Bledisloe III - Voting age!

[cashead]

All Blacks named this morning. Only 1 change to the starting XV from the team that duffed up the Boks, and a couple on the bench, where there have been some notable returns. Savea takes the 11 jersey back from Naholo, and both Fekitoa and Cruden return to the All Blacks, on to the bench.

1. Joe Moody
2. Dane Coles
3. Owen Franks
4. Brodie Retallick
5. Sam Whitelock
6. Jerome Kaino
7. Matt Todd
8. Kieran Read (C)
9. TJ Perenara
10. Beauden Barrett
11. Julian Savea
12. Ryan Crotty
13. Anton Lienert-Brown
14. Israel Dagg
15. Ben Smith

16. Codie Taylor
17. Wyatt Crockett
18. Charlie Faumuina
19. Liam Squire
20. Ardie Savea
21. Tawera Kerr-Barlow
22. Aaron Cruden
23. Malakai Fekitoa


Cheika's named a squad. The team will be named from this lot.

Hookers
James Hanson
Tolu Latu
Stephen Moore

Props
Allan Alaalatoa
Sekope Kepu
Tom Robertson
Scott Sio
James Slipper

Locks
Rory Arnold
Adam Coleman
Kane Douglas
Dean Mumm
Rob Simmons
Will Skelton

Loose Forwards
Scott Fardy
Michael Hooper
Sean McMahon
David Pocock
Lopeti Timani

Halfbacks
Nick Frisby
Nick Phipps

Five-Eighths
Quade Cooper
Bernard Foley

Centres
Samu Kerevi
Tevita Kuridrani
Sefanaia Naivalu

Back Three
Israel Folau
Dane Haylett-Petty
Luke Morahan
Henry Speight

Utility Back
Reece Hodge

[cashead]

So what do you do if you're Cheika? Do you pick something completely different? Or do you have another go at what seems like a Sisyphean labour of trying to beat the All Blacks with the same bunch that got their shit ruined in Sydney and Wellington?

There are some good players there, but fuck me, it's like "the fuckin' state of your team, mate."

[Lizard]

Is this his November tour squad as well?


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[cashead]

Is this his November tour squad as well?


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Just for the Bledisloe Cup, I believe. That said, it'll probably be the basis for his November tour squad as well.

[jared_7]

Smith stood down for the game. Good chance again for the backups.

[morepork]

Wonder if they'll go for the "Street Justice 3000" game plan?

TJ will hook straight into this in the absence of the toilet trader.

[cashead]

This is probably a prime test to tinker with. I'd probably bench Kaino and go with either Dixon or Squire at 6, and maybe Sopoaga at 10 with Barrett on the bench.

And then I'd give the pack a full licence to troll the shit out of Coleman, who will probably start, and Robertson if he's playing. Coleman is a hotheaded dunce and Robertson has looked too fired up in his appearances. Just keep prodding at them until they explode and do something stupid to get binned/sent off.

[zer0]

Given that it's the 18th match in the sequence, I'm more inclined to believe that this match will effectively be treated as a RWC knockout match (i.e. no clowning around). It also presents an opportunity to again demoralise Australia ahead of their grand slam EOYT. Roll out the 1st XV and aim to repeat the hammering dished out in Durban.

[Lizard]

Yeah I can't see them fucking about with this squad when we've got a relatively light schedule in November (Ire x2, Fra, Ita).

This whole "tier 1" record is bullshit though, when the teams beaten include some very non-tier 1 sides.


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[zer0]

The first XV is indeed being wheeled out.

1. Joe Moody
2. Dane Coles
3. Owen Franks
4. Brodie Retallick
5. Samuel Whitelock
6. Jerome Kaino
7. Matt Todd
8. Kieran Read (C)
9. TJ Perenara
10. Beauden Barrett
11. Julian Savea
12. Ryan Crotty
13. Anton Lienert-Brown
14. Israel Dagg
15. Ben Smith

16. Codie Taylor
17. Wyatt Crockett
18. Charlie Faumuina
19. Liam Squire
20. Ardie Savea
21. Tawera Kerr-Barlow
22. Aaron Cruden
23. Malakai Fekitoa

http://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/rugby/all- ... -wallabies

[Lizard]

Wallabies:
15. Israel Folau
14. Dane Haylett-Petty
13. Samu Kerevi
12. Reece Hodge
11. Henry Speight
10. Bernard Foley
9. Nick Phipps
8. Lopeti Timani
7. Michael Hooper
6. Dean Mumm
5. Adam Coleman
4. Rory Arnold
3. Sekope Kepu
2. Stephen Moore (c)
1. Scott Sio.

Reserves: James Hanson, Tom Robertson, Allan Ala'alatoa, Rob Simmons, David Pocock, Nick Frisby, Quade Cooper, Sefa Naivalu.

[Lizard]

For the record, in the starting XVs, the All Blacks have 7 of the same forwards as the RWC final (all but McCaw) but 5 new backs (only Savea and B.Smith survive). The Wallabies also have 5 new backs since the RWC final but have also changed half their forwards (although none of the front row).

[Mr Mwenda]

Is Genia injured? Phipps is a disappointing player to see at the top level.

[zer0]

Is Genia injured? Phipps is a disappointing player to see at the top level.

The match is outside the test window, so he's back with his French club.

[Len]

Need Beauden to kick these conversions really....

[Len]

Australian brain fart lol

[Len]

FFS Barrett. Even I'd have nailed that.

[zer0]

Pretty poor first half performance. Relatively passive defence and pushing far too many passes whenever they do manage to get a hold of the ball (even if I did come off for the first try). Definitely not the performance I was expecting, given then context. A proper half time bollocking should be on the cards.

EDIT: And Barrett's goal-kicking seems to be getting worse, somehow.

[zer0]

Still just going sideways and backwards. Read really needs to take control here and show us what he's made of as a captain.

[jared_7]

Bet they're checking Savea being pushed

[jared_7]

Cheika is losing his sh*t. I think he clearly altered his line to knock Savea out of his way, but I also don't believe Savea would have got to Speight. So I can see both sides.

Stupid from the Australian player.

[jared_7]

Why didn't Coles dive earlier?!

[jared_7]

Unlucky Wallabies, 1 second after the advantage goes Speight knocks it on and the ABs score

[jared_7]

No one else here?!

[zer0]

I'm no scrum expert, but I've been perplexed by some of the scrum penalties. The AB's seem to be getting penalised despite clearly (to my untrained eye, anyway) having the the stronger of the two scrums (as evident by the Wallabies constantly struggling to hook their own ball)?