Who Will Lose Out To Sonny Bill Williams?

[Amobokoboko]

SBW to most likely play his first game this weekend against Tasman as a sub, coming in the second half.
A perfect reason to get up early

 

[lucky number 7]

Good one you, have another drink while your at it. Even if SBW is as bad as you say he'd still walk into any NH national team except maybe Ireland, is that why your so angry?

Is that right?

 

[smiffymies]

It will be interesting to see how SBW now performs with all this hype surronding him. Solid player but at the moment in my opinion, i am yet to see more from him to sway my judgement.

 

[TRF_Olyy]

SBW to most likely play his first game this weekend against Tasman as a sub, coming in the second half.
A perfect reason to get up early

He's out with a hamstring injury:
http://www.smh.com.au/rugby-union/u...changes-but-no-sonny-bill-20100819-12j15.html

 

[Darwin]

Alright thats it, the Andy Farrell comparison was the last straw. I am officially declaring that everyone is being a too harsh on this guy.
Firstly, i disagree with him getting a free pass into the All Blacks for much the same reasons that Nick does, hell i was one of Luke McAllisters biggest fans and i was violently against him being given free entry on return from UK. But! there are a few things that are grating on me.

1)SBW is not some calculating, money grubbing, attention seeker that everyone seems to think he is. He is a young, wide eyed, naive kid from Mt Albert. I have had the honor of meeting the guy before and he is a genuinely nice person. Hes a great sportsman, but off the field he doesn't know what hes doing and doesn't have a lot going on upstairs. From what i have heard he trusts people to a fault, this is how the Bulldogs were able to convince him to sign contracts that weren't in his interests, and how Anthony Mundine and co. manage to talk him into doing anything they want. It never ceases to amaze me when people tag him as this "man with a plan" thats just trying to get rich and get attention, that isnt the case at all. Hes just a kid that doesnt know what to do and is getting pulled in all different directions.

2)This guy isn't in New Zealand for the money (although his manager squeezed a lot out of the NZRU). He legitimately grew up wanting to be an All Black. He is a proud New Zealander, you can tell this from his league days, he turned down the higher honor and exposure of State of Origin and the Kangaroos to play for the nothing Kiwi team. He grew up playing rugby union, he even played on the winning Auckland Roller Mills tournament team (Probably the biggest youth rugby tournament in NZ) and had posters of Christian Cullen and Jonah Lomu on his wall. It just so happened that the highschool in the neighborhood he grew up in had a big focus on rugby league, he got picked up by a league scout as a teenager and the rest is history. Who knows how things would have panned out if he went to Auckland Grammar.

3)Have any of you heard of conformation bias? you should have Nick. If you guys all sit there angrily watching his highlights with the idea of how much you hate him and how bad at sport he is running through your head, then obviously you're going to find reasons to support your bias. Show me any play with any player and someone could find a fault in it. In this one thread i have seen the arguements:
-"Look he didn't have to beat any defenders, hes not that good what a **** player"
-"Look at how many defenders he had to beat! should have passed it, hes not that good what a **** player"
-"Look at that ball he passed! far too risky, hes not that good what a **** player"
-"Look at that tackle, sure he hit him hard but it was a shoulder charge, thats all hes good for hes not that good what a **** player" (Take your biased blindfolds off, he had intention to wrap in all those tackles, its not his fault if he hits them so hard that they fall away from him, give him credit where its due)
-"Look he saved a try, well... it wasn't a shoulder charge but under some technicality its probably wrong somehow, hes still not that good and a **** player" (Actually, if he does it the process of making a tackle then its not a knock on, Gregan vs Wilson much? its an identical tackle and people raved about Gregan.. also, didn't he propel the ball towards his own line anyway?)
"Is that all this guy decided to put on his youtube video?! thats it, he might be 24 years old and hasnt even played a game in NZ yet but im declaring his test career a dud right now."

Do you know what this exact situation reminds me of? Quade Cooper. Everyone thought he was overrated , they saw his highlights and said "Risky, flakey, lets see him do that again, fluke etc.." a guy even took the time to go through every game he played as a 20 year old and make a video showing all his errors. Even this year before the super 14 on this forum people were saying that he was a crap player, people wrote off his test career when he was 21, look at him now hes pegged as one of Australias best players even over Giteau.

4)Hes an amazing sportsman This guy is 6'4, 112kg, has great hands, is incredibly strong, can read a defense and and attack as well as any first five and is very quick. Hes any coaches wet dream, how about instead of ripping into him and declaring him a bust before hes been allowed to set foot on the field, lets give him say 5 games to show what hes got. How about that?

5)Oi, you guys, stop being such negitive dicks yeh?

I have to agree entirely with this post. Like most others, I was not a fan of the NZRFU spending big money to get him back to New Zealand, however now he's back I'm going to actually give him a chance to see what he can do before I write him off as a complete failure!

 

[Thingimubob]

Good one you, have another drink while your at it. Even if SBW is as bad as you say he'd still walk into any NH national team except maybe Ireland, is that why your so angry?

Personally I'd have Jamie Roberts over him any day for Wales. But that's just my preference... Then again the only time they've played each other was the Amlin Cup Final, and both had cracking games! Personally I think he is a bit over-hyped atm, mostly because its a bit early in his Union career to be hyping him up this much. There's massive potential there, but he's not quite there yet. Only time I've properly seen him in action was the Amlin Cup Final vs the Blues, which he won Man of the Match in. His tackling and running were impressive, and he was a handful for the Blues defense. But he made far too many silly mistakes like carrying the ball in one hand and losing it, silly offloads which didnt go to hand, which definitely cost Toulon a try or two. He wasn't the only Toulon player to do it, but still, if he wants to be an All Black he needs to cut these mistakes out!

 

[woodward]

Lol the NZRU are paying this guy as much as Carter and McCaw, on the recommendation of the best coaching panel in the world and some of the best midfielders of the modern era but I'm a raving lunatic for thinking he's good enough to make most NH teams? I get that's what your disagreeing with but you'd think the way people reacted that I was the one making the outlandish statement. But no you probably right, the 4 million dollar man with all the skills in the book and athleticism and size probably only rivalled in rugby by Pierre Spies would have no chance at breaking into the potent midfield of England, Wales or France lol.
Ranger makes a very good point, if O'Driscoll had scored those tries they would be the greatest runs ever.

 

[smartcooky]

OK, how about this. SBW is not good enough to get into any NH national side but

► RO'G is good enough to get into the Ireland side???
► Mike "The Cart-Horse" Tindall gets into the England team???

pfffft!!!

 

[TRF_Olyy]

Nowt wrong with Tindall, he's just old now.

 

[squirrel]

well rog is a fly half, not even the most one eyed kiwi supporter will see sonny breaking into ireland as a fly half

 

[Amobokoboko]

Every week my expectations towards him are growing.

 

[smartcooky]

well rog is a fly half, not even the most one eyed kiwi supporter will see sonny breaking into ireland as a fly half

It wasn't the point squirrel. It was merely a reflection in the quality of player irrespective of position.

Nowt wrong with Tindall, he's just old now.

Yep... an old cart-horse

 

[Teh Mite]

OK, how about this. SBW is not good enough to get into any NH national side but

► RO'G is good enough to get into the Ireland side???
► Mike "The Cart-Horse" Tindall gets into the England team???

pfffft!!!

O'Gara is an Irish fly-half (something of a rarity in it's own right). They have an abundance of centres of much better quality. I doubt very much SBW can play 10 (not much call for crash-ball stand-offs in the modern game).
Tindall, old and knackered as he is, is still a hundred times the centre then SBW could dream of. And he's also achieved more then SBW ever will.

It wasn't the point squirrel. It was merely a reflection in the quality of player irrespective of position.



Yep... an old cart-horse

Looks to me like you're getting very precious.

BTW did you draw that picture yourself? Very good! Tony Hart would give you an award in the junior category for that!

 

[Feicarsinn]

I'm finding hilarious that some of our Antipodean posters are jumping to the defence of SBW who failed utterly in making a big impact in NH rugby while they'll take any chance afforded to them to ridicule Riki Flutey, a player who has developed quite nicely up here.

He's not as good as Regan King either.

 

[smartcooky]

BTW did you draw that picture yourself?

I have many skills. Sadly, cartoon drawing is not one of them. I pinched the basic horse drawing, and added the rose, O2 and number 13 in Photoshop

Tindall would never have made a SH test team, wouldn't even make a S14 side... no where near fast enough.

I'm not a defender of SBW, but I am prepared to wait and see how he does. From several accounts I have head he was pretty good for Toulon.

Others on this forum appear to be wishing he will fail. Presumably they have their own reasons.

I don't share their wishes or agendas!

 

[Feicarsinn]

I have many skills. Sadly, cartoon drawing is not one of them. I pinched the basic horse drawing, and added the rose, O2 and number 13 in Photoshop

Tindall would never have made a SH test team, wouldn't even make a S14 side... no where near fast enough.

I'm not a defender of SBW, but I am prepared to wait and see how he does. From several accounts I have head he was pretty good for Toulon.

Others on this forum appear to be wishing he will fail. Presumably they have their own reasons.

I don't share their wishes or agendas!

I'll fully admit that I'd like to see him fail, I hate overrated players. He got a ridiculously lucrative contaract off the NZRU having done very little (in comparison to DC and Richie) to merit it, off the back of a few decent/average seasons at an alright French team. It stinks to me.

 

[Sam Owen]

I'll fully admit that I'd like to see him fail, I hate overrated players. He got a ridiculously lucrative contaract off the NZRU having done very little (in comparison to DC and Richie) to merit it, off the back of a few decent/average seasons at an alright French team. It stinks to me.

Well at least your honest I respect that and your not alone heaps of people hate SBW. Sinn why do you hate him?...Im curious and I feel theirs more to it then mentioned in your quote.

 

[woodward]

So your claiming responsibility for how good the players are you poached from us? You can have our discards for your Lions team. Bullitt you clearly are agro about this for some reason.

 

[Feicarsinn]

Well at least your honest I respect that and your not alone heaps of people hate SBW. Sinn why do you hate him?...Im curious and I feel theirs more to it then mentioned in your quote.

Oh, I wouldn't say I hate him. I just think it's crazy that he's on that kind of money when you consider what he has done (or not, as it were). I can't see him breaking into the All Black 22 within 12 months on merit in the next 12 months but he'll most likely get his place in the WC squad over the likes of Ranger or Mcallister, which would be damn infuriating.

 

[Feicarsinn]

So your claiming responsibility for how good the players are you poached from us? You can have our discards for your Lions team. Bullitt you clearly are agro about this for some reason.

No, I didn't say that. Players develop at different rates. No need to get so offended. That would be like me saying the ITM cup is awful because Jonathan Spatt did well down there but has done buggar all up here. You argued that SBW would start for France, England and Wales which tells me you don't follow Northern Hemisphere rugby in great detail.