
- By Kevin McCarthy
The times are about to get serious for Scott Robertson. Though not with the opening double header against Argentina.
Indeed, they’re not fixtures to get the pulse racing, unless you are Ian Foster who probably still has sweats over making history with twin losses against the Pumas.
It’s unlikely that history will repeat. But by the time September 9th rolls around, obviously we’ll really have a steer on this squad.
That will of course be after two away matches against the Springboks.
One win there is always a good chance, two in a row would be a huge fillip, and of course, likely decide the Championship at that point.
I’m discounting talk of the Springboks rolling out a more expansive game quite yet. I’m expecting box kicks and bomb squads even if we are seeing the new talent being filtered in.
So, mantras aside of the next game being the most important, clearly the focus will be on what follows.
In that sense. Argentina will be a useful proxy for the Boks. Big pack, stiff defence.
Certainly, the most interesting aspect of the team naming for Wellington is the willingness of the coaches to pull the trigger on relegating Rieko Ioane to the bench.
That’s quite a call with a player who has been a fixture for the past World Cup cycle. And on the face of it, it’s hard to fathom quite what he’s doing wrong.
Perhaps he’s not delivering what the coaches need to execute their style of play. Hard to know what that style of play is though, after just three matches.
Maybe it’s a signal to the whole squad that reputation will only count for so much.
Or perhaps it’s neither, and the selectors want to see Anton Lienert-Brown have a decent chance at centre.
Good to see they start Damian McKenzie again – and presumably next week and the two tests in South Africa. He needs the time.
And probably a no-brainer to have Will Jordan off the bench, as Beauden Barrett keeps his position at fullback warm.
Across the Tasman, surely no-one expects the new-look Wallabies to topple the Boks, although they will probably surprise on the upside.
Joe Schmidt as we know is good at unpicking oppositions and getting his teams to exploit them.
The more time with the team , the more he’ll start putting a stamp on it.
But playing the Boks is not the nicest way to learn on the job.
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The New Zealand Herald bizarrely got caught out writing an opinion piece using artificial intelligence. On, of course, Rieko Ioane, In between some telltale clunkiness and cliché that AI is prone to, the robots were seemingly as confused as anyone as to what was going on.
I’m just confused why the paper thought it was needing to up the output of think pieces. They’re hardly in short supply.
Indeed, would the world be a better place with fewer commentators. And yes, I do know the irony of that when I’m writing this humble column each week!
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A more endangered species appears tonight – the National Provincial Championship.
What would have been a marquee match – Wellington taking on Auckland tonight – will probably struggle for any airtime.
Such is the state of neglect for what should still be the foundation of the game.
But for the players and diehard followers, all of this still matters.
So, here’s to a cracking season and that the Lions can this time both top the league and get to that final.
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The All Black team to face Argentina in Wellington, Saturday night:
Beauden Barrett, Sevu Reece, Anton Lienert-Brown, Jordie Barrett, Mark Tele’a, Damian McKenzie, TJ Perenara; Ardie Savea (capt), Dalton Papali’i, Ethan Blackadder, Sam Darry, Tupou Vaa’i, Tyrel Lomax, Codie Taylor, Ethan De Groot. Reserves: Asafo Aumua, Ofa Tu’ungafasi, Fletcher Newell, Josh Lord, Wallace Sititi, Cortez Ratima, Rieko Ioane, Will Jordan.