[EOYT] Japan vs. New Zealand. 02/11/13

[Big Ewis]

All Blacks side has been named and has been added to the top of the thread.

classy move...

In deed, funny to see McCaw at 8. Obviously he's not nearly a world class 8, esp. not at this point in his career, but he does have some no.8 qualities about him...coming off a scrum to punch in a try for e.g., but it's not like they care. They could put McCaw at flyhalf if they wanted, ain't gonna change the fact that the Japs are taking 50 minimum in the face.

 

[TRF_stormer2010]

The team that could be aligned Scott Wisemantel to play the All Blacks should look something like this:


1- Masataka Mikami (Toshiba Brave Lupus) 2 - Shota Horie (Panasonic Wild Knights ) 3 - Hiroshi Yama****a ( Kobelco Steelers ) - 4 Hitoshi Ono (Toshiba Brave Lupus) 5 - Shinya Makabe ( Suntory Sungoliath ) 6 -Hendrik Tui ( Suntory Sungoliath ) 7 -Michael Broadhurst ( Ricoh Black Rams ) 8 - Takashi Kikutani ( Toyota Verblitz ) 9- Fumiaki Tanaka (Panasonic Wild Knights ) 10 - Harumichi Tatekawa ( Kubota Spears ) 11- Kenki Fukuoka ( Tsukuba ) 12 Yu Tamura ( NEC Green Rockets ) 13 -Male Sau (Yamaha Jubilo ) 14 - © Toshiaki Hirose (Toshiba Brave Lupus) 15 - Ayumu Goromaru (Yamaha Jubilo )


I put Yu Tamura , a hit this season in the league and had a level, instead of Craig Wing , wounded and not recovered I think for the game. Kyosuke Horie , the revelation of the season, could be tenured in the third line to the first but it just seems to me too . Takuma Asahara (Toshiba Brave Lupus) could replace Yama****a 1st line aussi.Le rest is classic with Ono / Makabe in the second line , the beautiful hinge Tanaka / Tatekawa the phenomenon Fukuoka Captain Hirose on the wings , Male Sau center and our solid scorer Goromaru back.

Hendrik? I'd love a backstory there.

 

[ABs2011]

New Zealand

1. Wyatt Crockett (20)
2. Dane Coles (11)
3. Ben Franks (29)
4. Jeremy Thrush (4)
5. Dominic Bird *
6. Steven Luatua (8)
7. Sam Cane (13)
8. Richie McCaw - captain (121)
9. Tawera Kerr-Barlow (10)
10. Daniel Carter (97)
11. Frank Halai *
12. Francis Saili (1)
13. Ben Smith (22)
14. Charles Piutau (7)
15. Beauden Barrett (14)

Reserves:

16. Andrew Hore (81)
17. Jeffery Toomaga-Allen *
18. Charlie Faumuina (14)
19. Brodie Retallick (21)
20. Luke Whitelock *
21. Aaron Smith (22)
22. Tom Taylor (2)
23. Ryan Crotty (1)

Well that is certainly a pretty impressive AB team. When they first set this game up I was expecting a complete B team, however this team is quite a bit more experienced than what I was expecting. Our back three may well be the most dynamic we have had for a while and with DC running the ship from 10 I expect the ABs will put on a lot of points.

Strange to see Richie start at 8 - does that say something about where the AB selectors see L Whitelock is at (I.e. not really in the mix yet, cause that suggests he is #4 at best behind Read, Messam, and Richie)? Or is it just that the selectors wanted to give Richie some game time but also wanted to see Cane start again at 7??

Happy to see TKB get a start - he REALLY needs to make the most of it because he has been arguably the least impressive ABs this season. I hope he goes well.

Will be good to have a close watch of Bird as well. I've seen very little of him at any level of rugby so keen to see how he stacks up.

Should be a fun game. Let's hope the weather in Tokyo is good.

 

[Patchey]

Surprisingly strong AB side, I do fear a little for Japan.

 

[steblin]

Really pleased with the move of Richie to 8, keep the momentum up with Cane and give Luatua the chance to partner both of them.

The potential for dynamic running 10-15 is just rediculous.

Agree with the comment on TKB, he needs to make the most of this opportunity.

 

[Bada-Bing!]

The last time Richie started at 8 for the ABs was v Ireland in 3rd test in 2012 wasn't it? I seem to recall the ABs put 60 points past Ireland in that match.

 

[Big Ewis]

hey isn't sige Japane......WHERE'S SIGE ?!!!! WHERE !!!!

 

[Jayatron]

Where is the game being televised? Nothing on sky.

 

[Bada-Bing!]

Where is the game being televised? Nothing on sky.

Yep just checked;it does not look as though it's being shown on any of the Sky sports channels or BT Sport or ESPN. Looks like Sky don't think there's enough interest to pay for the rights for this game, which kicks off at 5am here.

 

[Darwin]

Pretty predictable ABs side really. Good to see Bird has been given the start at lock, as we need to give Rettalick as much of a rest as possible.

No surprise to see McCaw at 8 - I'm sure Whitelock will get a good 20-30 mins off the bench. TKB needs a big game, as Perenara is looking the better bench option for the ABs come the bigger tests (even though he hasn't even played test rugby...).

The backline as a whole looks very dangerous. It does looks a bit weaker defensively, but I don't imagine this will be a major issue vs Japan!

 

[steblin]

Pretty sure I read that the All Blacks are streaming the game on YouTube, as they did for their last game. Excludes certain regions (I'm guessing where the rights have been sold etc), trying to find a link to it ...

Edit - Found it on the All Blacks page on Facebook

 

[Jayatron]

Pretty sure I read that the All Blacks are streaming the game on YouTube, as they did for their last game. Excludes certain regions (I'm guessing where the rights have been sold etc), trying to find a link to it ...

Edit - Found it on the All Blacks page on Facebook

Brilliant, thanks. Hope that it is being streamed now in the UK.

 

[ABs2011]

Pretty sure I read that the All Blacks are streaming the game on YouTube, as they did for their last game. Excludes certain regions (I'm guessing where the rights have been sold etc), trying to find a link to it ...

Edit - Found it on the All Blacks page on Facebook

Yeah, I'm not 100% sure either but there was a late decision to stream the last AB game on youtube (to countries where the rights had not been purchased by a network). I suspect they will do the same with this one!

Otherwise just go to the usual free sports streaming sites. You'll certainly find a stream there!

 

[TRF Mr Fish]

Perenara must still be under a bit of an injury cloud, given his absence from the bench.

I hope TKB has a good game, likewise I'd like to see Saili and Smith combine well together, given that they're a possible future pairing.

 

[ABs2011]

Perenara must still be under a bit of an injury cloud, given his absence from the bench.

I hope TKB has a good game, likewise I'd like to see Saili and Smith combine well together, given that they're a possible future pairing.

Yeah, I guess they had hoped he would be ready but obviously they are not going to risk him. Shame as I would have liked to see him get some time!

 

[TRF Mr Fish]

Yeah, I guess they had hoped he would be ready but obviously they are not going to risk him. Shame as I would have liked to see him get some time!

I think we'll probably see him on the bench for at least a couple of matches on the tour, depending on how he performs in his first match off the bench (presumably next week).

A few players are likely to return home early if they've had heavy workloads this season. Cruden will certainly be one of those players, Retallick is likely to be another. There'll be a few other players too, maybe Read, Aaron Smith. This would open up the possibilities for some extra game time for TBK and TJP.

 

[jessta]

Jeez that is a backline full of x factor! Going to be a heap of trys through the backs I reckon. Quite scary

 

[nickdnz]

Looking forward to seeing Halai dominate. This sounds really bad but I hope Kerr-Barlow stuffs up - looking good against Japan will do very little to make me think he's not screwing up the AB's backline in big tests - while it is remarkable how badly they've treated Peranara up to this point.

 

[steblin]

More info on the Youtube streaming here - http://allblacks.com/news/23739/All-Blacks-Japan-Test-to-be-streamed-online-internationally

"The free streaming of the Test covers 159 countries and territories in Asia (except Japan), Europe (except France), United Kingdom, parts of Africa, North, Central and South America and the Pacific (except Australia and New Zealand)."

 

[Hinato]

Scott Wisemantel , interim coach of Japan, has unveiled the starting XV that will face the Japanese armada All Black Saturday morning in Tokyo. To meet the physical announced three changes to note. In the first line , the right pillar Kensuke Hatakeyama ( Suntory Sungoliath ) is preferred Hiroshi Yama****a ( Kobelco Steelers ) . In the second line , Shoji Ito ( Kobelco Steelers ) takes advantage of the injury Shinya Makabe ( Suntory Sungoliath ) to be established.


Finally, in the third line , Ryu Koliniasi Holani (Panasonic Wild Knights ) , author of an excellent start to the season with the club in Ota Japanese Top League , is preferred to the iconic Takashi Kikutani ( Toyota Verblitz ) . The rest is classic with the hinge that makes sparks in June, Fumiaki Tanaka (Panasonic Wild Knights ) / Harumichi Tatekawa ( Kubota Spears ) . The university phenomenon Kenki Fukuoka ( Tsukuba ) is definitely needed on the wing .


We find strong central pair Craig Wing ( Kobelco Steelers ) / Male Sau (Yamaha Jubilo ) and top scorer of the Japanese championship back, Ayumu Goromaru (Yamaha Jubilo ) . Toshiaki Hirose (Toshiba Brave Lupus) will once again captain of the Brave Blossoms for the big clash against the All Blacks on Saturday morning. Note that the opener will be converted Kosei Ono half replacement scrum for the occasion, in this first test match in the absence of teammate Suntory Sungoliath , Atsushi Hiwasa apparently it hurt .


The starting XV :


1- Masataka Mikami (Toshiba Brave Lupus , 9 caps) 2 - Shota Horie (Panasonic Wild Knights , 23 caps) 3 - Kensuke Hatakeyama ( Suntory Sungoliath , 46 caps) 4 - Shoji Ito ( Kobelco Steelers , 17 caps) 5 - Hitoshi Ono (Toshiba Brave Lupus , 73 caps) 6 -Hendrik Tui ( Suntory Sungoliath , 14 caps) 7 -Michael Broadhurst ( Ricoh Black Rams, 12 caps) 8 -Ryu Koliniasi Holani (Panasonic Wild Knights , 25 caps) 9- Fumiaki Tanaka (Panasonic Wil Knights , 37 caps) 10 - Harumichi Tatekawa ( Kubota Spears, 19 caps) 11- Kenki Fukuoka ( Tsukuba , 7 caps) 12 -Craig Wing ( Kobelco Steelers , 5 caps) 13 -Male Sau (Yamaha Jubilo , 9 caps) 14 - (c) Toshiaki Hirose (Toshiba Brave Lupus , 15 caps) 15 - Ayumu Goromaru (Yamaha Jubilo , 29 caps)




substitutes:


16 - Yusuke Aoki ( Suntory Sungoliath , 28 caps) 17 - Yusuke Nagae ( Ricoh Black Rams, 13 caps) 18 - Hiroshi Yama****a ( Kobelco Steelers , 25 caps) 19 - Luke Thompson ( Kintetsu Liners, 39 caps) 20 - Takashi Kikutani ( Toyota Verblitz , 63 caps) 21 - Kosei Ono ( Suntory Sungoliath , 18 caps) 22 - Yu Tamura ( NEC Green Rockets , 13 caps) 23- Yoshikazu Fujita ( Waseda , 9 caps)