I'm not brave enough to call it between Bunty and Ale.
Both were excellent. In my minds eye it was a tie.
You make a fair point about those boys struggling against the first grade props.
Bear in mind that there is a role for guys who do not start well, but thrive off the bench.
To me Ale and Bunty are both Bench forwards rather than starters and there is nothing wrong with that so long as they match their opposition Bench opponents, very few teams have starting pack type Props on their benches.
If you start guys like Asofa Solomona, and Tom Burgess who are renowned bench Props, expect a drop off in their performance based off being incorrectly used for maximum output.
Starting Props are Wiley intelligent cunning animals in the modern game, not crash bash bush pigs, starting props have amazing timing and foot work.
Jazz Tevanga is a really interesting study in technique. He is tiny and he plays like a 110kg six footer.
With Jazz it is all technique, no surprises with his old man being NZSAS, Jazz inherited the ticker and the technical side of contact.
Jacob Laban is the epitome of a gifted technical player.
While everyone is gagging over Halasima and
Zyon Maiu’u Laban has gone quietly under the radar till this weekend.
Laban understands body position and contact, he understands footwork like a martial artists understands balance, counter attack.
Whatever the Warriors decide on for him in the forwards he will be a superstar.
At Prop he has the balance and footwork, the speed, the explosive power, the hands, the pass, the fend to be a Rockstar for the Warriors.
But he is so quick, so well balanced, with passing and an offload that I can understand why the Warriors might want him in the back three of the scrum.
You only have to go back and look at tries Laban bags off catching kicks to know that he is in the moment in games and the next big thing.
He plays like a back and is built like a forward.
Screams 13 lock forward to me and utility Prop forward.
Oh and as we saw I didn't even touch on his workrate.
Jacob Laban is the most exciting player at the Warriors imo and the main reason is what he has between the ears.
Watch him angle away from the tacklers in every contact, watch him put his head in the gap between a two man tackle, thus ensuring he cannot be folded backwards, and watch him in full flight change the angle like a back and look for a second phase option rather than die with the ball.
Those are skills usually reserved for players who have learned them over time later in their Warriors careers.
If there is a potential replacement for Tohu it is Laban, while not the ball playing half Tohu is (no one is as good as Harris) Laban is talented enough in every metric with his speed and footwork to be his own style of 13.