All Blacks 2025
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@SouthernMann said in All Blacks & All Blacks XV EOYT Squads 2025:
I think one of Lasaqa and Casey will make it. JJ dropped a him around Casey saying it would be a toss up between the likes of him and someone established like Blackadder.
With the midfield. The mix of Lam, MacLeod, Havili and Ennor are guys who have a been investigated and tried without a lot of success.
Cooper Roberts is playing his way into a team like this. Higgins should be there if available. Just looks at the balance between who is ready and who has prospects worth checking out.
Reaching myth and legend levels…..
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@SouthernMann said in All Blacks & All Blacks XV EOYT Squads 2025:
I think one of Lasaqa and Casey will make it. JJ dropped a him around Casey saying it would be a toss up between the likes of him and someone established like Blackadder.
With the midfield. The mix of Lam, MacLeod, Havili and Ennor are guys who have a been investigated and tried without a lot of success.
Cooper Roberts is playing his way into a team like this. Higgins should be there if available. Just looks at the balance between who is ready and who has prospects worth checking out.
Lam is worth persevering with, has only played one match for the AB XV.
Couldn't agree more about the other three. The fact any of them are mentioned as AB options is various degrees of laughable.
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@MN5 said in All Blacks & All Blacks XV EOYT Squads 2025:
@SouthernMann said in All Blacks & All Blacks XV EOYT Squads 2025:
I think one of Lasaqa and Casey will make it. JJ dropped a him around Casey saying it would be a toss up between the likes of him and someone established like Blackadder.
With the midfield. The mix of Lam, MacLeod, Havili and Ennor are guys who have a been investigated and tried without a lot of success.
Cooper Roberts is playing his way into a team like this. Higgins should be there if available. Just looks at the balance between who is ready and who has prospects worth checking out.
Lam is worth persevering with, has only played one match for the AB XV.
Couldn't agree more about the other three. The fact any of them are mentioned as AB options is various degrees of laughable.
I thought Lam played well for AB XV?
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If you use the 2024 AB XV squad as a starting point you would expect Chay Fihaki to be one of the outside backs. Bailyn Sullivan has been the best of the Waikato backs and should be one of the midfielders. He can play on the wing too.
I wouldn't be selecting Eklund due to his age. Another player from the 2024 squad not mentioned is Caleb Delaney.
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@nostrildamus said in All Blacks & All Blacks XV EOYT Squads 2025:
@MN5 said in All Blacks & All Blacks XV EOYT Squads 2025:
@SouthernMann said in All Blacks & All Blacks XV EOYT Squads 2025:
I think one of Lasaqa and Casey will make it. JJ dropped a him around Casey saying it would be a toss up between the likes of him and someone established like Blackadder.
With the midfield. The mix of Lam, MacLeod, Havili and Ennor are guys who have a been investigated and tried without a lot of success.
Cooper Roberts is playing his way into a team like this. Higgins should be there if available. Just looks at the balance between who is ready and who has prospects worth checking out.
Lam is worth persevering with, has only played one match for the AB XV.
Couldn't agree more about the other three. The fact any of them are mentioned as AB options is various degrees of laughable.
I thought Lam played well for AB XV?
Didn't see him but my point is the other three have all been found wanting.
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CLW is a workhorse. Does the small stuff. Cares about the detail. Support play excellent. He’s Rodders without the dreads.
In terms of squad makeup I guess they saw him as a backup #8 that starts or not in the 23. And given they see Sititi in that role they set him aside once Wallace was back.
CLW started as a 7 but we have so many examples in recent years at Super and NPC levels of 7s being moved to 6 or 8 to fit in another player, which result in undersized loose trios.
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I think Ennor should be there. I think he should be being viewed as a genuine option at centre for the All Blacks. May lack power, but is an excellent defender and distributor.
McLeod has had a good NPC.
Happy to move past Havili, but remember this is not just a development team, part of it is rewarding the next best players to keep them in the country.
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@frugby said in All Blacks & All Blacks XV EOYT Squads 2025:
All Blacks
Halfbacks:
Cam Roigard
Cortez Ratima
Finlay ChristieAll Blacks XV
Halfbacks:
Dylan Pledger
Kyle Preston
Xavier RoeNot Available: Noah Hotham
Notes: Probably the position with the most intrigue given the emergence of Pledger? I think they resist the urge to rush him as the number three, so the ginger will be retained, but hard to see him playing outside of the Wales test. I would not be surprised if he links up with the ABs top squad after the two XV games. Fakatava deserves to be here on form, and given Joseph is coach, he may sneak in, but otherwise expecting them in the same order they were called up.With Roigard and Ratima fit, I would take Preston on tour with the ABs and have Christie with the AB XV.
Christie can be on emergency call similar to the RC.
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@brodean said in All Blacks & All Blacks XV EOYT Squads 2025:
Is Chay Fihaki injured?
He’s playing today and our goal kicker.
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@Landers92 said in All Blacks 2025:
2 Rugby championships under Razor and we are no further ahead, no RC in the trophy cabinet and if anything, in my opinion we have regressed. Beating the Wallabies and retaining the Bledisloe will take the heat off the coaching group, but it shouldn’t. The record loss(at home too) isn’t talked about enough.
A silver lining is a couple young guys coming through so far this year in Fabian Holland and Leroy Carter, both look the part and look like they could own the jersey. Tupaea stepping up last night is also a step forward for the midfield(still baffled he was subbed, can only assume it was pre determined which does my head in).
End of year tour is going to be extremely interesting, not just in results but with how the public respond if the inconsistencies continue. All Blacks through thick and thin but shit it feels like a weird time to support them right now, something just seems off. Let’s hope it all clicks soon.
Bring on the EOYT.
A big EOYT as well. The can probably afford 1 loss as par. 2, and the pressure is right on. -
One thing we haven't had yet under this current regime is that dominant performance against a top side. We've had a few hard fought victories, but we haven't had that big 80 min Performance where we can say that this current crop has turned a corner......yet.
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Taniela telea maybe? I like what he brings to the table
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@brodean said in All Blacks & All Blacks XV EOYT Squads 2025:
Sullivan has done some good things with Hawkes Bay.
Maybe having mum cooking dinner and dessert every day, not to mention not having to do his own washing, motivates him to play better!
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@family-man said in All Blacks & All Blacks XV EOYT Squads 2025:
Taniela telea maybe? I like what he brings to the table
I think Nogusta said that he isn't very highly rated by the people higher up.
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@brodean said in All Blacks 2025:
@nonpartizan said in All Blacks 2025:
One of the problems with the loosies that I feel would be relatively easy to remedy is reducing Ardies minutes.
I think part of the reason he doesn't give a good 80 minute performance is because he is burned out from over playing. When you play every minute of every match of course your batteries are low.
He needs to be rotated out of the team sometimes he also needs to be subbed. We need less minutes from him but higher quality minutes.
I can guarantee if he was South African he would not be playing as much for Rassie.
This is a great point. Kolisi playing 80 minute games or every game hasn't been a feature for years now.
Yep. And it is wasting what is probably right now our biggest strength: depth. There are people on here who think any of Vaai, Barrett, Holland, Tuipolotu are our best locks. Guys like Jacobson, Papalii, Blackadder are all good, all workers. Kirifi and Savea. Hoskins, Sititi, CLW. Finau, Parker, Vaai.
Ask anyone who to pick and you'll get a different answer, which is because there are not 3 guys who as a combination, have been shown to be head and shoulders better than any other. We aren't in the McCaw, Read, Kaino era anymore. If we were to look at it as 'who can play better than (eg) Savea after he's already played 40 minutes flat out' the answer is lots of them, yet he's still playing 80, and we are still picking Ioane off the bench to cover centre - while Fainga'anuku is on the field - and wing - while Jordan is on the field - and bringing him on by rote for arguably our best back on the night. We are dumb.
