Blues vs Rebels
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Notable absentees from the Rebels are Wallaby front rowers Hanson and Smith and the two Fijian wingers KOROIBETE and NAIVALU. Maddocks is a promising youngster but normally a fullback. They also have two opensiders at 6 and 7 along with Timani at lock gives them less height so may alleviate some of our concerns with the Blues lineout. Hodge and Inman are a good midfeild so the battle with ours should be fun. Scrum should be a major advantage for the Blues, little experience in the reserve front row for Melbourne.
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That's the starting team I expected. The bench is a bit stronger than I thought it would be, which is good.
It seems Pryor has been overtaken by Taramai for now, which is a bit surprising.
I think we'll be running no 10 on the bench so long as West and Francis are starting together. I like the flexibility you get with those bench spots when you don't have to put a 10 on the bench.
We'll have the same flexibility with the usual lock slot on the bench once Kaino comes back. I expect us to run two backrowers off the bench quite a bit this season, with Luatua covering lock as a starter. Backrow is a strong position for us, the more we can roll out, the better.
For this game, I'm most excited about seeing that young backrow together. Not sure there'll be a quicker backrow than that fielded this season.
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Moala and Ranger on the bench , that is some impact at this level.
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Blues by heaps
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@kiwiinmelb said in Blues vs Rebels:
Moala and Ranger on the bench , that is some impact at this level.
Assuming Ranger is still the player he was.
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@Dice said in Blues vs Rebels:
That's the starting team I expected. The bench is a bit stronger than I thought it would be, which is good.
It seems Pryor has been overtaken by Taramai for now, which is a bit surprising.
I think we'll be running no 10 on the bench so long as West and Francis are starting together. I like the flexibility you get with those bench spots when you don't have to put a 10 on the bench.
We'll have the same flexibility with the usual lock slot on the bench once Kaino comes back. I expect us to run two backrowers off the bench quite a bit this season, with Luatua covering lock as a starter. Backrow is a strong position for us, the more we can roll out, the better.
For this game, I'm most excited about seeing that young backrow together. Not sure there'll be a quicker backrow than that fielded this season.
You would think that as the season progresses and Moala gets more game time that he would slot into 2nd 5. I think there is a bit of "watch and see what happens" with this Blues lineup given there are a number of unknown quantities across the squad. Moala is an AB and if he's playing well, it's better than Francis.
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@ACT-Crusader said in Blues vs Rebels:
@Dice said in Blues vs Rebels:
That's the starting team I expected. The bench is a bit stronger than I thought it would be, which is good.
It seems Pryor has been overtaken by Taramai for now, which is a bit surprising.
I think we'll be running no 10 on the bench so long as West and Francis are starting together. I like the flexibility you get with those bench spots when you don't have to put a 10 on the bench.
We'll have the same flexibility with the usual lock slot on the bench once Kaino comes back. I expect us to run two backrowers off the bench quite a bit this season, with Luatua covering lock as a starter. Backrow is a strong position for us, the more we can roll out, the better.
For this game, I'm most excited about seeing that young backrow together. Not sure there'll be a quicker backrow than that fielded this season.
You would think that as the season progresses and Moala gets more game time that he would slot into 2nd 5. I think there is a bit of "watch and see what happens" with this Blues lineup given there are a number of unknown quantities across the squad. Moala is an AB and if he's playing well, it's better than Francis.
I'd rather have SBW at 12 when he's fit. Give West his last chance to claim the ten jersey, and then move Francis in to 10 if he doesn't take it.
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This post is deleted!
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@Kirwan said in Blues vs Rebels:
@ACT-Crusader said in Blues vs Rebels:
@Dice said in Blues vs Rebels:
That's the starting team I expected. The bench is a bit stronger than I thought it would be, which is good.
It seems Pryor has been overtaken by Taramai for now, which is a bit surprising.
I think we'll be running no 10 on the bench so long as West and Francis are starting together. I like the flexibility you get with those bench spots when you don't have to put a 10 on the bench.
We'll have the same flexibility with the usual lock slot on the bench once Kaino comes back. I expect us to run two backrowers off the bench quite a bit this season, with Luatua covering lock as a starter. Backrow is a strong position for us, the more we can roll out, the better.
For this game, I'm most excited about seeing that young backrow together. Not sure there'll be a quicker backrow than that fielded this season.
You would think that as the season progresses and Moala gets more game time that he would slot into 2nd 5. I think there is a bit of "watch and see what happens" with this Blues lineup given there are a number of unknown quantities across the squad. Moala is an AB and if he's playing well, it's better than Francis.
I'd rather have SBW at 12 when he's fit. Give West his last chance to claim the ten jersey, and then move Francis in to 10 if he doesn't take it.
A lot depends on West. I don't see a Francis/SBW combo being great style wise. If West gets a touch more time and space from having Pulu inside then he will hopefully take on the line a bit more with SBW running off him.
I think West will come right this year and mainly due to Tana spotting that the key to getting him firing was the need for a better halfback. Was pretty hard for west to get confidence with the rubbish service he had been getting at times.
Pulu may not have the fastest pass going but he holds the attention of the defence which should give West a touch more time. -
@Crucial Dead right. Bryn Hall was an awful fit for West last season who would do nothing to take the pressure off him. Yes West did some average things at times but was certainly not helped by his halfback.
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@African-Monkey said in Blues vs Rebels:
@Crucial Dead right. Bryn Hall was an awful fit for West last season who would do nothing to take the pressure off him. Yes West did some average things at times but was certainly not helped by his halfback.
It will be interesting to see how Nock has progressed. I don't really rate Guyton and think he wasn't much better for West than Hall was.
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@Crucial said in Blues vs Rebels:
If West gets a touch more time and space from having Pulu inside then he will hopefully take on the line a bit more with SBW running off him.
This!
9s and 10s need to be able to take on the line to keep defenders honest. If the defnece just drifts, there is no space anywhere on the field. That short 10 (name escapes me - a great goal kicker) the Blues had a couple of season ago was consistently poor, except for a few games (like the Bulls over there) where he took on the line and stood flatter. You can't do that with a 9 whose pass you don't trust.
Put another way, you can't win the comp any more with a 10 in the pocket.
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@taniwharugby said in Blues vs Rebels:
if he gets to about 50mins before being subbed, will amount to pretty much his whole season last year...
Just looked it up
Matt Moulds
2016: 23 mins
2015: 12 mins -
@Duluth thought I was being generous, which does beg the question, why they re-signed him or didn't release him?
IIRC in his obviously brief time on the park he has done pretty well, his biggest weakness, his throwing was up to it.
My understanding he is a machine at trainings, a leader as well, so cant see why he hasn't been given more opportunities behind Parsons, hopefully this is his chance!
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@nzzp said in Blues vs Rebels:
@Crucial said in Blues vs Rebels:
If West gets a touch more time and space from having Pulu inside then he will hopefully take on the line a bit more with SBW running off him.
This!
That short 10 (name escapes me - a great goal kicker)Hickey?
