Blues v Highlanders
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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.
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@taniwharugby North harbour's Loteru Latu started both Blues development team games I watched and impressed me. He outplayed Aumua in the Hurricanes game. He is only 20 but 119kgs and was very busy and effective looking for runs, tackling and hitting rucks. Coventry obviously knows him well so he will be a prospect to watch in the Mitre 10 along with Olsen, Kurt Eckland and Mike Sosene-Feagai.
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@taniwharugby they have stuck with Parsons as he is NH’s Captain and seems to be the Coach and Media man. Moulds is a much better runner ( he represented NZ in 7s for fs ) and his throwing has been better for some time now. He should have had a decent crack by now - just another in a series of Blues Coaching blindspots. No wonder they didn’t win a NZ darby for 3 years. This year seems better though...if Moulds time has passed and he leaves then Olsen deserves his crack.
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@Kirwan said in Blues v Highlanders:
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.
Wait...isn't TJ strictly a second five?
Leon for AB coach - he's already proven he can overcome serious adversity!
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@Chris-B he’s still working in the constraints of Tana’s squad (who didn’t think a 13 was very important).
So his use of the three 12s we have had been interesting.
Imagine how much impact TJ would be having in his preferred position? He certainly wouldn’t be missing as many tackles as he has been leading up to last night.
Both McDonald and Coventry have improved the performance and selection of the squad they have. When they start filling in the gaps as people contract out, we’ll get much stronger.
Without a comedy hour coach we might attract more talented players again. I like the look of the Crusaders backup hooker for instance
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Not reading the thread. But my 2c ...
How good were:
PT
TR
Rieko
Akira
NanaiNonu was pretty good too.
And Karl T off the bench.Actually Parsons had about the best game I've ever seen him play too.
And quickly please Blues fans: what do you perceive as wrong with Tony Johnson's commentary? I was supporting the Blues last night and I just don't get your dislike.
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@booboo when you get several guys that are at the top of their games..In most cases teams will win..good to get the monkey off the back though.
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@Kirwan I don't think it's a case of attracting talent, it's more a case of players within your region wanting to stay. Imagine the Blues if they had Goodhue, Ennor, Enari etc.
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@Canes4life said in Blues v Highlanders:
@booboo I don't think it's a case of attracting talent, it's more a case of players within your region wanting to stay. Imagine the Blues if they had Goodhue, Ennor, Enari etc.
The presumption is they'd be as good. Evidence shows that their development would likely have been retarded by inept coaching and selection.
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He’s a commentator that wants the Blues/Auckland to lose.
Stuff that other teams do, he pulls the Blues up on and just doesn’t mention it for the other four.
It would nice if we got colour commentary from Auckland biased experts, like everyone else gets for their teams. That would temper TJs bias, he can’t talk shit about the Chiefs when he’s teamed with Matt Cooper for instance.
It would be nice to have that sort of positivity when listening to our team.
