Watch the Puma test. Then tell me how many of the 41 man squad have had a more impressive performance this year then SBW.
Piutau. Milner Skudder. Sopoaga. Nonu. Coles. That’s about it.

It was inevitable due to selections.

Really? i thought most NZers think Cooper is rubbish

As average as SBW was in this test at least he has shown what he can do against the Puma. There are many more All Blacks commanding game time who have shown nothing in the first four tests this year. SBW should not be the only person in the firing line.

@ Old bugger. I have actually been of the opposite opinion. i don;t think our pack has had the better any of the top nations in the past few years, it’s been our backline that has pulled us out of trouble. There have been many games we have been beaten at the breakdown but managed to win because of our potent attack. It’s a very rare occurrence that the All Blacks dominate in the scrum, we usually just get parity and that’s good enough for our backs to unleash.
Franks has been average since Thorn left.

I am so disappointed with the senior All Blacks and our coaching staff.
It’s unforgivable that in such a crucial stage of world cup prep the majority of our leadership group were below average. Richie McCaw is probably the only one who can hold his head high.
The situation we find ourselves in, is very concerning. Suddenly the Bledisloe cup is all that matters, all thoughts of the WC have been shelved, how did this happen? Does nobody realize that this is the last opportunity to see guys like Sopoaga and Milner Skudder play before they could be thrown into the WC arena. It’s seems most of the country has put the importance of sending off a few All Black legends ahead of our WC prep.
Many people are throwing around this notion that those who didn’t turn up on the weekend should be given an opportunity to redeem themselves! really? the same group of players who’s lack of passion and effort has almost certainly ended the chance of a few of their team mates going to the WC. Yes that is right, the failure to turn up has cost guys like Cory Jane any chance of a shot at putting his name in the hat with as strong outing this weekend, considering the coaches have admitted they will need to “batten down the hatches” in terms of selections. A freedom taken away by the same under performing players who will benefit from it in terms of manipulating the minutes players have had to press there cases.
Daniel Carter is the biggest offender, he is set to command another start which will make it 4 from 5 tests in a position where we have four guys in the squad, this reeks of favoritism, it most definitely isn’t based on performance. He risks tainting a legendary career by trying to engineer with his coach a fairy tale ending that could end up being a nightmare for all involved.

All this emphasis on the Bledisloe this weekend is garbage. We had the chance to put it all away last weekend so we could strictly focus on the WC. I’m now of the opinion that the Bledisloe mania be pushed aside it’s time to focus on the WC with our last opportunity to do so before we must name our 31 man squad. It’s not ideal as we value the trophy so much but it’s a perfect reminder to the players and coaches that failing to turn up just once can have massive repercussions, especially during a WC. What a valuable lesson it will be should the Bledisloe head offshore this Saturday.

If Hansen decides to continue with his policy of letting a losing team redeem themselves then i suggest there will be some ill feeling among the side especially from those who have missed an opportunity at the hands of their team mates lack of effort. I don’t think it’s realistic to take anyone to the WC on the back of only one test cap, so most likely Sopoaga will miss the cut which will fit very nicely into the situation Hansen seems to be setting up for Carter.
If Milner Skudder is absent from the side this weekend, it’s fair to say we will not win this world cup. not because of his absence but because it’s a sign Hansen has put all his eggs into an old basket and i feel a few of those eggs will be rotten

O Franks had that opportunity on the weekend and he failed to take it. Why does he deserve another chance? Why do any of the players who played poorly and have form players behind them on the sidelines eg Dan Carter, Woodcock, C Smith etc

1. The Wallabies have improved in attitude. I don’t know yet if there cattle can quite match what the All Blacks can offer when on the money. We expect the All Blacks to put Australia back in there place on the weekend. We demand it.

2. What are you crazy!! Carter and McCaw outplayed pfft. Sadly that’s how many of the cult like sheeple will respond to that question. It’s harder for Hansen to admit Carter is not up to the mark then it is for many of us, however Carter does still have a strong cult following of sheeple who disregard reality. McCaw on the other hand is still delivering. He plays an important role in this side and i’d question if there is a busier All Black on the paddock. He is not the dominant force he once was but we put more focus on our back three as a unit rather then as individuals.

3. No. Not confident at all because many of them are yet to show they have still got it to date in 2015. Saturday night should have been the time they stood up and put us all at ease, they didn’t. Mealamu is a passenger. Carter is becoming a liability and Hansens loyalty has cost us valuable game time for the likes of Sopoaga, Barrett and Slade.
Conrad Smith is showing signs that he is on the slope down. He has not delivered an emphatic performance this year.
O Franks and Woodcock look of the pace. O Franks especially has been average for along time now.
Dagg has been off the boil for a few years, we have to much talent in form to warrant giving him another chance he hasn’t earned.

My feeling is with the right mix of older heads and younger enthusiasm we still have the cattle to go all the way, sadly i don’t have faith in Hansen getting that mix right due to his loyalty.

4.
1. Crockett
2. Coles
3. Laulala
4. Whitelock
5. Retallick
6. Kaino
7. McCaw
8. Vito
9. Smith
10. Sopoaga
11. Piutau
12. Nonu
13. Fekitoa
14. Milner Skudder
15. Smith

16. Woody
17. O Franks
18. Taylor
19. Romano
20. Read
21. TJ
22. Slade
23. Savea

My bench would be different if my focus was on the WC and not on just retaining the Bledisloe. However my starting team is a mix of both. There are guys like Piutau who would be in my top team but imo he has done enough already to be in the WC squad he doesn’t need to play. Cane would also be in my starting team if my focus was on the WC and not the Bledisloe.

It says the WC has always been a flawed judge of who is the best team in the world. Ten years on top of the IRB rankings says who cares about what the WC has to say.

Quade Cooper was born n raised in NZ. We were showing him what we thought about him wearing gold and disrespecting our captain. it had nothing to do with Australia, mind your own business.

Maybe you mean Ardie Savea.
I’d like to see this team, for WC reasons and because many are playing better rugby.

1. Crockett
2. Coles
3. Laulala
4. Whitelock
5. Rettalick.
6. Kaino
7. McCaw
8. Vito
9. A Smith
10. Sopoaga
11. Savea
12. Nonu
13. Fekitoa
14. Milner Skudder
15. Smith

A rushing defence is hardly a tactical masterstroke, everyone has been using that tactic against the All Blacks in the past 18 months. The big difference is we previously had a 10 who could take advantage of the opportunities that created, with Carter at the helm we don’t.

What’s more important? O Franks need to redeem himself or Laulalas need to prove he can start a test match before we take him to the WC as our second tighthead?
The same question with Carter and Sopoaga, is it more important to let Carter redeem himself or to see if Sopoaga can back up his one test with another strong performance before we take him as a possible starting 10 at the WC?
Lots of people are calling for a similar team to last week, imo that’s the worst possible scenario for our WC prep.
Keep in mind, regardless of how poor Carter or O Franks perform on the weekend they are still guaranteed to be selected, so i honestly see no point in selecting these guys who are under performing but have already secured a spot.

The concerning thing for me was that Foster blamed the failing tactics on our inability to get quick ball and dominate the collisions. Then after halftime we proceeded to play the same game under the same circumstances, this is a massive question mark around our ability to change the plan when it’s not working. Foster knew what was going wrong and we did nothing about it.

Everyone credits Australia for the performances but we can’t ignore the fact that many of us said before the first whistle that Australia had a very favorable draw for the RC. What could come back to bite them is that they have not faced a true test away from home yet. If they get a spanking this weekend things will not be so rosy all of a sudden.

Read has been average all season. He showed a glimpse of what he is capable of against the Puma when SBW also showed what he can do. I honestly feel some of the senior players are holding something back knowing the extreme effort they will need to put in at the WC, that is what i am hoping anyway. If i’m wrong we could be in trouble. It’s concerning that so many of our world class players are playing below average in terms of what they can produce. Look across the park imo all these guys have been below average

Woodcock, Mealamu, O franks, B franks, Whitelock, Rettalick, Messam, Read, Carter, C Smith, SBW, Dagg, Savea, Barrett.

it’s a massive concern that all these guys are playing well below where they need to be. There are guys like Rettalick, Barrett who are still building on the back of injuries but if we are honest they have not hit form yet. SBW and Read showed what they can do against the Puma. C Smith has been decidedly average. There are a few players in this list i don’t think will hit the level required by the knockout games, i don’t think they have it in them. other guys i expect will find it and show us that they had it under control all along. I just hope come quarter finals time this long list has been cut down to just a couple of names.

Carter should not be seen this weekend if Hansen doesn’t want to derail his entire pre world cup prep because of his personal relationships. I will lose all respect for Hansen as a coach if Carter is named in the side this weekend. It is the last opportunity to see Sopoaga play and Colin Slade is yet to be seen in the 10 jumper. Daniel Carter has started 3 of the 4 tests and he has shown at best to be average and at worst to be a liability. That’s the reality of his 3 tests this year forget about anything he has done in the past 12 years it’s all proven to be irrelevant in 2015.
There is a core of senior All Blacks who are simply taking there jersey for granted. Hansen needs to make a stand and show those players there is no room for complacency by giving the majority of them a week off. Woodcock, Franks,Read,C Smith,Carter all of these guys have been coasting and it’s not good enough. Time for Hansen to put the form team on the paddock.

I see the first thing the NRL has done is scrap the Anzac test in a desperate move to protect the myth surrounding Origin being the greatest league contest on the planet. What a farce.

I think Hansen has missed the boat by allowing Carter three starts. That’s three games he could have been getting answers from other guys. Carter has not shown anything to warrant All Blacks selection so i don’t know why they have given him the armchair ride to securing the starting spot. (well i do but it has nothing to do with form) it now looks like we are going to be caught out. I’m positive Carter hasn’t got the goods anymore and we are going to have to throw one of the other 3 guys in the deep end at the last minute with minimal prep.

I question what he is doing. Especially around a gameplan that Foster admitted only works when we are getting quick ball and dominating the breakdown. We were clearly not doing that and haven’t been all year but they continue to push the same tactics. After Fosters halftime acknowledgment i thought the AB’s would come out and rectify the breakdown or change up the gameplan. They did neither. I question that.

Slade looked composed in every test he played last year. Yes Sopoaga has played one test, so has Milner Skudder and both of them should be locked into the WC 31 on the back of out standing Super rugby seasons and the fact they both looked right at home in pressure test matches on debut away from home.
Barrett has delivered more in the past 3 years then Daniel Carter has. Barrett is not in form but has hardly had the opportunities Carter has had to play himself back there. Carter has been apparently just around the corner from hitting his stride for years, how much longer are we going to wait because he took two steps backwards last night.
Since the World cup Barret and Cruden have both been able to regularly engineer victories for the All Blacks in matches where our pack has not set the platform we expected.
It’s time for the fairytale brigade to wake up before they derail the WC for all of us.
There is no room for sentiment in this team especially in a hotly contested position like 10.

It’s seems to have been a confidence thing for DC since 2012. Seriously though do we need another failed WC bid to come to terms with the fact one of our all time legends has reached the end of his journey in black a few steps short of where we have all hoped he would be standing, center stage, lofting the WC trophy above his head. With DC at the helm we simply will not be good enough. We were terrible against Samoa. SBW and Nonu stole the show against the Puma Carter never fired a shot ball in hand. Lima Sopoaga got the job done at Ellis park on debut. The Rugby Championship, Bledisloe Cup and a spot in the All Blacks WC squad were all on offer last night and Daniel Carter had a shocker. If your backline general is off very rarely does your team play well. Our potent backline attack of the past few years has come on the back of Aaron Cruden and Barrett creating opportunities from the 10 jumper, they have not simply sat back and let things unfold for themselves. Carter doesn’t pose that threat regularly enough to warrant selection anymore. His goal kicking has been his ride into this team and that isn;t good enough to carry him through anymore.
We have a form player in Sopoaga and we have Colin Slade who is only months down the track from recently being the form 10 in NZ. Barrett is well below his best at the moment and i would much prefer he took up any extra game time then carrying on with this all or nothing attempt to allow Carter to use the All Blacks for his fairy tale fair well. We risk making it a nightmare for him and everyone else.

“Make no mistake, today’s Wallabies are the direct result of Cheika’s coaching.
And while beating the All Blacks was a supreme effort, there were many facets of their play that aren’t part of the overall Cheika game plans.”

So everything good that happened was all Cheika and everything bad that happened had nothing to do with Cheika? That’s a true fanboy right there.

“they’ll lick their wounds and cone back stronger next week”

That’s the plan but geez it would be really concerning if they didn’t.

While looking at our older players as individuals they all have cases as to why they should still be selected for the 31 man squad. When you look at them as a collective and imagine that we could have them all on the paddock at the same time, for me that’s a massive concern.

The Australians had the rugby championship set up for them from day one. Two home tests against the Boks and the All Blacks. While they deserved to win last night no questions asked, the real test in their world cup prep comes next weekend when they face their first true test of the season away from home. The All Blacks had two hard tests away and in terms of world cup prep i think we got the best deal. Every world cup match is going to be played away.
While things are all rosy at the moment, similar to last year the Aussies were spanked by the Blacks on the road following a strong display the week prior. This is where the Aussie team needs to show they are the real deal.