Colin Slade

First topic message reminder :

Reflecting on what looks to be one of the shortest All Black careers of all time, I wonder whether Slade wasn't done a disservice by the Henry and his team.

Long after it was apparent that Stephen Donald didn't have the goods at international level, Henry & Co. persisted with giving him chance after chance at the expense of bringing on alteratives in either Slade or Cruden.

When Donald's luck finally ran out, first Cruden, then Slade were dropped into pressure cooker 3N matches. At the first mistake they were both unceremoniously dropped, rotated in, rotated out, recalled and then sidelined.

Slade got 10 minutes here, 20 minutes there, was shunted to full back or placed on the wing.

Whilst publicly Henry backed his man, he always hedged his comments with "we've got options", hardly inspirational leadership stuff. Next Slade suffered the humilation of having Weepu take over at 10 after around 40 minutes in his first start as "The Man".

This week, Slade was started but had kicking duties pulled.

I think one of the pundits in the studio mentioned that rather than being supported to control the game on the field, Slade seemed to have every senior AB permanently in his ear telling him what to do next.

It's tough times, and maybe only the tough survive, and maybe Slade isn't The Man after all, but I can't help but feel a little sorry for him in this saga of man mis-management.

Cruden looked useful today as The (latest) Man and managed to get 60 minutes at 1st 5. I was desperately worried that Weepu would again be shunted to 10 with Cowan at 9. It didn't happen. Maybe Henry has finally been backed into the position of supporting The Man.

That abstain for the ABs campaign is starting to hit some kind of metaphorical mark now.

George Carlin wrote:There hasn't been much discussion about the apparent weakness of the average Kiwi male's crotch.

The average Kiwi male is a international level 1st 5 8th who will sustain a groin injury on average once in their life during a rugby world cup campaign. Fortunately since there are so many of them another will adequately take their place except in 2007 where it will happen twice in one game?

How's that?

Not out.

Matt Todd ran as "opposition" today at ABs training.

oh dear

TheGreyGhost wrote:That abstain for the ABs campaign is starting to hit some kind of metaphorical mark now.

Bugger that LOL. I'm so tense I need all the endorphins I can get!

aucklandlaurie wrote: Matt Todd ran as "opposition" today at ABs training.

In a perverse way, the more these doomsday predictions come true, ie Carter/Slade/Mils getting injured and now McCaw looking as stable as the SS Rena, the more I become relaxed about Sunday.

Todd’s a good player, he should have been road-tested last November and he should have been included in the original WC squad

there is something strangely prophetic about a fecking great ship foundering just off the coast as an injury wracked NZ face their destiny....

The ship they called the Spirit of England?

Many a ship in the good Queen/King's name has foundered on those shores you'll know

Not sure i should treat this with any attempt at humour, its a flaming disaster and i feel very sorry for the NZ people

It is a disaster as unlike the ship that foundered off the English coast a few years ago and had people taking BMW motorbikes off the beach under the "finders keepers, losers weepers" law, the Rena seems to only have animal pelts and polystyrene. washing up on the beach

In all seriousness it is a bit of a shocker and will likely have an adverse effect on holiday spending etc. at Mt Mangaunui and could be a bit of an economic disaster for Tauranga and the Mt.