All Blacks v France- 2nd test Wellington

[Meth]

Changes necessary. This is a must win game for the sake of respectability.

What changes would you make?

For me- Kaino for Thompson, Crockett for Afoa

A bunch of positional changes necessary however-

McAllister ahead of Nonu- Nonu's defense was too suspect.

Donald stays simply because we are short of options. Need Carter back asap.

Weepu starts ahead of Cowan

Kaino to start ahead of Messam, Latimer to openside

Mealamu to start

15- Mills Muliaina
14- Cory Jane
13- Isaia Toeava
12- Luke McAllister
11- Joe Rokocoko
10- Stephen Donald
9- Piri Weepu
8- Jerome Kaino
7- Tanerau Latimer
6- Kieran Reid
5- Brad Thorn
4- Isaac Ross
3- Neemia Tialata
2- Kevin Mealamu
1- Tony Woodcock

Res- Crockett, Evans, Liam Messam, Hore/De Malmanche, Nonu, Cowan, Masanga

 

[Te Kaha]

Drop Nonu??? you are kidding... he is the most damaging runner in the whole team!! it wasnt him who missed the tackles that led to the tries and it was Toeava who was droping the ball all night... the only ball Nonu dropped was the crap pass he got from messam around his ankles ... if you are gonna bring in mcallister at 12 drop toeava and move nonu out one.

 

[shiznit]

15 Mulliaina
14 Jane
13 Smith
12 Nonu
11 Rocokoko
10 McAllister
9 Weepu
8 Messam
7 Lattimer
6 Reid
5 Thorn
4 Ross
3 Tialata
2 Hore
1 Woodcock

16 Mealamu
17 Crockett
18 Evans
19 Thompson
20 Toeava
21 Cowan
22 Donald

id keep nearly the same pack... they made the mess... they can fix it.. the only difference being bringing in a genuine openside flanker into the side in latimer. McAllister to 10... with Weepu on at halfback... hes abit more robust and can give better ball to his outsides... then id bring Smith back into to partner Nonu which is pretty much understandable.

 

[Meth]

Drop Nonu??? you are kidding... he is the most damaging runner in the whole team!! it wasnt him who missed the tackles that led to the tries and it was Toeava who was droping the ball all night... the only ball Nonu dropped was the crap pass he got from messam around his ankles ... if you are gonna bring in mcallister at 12 drop toeava and move nonu out one.

Nonu is a damaging runner and that is his saving grace, usually- but he was, and is terrible on defense.

Ideally, I'd like Smith back at centre, and would even be keen for Toeava to go back to fullback and Muliaina to centre- either way, our midfield needs fixing.

 

[Butters]

McAllister for Donald and Smith for Toeava. That is all.

 

[Meth]

1. Tony Woodcock
2. Keven Mealamu- starts
3. Neemia Tialata
4. Brad Thorn
5. Isaac Ross
6. Jerome Kaino- replaces Messam
7. Tanerau Latimer- starts
8. Kieran Read- moves to #8
9. Jimmy Cowan
10. Stephen Donald
11. Josevata Rokocoko
12. Ma'a Nonu
13. Conrad Smith- starts, replacing Masaga
14. Cory Jane
15. Mils Muliaina - captain

Reserves:
16. Aled de Malmanche- replaces Hore
17. John Afoa
18. Bryn Evans
19. George Whitelock- replaces Thompson
20. Piri Weepu
21. Luke McAlister
22. Isaia Toeava

So, Messam and Masaga dropped. Thompson and Hore replaced on account of injury.

Good to see Smith back- should help.

Not happy that Weepu doesn't get a start

 

[African Monkey]

Altohugh he is very good around the field, Aled De Malmanche's throwing leaves a lot to be desired. I don't know about his selection.

 

[Meth]

Mealamu, Thorn and Nonu impressive

Weepu > Cowan

Donald is a myth

 

[shiznit]

that was a better performance from tonight. they were far more physical and really fronted up in the forwards.

we really should have won by 10-15 pts given our dominance. but of course with steven donald at 10 we were rudderless...

Donald just doesn't provide us with the direction we need at 10... hes just sooo poor...

i heard a good analogy from grant fox about him...

the all blacks are like a Ferrari F1 car... when Dan Carter is at 10 its like Micheal Schumacher driving it... when Steven Donald is at 10 its like Greg Murphy is driving... sure Murph is a competent driver at V8 level.. but hes nowhere near the class to be behind the wheel of an awesome machine like that.

 

[African Monkey]

That was the best game I've seen from Mealamu in a while and I can't disagree with what has been said about Steven Donald.

 

[Te Kaha]

What is it with chiefs players hamstringing the AB's??? first messam then Donald!!! ... we were calling for donalds head aftr 25 minutes from the stands!!! just as well we won.

 

[Rovelli]

We lost the Dave Gallaher Shield by a point, but I'd take a test victory.

We just gotta realise that we did field a somewhat depleted side.

Was a tough evening for Donald, but kicking out on the full from a restart, missing kicks from in-front, you can't all put that down to the wind factor.

We also had opportunities to win by a larger margin but failed to capitalise; Jane, Rokocoko.

Alas, we move onto Italy next week. Hopefully we keep the combinations together, no rotation allowed. We can't 'rotate' anymore.

 

[kia ora storm]

Donald is sh&t...two tests and too many errors this season.

 

[GB!]

frogs take the trophy home!
sh*t from NZ