All Blacks v Ireland II

No Quarter

Mystique is Aura's ugly sister. No big loss there.

Rapido

@Rapido said in Ireland II:

BBBR was the worst player on the field in Rome, including the Italians.

It's a risk.

Will the captain hindsights who criticsed the selection of A Smith and Cane in Chicago be getting their doubts out there in advance this week re: Whitelock and Retallick?

Why do you think they threw him out there for half a game when he wasn't needed? BBBR is always a touch quiet on returning to play after a break. He needed a hit out.

BBBR is awesome. If he has an off game then so be it but there is no way I wouldn't select him.

Yeah so would I, tbh. The difference being he has actually played some minutes. But it should be acknowledged he was awful and there is risk selecting him.

Whitelock shouldn't be in the 23 IMO.

ACT Crusader

@RoninWC @Crucial the ABs have been trying to shake the arrogant tag, only selecting 22 won't help that....

Crucial

@ACT-Crusader said in Ireland II:

@RoninWC @Crucial the ABs have been trying to shake the arrogant tag, only selecting 22 won't help that....

What year are we in again? Where are those pills?

MN5

@Mokey said in Ireland II:

@jegga said in Ireland II:

Mystiques been banished, no word on aura though. Btw these totally sound like strippers names.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/rugby/international/86506178/ireland-lock-devin-toner-says-theyve-banished-the-mystique-the-all-blacks-had

That is a shit headline considering the measured words Toner actually says - that the AB's had an off day, there were a lot of uncharacteristic mistakes from them in Chicago, they will be a different beast this week, hopefully it removes the mystique a little.

Fuck off, Stuff.

He's actually pretty humble in a "aw shucks, we actually beat them!" kind of way and ya can't help but be happy for him on some level......

But no, Stuff headlines would have you believe the big fella is running through the streets of Dublin chanting about the mighty beast they've slain and that Ireland are now the best Rugby team that's ever played Rugby in the history of all Rugby.

RoninWC

@RoninWC said in Ireland II:

My own $0.02 worth on the team selection:

W. Crockett

D. Coles

O. Franks

B. Retallick

S. Whitelock

J. Kaino

S. Cane

K Read

A. Smith

B. Barrett

J. Savea

A. Lienart-Brown

M. Fekitoa

I. Dagg

B. Smith

Reserves
16. C. Taylor
17. J. Moody
18. C. Faumuina
19. L. Squire
20. A. Savea
21. T. Perenara
22. L. Sopoaga

Personally this is my team. I think Smith and Barrett need to start as they are our clear No. 1's in their respective positions.
I would rather see Sopoaga on the bench as I think he brings a steady hand whereas I don't think Cruden really offers anything off the bench.

And yes, I've gone for speed off the bench with both Squire and Ardie.

@ACT-Crusader
Thank you for pointing out my arrogance and although I'm pretty sure we can beat the Irish with 22, I think I'll go for the full allotment of 23 just to make sure

Therefore, with great fanfare I shall announce my No. 23

S. Taminivalu (or R. Crotty if he's available but unsure of the injury status) just thinking that R. Ioane is just a little young for this but there isn't much between Seta and Rieko.

@Crucial over to you now...

p.s. Actually after a day or two of contemplation, I'm wavering in my selection of Squire and am leaning towards going with a replacement 2nd rower and in that case I would go with big Patrick.

mariner4life

@No-Quarter said in Ireland II:

Mystique is Aura's ugly sister. No big loss there.

ahem

alt text

Rangi

I think I might be onto something. While we were in Chicago I think Aura might have made a trip to London. I came across an article in which Mike Brown said that England are trying to build an Aura !

And as you can see in Mariner's post, Mystique is obviously a tart and totally distracted the boys.

Bloody Eddie Jones is always gobbing off about not copying the ABs but here he is trying to pinch our Aura. Now we know why Toner referred to her as Mystique but the question is how did he know it was Mystique and we didn't.

Keeping track of these minxes is a job and a half.

mariner4life

Mystique is her stage name

No Quarter

@mariner4life touché

taniwharugby

@Rapido if he is fit, no way they leave him out.

Rangi

So Mariner does that mean Toner met her in a club in Chicago in game week.
Did Schmidt know about this ?

Bovidae

@RoninWC I think they'll select Naholo on the bench and use Smith as the back-up centre. They've done that earlier this season.

As for the starting XV, the team @Crucial listed looks right to me, provided Whitelock is good to go. If Whitelock isn't 100% there is no reason to put him on the bench - so Pat T starts. Squire was woeful on Chicago so would not make my 23 on form. Barrett in the reserves as insurance for BBBR and to provide specialist cover.

jegga

I had a look at the comments on that mystique article and mostly they were giving stuff a bollocking for talking crap, also I see Pot Hale was in there stirring a little bit too.

Derm McCrum

@jegga said in Ireland II:

I had a look at the comments on that mystique article and mostly they were giving stuff a bollocking for talking crap, also I see Pot Hale was in there stirring a little bit too.

kiwiinmelb

Im actually liking this , its reminding me of when we lose the first Bledisloe , and we are waiting for the second game ,

Has a similar vibe

Unite

@kiwiinmelb said in Ireland II:

Im actually liking this , its reminding me of when we lose the first Bledisloe , and we are waiting for the second game ,

Has a similar vibe

Only issue is most of those second games were at Eden Park...or at the very least in NZ...

mariner4life

And we were only playing Australia

mooshld

For once I would like us to get a good start. We seem to keep our powder dry until the second half. But it would be great to see us go out and just start smashing them with some hard straight running.

raznomore

We're stuffed. Ratfuck reckons Read is passed his useby.

Woe is us....

ABs by plenty

The Silver Fern

All Blacks v Ireland II