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British and Irish Lions 2017

And the Maori All Blacks squad looks absolutely nails. No easy game.

Maori All Blacks:

Props
Chris Eves - North Harbour - Waikato/Tainui (7 appearances)
Kane Hames - Tasman - Ngāi Tuhoe/Ngāti Porou (5)
Mike Kainga - Taranaki - Ngāti Kahungunu (2)
Ben May - Hawke’s Bay - Ngāti Maniapoto (12)
Marcel Renata - Auckland - Ngāti Whānaunga / Te Aupouri (4)

Hookers
Ash Dixon (captain) - Hawke’s Bay - Ngāti Tahinga (8)
Hikawera Elliot - Counties Manukau - Ngāti Awa (9)

Locks
Tom Franklin - Otago - Ngāti Maniapoto (4)
Leighton Price - Taranaki - Waikato/Ngāti Maniapoto (3)
Joe Wheeler - Tasman - Ngāi Tahu (2)

Loose forwards
Elliot Dixon - Southland - Ngāpuhi (9)
Akira Ioane - Auckland - Ngāpuhi/Te Whānau ā Apanui (5)
Liam Messam - Waikato - Ngāti Maniapoto (12)
Reed Prinsep - Canterbury - Te Rārawa (2)
Kara Pryor – Northland - Ngāti Awa/Ngāti Pikiao/Ngāti Rangitihi (2)

Backs

Halfbacks
Bryn Hall* - North Harbour - Ngāti Ranginui
Te Toiroa Tahuriorangi* - Taranaki - Ngāti Pikiao

First five-eighths
Otere Black - Manawatu - Ngāi Tuhoe/Te Whānau ā Apanui/Ngāti Tūwharetoa (4)
Ihaia West - Hawke’s Bay - Ngāti Kahungunu/Ngāti Porou (7)

Midfielders
Tim Bateman - Canterbury - Ngāi Tahu (12)
Charlie Ngatai - Taranaki - Ngāti Porou/Te Whānau ā Apanui/Te Whakatōhea (9)
Matt Proctor - Wellington - Ngāi Te Rangi/Ngāpuhi (9)
Rob Thompson* - Canterbury - Ngāti Kahungunu
James Lowe - Tasman - Ngāpuhi/Ngāi Te Rangi (5)

Outside backs
Damian McKenzie - Waikato - Ngāti Tūwharetoa/Ngāti Tahinga (3)
Nehe Milner-Skudder - Manawatu - Ngāti Porou/Tapuika (2)
Declan O’Donnell - Taranaki - Ngāti Tūwharetoa/Ngāti Porou (1)
 
slightly surprised McKenzie and Milner-Skudder aren't in the main AB team. Suprised Fekitoa is no where to be seen.

Has there ever been an international game in the professional era where three brothers from the same family have played?
 
Milner-Skudder's only played 40 minutes of rugby this season too.

Agreed on Damien, he's a tyro but needs a bit more discipline for Hansen's consideration.
 
Balbi said:
Milner-Skudder's only played 40 minutes of rugby this season too.

Agreed on Damien, he's a tyro but needs a bit more discipline for Hansen's consideration.
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But he's class. Worth getting up most Saturday morning to watch, him and James Lowe are stars.

maybe you can answer this, I've been a chiefs fan for ten years, back when Jonno Gibbes and Marty Holah were the stars, but have never got an answer as to why the Chiefs play half their games on Friday nights?
 
That was the silliest one ever. if they want to carry on doing them i think the Lions have the right to stand there pointing and pissing themselves laughing!
 
And can someone shoot Barnes! Worst commentator ever!

"I wonder if Hogg fancies a long range shot from there? "
That'll be the Hogg that went off 10 minutes ago covered in claret then!
 
New Zealand rugby side unable to play to their usual level when laws of game are enforced shocker! If off-side is reffed properly in the tests I go 3-0 Lions!lol
 
Murray is playing well, so too the front row and old Tobes. More of a mix bag in the centres but Liam Williams doing very well.
 
Sexton Farrell axis looking good. Really nice interchange between them and nice varying of first receiver.
 
Take off the blinker, both Farrell and Sexton had much better service and much more time on the ball. Toby and Murray had a very good understanding too.
 
Proper gritty performance. Didn't give an inch at setpiece or in defence. Crusaders allowed by Aussie TJ to scrummage illegally all day.

Faletau, Watson, Farrell, Murray plus the entire tight five were excellent. Sexton much better. Still concerns over attack and converting possession and good field position into points. Hard to say how much of that is about bedding in combos and how much the dead hand of Stan.

Either way, big game to win and the right statement to make after the Blues result
 
stavros said:
He didn't go over the whitewash, but I thought Te'o looked good. Some of Vunipola's work was incredible too.
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Yes. As was ol' grass elbows. I'm going to take a punt and say:

15: dunno. Nobody has stood out - hogg has been poor and 1/2p workmanlike. I suspect Gatland will choose 1/2p for defence and the boot
14: North
13: T'eo
12: Farrell
11: Watson
10: Sexton
9: Murray
8: Faletau - Lions' best player thus far
7: Warburton
6: POM
5: AWJ
4: Kruis
3: Furlong
2: George
1: Vunipola

Bench:
McGrath, Owens, Cole, Itoje, Stander, Webb, Daly, 1/2p/Liam/Hogg
 
Although Foxy could well feature if he passes his HIA. I think Gatland sees him as his test 13 but T'eo has really forced himself into the reckoning.

Other options would be, I guess, Farrell at 10, T'eo at 12 and Foxy at 13 but then you'd only have one distributor and two non-passing centres or Farrell at 10, Henshaw at 12 and Foxy/T'eo at 13. For that to pass Henshaw would really have to up his game, IMO.
 
1927 said:
That was the silliest one ever. if they want to carry on doing them i think the Lions have the right to stand there pointing and pissing themselves laughing!
Click to expand...

Fuck off already :rolleyes: those silly dances mean a bit more than pre-match entertainment for the cameras.
 
General reaction here.

Media and Crusaders: omg the ref was shocking/suck it up/the ABs will still beat them

All other Super Rugby franchises: fucking lol

If the midweek team knock over the ABless Highlanders and the Test team give the Māori All Blacks a good run then things will start to get nervous down here. The Chiefs team will be without McKenzie etc, so there's a good about there too.

A Lions team on a four match run of wins may shit up an All Blacks that have had the one hitout since the Autumn Tests. Eyes on the ABs v Samoa on Friday too the island lads won't hold back.
 
Balbi said:
Fuck off already :rolleyes: those silly dances mean a bit more than pre-match entertainment for the cameras.
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Of course its all about tradition, if they are traditional how come the guy last week got into trouble for writing the dance moves? Traditional my arse .its about intimidation and feck all else.
 
You mean how come the English press got a mardy arse on about a gesture that's a part of many different haka's?

It's about respecting both cultures and noting the difference between the iwi of Tamaki Makaurau, Karaitiana & the Waikato. It's also about the resurgence of Māori culture and it's inclusion in public - the 'dance moves' are part of something bigger going on over here.

Take a leaf from Warbs etc and recognise the similarities with Celtic culture and it's trouble against the English. You're in the same waka.

As for intimidation, Mako looked bothered :D
 
Balbi said:
You mean how come the English press got a mardy arse on about a gesture that's a part of many different haka's?

It's about respecting both cultures and noting the difference between the iwi of Tamaki Makaurau, Karaitiana & the Waikato. It's also about the resurgence of Māori culture and it's inclusion in public - the 'dance moves' are part of something bigger going on over here.

Take a leaf from Warbs etc and recognise the similarities with Celtic culture and it's trouble against the English. You're in the same waka.

As for intimidation, Mako looked bothered :D
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It is without doubt, however, competitive advantage. One last opportunity to psyche the fuck out of yourselves before battle commences.

The ABs, IMO, hide behind preciousness about culture and tradition in order to maintain and ram home that advantage, dictating among other things how the oppo can respond to it (what the fuck right have they got to do that?) and the order in which it happens. I remember for the WRU centenary match we told them that to mark the occasion we'd be singing our national anthem after the haka as a response to the challenge, in our fucking stadium in front of our home crowd on our union's centenary. They refused, sulked and did their little dance in the changing rooms instead.

I'm all for tradition, culture and tangible signs of the revival of a proudly Maori way of life but I don't think this is what it is, tbh. It's a good way of stacking the odds further in their favour, and we all know the ABs are experts at doing that.
 
bendeus said:
Although Foxy could well feature if he passes his HIA. I think Gatland sees him as his test 13 but T'eo has really forced himself into the reckoning.

Other options would be, I guess, Farrell at 10, T'eo at 12 and Foxy at 13 but then you'd only have one distributor and two non-passing centres or Farrell at 10, Henshaw at 12 and Foxy/T'eo at 13. For that to pass Henshaw would really have to up his game, IMO.
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Sorry, I'm burbling on about T'eo and Foxy and have totally forgotten Joseph. Be very interested to see how he goes against the Highlanders. Quality player.
 
bendeus said:
It is without doubt, however, competitive advantage. One last opportunity to psyche the fuck out of yourselves before battle commences.

The ABs, IMO, hide behind preciousness about culture and tradition in order to maintain and ram home that advantage, dictating among other things how the oppo can respond to it (what the fuck right have they got to do that?) and the order in which it happens. I remember for the WRU centenary match we told them that to mark the occasion we'd be singing our national anthem after the haka as a response to the challenge, in our fucking stadium in front of our home crowd on our union's centenary. They refused, sulked and did their little dance in the changing rooms instead.

I'm all for tradition, culture and tangible signs of the revival of a proudly Maori way of life but I don't think this is what it is, tbh. It's a good way of stacking the odds further in their favour, and we all know the ABs are experts at doing that.
Click to expand...
Remember the other time they had to do it under the stand at Millenium?

If it's so traditional how come the gala today is so different to that of 30 yrs ago, and is actuallychoreographed befirebiv fanes? Last week the choreographer was taken to task for including the neck slash in the light of the London Bridge atrocity, show me a neck smash in a Haka of 30yrs ago!! It may have started off as a cultural thibgbit it has become something sinister.
 
You're quite right to put a question mark after 'befirebiv fanes.'
What the fuck does that mean?
 
Probably because 30 years ago there weren't as many Māori lads in the AB's, those who were in weren't as in you have with their roots as modern māori players are and so the haka as it was was a ghost impression of it.

Buck Shelford, who's Ngāphui, initiated the change in the late eighties against a background of the wider revival of Māori culture - including the first Waitangi tribunal land claims, Māori media being set up, Māori immersion schools, reinstatement of traditional roles within Māori society etc.

By the early 70's it was reckoned Māori culture was almost dead, a result of a govt that tried to stamp it out in the early 20th century (writing in Te Reo was illegal, kids were beaten at school for not speaking English :eek:).

After Aaron Smith got caught in the toilet with a woman who wasn't his partner last year, he got stripped of leading the haka because he didn't have the mana to do it any more. It would have been disrespectful to the culture for him to lead it. More going on with this than you reckon :thumbs:

Far from it becoming 'sinister', it's becoming more accurate. The video you can see showing the development of it over the years, from an awkward half arse set of motions to the proper stuff you see today is a great marker of the regrowth of māori culture in Aotearoa :cool:

A good haka, done well, is a beautiful thing :cool:

They could do without the SFX guys giving it the fire mind ;);)
 
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