Crusaders boosted by return of All Black centre for Rebels clash

We'll see where they stand at the end fo the current tour won't we? As I pointed out if they lose to Ireland and France it will be 9/14 for the year.

I would heistate to see "a return to attacking, flowing rugby, and not playing your own 22, which is the ABs style" however.

I don't feel the attack is sophisticated enough for that. Most of it is pretty basic stuff depending for its success on individual skill-sets, which are still of high quality.

I'm also not sure you understand what pleases your average joe Springbok rugby supporter!

"that Sititi offload to Telea " What struck me lookig at the replays was that Telea should never have got in down the outside. Genge froze as Telea got the ball, did a little half stop step. He had time to step out and force Telea in, or make a strong tackle. Telea is just too good and strong given that space.

Must also add that was a superb offload by Sititi.

I am fine with 75%+, in fact I think that is excellent, but the main point of anguish is not IF we win or lose, it is how. I think that Razor has finally got us playing to our identity again; flowing, simple, and brutally decisive & efficient.

There are certainly some issues that the stats reflect, like the scrum and lineout. However, at scrum time, there isn't really much variation, in terms of attack, you can put on that. So at the end of the day, not much to do differently apart from 'scrum better'.

However, the lineout is quite interesting. As Ryan said earlier this week, the ABs have added a lot of depth and combinations to their lineout, with FOUR lineout options (Barrett, Vaai, Savea, Sititi). While they did only retain 80% possession from lineouts (not great), the stat line is actually 12/15, which is pretty good, considering Aumua did all those lineout with limited experience and tiredness after playing 75 minutes at Twickenham.

There are also some really good stats to back up the ABs. They managed to stay out of their own 22 for a lot of the game, however they also didn't set up camp in the opp 22 often either. They are also passing the ball a lot, clocking in at 211 passes, double that of England. These stats show a return to attacking, flowing rugby, and not playing your own 22, which is the ABs style.

What I think Razor wants to do is make effective use of draw and pass, simple rugby. This can be pre or post contact, but you have to draw more than 1 player. For example, that Sititi offload to Telea, or BB to Jordan. Those were excellent, yet overall simple passages of rugby This can be risky at times (just watch DMac play), but it is a medium risk high reward gameplan.

What we Kiwis want is exciting rugby. We want hard defense, big hits, cool plays, and quick linebreaks. I cannot imagine being an SA fan between 2018-2021, which was one of the most boring rugby teams of all time (respectfully). I also cannot imagine being an England fan right now, so dull. But the ABs are making rugby exciting again, playing like Scotland and Fiji, but better.

The Rugby Championship this year is past history now, in any case, and you are being selective in stats. The reason why they ABs finished poorly was problems in their bench replacements. Notably, when Tuipolutu returned to the side there was a turnaround in this area. This has nothing to do with playing the game at pace or not.

So he actually said BOTH Ireland and New Zealand will have trepidation going into this match. Same as any big match so.