2 changes for Kiwis

[East Coast Tiger]

Pritchard dropped? WTF? and Tupou

Brent Webb
Shontayne Hape
Iosia Soliola
Steve Matai
Manu Vatuvei
Nigel Vagana
Stacey Jones
Ruben Wiki ©
Dene Halatau
Roy Asotasi
David Kidwell
Tony Puletua
Simon Mannering
Jerome Ropati
Nathan Cayless
Adam Blair
David Fa’alogo

The New Zealand ‘A’ team to play an Australian Invitational side in the curtain raiser to the test is as follows:

Krisnan Inu
Cooper Vuna
Sam Perrett
Shaun Kenny-Dowall
Tame Tupou
Ben Roberts
Lance Hohaia (Vice Captain)
Evarn Tuimavave
Rangi Chase
Sam Rapira
Epalahame Lauaki
Frank Pritchard
Awen Guttenbeil (Captain)
Karl McNicol
Bronson Harrison
Greg Eastwood
Sonny Fai
Terence Seu Seu

 

[yobbo84]

Well done to Fa'alogo getting his spot back, well deserved!

 

[Jono078]

Cant understand dropping Pritchard :?

Also well done to Seu Seu on making the reserve team

 

[langpark]

No Jason Cayless?

 

[East Coast Tiger]

No Jason Cayless?

I think it's a bit tough to ask a bloke to travel around the world and play a Test a week after winning the grand final. I expect Cayless and Motu Tony will be given a chance to rest before being picked in the side for game 3.

 

[Pierced Soul]

surely the kwii's have a better 5/8 than vagana. he's barely been up to first grade standard in the past few years let alone a playmaker for the kiwi's

 

[Manu Vatuvei]

Anyone know much about Terence SeuSeu? I thought he was terrific in the Flegg GF. Is he actually from NZ or another of those with more tenuous links?

 

[lockyno1]

Why is Vagana still at 5/8!

 

[Phillips]

Vagana, once again is a pathetic selection

 

[Murphdogg1]

Vagana is always gunna be one of the first picked under Mclennan - if hes available he gets picked - others in this boat include Wiki, Jones and Kidwell.

Unfortunately at this stage i dont see Tupou as up to international standard -i like the selection of Hape on the wing - hes got a fair bit of experience now which should serve young Soliola well

i can see why Mclennan isn't making too many changes - alot of these blokes haven't had a lot of footy recently so its a bit hard to say 'so and so should get dropped' off one bad match - for example Puletua. With all his experience he should improve dramatically this weekend. I like the selection of Fa'alogo on the bench - he has been one of the few Kiwis in good form all season and is a good mix between a grafter and a ball player.

Gee that NZ A side would be fun to watch - lots of talent there - will be of interest to hear how that halves combo gets on.

 

[KiWi_BoI_15]

i think mannering could of been swapped for hape at lock! i think hapes played there before so he should be good there.

 

[Sanchez]

surprised guttenbiel isnt getting a run in place of either cayless or puletua

 

[Martli]

I can't believe puletua was there and pritchard was dropped...

Pritchard was in the thick of it and played heaps of the game while i didn't even know if puletua was on half the time....

 

[dimitri]

Surely Any of these would be better than Vagana:

R Paul
H Paul
J Ropati
J Smith

 

[nadera78]

Seems to be a general consensus on here, which is quite rare. Agree about Tupou, he really needs to do some work on his handling skills, he has everything else you want from a winger. And again,suprised about Puletua retaining his place, I thought he was completely non-existant on saturday.

Oh well, we'll soon see.

 

[aqua_duck]

Terrence is from kurri kurri I think

 

[St.Seahawksl]

No Jason Cayless?

I think it's a bit tough to ask a bloke to travel around the world and play a Test a week after winning the grand final. I expect Cayless and Motu Tony will be given a chance to rest before being picked in the side for game 3.


Jason Cayless is out, he hurt his shoulder in the last minute of the GF for Saints. He will likely miss all the Tri-Nations series.

 

[The Observer]

The NZ A team looks very good, it'd be interesting to see how they play.

The Kiwis need to improve their playmaking options dramatically this week. Jones ' kicking for territory was cut down dramatically by pressure from Aussie chasers, and Webb wasn't used enough as an alternate kicker. Furthermore, Webb didn't really fulfil the 6 in attack role well this time.

If the Webb/Vagana tactic doesn't work again this week, and the Kiwis lose, I'd suggest they make a radical change in the halves.
1) Move Vagana out of the halves (his best work was actually at dummy half, or out of team),
2) put Jones at 6 - he started his FG career there outside Greg Alexander, did it for a time outside Ngamu, and practically played the role outside John Simon. This may sound crazy, but Jones is best when he play his own game, run when he wants, concentrate on short and chip kicks, and not have to do everything. In his early Kiwi days, Ridge and Henry Paul took a lot of responsibility off him for kicking and organising.

3) Put Lance at 7. Its his best position, it would bring in another playmaker and a true organiser. Furthermore, the Stacey 6, Lance 7 option was Daniel Anderson's plan.

I don't see the Webb/Vagana/Jones combo overcoming Hunt/Lockyer/Thurston this series,

 

[Murphdogg1]

The NZ A team looks very good, it'd be interesting to see how they play.

The Kiwis need to improve their playmaking options dramatically this week. Jones ' kicking for territory was cut down dramatically by pressure from Aussie chasers, and Webb wasn't used enough as an alternate kicker. Furthermore, Webb didn't really fulfil the 6 in attack role well this time.

If the Webb/Vagana tactic doesn't work again this week, and the Kiwis lose, I'd suggest they make a radical change in the halves.
1) Move Vagana out of the halves (his best work was actually at dummy half, or out of team),
2) put Jones at 6 - he started his FG career there outside Greg Alexander, did it for a time outside Ngamu, and practically played the role outside John Simon. This may sound crazy, but Jones is best when he play his own game, run when he wants, concentrate on short and chip kicks, and not have to do everything. In his early Kiwi days, Ridge and Henry Paul took a lot of responsibility off him for kicking and organising.

3) Put Lance at 7. Its his best position, it would bring in another playmaker and a true organiser. Furthermore, the Stacey 6, Lance 7 option was Daniel Anderson's plan.

I don't see the Webb/Vagana/Jones combo overcoming Hunt/Lockyer/Thurston this series,

This would be my general set up

1- Webb
2- Hape
3 - Vagana
4 - Matai
5 - Vatuvei
6 - Ropati
7 - Jones

9 - Hohaia

13 - Halatau

14 - Fein



Maybe switch Vagana with Matai to make sure both centre-winger combo have some experience

 

[Kurt Angle]

I never looked at it that way before Observer, but yeah I think you're right.

It's a pity the way injuries worked out for NZ this year, Vagana is a hack, Jones looked way off the pace, I don't know if its 16 weeks out and playing in ESL, or age has just caught up.

In the future, I do like to look of a:

6. B Marshall
7. J Smith

....Halve combination.