Hurricanes 2019 Discussion
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@Stargazer Ben Nicholas is more of an option at 8, whereas Prinsep would probably slot in at 6 you would think? In Ben Nicholas and Flanders there are two genuine future no 8 options for the Canes. Though young, I would rather see Flanders get more time there to develop - he looks very classy and could also be captain material down the track.
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@Canes4life I think you're missing my point of a player being in the official Canes squad, or not.
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@Stargazer Didn't that rule change a few years ago? I'm pretty sure (someone correct me if i'm wrong) that if a wider member shows better form than a fully fledged squad member then they can jump them for selection.
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Jono Hickey WTF?! Is this a pisstake lol
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Attended the game at Levin, the Canes came out firing and managed to build around 20 phases before scoring through Vince Aso. The Crusaders then had a 15-20 minute period where they took control and scored 3 tries through dominant set piece and maul play. The Crusaders were also strong at the breakdown, negating a number of attacking plays by the Canes. 19- 7 halftime.
The second half started in similar fashion with the Crusaders scoring two tries and going about their work in a tidy fashion. The Canes then brought on the likes of Fidow, Aumua & Walker-Leawere and the game shifted towards the Canes who started to dominate the collision with their powerful running game - two quick tries to the Canes had them momentarily back in it, before the Crusaders deflated any hopes with a late try.
Standouts from the Crusaders:
Number 12 (name escapes me): this young fella looks very good, broke the line a couple times and was very hard to contain.Jordan Taufua: He was brutal at times and looks even bigger than he was last year. Dominanted alot of contact that he was involved in and looks ready for a big year.
Bryn Hall: looked very tidy at the base of the scrum and was probably the pick of the halfbacks.
Standouts for the Canes:
Sam Henwood: he was into everything early on and will be a very good backup to Ardie this year.Alex Fidow: Dominated with ball in hand and wasn't too bad at scrum time. Was a big reason for the Canes re-assurgence.
Asafo Aumua: physically dominated in the contact when he came on. If he isn't on the bench against the Waratahs I will be very suprised.
Worries for the Canes:
Ongoing selection of James Blackwell as a lock: he is far too small to be a lock. Crusaders were killing the Canes scrum when he was packing down.Halfback: Jono Hickey was shocking, I lost count of how many times he dropped the ball or fumbled it at the base of the scrum. Halfback is a big worry if Perenara gets injured.
Fullback: The overated Chase Tiatia nearly played a whole game at Fullback because we had no one else in the reserves. Harken came on and finished there. A worry if Jordie gets injured.
All and all it was a nice afternoon up the coast, great crowd and no injuries to boot.
Bring on the Blues next week.
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@Canes4life Dallas McLeod. is the 12 who played for The Crusaders
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@Chris looked very sharp and had a fairly good combo with Ennor. Their matchup with Aso & Proctor was the hightlight of the game.
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@Canes4life Crusaders have some depth there Crotty,Goodhue,Havalli,Bateman all capable. of playing in the midfield as well
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My brother-in-law surprised me this morning with the message that we were going to the game. Still battling the jetlag, but it was a good afternoon. I can confirm most of what @Canes4life has written, so will just briefly add my 2 cents. The Crusaders were much better at the breakdown; the Canes only had the upperhand for a brief period in the 2n half, when both teams had made some subs, but that didn't last long. Particularly, the Canes' scrum looked weak and their defence on the try line was attrocious (giving away penalty after penalty). I lost count of the turnovers they conceded.
Indeed, the halfback is a problem in case of injury or mandatory rest breaks for Perenara. Also, I cannot for the world think of a reason why Wes Goosen is picked again and again; all he seemed to do was kicking the ball into the Saders half, where Havili, Ennor or Hunt were just waiting for it. The other Canes' outside backs weren't very effective either; only Jonah Lowe came very close to scoring when he was pushed into touch about a metre from the try line.
I think a lot of the Cane's problems in the backs were due to a lack of direction from the 10. A bit of headless chook stuff going on there.
From @Canes4life post:
Fullback: The overated Chase Tiatia nearly played a whole game at Fullback because we had no one else in the reserves. Harken came on and finished there. A worry if Jordie gets injured.
James Marshall will be the back-up if Jordie isn't available.
The jerseys were a bit confusing at times, because there were two players wearing 23 in the Canes' squad (one of them was Lowe) and two players wearing 15 in the Saders' squad (one of them was Havili). The rolling subs also don't make it easy to follow the game; not all players on the starting list started. I also think players were subbed on and off multiple times, esp by the Canes.
Full time score:
Hurricanes 19 (Vince Aso, Du'Plessis Kirifi, Callum Harkin tries; JGB con, don't know who converted Harkin's try)
Crusaders 34 (Manasa Mataele 2, Andrew Makalio, Sevu Reece, Dallas McLeod, Will Jordan; Hunt 2 con)
(Half time: 7 - 19)Below is the article on stuff about the game.
But Hurricanes coach John Plumtree said he was mainly relieved to get through the match without any injury concerns. "It doesn't look like we've got any injuries, which is really important to us, so I can have a cold beer tonight and relax around that."I'm glad to read that, because one Canes player needed support from the medics when he limped off and they took their time treating that injury at the sideline. I didn't immediately recognise him from a distance.
Will post more comments on Crusaders players in the Crusaders' thread.
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@Stargazer Callum Harkin broke his foot.
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The article below mentions Lincoln McClutchie settling in well with the Canes, however I haven't yet seen any photo evidence of that.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/hawkes-bay-today/sport/news/article.cfm?c_id=1503460&objectid=12200433
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@Canes4life I'm surprised to read that. If it's true, you'd have to wonder why they selected someone like Callum Harkin for the preseason game if McClutchie has been training with them. The Hawke's Bay Today isn't the best for sports reporting, but I can't imagine them making things up or confusing players' names. Although, as this quote shows, they clearly have no idea that Kereru-Symes, Toala and Flanders have been training with the Canes for much longer than 4 weeks:
He pointed out the likes of outside back Danny Toala, hooker Kianu Kereru-Symes and loosie Devan Flanders, who all got game time off the pine on Saturday, and first five-eighth Lincoln McClutchie. who didn't, have settled in well to their four weeks of training with the Canes.
Maybe McClutchie is the only one, who only got to train with them for just four weeks.
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Seems like a touch of poor journalism to me, Keruru Symes didn't even suit up yesterday, let alone play.
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@Stargazer said in Hurricanes 2019 Discussion:
@Canes4life I'm surprised to read that. If it's true, you'd have to wonder why they selected someone like Callum Harkin for the preseason game if McClutchie has been training with them. The Hawke's Bay Today isn't the best for sports reporting, but I can't imagine them making things up or confusing players' names. Although, as this quote shows, they clearly have no idea that Kereru-Symes, Toala and Flanders have been training with the Canes for much longer than 4 weeks:
He pointed out the likes of outside back Danny Toala, hooker Kianu Kereru-Symes and loosie Devan Flanders, who all got game time off the pine on Saturday, and first five-eighth Lincoln McClutchie. who didn't, have settled in well to their four weeks of training with the Canes.
Maybe McClutchie is the only one, who only got to train with them for just four weeks.
If sports editor Anendra Singh had his fingers anywhere near the story, I can imagine him both making things up and confusing players' names. But he'd definitely get the sponsors' names right - he has interesting priorities.
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The Proctor brothers will start together for the Hurricanes for the first time on Saturday as the squad heads to Mangatainoka for their final Investec Super Rugby pre-season match against the Blues. Younger brother Billy will start at second five-eighth with senior sibling Matt at centre in what will be the squad's last hit-out before they face the Waratahs in Sydney in the opening round of the competition. Hurricanes head coach John Plumtree has named seven players who started against the Crusaders in Levin in his starting XV. That includes four players in the pack with Ricky Riccitelli,Jeff To'omaga-Allen, Reed Prinsep and Gareth Evans all running on for a second straight week. Fletcher Smith, who was originally meant to start against the Crusaders but came off the bench, will combine with halfback Finlay Christie who has recovered from a minor hamstring injury which kept him out of the Levin game. The reserve bench has been reduced from last week with a number of players who featured in Levin playing for the Hurricanes Under-20 side against the Blues in Palmerston North on Friday. Plumtree said the coaching staff had taken a lot of positives out of the review of the Crusaders match and were looking forward to the challenge the Blues will bring after they had a good win over the Chiefs in their warm-up game. "There are obviously a lot of things to work on at this stage of the season but we will be hoping the guys have made improvements in some areas from last week's match," he said. -
Nerd alert. I've looked up some info about the selected Hurricanes U20s players (province they play for / former school etc):
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Numia - Wellington (2018 NZU20s, not in original squad, but came in due to injury/ 2018 Wellington Lions/ St Pat's Coll, Town)
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Kereru-Symes - Hawke's Bay (prospect for 2019 NZU20s/ 2018 Magpies/ 2018 HBU19/ Hastings Boys HS)
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Uluilakepa - Wellington (2018 NZU20 / prospect for 2019 NZU20/ 2018 Wellington U19/ Marist Brothers High School in Suva, Fiji)
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Delany - Wellington (2018 Wellington U19 / Waimea Combined Schools)
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Ah Kuoi - Wellington (prospect for 2019 NZ U20s/ 2017 NZ Schools / 2018 Wellington U19/ Wellington College)
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Apineru - Wellington (prospect for 2019 NZ U20s/ 2018 NZ Schools/ St Pat's Coll, Silverstream)
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Hurley-Langton - Wellington (prospect for 2019 NZ U20s/ 2018 Wellington U19 / Francis Douglas Memorial College)
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Flanders - Hawke's Bay (2018 NZU20s/ prospect for 2019 NZ U20s/ 2018 Magpies/ 2018 HBU19/ Hastings Boys HS)
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Culver - Manawatu (Manawatu U19 / Feilding HS)
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McClutchie - Hawke's Bay (prospect for 2019 NZU20 / 2017 NZ Schools/ 2018 Magpies/ 2018 HBU19/ Hastings Boys HS)
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Va'a - Wellington (prospect for 2019 NZ U20s/ 2018 Wellington U19 / Rongotai College)
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Higgins - Wellington (2018 Wellington U19/ St Pat's Coll, Silverstream)
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Maraku - Manawatu (2018 NZ Schools / Feilding Agricultural HS)
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Kiwara - Manawatu (2018 Manawatu U19 / College Old Boys)
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Wild - Manawatu (Feilding HS)
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Te Aho - Wellington (prospect for 2019 NZ U20s/ 2018 Wellington U19/ Hamilton Boys' HS)
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Tavita-Metcalfe - Hawke's Bay (prospect for 2019 NZ U20s/ 2017 NZ Schools/ 2018 Magpies/ 2018 HBU19/ Hastings Boys HS)
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Nohotima-Hunia - Manawatu (Hutt Valley HS/Manukura)
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Plummer - Wellington (Onslow College)
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Whitman - Wellington (2018 NZ Barbarians Schools/ St Pat's Coll, Town)
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Sheild - Hawke's Bay (2017 NZ Schools / 2018 Ta$man U19 / Napier Boys HS)
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Cruden - Manawatu (2018 NZ Barbarians Schools/ Palmerston North Boys HS)
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Thompson - Wellington (2018 NZ Māori U18/ Napier Boys HS)
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@Stargazer said in Hurricanes 2019 Discussion:
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The Proctor brothers will start together for the Hurricanes for the first time on Saturday as the squad heads to Mangatainoka for their final Investec Super Rugby pre-season match against the Blues. Younger brother Billy will start at second five-eighth with senior sibling Matt at centre in what will be the squad's last hit-out before they face the Waratahs in Sydney in the opening round of the competition. Hurricanes head coach John Plumtree has named seven players who started against the Crusaders in Levin in his starting XV. That includes four players in the pack with Ricky Riccitelli,Jeff To'omaga-Allen, Reed Prinsep and Gareth Evans all running on for a second straight week. Fletcher Smith, who was originally meant to start against the Crusaders but came off the bench, will combine with halfback Finlay Christie who has recovered from a minor hamstring injury which kept him out of the Levin game. The reserve bench has been reduced from last week with a number of players who featured in Levin playing for the Hurricanes Under-20 side against the Blues in Palmerston North on Friday. Plumtree said the coaching staff had taken a lot of positives out of the review of the Crusaders match and were looking forward to the challenge the Blues will bring after they had a good win over the Chiefs in their warm-up game. "There are obviously a lot of things to work on at this stage of the season but we will be hoping the guys have made improvements in some areas from last week's match," he said.The forwards on the bench look much stronger than the starting ones.
