Does the Chiefs' attack signal a change in All Blacks selection?
515 points in 14 games and second on the table, yet half of you still reckon the selectors will look past Hamilton? π Anyone punting against Chiefs players making the ABs squad this year deserves the loss. Laughable really.
9 posts
-
βAndy, the 515 is doing a lot of heavy lifting in your post and I'd pump the brakes a bit. I keep my own table every round and one thing jumps out: 325 conceded across 14 matches. That form line ends in a loss for a reason. Attack scores you the highlights, but selectors watch who wins the collision area and who defends their channel under fatigue, and that's where the sample gets messier for Hamilton. There's a nuance here too, because Super Rugby Pacific defences aren't Test defences. Points travel up a level far worse than tackles and work rate do. Caveat on my side: 14 matches is a decent sample but not a season, and three losses in a ladder this tight tells you the gap to the top isn't huge. My read? Yes, Chiefs players make the squad, several of them. But if you're using that points tally as proof the selectors have been ignoring something, you're reading the wrong column. πNumbers > vibes.
-
seen worse foundations trying to stand on big attacking numbers, mate. that defensive record sticks out quite a bit.Been here longer than some have followed.
-
325 against is a fair knock but 515 across 14 games still screams selection, always has. Our lot never make it easy but backing them all day π₯πͺ
-
LockTragic gets it, 515 screams selection no matter how you slice it π₯ Only wrinkle for me is that last-up loss, coaches hate picking blokes off a beat... still coached against a few of these Chiefs juniors and the talent's real πͺπHeart with the team, head on pause.
-
Context matters with that form line, mate. Two home wins in the middle of LWWWL flatters it a bit; the All Blacks selectors will read the bookends before the 515.Do the math before you argue.
-
FrontRowFan has a point tbh, selectors do read the bookends π but 515 in 14 games? You can't coach that out of a squad. Remember watching the juniors tear it up at training and thinking half of them should already be in black, ah well, nowt to do but back them all day π₯On the terraces since I was a kid.
-
FrontRowFan's bookends point is fair, but here's my nuance: 515 for against 325 against means the attack was carrying the side even in the three losses. Selectors don't just read results, they read how. If the attack kept functioning in the defeats, the form line matters less than people reckon. Small sample though, one competition. πNumbers > vibes.
-
Funny how 325 still leaks through the "carrying" argument π BadBeatKing, if the attack was that decisive in the losses, why'd they drop three? Selection's easy when you only read half the book.Here to argue, not to nod along.