Blues v Highlanders
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I just watched the game again, and surprisingly, this was probably the most structured and most threatening our attack has been all year, it was just the stray passes and handling errors that made it look a bit choppy and unorganized, but we were largely methodical in the way we attacked. We created space well, got over the gain line consistently and got up field with ease, we just didn't have the killer instinct to get the points in the end.The last 15-20 minutes was where we lost a bit of shape though, and that was mostly on the forwards getting too cute with the passes and us(mostly Gatland) shoveling to players in worse off positions.
Outside of Gatland, Hyland was probably our worst player. He was a train wreck out there, particularly on defense. He was missing tackles and making poor reads all game long.
The subs were pretty bad IMO. Papalii shouldn't of come off unless he was tired, which he wasn't(probably the fittest guy in our team). Tuipulotu was just starting to really fire when he got taken off. We also should've taken off Hyland when Manu came on, instead of Faiane, who was one of our better players. And when Hyland went off because of blood, Gatland shouldn't of been the one to come back on.
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@dice Actually I would say that Perofeta was far and away the worst player on the field. Poor kicking has plagued this Blues team. Shifting a player learning his trade to a new position when he is struggling already was an average coaching decision.
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I remember a few years ago when Tana joined Counties as player/coach some guys on here were saying that Tana was making the decisions and Milton Haig was deferring to him. They might have won the Shield under Tana but no one really gave Milton Haig recognition.
Tana obviously has huge Mana from his playing days but he was promoted to Super Rugby level head coach before his time. He needed to pay his dues.
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haha, after watching that awful game late at night (my time zone), I had a dream of the Blues trying to run back to the city over the Bombay hills, but the road was blocked with stopped cars due to some living dead infestation (read-Highlanders). Most of the team got swallowed up in swarms quickly, but Rieko kept breaking free and racing forward. Until he, too, met an ugly death.
Very apt dream! -
I watched a 36 year old Mike Delany run around for the crusaders last night,most people would think why would you pull someone in that old..?,
reason why..he had an outstanding Mitre 10 cup for BOP last year and is a seriously experienced footballer with leadership skills,Who do the Blues sign..?, when you have not got many experienced guys in the halves ,with the greatest of respect they sign Daniel Kirkpatrick who was the 2nd string starting first five for the Wellington Lions,probably no more than a tradesman to be fair and has never set the world on fire Just highlights to me that they really did not consider someone with real leadership skills if either Gatland or Perofeta were struggling
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@rocky-rockbottom the most crazy arse thing about that whole game was when Dunshea the number 6 who to be fair I thought was the best of the Blues Dev squad scored and then proceeded to take the conversion with was only 10-15 metres to the right of the posts,and his attempt hit the the corner flag on the North Stand side of the field,lol..when the score was 27 all,it should have been 29-27 if the first five had taken the bloody kick and taken the win,a win over an international team regardless of wether they are an A Team is a win.
sums up the whole organisation.Lyndon Dunshea normally plays lock for a University,very good solid footballer,now I am not 100% sure,but I think he’s the older brother of the Canterbury Mitre 10 Cup lock Mitchell Dunshea who in my opinion is a lock the Blues should be chasing ,has a massive engine and huge workrate ,was in the Nz under 20s that won the World Cup in 2015
The other player that impressed me was winger Tuitoma originally from Scots College in Wellington,he was actually in the Chiefs Dev Team when they played the Blues Dev a few weeks ago at Shadbolt park in Auckland..he looked really awesome that day too..,must have been released by the chiefs.
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@duluth said in Blues v Highlanders:
Apologies about the Counties slur
Quite the slur, almost as bad as being accused as a Hawkes Bay supporter...
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@steven-harris said in Blues v Highlanders:
I watched a 36 year old Mike Delany run around for the crusaders last night,most people would think why would you pull someone in that old..?,
reason why..he had an outstanding Mitre 10 cup for BOP last year and is a seriously experienced footballer with leadership skills,Who do the Blues sign..?, when you have not got many experienced guys in the halves ,with the greatest of respect they sign Daniel Kirkpatrick who was the 2nd string starting first five for the Wellington Lions,probably no more than a tradesman to be fair and has never set the world on fire Just highlights to me that they really did not consider someone with real leadership skills if either Gatland or Perofeta were struggling
Many of us have long held the opinion that the Blues should have signed someone with the experience, quality and durability of a Mike Delany or Tom Taylor who would have been invaluable for the Blues at this stage. Certainly Delany has been worth his weight in gold for the Crusaders in these past few rounds giuding round the paddock with consummate ease. Wheras Perofeta has understandably struggled with getting to grips with life at first five - let alone the cahnge in expectations at fullback, coming within a couple of weeks.
In my view it just shows the unbelievable inexperience and naive nature of Tana and his so-called talent-spotting team. Whilst the injury to Black couldn't be helped (or maybe it could) bolstering the team stocks with experience - especially in the halves - would have been useful additions to the team and its ethos.
I think comparisons can be drawn to the Silver Ferns also - changing the team from week to week is not helping either its culture, identity or strength. And while Tana (like Southby) hasn't fallen on his sword (yet) the paucity and downturn in results cannot be justified at this level. It is also not good, I might add, for our current (and any future) Blues ABs.
However, if Tana did resign - who would make the step up to replace him? -
@shadowtrooper superb points, I could not have said it better myself Tony Hanks the high performance Manager at the Blues who I understand also has a bit to do with recruitment should also fall on his sword if Tana was to go.
There’s is a name I have heard that’s been thrown around , Warren Gatland is apparently dead keen to come and coach a super team ,his son is one of the pivots and he still has aspirations to coach the All Blacks.
I personally think the last 3 x coaches have been totally out of their depth,Pat Lam probably the best record of the 3,but talking to insiders within that camp ,could not take either his Marist or Auckland bias out of the equation when it came to selection,case in point Peter Saiili a number 8 whom I doubt would have made any other NZ super squad.,right build for a number 8,but clumsy behind the base of the scrum,suspect under the high ball.and non existent when it came to defence,and worst of all hands like feet.
I put in a good word with Bryce Woodward at the time that through a mutual friend that the multi talented number 8 Colin Bourke had not picked
up a contract with the chiefs,Woodward rated him but came back and said to me,Pat Lam thought he was skilful but because of a conversation with Ian Foster questioned his motivation,that’s because Foster could never started him.And as for Kirwin the Benji Marshall selection says it all..should have been given a job in the marketing department
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@steven-harris said in Blues v Highlanders:
selection,case in point Peter Saiili a number 8 whom I doubt would have made any other NZ super squad
I heard Auckland basically had to choose to offer a development contract to either Kieran Read (an Aucklander, don't you bastards forget that), or Peter Saili. In their late teens, Saili no doubt looked a better prospect - potentially a freak physically, but never got in gear for the team.
< sigh >
So many talented players that got away...
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But Lam had a tight restriction on the number of players he could pick from outside the region. It was idiotic from the Blues and forced several poor selections.
The restriction was loosened for Kirwan and Umaga. Kirwan s first season probably had more outsiders than all previous seasons -
@nzzp I thought it was Sai'ili vs Fritz Lee who were competing growing up.
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@taniwharugby said in Blues v Highlanders:
@nzzp I thought it was Sai'ili vs Fritz Lee who were competing growing up.
Yeah, Read is 2 years older by the looks.
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@taniwharugby good call, my bad. Shows how to rely on word of mouth, eh
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@duluth said in Blues v Highlanders:
But Lam had a tight restriction on the number of players he could pick from outside the region. It was idiotic from the Blues and forced several poor selections.
The restriction was loosened for Kirwan and Umaga. Kirwan s first season probably had more outsiders than all previous seasonsJust looked it up. The change from Lam to Kirwan was 2 outsiders increasing to 13 outsiders
That internal restriction really hit the team hard when a couple of injuries came. The backups were not good enough
