and Snecky looked terrible in the loss against Argentina (ironically TJ didn't feature) are we going to say Aaron Smith isn't international standard???

Hold up, I didn't talk about any particular game, or any criticism of Smith. I'm not sure where all that crap came from. Whether the pack is effective or not, when your halfback is passing to the grass, feet, or over peoples heads, it significantly affects the entire backline.

[Enzedder]

Don't worry about Couch - he doesn't like Wellington players being criticised.

[Not_Couch]

Don't worry about Couch - he doesn't like Wellington players being criticised.

That's rich coming from Captain Save-A-Chief.

[Monkey Magic]

Hard to judge a halfback when the forwards get belted - which is what happened for half our tests.

Think it was parsons who mentioned that people were saying Smith was crap at start of the year, needed to look overseas etc, but then began carving up in SRA. The difference was the highlanders pack were gash pre lockdown then started to aim up in SRA

[Jimmy Smallsteps]

Hard to judge a halfback when the forwards get belted - which is what happened for half our tests.

Think it was parsons who mentioned that people were saying Smith was crap at start of the year, needed to look overseas etc, but then began carving up in SRA. The difference was the highlanders pack were gash pre lockdown then started to aim up in SRA

Yeah it's hard to throw crisp passes to your 10 while wearing the opposition's 7 like a scarf.