France v All Blacks, oops I mean Partly Black But Mostly Whites

[Adder]

Serin is awesome.

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[Mr Mwenda]

Serin is awesome.

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Pity about the pass before the scrum . Gorgeous try, mind. Allez!

[Adder]

Serin is awesome.

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Pity about the pass before the scrum . Gorgeous try, mind. Allez!

Wasnt that picamoles?

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[zer0]

I'm very confused with some of these scrum laws. Earlier in the season the AB's were often popping opposition front rowers, yet all they got were continued resets. Just about the first time it happens to the AB's, and it's a penalty. Will have to go digging through the laws, I think.

[Mr Mwenda]

Serin is awesome.

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Pity about the pass before the scrum . Gorgeous try, mind. Allez!

Wasnt that picamoles?

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This is the internet, i'll never admit you were right

[Adder]

Pity about the pass before the scrum . Gorgeous try, mind. Allez!

Wasnt that picamoles?

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This is the internet, i'll never admit you were right

Fair enough

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[dk4]

stupid penalty.

[Len]

Its been a long year. Home time for the lads.

[dk4]

How did Ioane go?

[BlackEyed]

Well the ABs got over the line at last. Geeze they looked tired.

[Mr Mwenda]

Good work nz. Time for beer i guess. Good work france. Looks like a good 6 nations on the horizon

[zer0]

Not the best performance, but who cares. It was the last match of the year. Any win is good enough. Though Read's tactical captaincy still leaves a lot to be desired IMO.

How did Ioane go?

He did make a few good tackles on defence, from what I saw. But he (and the rest of the backs) barely got any ball, so didn't get to feature much on attack. Mostly just short runs into heavy defence.

[J Dory]

Good work nz. Time for beer i guess. Good work france. Looks like a good 6 nations on the horizon

Yep, Ireland, England and France all looking good (in that order for me). Has the makings of a classic 6 nations. Haven't seen much of the other teams (other than ABs spanking of Italy) but no doubt they'll be competitive.

NZ looked like they were at the end of a long season tonight, despite that, managed to get over the line. Well done the ABs, time for a well earned break.

[Silvercloud]

Ground that final victory out for sure - they all look knackered. Safe home lads, you've earned a good long rest!

Thanks guys for the links for the EOYT - With only one match on Sky we've managed to catch them all with your help. Have a great summer!

[tigran]

Great defense from your boys, it shouldn't have been enough but our boys are too raw for now to finish their breaks. Hope that time and experience will tell a different story next occasion.

[scuzzaman]

...

Well, I get to see my Two Giant Wingers gambit again. This time with a decent tight five.

Ben Smith fractured a finger, they're going with experience.

Yeah, it didn't really prove much. AB's looked a fortnight too tired and a yard too late for most of the game. I'd still like to see it tried but not for its own sake; you have to have the right personnel available on the day, and I'm not convinced Naholo is the real deal.

[dk4]

Not sure about Naholo.

Savea might be criticised but he does show up in games and creates space.


Was trying to find the post by cashead after the WC15 but could not find it.
Where do we think NZ is now after 1 year?
Looks like some good new players have been found (ALB, 2nd hooker) but where do we have gaps?
Should we be looking for a number 8 soon?

[scuzzaman]

Not sure about Naholo.

Savea might be criticised but he does show up in games and creates space.


Was trying to find the post by cashead after the WC15 but could not find it.
Where do we think NZ is now after 1 year?
Looks like some good new players have been found (ALB, 2nd hooker) but where do we have gaps?
Should we be looking for a number 8 soon?

Yes, I would think so.

As to where we are, I'd said earlier (before the loss to Ireland) that it was an amazing feat to follow up a RWC double with half a brand new team and still keep beating the best of the rest.

I still don't know if Hansen deliberately played a half-strength side against Ireland, or it was just ordinary psychology after setting a record winning streak, or what, but longer term I believe most people consider a loss now and again as a necessary part of reminding athletes that they can actually lose if they faff about believing their own press.

So I'm cautiously optimistic that the success formula is still working. I doubt there's a team on the planet that could beat the All Blacks twice in a row. IIRC South Africa were the last to do so, in 2009 (?) ...

Tangentially speaking:

The Irish making England-style world-beater noises after narrowly escaping against the worst Australian side in a decade is kind of funny to watch, though.

This weekend's Australia v England game will tell us a bit more about how serious anyone should take Ireland's pretensions, and Australia's "recovery".