Ireland v All Blacks I: Sweet Home Away from Home, Chicago

[morepork]

In B4 someone (correctly) points out that Maori are Polynesian.

But not before I point out that New Zealanders are (geographically) Polynesian.

[/pedant]

I tried pointing this out to a young English chap in a pub in NYC. He was on a gap yah, and having none of it.

[Eugene Wrayburn]

In B4 someone (correctly) points out that Maori are Polynesian.

I was running through a "Pacific Island Heritage" All Blacks XV in my head and apart from locks really only struggled with a decent 10. I could only think of Stephen Bachop (not that good) and Lima Sopoaga (still relatively untested).

Have Ireland got into the Island Poaching, Project Player game yet?


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You kidding? Ireland are the kings of Project Players. They're the main country where the union is actually involved with finding and recruiting them.

Puja

We don't muck around with islanders though. Straight to Springboks and Kiwis.

[Lizard]

In B4 someone (correctly) points out that Maori are Polynesian.

I was running through a "Pacific Island Heritage" All Blacks XV in my head and apart from locks really only struggled with a decent 10. I could only think of Stephen Bachop (not that good) and Lima Sopoaga (still relatively untested).

Have Ireland got into the Island Poaching, Project Player game yet?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

You kidding? Ireland are the kings of Project Players. They're the main country where the union is actually involved with finding and recruiting them.

Puja

We don't muck around with islanders though. Straight to Springboks and Kiwis.

That's what I was wondering.


Racists.

[cashead]

So anyway, it's now clear that Elliot Dixon, Rieko Ioane, Tawera Kerr-Barlow and Damian McKenzie will not be playing for the All Blacks in this test. Hansen's made them available for the Maori All Blacks team that will play the USA before the All Blacks as a curtain-raiser.

[hellovating]

Irish Project XV, future players in ()

1. ah you nz
2. strauss sa, herring sa, (mccartney nz), (marshall nz)
3. white nz, (herbst sa)
4. roux sa
5. (triggs nz) (kleyn sa)
6. diack sa
7. (heenan nz)
8. stander sa
9. (gibson park nz) (griesal sa)
10. (bleyendaal nz)
11. poolman sa
12. (aki nz)
13. payne nz
14.
15. ludik sa

[hellovating]

Should be a bit of fun.

TAB has Ireland at $9, NZ $1.04. Harsh but closer than they had Aussie for Bled III.

We are without both Retallick and Whitelock for the first time in yonks. But Tuipulotu and Romano are no slobs.

I can't say I'm totally up to speed with who will be turning out in green, but frankly it probably doesn't matter. They haven't won in 110 years of trying and I can't see that changing against the current techno-flow sci-fi rugby the All Blacks are playing.

So yeah, complacency totally kicking in meaning we will probably get a fright and have to nick it with a try after the hooter.

could be close for a while in Dublin, but won't be in Chicago

Irish XV will be something like

1. Mcgrath / Healy
2. Best (c)
3. Furlong
4. Toner
5. Dillane / Ryan
6. Stander
7. Van der flier / Murphy
8. Heaslip
9. Murray
10. Sexton
11. Trimble
12. Henshaw
13. Ringrose
14. Zebo
15. Payne

[Lizard]

So anyway, it's now clear that Elliot Dixon, Rieko Ioane, Tawera Kerr-Barlow and Damian McKenzie will not be playing for the All Blacks in this test. Hansen's made them available for the Maori All Blacks team that will play the USA before the All Blacks as a curtain-raiser.

That's actually a good way to keep your non-playing squad members match fit. It makes more sense than a mid-week fixture as you get proper recovery time.

You might be a bit annoyed if you were a non-playing non-Maori and weren't getting a chance to push for a place. But I suspect that Shag & co will already know what their XXIIIs will be for each game (along with injury contingency plans).

[scuzzaman]

Savea and Naholo starting on the wings. Instead of the hammer and the knife, they're going with two hammers. fun fun fun

[morepork]

Kaino in at lock.

[Lizard]

Kaino in at lock.

I don't like that. There's proper lock cover there, why not use it?

[cashead]

So here's the team, because the last two people to post in this thread are vague bastards.

1. Joe Moody
2. Dane Coles
3. Owen Franks
4. Patrick Tuipulotu
5. Jerome Kaino
6. Liam Squire
7. Sam Cane
8. Kieran Read (C)
9. Aaron Smith
10. Beauden Barrett
11. Julian Savea
12. Ryan Crotty
13. George Moala
14. Waisake Naholo
15. Ben Smith

16. Codie Taylor
17. Ofa Tu'ungafasi
18. Charlie Faumuina
19. Scott Barrett
20. Ardie Savea
21. TJ Perenara
22. Aaron Cruden
23. Malakai Fekitoa

[hellovating]

Ireland (v New Zealand):

15. Rob Kearney
14. Andrew Trimble
13. Jared Payne
12. Robbie Henshaw
11. Simon Zebo
10. Johnny Sexton
9. Conor Murray

1. Jack McGrath
2. Rory Best
3. Tadhg Furlong
4. Donnacha Ryan
5. Devin Toner
6. CJ Stander
7. Jordi Murphy
8. Jamie Heaslip

Replacements:

16. Sean Cronin
17. Cian Healy
18. Finlay Bealham
19. Ultan Dillane
20. Josh van der Flier
21. Kieran Marmion
22. Joey Carbery
23. Garry Ringrose


kearney starting meaning payne at 13 and ringrose on the bench is pretty crap. otherwise, pretty much as expected.

[Spy]

Bit of a patchwork side. We'll be throwing to Read even more than usual, and may be more vulnerable in the scrums. Moala back in the midfield after a long layoff, and 2 big strike wingers. It's going to be interesting.

First hit-out for Ireland this year, so hopefully some rust on their side will off-set the unfamiliar combinations on ours.

[zer0]

How good an out of hand kicker is Sexton vis-à-vis Biggar? If he compares favourably, then we're f*cked with those wingers. This is further compounded by the fact that our back three reserve is starting at first five.

[Spy]

Worries me a bit too, but Savea particularly and even Naholo are pretty good under the high ball. Bet Ireland give Naholo plenty of testers though, so he's going to need to be up to it. Not much of a kicking game between them, of course.

Pretty sure you're right, in that we'll see Barrett switch to FB and Smith replace the worst performing wing at some point.

[cashead]

I wonder if Hansen is half-expecting Ireland to be a bit patchy and rusty, since it'll be their first game together this season. Most teams usually are, and I suspect the one in a couple of weeks will be the one that the ABs will be targeting.

[canta_brian]

What marketing genius scheduled this during the world series?

Especially as we no longer have the goat.

[Silvercloud]

Any ideas on a live feed in the UK for the Maori and AB games? We don't have BT sports.

[canta_brian]

Any ideas on a live feed in the UK for the Maori and AB games? We don't have BT sports.

I will be searching kodi on the day. All a bit hit and miss but I can usually find something sc.

[J Dory]

Kodi will have it for sure, if it's on BT, sports devil, sports tv, mamahd.com should be a starter.

[jared_7]

Any ideas on a live feed in the UK for the Maori and AB games? We don't have BT sports.

I will be searching kodi on the day. All a bit hit and miss but I can usually find something sc.

The idea of Kodi is great but I have a 1gbps fibre optic connection directly to my house and basically no streams ever work or are so jumpy its pointless watching. If I find a stream on the interwebs like cricfree they work straight away (albeit low quality, but at least not jumpy).

Am I doing something wrong? I have it on a fire stick BTW

[J Dory]

Works great for me, quality of streams vary. I used to have issues with my old TV box, since I upgraded that, it's been great. Not sure how good firestick is, but changing the box solved it for me. Install it on your pc, if it runs good there, it's probably the firestick.

[Spiffy]

I wonder if Hansen is half-expecting Ireland to be a bit patchy and rusty, since it'll be their first game together this season. Most teams usually are, and I suspect the one in a couple of weeks will be the one that the ABs will be targeting.

I am sure he is more than half expecting it. Ireland WILL be rusty. Throw in thier conservative selection, overall lack of pace and the awful Kearney at FB, and it's difficult to see anything other than a bit of a training romp for the ABs here. Ireland's only hope is to knock over a few penalties if Sexton is in kicking form. I'd love to be wrong.

[cashead]

Oh, and because it came up earlier, I believe Tuipulotu and Kaino are the first ever Pasifika locking partnership ever with the All Blacks. I did a look through the players, and All Black locks of Pacific Island origin are surprisingly rare. Along with the ones mentioned by Liz earlier in the thread, there's also Charlie Riechelmann (Tongan) and that's about it - and Ross Filipo was also Maori as well, having played for the Maori All Blacks, back when they were called the NZ Maori.

[cashead]

I wonder if Hansen is half-expecting Ireland to be a bit patchy and rusty, since it'll be their first game together this season. Most teams usually are, and I suspect the one in a couple of weeks will be the one that the ABs will be targeting.

I am sure he is more than half expecting it. Ireland WILL be rusty. Throw in thier conservative selection, overall lack of pace and the awful Kearney at FB, and it's difficult to see anything other than a bit of a training romp for the ABs here. Ireland's only hope is to knock over a few penalties if Sexton is in kicking form. I'd love to be wrong.

How have Stander and Murphy been playing? I'd imagine most teams would miss players of O'Mahony and O'Brien's calibre.