All Blacks v Italy
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Why are shoulder charges a penalty only now? That's two that Owens has played advantage for, though I haven't seen any replays.
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Rieko! Try on debut, tidy finish.
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Sopoaga has a great step, using it well today.
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Fuck I love ALB.
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Of the starters ALB, Dagg. Crockett and Naholo have impressed. Sopoaga has added real spark since coming on, and for mine has put himself in consideration to start next week. Todd has shown there is huge value in having a player running excellent support lines. And I have like what I have seen of Rieko in Black.
Possibly still a bit early for DMac, and not sold on Dixon at this level. -
68-10. That'll do. ABs good, Italy very poor, basically in damage control from the get go.
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Fuck I love ALB.
@No-Quarter said in v Italy:
Fuck I love ALB.
I think ALB has shown he can partner virtually anyone in the centres and work well in tandem. Fuck he even made Fekitoa look good today. seemed to give him more time on the ball. In doing this Fekitoa also shows that taking the direct route = hard straight running, pays off. Something we didn't do against Ireland last week.
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Ioane reasonably good on debut. Didn't get the ball enough to really make his mark but he did well when he got a chance and scored a try. Coltman didn't get enough minutes to make an impression.
Dmac a mixed bag & has yet to convince that he is a test player. Barrett on the hand did impress. He had a really good game.
Sops did make good use of the little time he got on the field. Todd also solid as ever, even when playing out of position. Retallick didn't have his best night on the paddock.
Stand-outs: the starting front-row & ALB
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Elliott Dixon has been a flop at international level. Definitely not the long term replacement for kaino.
I'd give Akira Ioane a shot but you can almost make a case for shields or even taufua given what Dixon has brought to the table.
