I'm currently in Sydney. Next destination, Brisbane. Go back to Auckland, then going down to Palmerston North. Hopefully I have time to go to Wellington after that. Once this is all over and im all out of money, i’ll be uploading photos and maybe writing about this trip here.
Until then! :-)
New Zealand 22 France 27 ( 1st Test Match)
I watched the game live last Saturday; shameful!. A huge win for the French. It was the fourth French victory in New Zealand -though their first since 1994. Now they'll have the self belief that they can travel down to NZ and win the RWC in 2011. Henry and Co put out the best team available and they were'nt good enough. Of the new guys, I thought Ross played really well. Muliaina was good too. Nonu may have scored but once again went missing and how many times will Toiava drop the ball when we are hot on attack. Rokocoko did nothing. I think the French defence was putting too much pressure on the AB's line, the French were well structured which the ABs couldn't break through and they were rushing up on our attack very fast putting pressure on our attack causing us to make errors thus getting them turnovers. Get rid of Tialata, he sucks. Thomson is no where near a 7, loose trio was very poor. Some of Donald's kicking was very poor, it is not Super 14, kick for corners, and get rid of this stupid short restarts! Badly exposed in the loose forwards. Liam Messam needs to take a hard look at his defence! Both French tries came off him missing straight forward, easy tackles.
By the way, I found that they pick more players from the second worst team in the Super 14. How many ABs Chiefs 2nd, 5 - Muliana, Donald, Messam, Latimer, Masaga. Hurricanes 3rd/4th, 6 - Jane, Nonu, Tialata, Hore, Weepu, Evans. Crusaders 3rd/4th, 3 - Read, Ross, Thorn. Highlander 11th 2 - Cowan, Thompson. Blues 9th 6 - Toeava, Rockcoko, Woodcock, Mealamu, Afoa, (Luke Mc Ailster) So, the 2nd worst team in NZ gets 6 players in the Team, that's more then the Chiefs and Crusaders who not only finished higher but had better defense ALL year; although I'm a big fan of The Blues ha ha but that's the fact.
and bring back JERRY COLLINS! ABs sorely lacked toughness in the tight exchanges, we needed someone to lead form the front in both defense and attack.
Congratulations France, they played better and deserved the victory. I think they outplayed us everywhere. Hopefully the ABs do better in Wellington this Saturday! Of course I'm not going to miss it. Get well quickly, Richie, Dan Carter, Ali Williams, Rodney, Conrad Smith, Richard Kahui, Sivivatu, Leonard- I miss you guys.
For your info-the current ABs players; 15 Mils Muliaina (c), 14 Cory Jane, 13 Isaia Toeava, 12 Ma'a Nonu, 11 Joe Rokocoko, 10 Stephen Donald, 9 Jimmy Cowan; 8 Liam Messam, 7 Adam Thomson, 6 Kieran Read, 5 Isaac Ross, 4 Brad Thorn, 3 Neemia Tialata, 2 Andrew Hore, 1 Tony Woodcock. Reserves: 16 Keven Mealamu, 17 John Afoa, 18 Bryn Evans, 19 Tanerau Latimer, 20 Piri Weepu, 21 Luke McAlister, 22 Lelia Masaga
P/S; If anyone interested to watch ABs vs Springboks game on the 18th July at Eden Park (Tri Nations), please let me know ASAP. There are 3 people so far.
