Who will be in the 31-man All Blacks RWC Squad?

[Lizard]

Well, you were pretty close. Franks is a big call, but he was clearly coasting.

He wasn't at his best, but I thought he'd been told take it easy and rest up for the Big Dance. If this is the end of the road for him it's a shame that as a Centurion he couldn't go out on his own terms and be recognised properly. With only 5 props going though, there's a fair chance of an injury call up.

The 5 props going have 97 caps between them, compared to Franks 108, with 50 starts - Franks had 98. Take Moody out and the numbers plummet to 57 caps and 17 starts between the four of them.

This could be the defining mistake of the All Blacks' 2019 world cup.

[Lizard]

Then & Now: Changes between 2011, 2015 and 2019 squads

Only Read, SBW & Whitelock survive from 2011.

From 2015:
Only 11 of 33 players called up in 2015 have survived. (13 of the 33 used in 2011 played in 2015.)
Hookers: Mealamu out, Coltman in.

Props: Of the 7 used in 2015, only Moody remains. WTF happened to Pauliasi Manu? (Crockett, Faumuina, the Franks Cult & Woodcock all gone)

Locks: Romano out, S Barrett and Tuipulotu in.

Loose forwards: Cane & Read the only survivors. Kaino, McCaw, Messam, Vito out.

Half backs: TKB out, Weber in

1st 5/8: Carter, Slade out. Mo’unga in.

Midfield: Only SBW remains. Fekitoa, Nonu, Smith out.

Wings: No survivors. NMS, Naholo, J Savea all gone.

FB: Bender remains.

[Lizard]

Well, you were pretty close. Franks is a big call, but he was clearly coasting.

He wasn't at his best, but I thought he'd been told take it easy and rest up for the Big Dance. If this is the end of the road for him it's a shame that as a Centurion he couldn't go out on his own terms and be recognised properly. With only 5 props going though, there's a fair chance of an injury call up.

The 5 props going have 97 caps between them, compared to Franks 108, with 50 starts - Franks had 98. Take Moody out and the numbers plummet to 57 caps and 17 starts between the four of them.

This could be the defining mistake of the All Blacks' 2019 world cup.

Maybe, but it's also clear that Franks was increasingly becoming a relic of a previous era, as his lack of mobility and ball handling was becoming too big a liability, not to mention his apparent propensity for committing fouls. Mobility in the forwards is a thing that is now at a premium, and at the end of the day, it looks like his continued selection was a luxury that Hansen felt was not worth the cost.


Laumape is probably the only one that was genuinely unlucky to not get selected, since he did everything asked of him.

You might be right about the ball-handling thing. It's amazing what the modern guys can do so perhaps (as a relic myself) I still think of that as the exception rather than the rule. When the Franks Cult first broke the scene, they were an absolute revelation in terms of fitness and conditioning for props, so it's quite sobering to think how far props have come in just a generation. (Of course being allowed to feed the ball into the 2nd row now has probably reduced a bit of the technical scrummaging skill needed for a test prop...)

Yep, Laumape is really unlucky, but 5 doesn't go into 4. This RWC is probably the end of SBW and definitely Crotty, so we will have ALB, Goodhue, Laumape as the 2 starters, one on the bench trio.

[Spy]

It's not just Franks' lack of mobility that's cost him, IMO. He's not been scrummaging that ferociously for some time either. Massive difference between our scrum performance in the first Bledisloe, and the second Bled anchored by Laulala. I'm sure it's no one thing that produced the turn-around, but the swap at 3 was the most obvious to the untutored eye.

Kind of a shame his career may have been ended by being out-scrummed by the Wallabies.

[morepork]

He will never get that test try now.

[Lizard]

You guys always talk about your strike winger and safety winger (or picking one with FB experience) but how does it work? Genuine question as I understand the principal in a way but what if all the good ball gets to your safety winger in space or all the high kicks go to your strike winger? I know your safety wingers can still run etc. but there seems a danger that you end up with a less good finisher than might have been on the end of a key chance.

Good article on the All Blacks full back system here, albeit focusing on 10/15 rather than 14/15 https://www.rugbypass.com/news/why-it-d ... ll-blacks/

[J Dory]

Team to face SA:

15. Beauden Barrett, 14. Sevu Reece, 13. Anton Lienert-Brown, 12. Ryan Crotty, 11. George Bridge, 10. Richie Mo'unga, 9. Aaron Smith, 8. Kieran Read (c), 7. Sam Cane, 6. Ardie Savea, 5. Sam Whitelock, 4. Scott Barrett, 3. Nepo Laulala, 2. Dane Coles, 1. Joe Moody.

Reserves:

16. Codie Taylor, 17. Ofa Tuungafasi, 18. Angus Ta'avao, 19. Patrick Tuipulotu, 20. Shannon Frizell, 21. TJ Perenara, 22. Sonny Bill Williams, 23. Ben Smith.

2 more sleeps.

[Mikey Brown]

That back 3 is real odd. I guess it fits their formula, but seems pretty green? Is Barrett still as useful there as last time out?

[Lizard]

I’m pretty happy with that. I wasn’t convinced that Hansen was going to play Beau’unga in the 1st XV, but clearly he is.

[Lizard]

That back 3 is real odd. I guess it fits their formula, but seems pretty green? Is Barrett still as useful there as last time out?

We tend to go well with rookie wings at World Cups - Kirwan, Lomu, NMS etc

[morepork]

BB is lethal at fullback. I really liked his set up for the last try when all the support told him to fang it through the gap. Everyone was in on the counter. Fucking sweet.

[Renniks]

BB is lethal at fullback. I really liked his set up for the last try when all the support told him to fang it through the gap. Everyone was in on the counter. Fucking sweet.

BB is the fullback that I wished Daly was…

[morepork]

Ardie was packing down at 8 a lot. Has he been doing that in Soup rugby? He definitely gets some go forward from there.

[Mikey Brown]

Ardie was packing down at 8 a lot. Has he been doing that in Soup rugby? He definitely gets some go forward from there.

Seemed like Ardie was doing all the action stuff; taking all attacking balls off 8, chasing the 10 from scrums, defending the blindside on closer defensive scrums. Was very impressed with him. Read wouldn’t be there if he weren’t captain surely?

[Cameo]

Thought Read was quite good actually. Not the flair and explosiveness he once had but good all round performance

[Mikey Brown]

Hmm

[Cameo]

Doubt it, that looks like a yellow card to me but possible he will get a couple of weeks