All Blacks
1 t woodcock
2 a hore
3 o franks
4 b retallick
5 s whitelock
6 R McCaw
7 s cane
8 k read
9 a smith
10 t taylor
11 j savea
12 m nonu
13 c smith
14 b smith
15 i dagg
16 k mealamu
17 b franks
18 c faumuina
19 l whitelock
20 b sheilds
21 t kerr barlow
22 c slade
23 r crotty
should the injuries that the All Blacks are facing at the moment all rule them out for the upcoming test, then this might be one possible team.
with shields and luke whitelock being test newbies i doubt they will start, instead pushing McCaw over to 6 with s cane starting would be the most logical scenario considering the level of the test.
i wouldnt expect luke whitelock or brad shields to get any serious game time either unless injuries kick in. if the game is tight, they will be lucky to get any gametime at all, a 5min cameo if the game is locked up and at best a 10 min appearance if the All Blacks opened the floodgates early.
tom taylor should probably get the nod ahead of slade, IMO hes in the better form even though slade does have a few test caps under his belt.
having both taylor and slade in the team means that crotty would prob get another run on the bench, as slade can also cover for fullback if required.
not a bad team, but definately not the strongest. playing in NZ is a big help, and i think this team would still beat any combination the wallabies could come up with.
Sasuke - No Luatua? is he hurt as well?
@oimatey,
he was battaling an injury, but it looks like hes going to pull thru.
team was a worst case scenario, ;o)
and if Nonu gets done over who then? Smith to inside?
@spoony,
if spmething happens to nonu, then crotty will slot into 12, its why crotty was originlly called into the squad after saili was injured and carter who is the first 12 back up.
but we also have the added bonus of tom taylor, hes the crusaders 12 and in both good nick and form.
was reffering to Ben Smith cause we all know the AB need a bloketo smash at 12 to get the go forward mate
@spoony,
All Blacks dont need a player to smash through in 12, but they would definately prefer it. and if u thought thats what they needed, then why would u suggest ben smith??? o_O
if ben smith goes into the centers it will be for conrad, not nonu as hes an outside center. ive got no problems with him at 12 though, in fact the more i think about it, the more i love the idea of him at 12, but with crotty in the squad it wouldnt be an efficent use of players.
still, nonu despite playing well is on borrowed time, or should i say SBW time, lolz, :oP
@mikey,
its true that retallick and whitelock won three lineouts between the two of them, but they had 8 lineout totals and only 4 were thrown to the locks witht he bulk being thrown to read.
IMO the All Blacks were looking to counter the huge hieght advantage the wallabies had and mix things up a bit, which is why our locks didnt get as much lineout ball, but two from three aint bad.
i wouldnt attribute the number of tackles made by the locks based on the number of ball carries their counterpart makes, LMAo, :oD
i dont beleive for one second u really believe that either, its more down to the fact the wallys simply had more ball then the All Blacks, 60% more ball which is huge.
like the All Blacks as a whole, plenty of things for the team and players to work on, which is scary consdiering the smashing they gave the No3 ranked team in the world,
and papamoa might have a point aye bro??? could lady elizabeths poor performance against the All Blacks in sowetto have u a little worried about the Boks loss coming up in NZ, i mean Boks test match coming up in NZ, lolz, :oP
@mikey,
of course ur not worried about lady elizabeth, ur a saffa, lolz, :oP
but for the record, both alberts and lady elizabeth did nothing in sowetto, actually, the both did nothing in dunedin too, with alberts just as invisble and lady elizabet being suspended for not acting like a lady, LMAO o_O
but ur right, were not dealing last year, so lets move on, :o)
the hooker is an area of concern for one reason only and thats the RWC, as far as the RC/4nats is concerend and the immediate future for that matter, our hookers are just fine and ive got zero worries in them what so ever.
we do need a contingency plan for the future though, cos both hore and kev might not last to 2015 either by being dropped or injury, IMO most like the latter thhough.
as for our locks,,,sigh,,,the same ol dance again, lolz, :o)
but have u ever noticed how no kiwis are worried about our issues with the locks??? i cant recall one kiwi here saying weve got problems and while theres been a influx of kiwis here lately, there have been pelnty of kiwis before then and none have even come close to voicing concerns about our healthy lock situation, cos the relaity is that we dont have a problem.
IMO whitelock, romano and retallick are easily in the top 5 locks in the world at the moment, with lady elizabeth and horwill rounding it up, but each to their own and im sure the b oys will come through in fine style again, the same they did last year when the showed lady elizabeth and bekker whose boss, :o)
