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Ex-All Blacks share concerns over young forward pack
By Ned Lester
Members of the 2011 World Cup winning All Blacks' side Stephen Donald, Kieran Read and Israel Dagg have all expressed their concerns for the All Blacks starting forward pack in the second Bledisloe test.
A number of potential issues were discussed on SENZ radio, including experience, personnel and the line-out.
However, the flip side of every All Blacks coin is opportunity and there's plenty of that going for the younger forwards this weekend, with starting spots moving forward still not "solidified" according to Read.
Stephen Donald's primary concern was how the set piece would function with a younger pack.
“The Australian line-out will, I think, function better," Donald said. "It will open up more options to them.
“They will be able to get more back ball if they want it, if that’s of interest … so that becomes a lot more of an option for them.”
Australia last week showed the attacking prowess of their forwards, with Pete Samu and Rob Valentini making dangerous runs with ball in hand and the former linking with in form winger Marika Koroibete for a try down the left hand sideline.
Prior to the first Bledisloe test, pundits were anticipating the Wallabies roaming wingers to play more of a role in the Australians' attack, however both Koroibete and Tom Wright saw limited opportunities, something the Wallabies may be able to change with a stronger set piece.
Read had a more broad view on the selections, but emphasised a lack of in-form players.
“It’s an interesting one actually, looking back, I don’t think it looks as good as what it was last week,” Read said.
“In saying that, I think there’s opportunities for guys (because) we’re just seeing in the All Blacks’ game at the moment … no one’s really solidified their spot, except for maybe Scott Barrett who’s not playing this week.”
One player who fans have been calling for to get more minutes is Dalton Papali'i, who will start in his preferred position of open side flanker in the absence of captain Sam Cane.
Israel Dagg was one of many singing the Aucklander's praises during the Super Rugby season but acknowledged it's difficult to maintain top form when you're not on the field.
“He hasn’t had any continuity with his game time so he’s struggling to find his biggest impact,” Dagg said.
“Now he’s got that time to go out there … but our breakdown, we haven’t had anyone over the ball that’s a genuine jackler.
“That’s what we were hoping to see from Ardie if he was going to play at seven, we know how good he is over the ball.
“Dalton’s good; he’s good over the ball, but he needs to have a huge (impact).
“Akira has to have a big game too,” Dagg continued.
"After Frizell (was) injured, we are still trying to find that number six that’s going to take us forward and get the job done.
“So, this is an opportunity for Akira to really go out there and stamp his mark on this team.”
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Latest Comments
Borthwick is supposed to be the archetypical conservative coach, the guy that might not deliver a sparkling, high-risk attacking style, but whose teams execute the basics flawlessly. And that's OK, because it can be really hard to beat teams that are rock solid and consistent in the rugby equivalent of "blocking and tackling".
But this is why the performance against NZ is hard to defend. You can forgive a conservative, back-to-basics team for failing to score tons of tries, because teams like that make up for it with reliability in the simple things. They can defend well, apply territorial pressure, win the set piece battles, and take their scoring chances with metronomic goal kicking, maul tries and pick-and-go goal line attacks.
The reason why the English rugby administrators should be on high alert is not that the English team looked unable to score tries, but that they were repeatedly unable to close out a game by executing basic, coachable skills. Regardless of how they got to the point of being in control of their destiny, they did get to that point. All that was needed was to be world class at things that require more training than talent. But that training was apparently missing, and the finger has to point at the coach.
Borthwick has been in the job for nearly two years, a period that includes two 6N programs and an RWC campaign. So where are the solid foundations that he has been building?
Go to commentsI think they just need to judge better when it's on and when it's not. If there is a disjointed chase and WJ has a forward in front of him and some space to work with then he should have a crack every time.
If the chase is perfect and the defence is numbered up then it needs to get sent back. From memory they have not really developed a plan for what to do if they take the ball on/in the 22 with a good chase and no counter attacking opportunity.
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