Blues v Highlanders
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@Kirwan said in Blues v Highlanders:
20 games, three years for bookended Highlander victories.
Thank fuck that’s over.
Very happy with our forwards in the loose tonight, aprticularly the try we scored through them. Bloody good.
Sucked at maul defence.
Sucked at setting up a maul (took in twice, two turnovers?)Plenty to work on, but we are improving. Now just need to string some more wins
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@African-Monkey said in Blues v Highlanders:
@Northlandallday It is what it is really. I would have probably picked Robbie Abel but obviously we had no room for him so a missed opportunity there. As I previously mentioned, it's Parsons until someone better comes along.
Nope it’s Parsons for the next two years. Enjoy.
Abel had his time in Northland and he wasn’t the better hooker. -
@African-Monkey agree. Duffie on the RW soon as he's fit. Tele'as done well to hold it down in an unfamiliar position with the injuries to Duffie Clarke and Trainor and the form of Collins. Looks like an 'inbetweener' as in....not quite the gas for wing.....not quite the all round skillset for midfield so a good bench option. Perhaps with the return of the outsides from injury there'll be an opportunity to give him a go in the midfield.
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"TJ is a bit of an understated hero for us," said MacDonald. "He gets through a lot of work, a lot of tackles and every game he runs the most metres out of everybody. He's a bit of a glue man as well and playing good rugby."
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@Northlandallday That was a long time ago to be fair. He was outstanding in last years Mitre 10 cup.
Not having a go but I'm guessing you're unhappy that Moulds hasn't been given much of a go? Don't get me wrong Moulds is ok but his throwing is crap.
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@African-Monkey said in Blues v Highlanders:
@Northlandallday It is what it is really. I would have probably picked Robbie Abel but obviously we had no room for him so a missed opportunity there. As I previously mentioned, it's Parsons until someone better comes along.
I guess some of the issue is that there is too much reliance on Parsons in that alternatives are not given enough chance to grow into the role or are used only to give him a break. There never seems to be a plan to look for/create a better option.
But hey, at least you guys have won a game.
Highlanders have shown that they ain't all that this year. They were lucky to get a W against an imploding Chiefs and have now lost to the Blues.
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What a big difference having competent coaches makes. Good selections, dross like Pulu banished to the bench, Collins gone, TJ and Nanai being used properly.
And so much more organised.
Still lots to work on, three years of neglect from Tana to flush out. But something to build from for next year.
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It’s funny isn’t it - just a few changes to personnel, and a few changes in attitude (the one that sticks out is the patience at and after the break which led to Pat’s try) and suddenly they look much more dangerous - not just relying on super plays from the Ioanes.
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@Tanifulla said in Blues v Highlanders:
@Kirwan what about the decision to have Karl T and Ofa play the opposite positions in the scrum????
I assume that was a request from Hansen? Some of those late scrums were working well though.
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@Duluth said in Blues v Highlanders:
@Kirwan said in Blues v Highlanders:
I assume that was a request from Hansen? Some of those late scrums were working well though.
I think they swapped back to their correct positions for those scrums
Well that would explain a lot. Fuck experiments
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@Kirwan if Hansen could kindly just fuck off with his experimenting that’d be nice ☺️
Happy for him to experiment with the Crusaders as much as he wants. I hear Sam Whitelock wants to play Second Five 🤔
On a serious note - the last scrums showed why Karl and Ofa were ABs not so much the ones before that.
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Blues forward finished a lot better and they had more class off the bench to close it out. That was the difference.
Very good contest and not much between these two teams in fact. Must be those quality head coaches aye....
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@KiwiMurph said in Blues v Highlanders:
@Tim Good call Leon - TJ has gotten better every game at 13 (that's his 4th game).
He looked good last night. Smaller than others out there, but slippery. Thing is, with big boppers like Ma'a and SBW inside, and the back three we've got, you dont' need a monster at 13.
Pleased with how he's developing
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Be interesting to see if that is the monkey off their backs that they needed ,
Do they kick on or is it much of the same ?
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@African-Monkey his throwing hasnt really been an issue for a while now.
TBF I think there is a bit more to it (possibly with him looking off shore)...sat on the bench behind Parsons for 80 v SW and then dropped for Apisai who we know us the worst of the 3 by some distance.
You need guys like Parsons (and Moulds) in a squad but as your regular starter...
Be interesting to see Olsen develop if Moulds leaves, he is a leader and was in dev side last year.
