Lions v Blues
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Blues team to take on the Lions:
1 Alex Hodgman, 2. James Parsons ©, 3. Ofa Tuungafasi, 4. Patrick Tuipulotu, 5. Gerard Cowley-Tuioti, 6. Jerome Kaino, 7. Antonio Kiri Kiri, 8. Akira Ioane;
9 Sam Nock, 10. Bryn Gatland, 11. Melani Nanai, 12. Sonny Bill Williams, 13. Rieko Ioane, 14. Matt Duffie,15. Michael Collins.Reserves: 16. Ross Wright, 17. Pauliasi Manu, 18. Michael Tamoaieta, 19. Scott Scrafton, 20 Jimmy Tupou, 21. Murphy Taramai, 22. Jonathan Ruru, 23. Stephen Perofeta.
Players not considered because of injury: Otere Black (knee), Blake Gibson (shoulder), Glenn Preston (calf), Matt Moulds (knee), Dalton Papalii (hand), Augustine Pulu (foot), Kara Pryor (leg).
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Pleased that Wright’s form has been rewarded.
That leaves Apisai on the outer, not listed as injured and a non squad member promoted ahead of him. Moulds still to return too. What a dud selection.
6/2 split is risky given our injury luck. Also this will delay any tactical subbing on of Perofeta.
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@kiwimurph I expect the sole reason is Nock is, erm, more experienced!
Time for him to step up and show he is up to it, sadly not confident, his talent has only been seen in rare moments to date.
Stoked for Ross Wright!!
Good to see the best wing in the world at centre!
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15 Andries Coetzee, 14 Sylvian Mahuza, 13 Lionel Mapoe, 12 Rohan Janse van Rensburg 11 Aphiwe Dyantyi, 10 Elton Jantjies, 9 Ross Cronje, 8 Warren Whiteley (captain), 7 Franco Mostert, 6 Cyle Brink, 5 Marvin Orie, 4 Andries Ferreira, 3 Ruan Dreyer, 2 Malcolm Marx, 1 Jacques van Rooyen
Reserves: 16 Robbie Coetzee, 17 Dylan Smith, 18 Jacobie Adriaanse, 19 Lourens Erasmus, 20 Kwagga Smith, 21 Hacjivah Dayimani, 22 Ashlon Davids, 23 Harold Vorster
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Nock was awful last week. Missing at rucks and there was zero continuity. Can't see the Blues getting many W's with him on the field
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@kiwimurph wow, in other news, the sun will set in the west.
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@paekakboyz Nock also had the ball clean ripped off him twice like candy from a baby.
@taniwharugby I think this is the first time SBW and Rieko have played together in the midfield? Blues need to stick with this combo for a while (if SBW can stay on the field).
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@kiwimurph Yeah I know, but pretty much all the Blues game plans simply must revolve around Rieko, whether as a ball carrier or decoy, add the threat of SBW, if those 2 gel, they could be very destructive.
Yep, has to be last chance saloon for Nock and can probably consider himself lucky to get the start!
@MN5 like passing?
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@taniwharugby said in Lions v Blues:
@kiwimurph Yeah I know, but pretty much all the Blues game plans simply must revolve around Rieko, whether as a ball carrier or decoy, add the threat of SBW, if those 2 gel, they could be very destructive.
Yep, has to be last chance saloon for Nock and can probably consider himself lucky to get the start!
@MN5 like passing?
He never did quite become the Nonu that we hoped he would.
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Excited about that midfield, but Gatland will need to help them out a bit by not standing deep and just shovelling.
A bit perplexing that our best lock is on the bench. This will be our 3rd lock pairing in 3 weeks.
I really thought they'd start Ruru. Nock looked so mentally shot after a couple of turnovers last week, he tried his best to avoid touching the ball altogether near the end of the game.
Bench looks pretty average overall and lacks impact value for the most part. Good to see Perofeta back though.
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@taniwharugby said in Lions v Blues:
@kiwimurph
Yep, has to be last chance saloon for Nock and can probably consider himself lucky to get the start!@MN5 like passing?
Nock really is playing for another contract with communication (or lack of) being one thing the Blues have told him must improve.
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@dice said in Lions v Blues:
A bit perplexing that our best lock is on the bench. This will be our 3rd lock pairing in 3 weeks.
Yeah it's odd, Scrafton is clearly the best performing lock (and tight forward) in the team.
Tuipolotu should be on the bench.
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@sammyc said in Lions v Blues:
@dice said in Lions v Blues:
A bit perplexing that our best lock is on the bench. This will be our 3rd lock pairing in 3 weeks.
Yeah it's odd, Scrafton is clearly the best performing lock (and tight forward) in the team.
Tuipolotu should be on the bench.
I agree, even more so with this game being played at altitude. It'd also help balance out a bench devoid of impact type players.
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@nogusta ha, yeah was a maul late in the game last week when he shoulda been screaming at his forwards, but he kinda stood there waiting for something to happen, and the something that happened was the maul collapsed and the blues lost the ball.
