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Round 7. Blues – Highlanders:

Give Ice more game time imo.. He gets better with every game, as he's still learning his trade

But then Smith needs more game time too cos he just got back from an injury..

Hard to decide on what to do..

Nonu is just a good player to bring off the bench and use the power game when teams are tired in the last 10
 
In the past I have been a great supporter of Smith at 13 but in the last game against the Force I felt he really got exposed for pace. He has great distribution and reads the game well, but he is a little too slow sometimes. Toeava on the other hand is definitely not lacking in the speed department and he also possesses a little more of that x-factor, you know the one that whenever he gets the ball everyone moves a little forward on the seat in expectation of something coming from nothing.
Sure he's got his weaknesses, but his handling isn't as bad as it seems and I feel perhaps people focus on it more because it was the biggest fault in his All Blacks performance. But keep in mind the All Blacks never lost when he played. They did lose however when they shifted Muliaina to centre and Ice wasn't even on the bench.
So for my money Toeava would be my preferred option, he just offers that little bit more in terms of game breaking ability, as we've all seen what happens to All Black teams who start crapping out and the only replacements are "safe, solid" players like thorne and to a lesser extent Smith.
 

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