Barbarians helped by Daley not being able to tackle for shit. He looked pretty good with the ball in hand though. Generally thought we played pretty well, certainly some excellent young players in that group.
1. Tony Woodcock (107) 2. Dane Coles (15) 3. Owen Franks (54) 4. Brodie Retallick (24) 5. Samuel Whitelock (51) 6. Liam Messam (29) 7. Richie McCaw - captain (124) 8. Jerome Kaino (48) 9. Aaron Smith (26) 10. Aaron Cruden (29) 11. Cory Jane (45) 12. Ma'a Nonu (88) 13. Conrad Smith (75) 14. Ben Smith (26) 15. Israel Dagg (38) Reserves: 16. Keven Mealamu (110) 17. Wyatt Crockett (24) 18. Charlie Faumuina (17) 19. Patrick Tuipulotu * 20. Victor Vito (22) 21. TJ Perenara * 22. Beauden Barrett (16) 23. Malakai Fekitoa * All Blacks team.
Jane on the left is interesting, takes away his biggest weapon. Would have picked Slade for this first game myself, If he does well puts Cruden under all sorts of pressure
Not sure left/right is all that tbh. Jane and Smith are the best two wingers so that should really be that.
Would have started with Barrett myself given Cruden has looked a bit short on gas since returning from injury. Really hoping the All Blacks smash the English, but I'm sadly anticipating the series being much closer than I'd like.
15 Mike Brown (Harlequins, 26 caps) 14 Marland Yarde (London Irish, 2 caps) 13 Manusamoa Tuilagi (Leicester Tigers, 22 caps) 12 Kyle Eastmond (Bath Rugby, 2 caps) 11 Jonny May (Gloucester Rugby, 6 caps) 10 Freddie Burns (Gloucester Rugby, 3 caps) 9 Danny Care (Harlequins, 47 caps) 1 Joe Marler (Harlequins, 19 caps) 2 Rob Webber (Bath Rugby, 5 caps) 3 David Wilson (Bath Rugby, 34 caps) 4 Joe Launchbury (London Wasps, 19 caps) 5 Geoff Parling (Leicester Tigers, 19 caps) 6 James Haskell (London Wasps, 50 caps) 7 Chris Robshaw (Harlequins, capt, 25 caps) 8 Ben Morgan (Gloucester Rugby, 20 caps) Replacements: 16 Joe Gray (Harlequins, uncapped) 17 Matt Mullan (London Wasps, 3 caps) 18 Henry Thomas (Sale Sharks, 6 caps) 19 Dave Attwood (Bath Rugby, 10 caps) 20 Tom Johnson (Exeter Chiefs, 7 caps) 21 Ben Youngs (Leicester Tigers, 35 caps) 22 Danny Cipriani (Sale Sharks, 7 caps) 23 Chris Pennell (Worcester Warriors, uncapped)
Pretty disappointing to see Cruden got the nod ahead of Barrett when he's only just come back from injury and Barrett has been playing well in Super rugby. Over the last few years he has proven he can handle the next level with his cameo's off the bench and deserves a chance to start. Hopefully he gets around 20 mins and then maybe a start in one of the two remaining tests.
Jane has a huge left fend and has never really played left wing of late thanks to Savea being in all his teams. Would have preferred to try Ben Smith on that side
Haskell the most capped player in the team. Christ. Cipriani stiff. Very stiff. Bit surprised at Parling but in hindsight it makes a lot of sense to have him there to secure the lineout.
I've never even seen Pennell play as far as I recall. Utility back, is he? Parling and Haskell the only vague surprises and even then they're more experienced than the alternatives. Wilson the 2nd most capped starter; Jasuz. Have tipped NZ by 25 on Superbru, ftr.
I am just happy it is those two. I want Carter to be permanently dropped (I realise he is injured atm). We need to build to the future. If this wa ice hockey I would trade Carter to Australia for Genia (whose* stocks have fallen). * Had to google whose vs who's
Nah 100% fullback. Heard he actually had the most run metres in the premiership this year, being the only man to beat Mike Brown.
Being positive for a moment I actually really like Eastmond, MANU, Yarde and Brown all in the same backline for once
