All Black team to play Japan

Mils Muliaina, Cory Jane, Conrad Smith, Ma'a Nonu, Richard Kahui, Dan Carter, Andy Ellis, Adam Thomson, Richie McCaw (capt), Jerome Kaino, Sam Whitelock, Brad Thorn, Owen Franks, Keven Mealamu, Tony Woodcock. Reserves: Andrew Hore, John Afoa, Ali Williams, Victor Vito, Piri Weepu, Colin Slade, Sonny Bill Williams.

Nice to see Richie raise the ton in a game that isn't so important as it would mean an unwelcome distraction otherwise.

Ellis to get a run-probably his only start. Good to see Sonny Bill in the 22 but no Dagg. Keeping powder dry there? Also interesting is Kahui on the left. He looks a more natural right wing.

Thoughts?

Other than Dagg and Read, the toss ups of Ali/ Whitelock, Ellis for Weepu, Kahui the best of the rest, probably as good as we can field.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/rugby/all-blacks/5620548/Muliaina-gets-his-shot-McCaw-to-raise-ton

Oops...should be in the International group- no options to move it myself?



Wrong place and too slow of the mark mate . I'll merge it with Disney's one. - KRD

Glad I could help

would this not have been the ideal game to give Guilfoerd a run,or is he already a shoe in to France?
Would this not have been the ideal game to have given Boric a run?

Agree on Boric Laurie. I dunno about Guildford, each day I get more and more bewildered as to why he was preferred over Gear.

I'm with you disney,If Kahui plays and gets injured we all of a sudden look very ordinary for left wings,also one thing Guilford does do well is perpetual motion, an ideal selection against Japan.

Guilford might be like Donald in the autumn series. Like a smelly sock in the corner of the changing shed that nobody wants to own up to. I hope he´s a passenger to be honest.

With the exception of Thomson and Ellis, this team has an A look about it. Against France I don´t see many changes to this team. Read won´t be back till Canada (hopefully). I imagine Weepu and Cowan will be back for France and maybe Dagg on the bench as the utility back. With no Gear there is no left wing putting their hand up. Kahui is the proposed answer to that problem. I´d much rather see Kahui or Dagg there than Guilford. But can´t fathom why Gear wasn´t tried in the last two 3N games and put in the squad. Toeava doesn´t do it for me either to be honest. He drops more balls than a classroom of pubescent teenagers.

I get the feeling with this selection that in part Ted and co are responding to the jibes of choose your best team and start playing it jibes that have been going on all week. It seems a strong team to put out against Japan with a game against France coming up. But to me I have no complaints. I´d have thought McCaw would have been rested for this game but it seems like Ted feels he needs more game time.

So all in all happy with the team and should see the bench emptied early in the second half.

It is time is time to get the A team playing,Ellis in my opinion is a better bet than Cowan,Weepu I suspect is the utility bench back up for Carter/SH[whoever].The last thing McCaw needs is a rest he wants game time,his knockers don`t seem to have realised he`sadapted his game to suit the law rulings.Thomson is the best 8 option bar Read,Ben Franks for Afoa,and Dagg some where in the mix.woodcock needs a full 80 to prepare for France.Toeva should be nowhere near it but he is Teds favourite for some reason.
Now they`ve got a team more or less picked stick with it ,get a settled team.No ones going to admit it but the fetish for utility players instead of specialists is giving them the vapours.
Sivivatu,Crockett.and Gear should all be there,the constant tinkering will come back and bite them.
Ted and co,are by the record the best on the planet but there RWC selections don`t inspire confidence.

Does it really make any difference? Why even start this thread?

Carter is out with a sore lower back from the Tonga game. Hope that isn´t serious. Slade to play.

776 caps in this side or something like that for this match.

Japan showed against France they can play Gibson. John Kirwan will see this as a perfect opportunity to see his coaching skills put in the limelight. So whilst I don´t think anyone is in doubt about the result, there is still plenty of talking points with selection and form.

McCaw, Mils and Dagg are now out tomorrow due to training injuries and niggles, so with Carter out also we look to have our previous rotation setup forced on us anyway...

This is becoming a farce,first it`s Richie will start,then it`s the old bull and the young Bull,.Ok it`s sensible,but it now gives the French a good idea who to target.Great,4 walking wounded for France,all it needs now is Thomson to go lame and you`re really in it.

Hold onto your seats but i reckon Fr NZ may be the upset that this RWC has been promising and we have all been waiting for....

No we'll get that this weekend first.
Tho samoa already have wales sorted in wcups so not really an upset i suppose.
Fiji and SA? nearly did it in 07. Ireland oz?
Mouth watering matches those two. Both potential upsets.

You are right, what am i talking about ....France beating NZ at RWC....hardly an upset because we all know the pressure will get to them at some point

The AB selection is rapidly turning into an utter debacle.

With these apparent injuries to such crucial positions (or are they in Rustenburg?) we now have the selectors suggesting they will play SBW on the wing.

The wing? WHY? You've selected Guildford, either use your winger as a winger, or drop him from the squad and call up Gear for the love of all that is holy before this goes from debacle to farce.

Any throat injuries amongst NZ sick list?

You guys just focus on trying to double your try count from 1 to 2, or find someone in the squad that can kick at a better than 15% accuracy Gatts...leave the high end stuff to the professionals.

the choking you mean, but of course, the rest of the rugby world can only watch in awe as you lot stuff it up again (not that YOU care obviously)

You and your team are prisoners of your own hubris, keep talking it up.

True Gatts,every chance they will fail NOT CHOKE,that is disrespectful to the side that beats them.Perhaps England might even beat them in a RWC at last.France win the group ,and you will probably have the chance in QF.

Meh. We'll be fine.

A nice rest for McCaw so he can bring up 100 against France.
DC can get over that back, wrist and ankle thing.
Read will be back, and we'll be sweet.

Mils is out of form anyway, shame that Dagg has also been crocked because I feel like one of them at least should be getting game time. I would've thrown Jane into FB rather than Toeava, but I guess we'll live with Toeava somewhere until GH retires. At least FB is his strongest position, and he was the stand out in the S15 until he got that hip thing.

Meanwhile Nonu/Smith can get some game time together, and Slade can get over his yips from SA.

Then all the first rankers will be back at once, get a bit of hit out against the frogs, get over the RWC hoodoo on that one, and then cruise through the knockouts and pick up the cup. Simple.

Gatts is just trying to get a wind up but if you look at the odds, the ABs are runaway favourites to win. The official mathematical calculation appropriately biased by expert knowledge is giving NZ around a 55% likelihood of victory. The next nearest team is on something like 11%. That's a massive, massive favouritism, but even so gives NZ around a 50/50 chance. Interesting to think about it that way around isn't it Gatts (and others). A 50% estimated and weighted chance of not winning despite the runaway favourite status...do you "choke" when you lose a coin toss? This more of less sums up the RWC. Part ability, part luck.