Be honest, lads: this backline is the prettiest we've had since 2015
Prettiest backline since 2015? Sure, and the Crusaders would probably agree. They watched us stroll into the red zone twelve times and leave with three tries 😂 Twelve visits. That's not bad luck, that's composure falling apart at the exact moment it matters.
In reality? Everyone wants to blame the big names because benching them would feel like a statement, but dropping your most talented bloke after one sloppy finish-rate is how you end up with a backline that's ugly AND useless. Fiji Drua at home is exactly the sort of game where this lot should click, so if someone gets benched and it's the same name every week like half of you keep saying, I'd love to hear who actually finishes those breaks instead 🤡
16 posts
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✓Twelve visits isn't the stat I'd be hanging anyone on, to be fair. Look at where those entries actually came from and what the Crusaders did to kill them. Half of them died on second or third phase with no go-forward, which is a forward platform problem wearing a backline costume. If you're going to bench someone for composure, name the guy and name the specific turnovers. Otherwise it's just vibes with a spreadsheet attached. Where I'll partially agree: three from twelve is bad conversion by any standard, and against the Drua you won't get twelve entries, you might get six, so each one has to count. My point is dropping your most talented back for one average afternoon would be a panic move. Fix the support lines and the timing at second receiver first, judge selection after that. If the same bloke fumbles it again in Suva, then sure, receipts in hand.Sample first, conclusions after.
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FixIsIn is right tbh, forwards got monstered at the breakdown. I watched us die on second phase all arvo 😤 Backs were starved, not soft. Ah well, nowt to do but back them vs the Drua 🔥You don't abandon your own.
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FixIsIn has got this one right, I reckon. Twelve entries sounds damning until you check the sample. If half died on second or third phase with no go-forward, then the platform was broken before any back ever touched it. I keep my own running table each round and I could be wrong, but dropping a centre for service he never received would be treating the symptom. Fix the breakdown, then judge the backs against the Drua. 📊Do the math before you argue.
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Watching that breakdown mess reminded me of some ordinary Highlanders sides in the 90s. At least those packs never got monstered like that. Forwards lose you seasons, eh 😉Been here longer than some have followed.
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I sat through that Crusaders match with my notebook on my knee the way I do every round, and honestly the red zone tally needed context before anyone copped a benching 📊 FixIsIn and Chris are onto it, plenty of those twelve entries died with the forwards shoved off the ball at second phase, so blaming the backs on raw visits is lazy. My caveat: the entries that DID reach first phase with clean ball still ended in poor kick choices and one telegraphed loop play, so the backs don't leave spotless either. Could be wrong, but I'd hold selection steady for the Drua and fix the platform instead. Dropping someone now just papers over the real problem.Do the math before you argue.
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Chris, that's a lovely excuse for the backs, but if the platform was that broken how'd we get twelve entries in the first place? 😏 Forwards win you the entry, backs win you the try - and we got three from twelve, which even on the TAB is called failing. Drop someone, anyone, before the Drua make us look sillier 🤡Any stat can be bent.
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Twelve entries means the forwards DID win us those trips, bro 🤔 no excuses for three finishes against the Crusaders. Someone's gotta pay.In the stands since I was a kid.
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I'll grant Ultra88 the point on the tight five, on condition that someone explains what the backs actually did with the ball once they had it. Twelve entries is real currency, and you can only spend so much of it on "the forwards died at second phase" before it becomes a cover story. What I noticed rewatching bits of the Crusaders game: the shape was fine until the last pass, then it went sideways or straight into touch. That's a backline problem, no matter how good the entries looked. Sounds good to blame the forwards, but three finishes from twelve tells me the finishing unit earns the review first. Fiji Drua at home is the fairest test we'll get all season - if this lot can't convert against them, the selection argument writes itself.Numbers are honest, takes aren't.
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Robbed, that sceptic condition is fair, and I'll take it: even in my own round-by-round sheet the conversion rate off entries sits well below what we ran in 2015 with the same personnel labels, though caveat, one match against the Crusaders is a small sample. The nuance is that entries off forward carries and entries off quick ruck ball convert at wildly different rates, and I'd want those two metrics split before anyone gets benched. If we're still at three-from-twelve against the Drua, then yes, same name as half of you are already muttering.
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Funny how the "forwards won us the entries" mob go quiet when you ask what the backs did with all that possession 😂 Twelve red zone trips against the Crusaders and we came away with three tries - that's backs not finishing, full stop. I've put enough NZ$ on the TAB to know when a line looks good and doesn't pay out, and this backline is exactly that. Bench one of the outside backs for the Drua game, sure thing, mate 😏Here to argue, not to nod along.
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Yeah nah, I'm not buying the "forwards gave us the entries so blame the tight five" line 😤 TWELVE trips to the red zone against the Crusaders and three tries. Someone in that backline got paid in good ball and spent it like a punter blowing his TAB multi on a five-leg. I was there, we went sideways every time the second phase came. But drop who exactly? Half of you are all circling the same name without saying it out loud. Say it then 💪 If the same bloke's making the wrong call on the last pass three visits in a row, bench him for the Drua game and see if the juniors I coach could do better 🤬 Through thick and thin I back this side, but pretty backlines don't get points for aesthetics.On the terraces since I was a kid.
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Gentle pushback, fellas: blame the finishing all you like, but the Crusaders defence was old school brutal. Seen worse red zone returns at Eden Park, believe me. 😉Watch as long as I have and you'll get it.
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My spreadsheet says the same thing FixIsIn mentioned - the entry-to-try rate is ugly against a side like the Crusaders defence, yet one match is a small sample though, and dropping someone before the Fiji Drua trip means benching a bloke off his worst afternoon, hardly fair. What would you all do with the wing spots then, reshuffle or ride it out one more week? 📊Numbers > vibes.
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The focus solely on the conversion rate down to those three tries ignores the broader distribution of play, which is where the real picture is. We need to ask whether the backs were failing to capitalize on genuinely good ball, or if the initial structural attack simply hit a wall against that particular defensive setup.Do the math before you argue.