By NZPA
July 4th 2009 @ 9:31am
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No Masaga as McCaw back to lead All Blacks
Exciting winger Lelia Masaga is the most notable omission from the All Blacks side named on Saturday to contest the Tri-Nations rugby championship.
The 30-man squad features the return of world class captain and flanker Richie McCaw, No.8 Rodney So’oialo and winger Sitiveni Sivivatu, who missed the Tests against France and Italy last month due to [...]
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Jerry said | July 4th 2009 @ 10:34am | Report comment
Gear is less of a risk than Masaga – he may not have quite the top line pace or acceleration, but he’s much safer under kicks and on defence. He’s also got a better kicking game (he’s not a great kicker, but Masaga is about as good as your average prop).
katzilla said | July 4th 2009 @ 12:02pm | Report comment
After Ross’s superb form and solid set piece play not much has been made of Ali Williams injury as there would have been had there been no one to stand up.
Gear deserves another chance at the top and i’d probably say he has more form then Rok.
The return of Both McCaw and Rodney will give us the go forward at the collision area that we have been lacking and hopefully things will gain momentum from there.
We’re been written off by alot of OZ and SA media (as well as a few NZ as well) and it could be a good thing, I don’t think we will present half as bad as some people think come 3N.
Peter K said | July 4th 2009 @ 1:05pm | Report comment
With the top players back the ABs are a real threat and deserve equal footing with the Wallabies at least. With 2 home games they should be slightly ahead. Boks still look favourites to me.
sunshinecoaster said | July 4th 2009 @ 6:13pm | Report comment
Gear is rubbish at the top level,he got found out on tour,haven’t seen him playing Pacific nations cup but its hardly anywhere near test level,another conservative gutless selection from the worst All Blacks back coach in history,Wayne Smith,Masaga is twice the strike force of Gear but oh dear Smith wont take a risk,again
Jerry said | July 4th 2009 @ 6:37pm | Report comment
Rubbish at the top level? He’s only played one test. Same as Masaga, who didn’t really carve it up against Italy.
Hayden said | July 5th 2009 @ 6:52am | Report comment
Tri Nations predictions: Wallabies in for a wake up call. Italy and a tired Fance have left them with an inflated opinion of themselves.
Boks for the wooden spoon. They should have put this Lions side away, had all the advantages, and yet can count themselves lucky to win 2 -2.
AB’s: if their key players stay healthy, another 3N and Bledisloe. Yawn.
Hayden said | July 5th 2009 @ 6:52am | Report comment
2-1 obviously.
pothale said | July 5th 2009 @ 7:01am | Report comment
Ah no – I think 2-2 was a fairer reflection, Hayden.
Jerry said | July 5th 2009 @ 8:37am | Report comment
Probably Pothale – the 2nd test goes down as a win for both the Lions and the Boks. The Lions won the match where Burger got red-carded and the Boks get the win for the one where he only got yellow.
WLN said | July 5th 2009 @ 9:04am | Report comment
McCaw is great but short of match fitness he’ll be a threat by reputation only. RWC07 has already showed us what happens when players like So’oialo get “recovery and rehabilitation”. Any kiwis remember that tournament? Hopefully Gear gets the nod ahead of Roko who should not be there and would not had he not been Smith and Henry’s adopted Malawai baby. If theres any other reason why he’s still in Black someone please let me know. Gear, Siti and Mils might set Eden Park alight. If they were playing outside Giteau. Instead the AB’s have a real problem about Donald, or Poseur Mac-A-Lister. Neither has confidence or strategic nouse. Compounding this dilemma is that while they have a worldbeater in Piri Weepu they are content to leave him as their cultural ambassador and they don’t let him take the field unless he’s poked his tongue out and then devoured a couple of Big Macs, large fries and all of the halftime oranges. With no set half-flyhalf combo and such a poor linkage between the backs and forwards it’s no wonder the backline attack is lame. The midfield has no chance and the back three have to make their own luck. Henry might think he has time to fix it, but he’s dreaming. He’s just not that good a coach.
Fuzz said | July 5th 2009 @ 9:10am | Report comment
And if Giteau gets injured the Wallabies game will crash to the ground. As always Australias hopes are resting on one or two players.
ohtani's jacket, said | July 5th 2009 @ 9:22am | Report comment
Gear will have the same problems that every All Black wing is having — namely a lack of space down the wing.
For the alive of me, I can’t tell what Rokocoko has done wrong. Aside from dropping a couple of balls when he was put into space, I can only suspect that people think he should be making breaks down the sideline. He’s not getting quick ball out wide and neither will Gear. It’s impossible to beat your man on the outside if there’s no space. All you can do is take the contact or look to offload, which is what Joe’s been doing.
Masaga looked good in the Super 14, but against Italy he couldn’t break the line. Gear won’t tear it up any more than Masaga did and as I said elsewhere, why was Masaga pulled from the Juniors, given a single opportunity against Italy and dropped for a guy who was allowed to play in the Pacific Nations Cup? That’s baffling.
Gotta love the Giteau comment, though. That burgeoning backline general. Strapping!
Jerry said | July 5th 2009 @ 11:03am | Report comment
WLN – remember last year when McCaw came back from injury for the Auckland Bledisloe test? Did alright, I seem to recall and not on reputation only.
CronullaKiwi said | July 6th 2009 @ 10:25am | Report comment
You would have to say the AB pack is still some way ahead of the wallabies with Ritchie and Rodders back. A really big forward effort and the wallbies will be put away like last year. If OZ manage to get some sort of parity there, then I would be worried as Giteau and Barnes can really cut us up.