Stensness at standoff
Timothy Bor Yin Chik
quite significant. And that was that Lee Stensness DOES, IMHO, have the
talents to be the All Black 5/8.
At half time, Auckland looked poised to suffer an absolute caning at
19-3 down. Coach Grahan Henry decided to change the back line
significantly - Howarth from 5/8 to fullback, Cashmore to the bench,
Eroni Clarke to 2nd five, and Stensness to 1st five. From here,
Auckland began to utterly dominate the game, scoring 16 points
unanswered, before Tim Wallace (who will BTW be the successor to Roebuck
as the Wallaby fullback, IMHO) slotted a penalty in the dying minutes of
the game. But the entire Auckland team appeared to be transformed by
these alterations, and I firmly believe that putting Stensness at standoff
played a significant factor in this.
Stensness, unlike Fox, showed plenty of willingness to run the ball, and
generally did it pretty well. Something which was really symbolised
Stensness rather than Fox at flyhalf was Auckland's final attack in
NSW's 22m, when Stensness decided to send the ball out wide right, when
Fox would have probably gone for the field goal and levelled scores.
The fact that Stensness decided to go for the win indicates that this
guy has the attacking-running instincts that the AB selectors seem to
see (or hope for) in present 5/8 Marc Ellis.
Stensness also indicated that he is an excellent kick for touch. Some
of his touch-finders in this game even exceeded Campo's. He tackled
quite solidly too, although Campese caught him out magnificently in the
first half (?) with the goose-step. If Stephen Bachop was snubbed by the
selectors for his supposed lack of tackling ability, then they won't
have the same excuse to dismiss LS.
To cap it all off, Stensness scored a very smart try, which resulted
from his own fine lead-up work. Occasionally, though, his hands did let
him down (once or twice, when Auckland were in excellent attacking
positions), but apparently the conditions were rather slippery.
I hope the AB selectors were watching this game and that Graham Henry
continues to use him in this position. It reinforces the view
of what I thought the AB back line may look like, several weeks ago...
9. Forster (Tonu'u had a great game...what a player to have as a
replacement!)
10. Stensness
11. & 14. Kirwan, Wilson, or Clarke.
12. M. Cooper (Will he be staying in the centres for
Waikato now that Strawbridge and Brunning are available
to play fullback?)
13. Bunce
15. Timu
All constructive comments and replies appreciated.
tim.
--
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Tim(othy) B Y Chik //\ "That son of a bitch
3rd year Bach. Eng./Sci. me --> o o is brave 'n' gettin'
La Trobe University, OZ. - braver..."
email: chi...@latcs1.lat.oz.au
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Brett Daniel
Natal. I agree with Tim, that Stensness is a brilliant all round flyhalf.
He had a fine game against NSW and seems to have a natural ability to pick
the right option. His kicking game is superior to the other All Black
flyhalf contenders (flame away Mainlanders!) and he also posesses all of the
attacking skills.
I hope Auckland keep the same backline as played the second half against NSW.
Will they maintain Howarth as a goal kicking fullback?
Brett.
--
__ _
Brett Daniel \ \ __ / \
School of Computing Science /__\^^^^^^ \---() ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Curtin University of Technology __/ \
Western Australia. _/
email: dani...@cs.curtin.edu.au
jm...@waikato.ac.nz
> In article dani...@cs.curtin.edu.au (Brett Daniel) writes:
>> I agree with Tim, that Stensness is a brilliant all round flyhalf.
>> He had a fine game against NSW and seems to have a natural ability to pick
>> the right option.
It looks like his performance last weekend has reminded a few of us how good he
was at first five for Manawatu until he went north last year (apologies to
those who never forgot). Playing for a season outside Grant Fox should have
taught him a lot about reading a game, tactical kicking, and organising a
backline. Hopefully he won't have picked up any of Fox's bad habits: On
Sunday's performance I'd say not. Let's see how he goes in Natal.
>> His kicking game is superior to the other All Black
>> flyhalf contenders (flame away Mainlanders!)
Fair enough. I mean Bachop doesn't seem to be a contender any more. Anyway
Stensness gives you something that Ellis, Howarth and Bachop can't, a person
who's already an excellent first five, with test matches and a tour for the All
Blacks to his credit, and still has ten years good rugby left in him. He's also
played most of his life at first five. For me the only person who comes close
is Simon Mannix, who I don't think has quite the talent of Stensness but is
still a bloody good player and should have gone to Britain last year.
> Yes, and his performance has further complicated matters with regards to the
> AB selection. With Cooper almost certain to be 2nd five (barring injury),
> Stensness' best chance may well be at first five. We will get a better idea
> when the trial teams are selected next Wed.
I remember that after he'd really starred in those three tests last year a lot
of us were lauding him as our best midfield back in years. When Fox retired
most of us either decided that he was too valuable at second five to move, or
questioned whether he could deliver those pin-point bombs and tactical kicks.
Since then of course his form dropped, and he seems to have totally lost his
confidence at second five. Ironically his best performance this year appears to
have been his return to first five. And as Paul said, Cooper has emerged as an
excellent second five, who also performs the vital goalkicking role. So perhaps
Stensness is forced to first five, a job that I reckon he is admirally suited
to.
This gives me the opportunity to look at the All Black backline as a whole. My
initial choice this year is:
15. Timu
14. Wilson
13. Bunce
12. Cooper
11. Ellis (surprise!)
10. Stensness
9. Forster
The real worry for me is the midfield and wing. As Mains said on the radio this
morning, there's a real lack of depth at centre this year. Bunce is getting on
a bit and had a poor 1993, while the man I wanted to replace him, Alama Iremia,
appears to be out for the season with injury. Who does that leave? Ellis isn't
really the hard man (ala Bunce and Stanley) that the All Blacks need in this
position (remember how ineffective the talented Innes was). Berry and Ellison
aren't quite up to test match standard, while neither is Leslie yet. And do any
loyal Kiwis really want Eroni "What does the word pass mean" Clarke, or Walter
"run it back into the forwards" Little to ruin yet another All Black backline?
We could have Cooper and Stensness at 13 and 12, but as we've already discussed
Stensness has lost confidence and may be better at first five, Cooper has never
played centre for the All Blacks, and Mains is just dying to inflict Ellis on
us again. Unless It becomes apparrent that he's over the hill, I reckon that
Bunce is still our best hope.
I'm also a bit worried about the wing, now that Tuigamamla's gone. Although
Wilson isn't that big and hard he's a real matchwinner, and surely there's a
place for someone with a bit of flair out wide. Jonah Lomu's another chance,
with his skill, size, strength and pace, but he's never played on the wing, is
only 17, hasn't played any first class rugby, and probably hasn't yet got that
positional sense or the ability to run the right lines. On the other hand a
year in the All Blacks and the National Championship could make him a real
game-breaker in the World Cup.
Of the others you've got to worry about Rush's defensive abilities, while
Prince is a bit of a dork. I'd love to see Paul Cooke have a chance, but the
selectors don't seem to think that he fits into their game plan. Kirwin looked
dreadfully old and slow on Sunday, and was walking after the ball on some
occasions.
This leaves us with the two players that battled for Kirwin's vacant spot in
the first test last year, Clarke and Ellis. I'd go for Ellis because I think
he's very talented, and with his youth and experience you have to keep him in
the squad somehow. He did a good job on the wing in 1992, and besides we have
to play him in a different position each year to keep him on his toes. :=)
The rest is easy. Timu showed himself to be a world class fullback last year,
perhaps the best on the planet, while Forster's a brilliant game breaking
halfback. Tonnu'u still makes mistakes under pressure, while although Preston
is a good leader and kicker he lacks a bit of flair and often has trouble
clearing messy ball.
> <Auckland team deleted>
>
>> Will they maintain Howarth as a goal kicking fullback?
They soon got rid of the guy that they selected instead (it took about 30
minutes of the New South Wales game didn't it?) I still don't rate Howarth's
goalkicking under pressure though.
BTW the commentators for Sunday's game made a lot of how Auckland's poor
performance boded badly for the All Blacks (this was before they made their
comeback). But as far as I'm concerned only four members of that side
(Stensness and the front row) are likely to make the test side, so it's not
that big a prooblem.
A final question, to anyone who saw the Otago v North Harbour game. How did
Larsen perform against Joseph?
Cheers, Jason.
pe...@waikato.ac.nz
> Natal. I agree with Tim, that Stensness is a brilliant all round flyhalf.
> He had a fine game against NSW and seems to have a natural ability to pick
> the right option. His kicking game is superior to the other All Black
> flyhalf contenders (flame away Mainlanders!) and he also posesses all of the
> attacking skills.
Yes, and his performance has further complicated matters with regards to the
AB selection. With Cooper almost certain to be 2nd five (barring injury),
Stensness' best chance may well be at first five. We will get a better idea
when the trial teams are selected next Wed.
From memory:
1. Dowd
2. Fitzpatrick
3. Brown
4. Fromont
5. Bond
6. M. Jones
7. Carter
8. Brooke (c)
9. Tonu'u
10. Stensness
11. Sotutu
12. M. Stanley
13. Clarke
14. Kirwan
15. Howarth
> Will they maintain Howarth as a goal kicking fullback?
Looking at the team selected Howarth is the only option.
Paul
hig...@waikato.ac.nz
> jm...@waikato.ac.nz writes:
>
>>It looks like his performance last weekend has reminded a few of us how good he
>>was at first five for Manawatu until he went north last year (apologies to
>>those who never forgot).
>
> knowledge, but being the only Manawatu supporter that I know of
> reading this I suppose I had better take the credit). I also
> noticed that Sam Doyle has gone the way of all other Manawatu
> players with an ounce of talent and gone to a major Union (a la
> Herb Schuler and that half-back fella with the big ears
> (Hewlett?)). I saw him play for Wellington last weekend against
> A.C.T. It was a pretty ordinary game, two Kookaburra tries were
> pretty good, but I was less than impressed with Wellington, they
> were bloody lucky to win it to be honest. Doyle made one good
> run but generally had a poor game and missed a couple of place
> kicks that my proverbial granny could have spat over from that
> distance!
>>Playing for a season outside Grant Fox should have
>>taught him a lot about reading a game, tactical kicking, and organising a
>>backline. Hopefully he won't have picked up any of Fox's bad habits: On
>>Sunday's performance I'd say not. Let's see how he goes in Natal.
>
> Will they retain Stenseness at 1st Five, or will we see yet
> another 1st five playing out of position in his home union?
> After all, they have hyped Kellet alot, they must rate him pretty
> highly, and so would be unlikely to drop him that quickly .. no?
>>Fair enough. I mean Bachop doesn't seem to be a contender any more. Anyway
>>Stensness gives you something that Ellis, Howarth and Bachop can't, a person
>>who's already an excellent first five, with test matches and a tour for the All
>>Blacks to his credit, and still has ten years good rugby left in him. He's also
>>played most of his life at first five. For me the only person who comes close
>>is Simon Mannix, who I don't think has quite the talent of Stensness but is
>>still a bloody good player and should have gone to Britain last year.
>
> know if that was the fault of Mannix or not.
>
> *Lots of good comments deleted*
>
> I like the team you picked, lets just keep our fingers crossed,
> it seems quite easy to pick a team now than last year, with
> Stenseness in the 1st five role, I remember all the permutations
> people were trying to fit everyone in, but it all comes together
> nicely like this ... aaahh I feel better now. All that has to
> happen is the AB selectors to see it as clearly as our good
> selves ...
>
Absolutely, I'm another who remembers well Lee Stensness' dynamite form at
first-five for Manawatu and the 'Junior' All Blacks. Here is a guy with a
tremendous sidestep and balance, a great boot, sharp and fast passing. He would
be in my AB team immediately, last year, tomorrow (get the picture?). At second
five he just doesn't seem quite comfortable, less time I think. Anyway my
backline is Forster, Stensness, Cooper, Bunce, Wilson, Ellis, Timu.
Ellis is in there because I don't have that much time at the moment to
think of anyone else! Sorry about that guys. At least it beats him being
first five though. Perhaps Lomu may get in I don't know, can he play left
wing, I guess he will have to because Wilson is my encumbant RW.
--
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tom Higham, Radiocarbon Dating Laboratory, University of Waikato, Hamilton,
NEW ZEALAND. <hig...@waikato.ac.nz>/<c...@waikato.ac.nz>
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
pe...@waikato.ac.nz
> In article ai...@rschp2.anu.edu.au (Aidan Heerdegen) writes:
>> But what happens when Kellet comes back from Manu Samoa duties?
>> Will they retain Stenseness at 1st Five, or will we see yet
>> another 1st five playing out of position in his home union?
>> After all, they have hyped Kellet alot, they must rate him pretty
>> highly, and so would be unlikely to drop him that quickly .. no?
Kellett has decided to stay in Auckland after the rumours were that he would
move to Counties. Apparently with Samoas commitments this year he would not be
available for Auckland until August.
> Anyway my backline is Forster, Stensness, Cooper, Bunce, Wilson, Ellis, Timu.
That's probably about right but I wouldn't discount JK. Apart from his shocker
against NSW he has been playing well. Ellis is a good winger and would
definitely give NZ more speed out wide. Against France and SA we'll need it.
I read that Mains believes that Stensness' best position is first five. So why
the hell did they play him at 2nd five? Expect Stensness v. Mannix in the main
trial.
> Perhaps Lomu may get in I don't know, can he play left wing
Lomu struggled with his defensive lines against Horowhenua so has some way to
go. He is good on attack but needs time to get a feel for the position. Again
suggestions are that Lomu will be opposing JK in the AB trial.
Paul