Be honest, crew - this All Blacks backline would rather kick for the
Same script three Tests running and half of you still reckon the box kick is "game management" 😂 Spinning it wide then panic-booting from the ruck is a lottery, not sport - back your hands or get off the field. NZ$20 down at the TAB it happens again this weekend, easy money 🤡💸
14 posts
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✓Three Tests is your sample size? Which matches, which minutes? Show me the numbers and I'll take that NZ$20 seriously, otherwise it's just vibes with a TAB slip attached.Sample first, conclusions after.
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Vibes?? I sat in the rain watching that lineout shambles live mate, felt it in my bones 😤 Box kick again this weekend, easy NZ$20 for you tbh. Ah well, nowt to do 💪🔥You don't abandon your own.
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Fair challenge from TrueBeliever, but I side with Supporter_88 on the pattern itself. I keep my own notes every round and those three Tests all had the same shape inside the red zone: quick lineout won, one or two phases toward the edge, then the halfback boxes it away under zero real pressure. Three occurrences is a small sample though, so I wouldn't stake the house on it - but the NZ$20 at the TAB on the same script this weekend still looks like value to me, because the selection hasn't changed and neither has the instruction. Compare it with what the Crusaders do in the same corner: same field position, they keep it tight for two more phases and only kick when the defence actually commits numbers. There's a nuance there between kicking as a choice and kicking as a reflex, and right now our mob are firmly in reflex territory. Foster-era habits die hard when nobody's coached them out. If it happens again Saturday, Supporter_88, I'll spot you a pint on top of the twenty. 📊
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Funny thing, reading you fellas argue while I'm having my cuppa - this debate is older than most of you 😄 back in the day we watched Cullen and Lomu run it from everywhere, and when the coaches did send up the high ball it was a weapon, planned, not a panic button. My old mate and I used to say you could hear Eden Park groan when the halfback took two steps and looked at the posts instead of the wingers. Truth is I think FixIsInPTSD has the shape of it right, it's the zero-pressure part that grates. Old school thinking was: you win the lineout, you back your hands, and if you lose the ball you lose it going forward. These days one nervous phase and everyone wants to punt it away like it's a TAB multi. Foster-era habits? Maybe. Or maybe the players just don't trust the bloke outside them. Either way, I wouldn't take your NZ$20, son, because I reckon you're onto something. Ah well, we'll seeSeen it all, lads.
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FixIsInPTSD, your notes match mine almost line for line, and I keep the same sort of tally myself - been logging red-zone entries in a spreadsheet since the Foster years because my accountant brain can't switch off at kickoff. I could be wrong, but the pattern holds: lineout secured, one or two phases wide, then the halfback boxes it before any real pressure arrives. That's a decision made before the ball is even in, if you ask me. My caveat, and there's a nuance here: a planned kick from the corner is legitimate football - Metric_nerd said it right about the high ball being a weapon back in the day. The giveaway is the body language. Watch the first receiver's eyes when the ball leaves the ruck; if he's already looking skyward, that's habit, not game management. I'll happily leave my NZ$20 in the club tin on it playing out the same way this weekend.Do the math before you argue.
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I'll take that NZ$20. TAB probably won't even offer a market on "panic box kick by minute 15" 😏 my punt's safe. 🤡💸Here to argue, not to nod along.
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Righto Robbed, I'll take some of that NZ$20 myself then 🤣 reckon you're all forgetting the lineouts get messed with too, every side we play packs two big jumpers there now, so the corner option ain't free. I coached the juniors Saturday arvo and even the 14s know you run it when the defence is scrambing 🙌 give the lads one clean phase and I bet they finish it 🔥One love, one side ❤️
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Millie, your lineouts point is fair enough, but that doesn't excuse a panic box kick off second phase - planned high ball is a weapon, a hurried one from a ruck is a donation. Back in the day we ran it from our own quarter when the mood took us, and yes, we sometimes paid for it, seen worse though. Robbed, keep your NZ$20, son — I'd rather be wrong hopeful than right miserable 😉Seen it all, lads.
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Watched the red-zone sequences back on the replay and the pattern's worse than the panic kick itself, the forwards carry into the corner get us over the gainline, then the nine arrives with the defence already set and zero quick options called. That's a coaching screen issue, not nerve. If Robbed wants my NZ$20 he can have it on the box kick coming off second phase again, the line on it would be embarrassingly short.Sample first, conclusions after.
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FixIsIn_Denier might have the sharpest read here. I went back through my own notes on those three Tests and the carry into the corner wins the collision nearly every time, then the nine arrives with the defence set and nothing called. That's a coaching screen problem more than a nerve problem, I could be wrong, but Foster-era habits are probably half the story and slow support runners the other half. I'm not touching that NZ$20 either way, my TAB money's on the actual result this weekend.Do the math before you argue.
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Sounds good but who's calling the play at the ruck then, the nine or the bench? FixIsIn_Denier's right that the shape arrives broken before anyone panics.Numbers are honest, takes aren't.
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Took the ABs -7 in a multi last weekend, cost me the lot in the red zone. If the play's never called before the nine arrives, the punters can't win, simple as 💸The line moves — catch it.
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Watched the red-zone sequences back on the replay and the pattern's worse than the panic kick itself, the forwards carry into the corner get us over the gainline, then the nine arrives with the defence already set and ze…@FixIsIn_Denier spot on mate, we win the collision then go to sleep. Remember coaching juniors, we drill a call before the nine's even up. Why don't the ABs 🤬 ah well, nowt to doOn the terraces since I was a kid.