Stormers v Blues
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@antipodean said in Stormers v Blues:
If the Blues have a defensive coach, he should be fired.
This season Alistair Rogers is in charge of the defense. So far it ain't looking good.
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@antipodean said in Stormers v Blues:
Lions certainly don't look like the same team that hosted a final last year
Lions fans must be even more filthy they didn't get it done last year with their performances to date. Long season though.
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We came out flat and insisted on slowing the game down in that 1st half, which I didn't get at all. You'd think we'd try to push the pace of the game against a team that just came from a long trip. Lucky I didn't watch this live.
This was probably the worst I've ever seen SBW play. Missed tackles, ineffectual carries, poor errors, and a couple of penalties to top it off. On a positive note, he was one of a few who actually tried in this game.
Kiri Kiri is well below this level of rugby. He has to be the weakest backrower in contact in the comp. Matich would've been better 7 cover the last few weeks than him. Fortunately for us, Pryor and Papali'i should be back soon.
Nock is entering Lavea status. It seems he's always good for some blooper type plays.
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@kiwimurph said in Stormers v Blues:
@antipodean said in Stormers v Blues:
If the Blues have a defensive coach, he should be fired.
This season Alistair Rogers is in charge of the defense. So far it ain't looking good.
Yup. Funny thing is, I thought he was the only coach who earned his paycheck last year. Our general defense was fairly good for most of last year, but we kept conceding a lot of points through the maul, which wasn't his problem.
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@dice I do wonder about Nock, almost looks scared to do anything, which often includes simple things that should be second nature to a 9, seems he has zero confidence and often looks like he has no idea what he is supposed to be doing, whether this is down to too much information, clarity of information of expectations or what, who knows, but he looks no where near upto it right now. Which he should be, as I expect he is playing for a new contract, as this is his 3rd year of his 3 year contract I believe.
Expect Moulds should be back this week too, which you'd think he will slot back in ahead of Apisai?
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@dice said in Stormers v Blues:
Kiri Kiri is well below this level of rugby. He has to be the weakest backrower in contact in the comp. Matich would've been better 7 cover the last few weeks than him. Fortunately for us, Pryor and Papali'i should be back soon.
Nock is entering Lavea status. It seems he's always good for some blooper type plays.
I wonder what input Steve Jackson has into the forwards selections - you would think quite a bit - the fact the likes of Apisai and Kirikiri have been deemed up to this level when they are not is a real worry.
As for Nock - he also gets physically bullied at this level - this week he got bumped off for the first try like he wasn't even there - against the Chiefs he got the ball ripped clean off him twice. At least Pulu and Ruru offer good defense.
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@taniwharugby Yeah, he looks scared and has zero confidence right now. The game is looking too fast for him at the moment. I think he's on a 4 year deal, so will be back next year.
You'd think Moulds will slot in ahead of him, but we're not the most logical when it comes to selections.
@KiwiMurph I'd say Jackson has a fair bit of say. I'm not surprised with these things though, it's only the 3rd season in a row that this has been happening.
Nock also has a hard time getting the ball out of the maul for some reason. He sees the defenders coming through the middle and just stands back and expects it to magically come out somehow(Pulu is also a bit guilty of this too).
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@dice yeah, funnily I think there were a number of games for Northland last year (first 3/4 of season) where he started to show glimpses of why he was so highly rated, with running, good passes, good kicking, even sound defensively and bossing his forwards, but in the business end of the season, most of that deserted him and seems he has regressed even further this year.
He needs to control his pack, probably needs ot watch some of Aaron Smith directing things and screaming at his pack.
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@taniwharugby He is probably one of the quietest halfbacks in rugby, which probably shows where his confidence levels are at. Because his confidence is so low, I'd imagine the simplest of tasks seem daunting to him right now, so speaking up seems like the least of his worries at the moment.
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Nock definitely has the talent to be a top halfback but he's way off where he should be. I don't think he's been helped by being fast tracked from high school by inept coaches. First year out of school straight away starting for Northland when some Jackass school teacher was coaching us. Probably would've benefited from a year or 2 of club rugby after school and understudy to an experienced halfback at NPC level.
No surprise he had his best season so far last year for Northland under a good coach in Derren Witcombe - was finally heading to where he should be.
