Blues vs Waratahs
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@nzzp said in Blues vs Waratahs:
Pace is just gone; he's not got the acceleration or top end. Look at his try - he dived early and I reckon he was gassed. Smart, but the physical attributes have faded.
Yeah he looked really slow for that one.
It will be interesting to see how he goes against more NZ sides. The Crusaders (defending at 13) and Highlanders managed to expose his lack of pace. Against the Stormers and Tahs he was able to keep to his narrow channel
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@Machpants said in Blues vs Waratahs:
His pass is still the best though, just so useful/dangerous
In the warmups he was throwing bullets 20 m left and right. Just amazing skills, loved it
Edit: I'm a massive fan, but wouldn't have him in the AB squad. Reckon he'd get torn apart at the top level.
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Four wins in a row for the Blues
The first time since early 2013. That streak was shared between Lam and Kirwan. Late in 2012 the injury crisis faded and some young players were thrown in and went well (Puitau ruining the Brumbies season), then Kirwan had a brief bounce..
Four wins in a row in the same season? Go back to Lam’s 2011 side that got 7 in a row
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His name is spelt "Ma'a Nonu" but it can be pronounced as "Living Legend".
This is a guy who made his NPC debut in 2002 and his Super Rugby debut in 2003. In his distinguished international career he donned the famous Black Jersey for 104 Tests, contributing to two World Cup wins with tries in the 2011 Semi Final and the 2015 Final.
Tonight he set up Tom Robinson for the first try with a superb pass, he set up Caleb Clarke for the second with another superb pass and had the instincts honed by nearly two decades playing and training at an elite level to be in the right place to take the offloaded from Reiko Ioane to run in and score a try himself.
A great signing for the Blues. Their young players must be learning so much from playing with perhaps the greatest ever 12 to play the game.
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Ma'a Nonu is some player. What a legend.
Faiane another very tidy game at 13 too - gee has his game grown in the last 12 months.
Hopefully Gibson's injury isn't as bad as it seems. Poor guy's body just won't comply.
Goodhue did well coming back from injury - nice and solid.
4 wins in a row. Enjoyable times.
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@nzzp said in Blues vs Waratahs:
That said, if it's a choice of Ma'a or Sonny, I'll ahve to stop and think. But I don't think either should be in the squad
Nonu every time. May have lost pace but doubt he'd bugger things up as much as SBW seems to.
Don't think Ma'a will/should make the AB squad, but then again, I'd love to have his experience and nous around the AB squad
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MacDonald confirmed the knee injury that forced flanker Blake Gibson off the field early was a laceration, though he was uncertain of the seriousness of it.
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@Victor-Meldrew said in Blues vs Waratahs:
@nzzp said in Blues vs Waratahs:
That said, if it's a choice of Ma'a or Sonny, I'll ahve to stop and think. But I don't think either should be in the squad
Nonu every time. May have lost pace but doubt he'd bugger things up as much as SBW seems to.
Don't think Ma'a will/should make the AB squad, but then again, I'd love to have his experience and nous around the AB squad
Yeah, what you get with a semi fit SBW is that insane offload and physicality. Ma'A set people up yesterday with his passing; last week it was the offload from SBW that created the key score. You know it's coming, but he's such a physical specimen that you just can't stop it.
So, really, it depends on what you want and who you have around them. SBW has been injured off and on for so long, it's hard to get a decent read on his form.
That said, Ma'a OR SBW >>>>>>> Rieko at 12. FML.
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I think Ma'a offers more in leadership stakes than SBW - he strikes me as having a bigger influence on teams than SBW. Also has more skills overall than the latter. Either will need to do some convincing to get into the AB squad IMHO.
One of the downsides of players like Nonu heading off after 2015 is all that experience vanishing overnight. Would have been great if we'd had him for a year or two to ease in the likes of Goodhue and ALB.
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@KiwiMurph said in Blues vs Waratahs:
Hopefully Gibson's injury isn't as bad as it seems. Poor guy's body just won't comply.
Deep laceration to the knee.
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@Victor-Meldrew said in Blues vs Waratahs:
I think Ma'a offers more in leadership stakes than SBW - he strikes me as having a bigger influence on teams than SBW. Also has more skills overall than the latter. Either will need to do some convincing to get into the AB squad IMHO.
One of the downsides of players like Nonu heading off after 2015 is all that experience vanishing overnight. Would have been great if we'd had him for a year or two to ease in the likes of Goodhue and ALB.
Funny. Everything I have read suggests the exact opposite.
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@Victor-Meldrew said in Blues vs Waratahs:
One of the downsides of players like Nonu heading off after 2015 is all that experience vanishing overnight. Would have been great if we'd had him for a year or two to ease in the likes of Goodhue and ALB.
You think he would stay around to not get starts? If he stayed he would have continued to start, and ALB would never have been picked in the first place.
There's never really been a time when players "eased" in others. They used to retire in the non-professional era rather than watch themselves be squeezed out. Now they go overseas.
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Cracks me up watching Parsons.
Dude is an absolute Trier, often in the right spot to take the hit up, take down the big ball runner, in the right spot in the maul...but he rarely makes the gain line, similarly he rarely gets turned over, rarely stops anyone dead, instead tackles as you teach a little kid on the big kid.
Look up journeyman in the dictionary and Parsons is what you will see. Every team needs one of him, just not really as your starter.
If he was a bit bigger, a bit faster, a bit stronger...
Nonu looking good, be interesting to know if his 10m/40m times are down on previous years.
Blues grinding out some points is much better than a big win.
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@taniwharugby Yeah was evident with Parsons last night haha. Carried a lot but probably averaged about half a metre per run after getting smashed on every carry.
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@sparky said in Blues vs Waratahs:
His name is spelt "Ma'a Nonu" but it can be pronounced as "Living Legend".
This is a guy who made his NPC debut in 2002 and his Super Rugby debut in 2003. In his distinguished international career he donned the famous Black Jersey for 104 Tests, contributing to two World Cup wins with tries in the 2011 Semi Final and the 2015 Final.
Tonight he set up Tom Robinson for the first try with a superb pass, he set up Caleb Clarke for the second with another superb pass and had the instincts honed by nearly two decades playing and training at an elite level to be in the right place to take the offloaded from Reiko Ioane to run in and score a try himself.
A great signing for the Blues. Their young players must be learning so much from playing with perhaps the greatest ever 12 to play the game
The same bloke who didn’t make 2007 selection with little controversy.
This is where the NZ talent drain really hurts. A lot of players peak much later.
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Best on ground for Tahs: Dempsey. Massive engine, does not avoid the hard stuff - really loves it, in fact - works himself to a standstill. Staniforth also made some tough metres in contact, tho we didn't recycle fast enough to take advantage of that.
Folau was Folau: brilliant in the air, one good try assist, and a bunch of rubbish kicking and failed offloads. I expect more from the highest paid player in the land.
Our scrum did better than I thought it might, and our lineout was generally good.
I would say that if we picked our best team the last few weeks we would have had a much better first half and a better chance of winning, just thru consistency
