Chiefs 2025
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@Canes4life I've registered but haven't received a single email yet
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@Bovidae I don’t disagree with your general point about team systems and requirements. I suppose it depends on whether one thinks if the lineout requires a specific skillset or whether most professional loose forwards could probably do a job as a jumper. I’m quite fussy about the lineout so I tend to think more that it’s the former but I can’t really think of a way of proving that sentiment.
For the record, I’m not claiming that either Wrampling-Alec or Parker are bad lineout options at all. I just wanted to point out something that Boshier could bring to the table. Looking at some of his other contributions, like metres made or defenders beaten, it might be hard to justify starting him ahead of either Wrampling-Alec or Parker. If Jacobson shifts to 8, it might even be better to put Parker at 7, as he’s more of a jackal-threat than someone like Boshier while still being mobile around the park. With Vaa’i, Lord and Finau being in the Chiefs back five for 2025, lineout is probably not high on the list of priorities for the number 8 anyway.
@Bovidae said in Chiefs 2025:
Take Wrampling for example, I remember him being used a lot for the NZ U20s last year, but less so for Waikato.
I do strongly disagree with this claim, however. Wrampling-Alec was used somewhat regularly as a lineout option for the NZ U20s in 2023 (1.2 average takes across 5 games), but that was more out of necessity than choice, Laidlaw selecting a few too many short locks (T. Cahill, H. Morrisson, W. Stodart) and loose forwards who lacked any lineout pedigree (C. Flanders, S. Hainsworth-Fa’aofo, P. Lakai). There was nobody to really take control of the lineout and it showed, a very poor lineout rate of 72,6% across the tournament the inevitable result.
When Jono Gibbes selected genuine lineout specialists the following year – like Liam Jack and Andrew Smith – for the 2024 NZ U20 season, the lineout success-rate both spectacularly improved and Wrampling-Alec barely played a role in the lineout. During the U20 TRC (he was injured for the World Championship), Wrampling-Alec wasn’t part of a single defensive lineout and took part in 13 out of 32 attacking lineouts (against South Africa, Argentina, and Australia). Of those 13 lineouts across the three games, he wasn’t the target once, acting instead as an occasional lifter and pillar for the attacking maul, using his considerable ballast to push it forward.
So I don’t think players suddenly become proficient in the lineout, just because the team systems change. Someone like Sititi is, in my view, an outlier. He can basically do everything to a very very high level, including being a solid lineout target at Test level. He seems to be both a next-level athlete as well as someone who prepares really well. If you tell him to convert to the front-row, I’m sure he could make it work. But Sititi’s freakishness shouldn’t really be extrapolated to other loose forwards, I don’t think. You still need specialists. If not, your lineout success rate might well plummet.
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'No other venue capable': How a 'cherished' cricket oval nabbed a Super Rugby match
Oval game shows need for rectangular stadium, says one of the region's biggest rugby fans.
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@ARHS said in Chiefs 2025:
They should put a grandstand and lights up at Blake Park and solve the problem sensibly. The Tauranga Domain is a very poor venue
I wonder if that will follow in the next few years, especially with the field realignment and the Play Centre moving, etc.
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@gt12 said in Chiefs 2025:
That’s fucking bullshit.
Let an injured guy wait two months for surgery so they miss the premier local competition.
I don't know all the details but did they "let him wait"? Was it not more trying to find the right way forward and it taking time?
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@Bovidae said in Chiefs 2025:
An update on Sititi.
I suppose All Blacks XV member Simon Parker will start at 8 or 7 alongside Jacobson and Finau now?
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Maybe Jahrome Brown at 7. McMillan seems to rate him
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So the ABs are finally back training but won't be involved on Saturday.
Although it's only the first pre-season game I'll be interested to see what team McMillan selects, particularly the loose forward trio and who starts at 1st 5 (Jacomb or Trask). Maybe the local boy gets first crack.
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@Bovidae said in Chiefs 2025:
Has anyone signed up for Chiefs Pass? I assume there is a cost when they want CC details.
The game against the Hurricanes will be streamed on that platform so I was wondering if it was worth it.
Is that the only way to see the game or are they doing a live stream on Youtube?
