Times in BST. Sorry SH. Wales already won by a point, so probably best match already done. Anyone want to predict score lines for the rest? Think I'll watch the Chile on iplayer later, not feeling the need to watch that one live
this post was submitted on 19 Jul 2024
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ABs-Fiji
47-5 to the All Blacks.
Scoreline flatters the ABs who had a lot of handling errors and turned over a bunch of ball (again). Kick-off receipt was terrible, but both scrum & lineout were very good.
Fiji played well in patches but not enough to put consistent pressure on the ABs; but their try came from exploiting the AB defensive pattern in pretty much exactly the same manner as England did twice last week. Bit of a concern.
Ratima looked really good but had to come off early after a sort of sling shot tackle planted him onto the hard surface - just an HIA but would have been negligent to let him back on. Hotham's delivery from the scrum was noticeably slower but he did have a few other good runs in him so wasn't bad by any means.
Of the other debutants, Darry played well, and should have cemented a position in TRC squad at the expense of one of the loosies. Bell & Tosi were good, and Sititi looked much the same as he had playing for the Chiefs.
Best of the bunch was Proctor who's distribution was great but also did some great runs - Reiko is probably not quite on notice given it was against Fiji and the defensive speed was much lower than the English but definitely gives the coaches something to think about.
Blackadder had a lot of effort throughout but was pretty error prone; as was the captain Barrett who also gave up a dumb breakdown penalty which scrubbed out an ABs try.
Fun enough game to watch but without much drama.
Can't believe Scotland aren't getting to play this ABs side this year, your review reads much better than the scoreline!
On the basis of the first 3 games this year it would be a surprise if the ABs win even 2 of the big 4 remaining - 2x SA, IRE, ENG all away.
3 weeks break, then 2 weeks at home against Argentina, then another 2 weeks break before the SA leg begins so if Razor truly is the coach we all think he is then they should be a lot better by then, but only time will tell.
If more time with Schmidt also helps the Wallabies the away game against them could be interesting too, but Argentina should be doable.