Crusaders v Chiefs
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@No-Quarter said in Crusaders v Chiefs:
@booboo said in Crusaders v Chiefs:
- ALB
- Goodhue
The thought gives me warm feels
Fucking this. With the bulldozer from Wellington on the bench. Loving our midfield options right now.
ALB 12 / Goodhue 13 has been my favoured combination since the test last year that ALB played or came on at 12 in and looked a million bucks. Their combination of skills gives me a chubby.
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@cgrant said in Crusaders v Chiefs:
Havili could be useful on the bench since he covers several positions. The Crusaders are blessed with good players, this is a kind of problem the other franchises would probably like to be embarrassed with.
Wasn’t the case a couple of years ago when Nadolo and McNicholl left and we signed Ioane, but since then the academy and has done its job via a combination of retention and recruitment with the emergence of Bridge, Ennor and Jordan plus they’ve persevered with Mataele and now we’re flush when you add in Havili’i and Dagg. We haven’t even seen Leicester F yet, plus there’s also Ngani Punivai in the wings (ahem).
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@shark said in Crusaders v Chiefs:
@No-Quarter said in Crusaders v Chiefs:
@booboo said in Crusaders v Chiefs:
- ALB
- Goodhue
The thought gives me warm feels
Fucking this. With the bulldozer from Wellington on the bench. Loving our midfield options right now.
ALB 12 / Goodhue 13 has been my favoured combination since the test last year that ALB played or came on at 12 in and looked a million bucks. Their combination of skills gives me a chubby.
I think yuo win. I was super keen for SBW/Goodhue, but SBW
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Also, how about this for an internally focussed headline. @Derm-McCrum you'd be delighted:
O'Gara's Crusaders attack runs riot in nine-try Chiefs hammering
O'Gara's Crusaders attack runs riot in nine-try Chiefs hammering
There is no stopping the Super Rugby champions as they extended their winning run to 19 matches.
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@ACT-Crusader said in Crusaders v Chiefs:
@Cyclops said in Crusaders v Chiefs:
Is Will Jordan now the number one fullback for the Crusaders?
Let’s not get carried away now. Havili still first choice. Reads the game very well.
The added bonus we have is that with Havili and Ennor in the XV we can select a specialist outside back on the bench (ie Jordan).
I think we'll see Havili used a fair bit in the midfield to cover for the need to rest Crotty and Goodhue (and prep for next year). So might be a fair bit of rotation among Havili, Crotty, Goodhue and Jordan (and Ennor) - including time on the bench for each.
Barring injury, I don't think we'll see much of Tim Bateman.
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@Machpants said in Crusaders v Chiefs:
What, like every weekend when every Euro or Jap team is referred to as [overseas kiwi name]'s team on the round up on stuff?
Exactly. Wouldn’t have won the game without them. Same in the Six Nations.
It’s a tired cliche in media at this stage.
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@Machpants said in Crusaders v Chiefs:
What, like every weekend when every Euro or Jap team is referred to as [overseas kiwi name]'s team on the round up on stuff?
yep, pretty much. Although arguably playing for, adn being assistant coach of, is somewhat different
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@Chris-B said in Crusaders v Chiefs:
@ACT-Crusader said in Crusaders v Chiefs:
@Cyclops said in Crusaders v Chiefs:
Is Will Jordan now the number one fullback for the Crusaders?
Let’s not get carried away now. Havili still first choice. Reads the game very well.
The added bonus we have is that with Havili and Ennor in the XV we can select a specialist outside back on the bench (ie Jordan).
I think we'll see Havili used a fair bit in the midfield to cover for the need to rest Crotty and Goodhue (and prep for next year). So might be a fair bit of rotation among Havili, Crotty, Goodhue and Jordan (and Ennor) - including time on the bench for each.
Barring injury, I don't think we'll see much of Tim Bateman.
You think Havili'i will be the answer at 12 for the Crusaders in 2020? I always thought 12 was his best position and recall he had a blinder at 12 in one of the last games of the season in 2016, but since then in sporadic opportunities he's not been wonderful. Moving him to 12 would ease a logjam at fullback though.
Second-five-eighths could be an interesting position for us from next year. We may well find ourselves with a pile of guys who want to play centre (Goodhue, Ennor, Punivai) and no clear #1 at 12. Hopefully Dallas McLeod gets an extended run in the NPC and then perhaps becomes that guy.
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Havili started out at 12 for the Crusaders and really struggled. Moving to fullback was the making of him at this level and the position he was selected for the ABs is.
I think he will transition back into midfield over the next few seasons and it will be interesting to see how that translates, whether his early struggles were related to him developing at this level.
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@Stargazer said in Crusaders v Chiefs:
@shark Havili was excellent at 12 during the 2018 Mitre 10 Cup season.
NPC form means next to nothing.
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Lol... Dallas McLeod is being talked up a lot on this forum, how many have actually seen him play?
Don’t think he even played more than a handful of games of senior club rugby last year. Based on what I saw from him at Christ’s College he’s a prospect, but I’m not sure he’ll be starting 12 next year.
I’m a big fan of Havili, he was great for Ta$man last year at 12 (which counts for a bit in my opinion) and is an excellent defender in the line.
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@SammyC said in Crusaders v Chiefs:
I’m a big fan of Havili, he was great for Ta$man last year at 12 (which counts for a bit in my opinion) and is an excellent defender in the line.
Yeah - I think NPC form is significant. Havili seems like he's been around for ages, but he just turned 24 in December.
He's quite small for a midfielder, though - especially marking up against the likes of SBW, Nonu and Laumape. Maybe giving away 20kgs.
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Most of the guys playing for the Crusaders Knights side are worthy of consideration and McLeod appears to be on an arc that’ll take him into the NPC side (hello, who did we have last year??) and potentially into the Crusaders in a position that we might be a little light in.
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I need to qualify what I meant by my comment about NPC form meaning nothing. It can certainly play you into a Super Rugby squad, but doesn’t neccessarily mean you can translate that form into SR, and some find that step up much harder than expected. It’s relatively easy to dominate at the lower level but then the next step is becoming harder by the year as our depth is eroded. Problem being, how often in the NPC is a freshie coming up against an established Super Rugby player, or veteran, in ten rounds?
