Blues v Cheetahs
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I'm probably the only one who prefers Moala over Ioane at centre. I don't have as much of a problem as others do with his passing game and at least he gets us over the advantage line every time. Ioane is a better winger imo and has started playing better since shifting out there.
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One of life's mysteries is how Collins is preferred to Nanai.
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@African-Monkey At this point I agree. Ioane has a bit to learn but he is pure talent.
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@Crucial said in Blues v Cheetahs:
@African-Monkey said in Blues v Cheetahs:
We'll have problems next week in Cape Town with the rolling maul which could prove our downfall.
I just never see any of the Blues forwards setting low and driving with their legs. They all lean in.
I know it is a skill to get your timing right to do that but what I see from SA teams in particular is use of the whole body to drive. add that to their size and it becomes a real strength.
Disappointed that the Blues haven't improved in this area after the weakness was exposed massively by the Crusaders.
as much as I like Steve Jackson from the good work he did at CM, the maul defence was a weakness there as well.Can I like this twice?
Lot of whinging about mauls because the Blues are both shit at defending them and using them as an attacking weapon.
Seriously. Get better at it. Use your legs and body position and collective strength.
Mauls are awesome! As a spectacle in and of itself, and as a means of dragging in defenders and creating space out wide.
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@booboo Good that our NZ teams are getting some practice at defending the maul, because it will be a major weapon for Lions. If you look on the42.ie it is treated in Ireland for example a bit like chess. Just stopping the initial drive won't hack it. Need to target the guys who drive the change of angle (usually props I think).
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@booboo said in Blues v Cheetahs:
@Crucial said in Blues v Cheetahs:
@African-Monkey said in Blues v Cheetahs:
We'll have problems next week in Cape Town with the rolling maul which could prove our downfall.
I just never see any of the Blues forwards setting low and driving with their legs. They all lean in.
I know it is a skill to get your timing right to do that but what I see from SA teams in particular is use of the whole body to drive. add that to their size and it becomes a real strength.
Disappointed that the Blues haven't improved in this area after the weakness was exposed massively by the Crusaders.
as much as I like Steve Jackson from the good work he did at CM, the maul defence was a weakness there as well.Can I like this twice?
Lot of whinging about mauls because the Blues are both shit at defending them and using them as an attacking weapon.
Seriously. Get better at it. Use your legs and body position and collective strength.
Mauls are awesome! As a spectacle in and of itself, and as a means of dragging in defenders and creating space out wide.
But how often do you actually see them used to drag in defenders then spread it wide? The way they are policed at the moment mean teams just form maul after maul to earn penalties and play for cards or penalty tries. Way too often it is the domain of shit teams who have nothing else. Look at last night. Cheetahs had a shit hot maul but sucked everywhere else and got well beaten. The Brumbies and Wallabies have been the same in recent years.
Imo a tweak in the laws to allow defenders to pull it down would bring it back from being an aspect of play that is so heavily weighted towards the attacking team. A well set maul could still be used to score from close range and may also encourage the spinning it wide play rather than keeping it in waiting for an advantage.
I don't buy the safety arguement for not pulling mauls down. When was the last injury caused by collapsing a maul once it got over the try line or to prevent a player being held up?
It may also need a change of the collapsed maul law where instead of a turnover an unplayable ball results in a scrum to the team going forward like a ruck.It will never happen though.
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Are mauls that heavily weighted to the attacking team? To score a try from a maul you need, an attacking penalty, a good lineout and then finally a good maul. I wonder how many tries in a season come from mauls? it probably averages out slightly over one a game? I don't watch much South African rugby though. I always feel if mauls are so easy, then why are teams like the Blues and Hurricanes so shit at them? When we try them against the Saffa teams they shut us down quite easily.
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@hydro11 said in Blues v Cheetahs:
Are mauls that heavily weighted to the attacking team? To score a try from a maul you need, an attacking penalty, a good lineout and then finally a good maul.
I think what many see as an issue is that once you do those aspects well (clean line out, construct good maul) there is little the opposition can do legally to stop you. Compare that to something like a 5 metre scrum where a solid clean ball means you get a nice restart and may well execute a move but at least the defence has a chance to stop you or force an error.
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The refs are slowly starting to penalise the attacking side for players joining the maul in front of the ball carrier. That has always been my biggest criticism because in the past refs only focused on what the defending team was doing.
Teams are finding new ways of defending the lineout drive, e.g. the Chiefs starting the tactic of deliberately not engaging which allows a player to tackle the ball carrier at the back of the maul. The Blues tried that tactic on Friday night. I just want the refs to be consistent with how they police the maul.
