Blues v Crusaders
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Congratulations to the Crusaders. Such a well-oiled and ruthless machine, some of their big game players (Whitelock, Mo'unga, Goodhue) really stood up. I hope the ABs selectors are noticing how well Will Jordan and David Havaii are playing.
The Blues are still a work in progress. Three obvious work-ons to me:
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Discipline. 16 penalties is far too many to concede against a side as good as the Crusaders.
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Defensive work rate. Ethan Blackadder made 17 tackles in that game, Goodhue and Havaii 15 each, Taylor and Whitelock 12 each. The most from a Blue was Tuipolotu and Choat with 9 each and Choat came off the bench. You are not going to beat the Crusaders by allowing them to score 40+ points.
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Finding ways to get the ball in the hands of Caleb Clarke in space. He's a fantastic runner and attacking weapon but had only three carries in this game. The Blues need to look at their attacking game plan. Let the dangerman be the dangerman.
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@sparky said in Blues v Crusaders:
You are not going to beat the Crusaders by allowing them to score 40+ points.
slightly better kickign and we put 30 on the crusaders. That's not shabby.
Crusaders were super clinical, particularly in the first half, but seemed to get a lot of points handed to them.
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Liam Napier opines about a team being the real deal. It is obvious the Blues were inferior to the Crusaders today,but they did match tries scored.I would suggest this Blues team was the real deal last year and to continue to denigrate a team because they can’t finally beat arguably the best franchise team in world rugby,is to downplay the significant progress they have made.Of course they are the real deal.
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@trodthesod cheap clickbait journalism. My surprise knows no bounds.
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@trodthesod depends what you mean by real deal. If real deal means title contenders then Napier is right.
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Your right of course ,but the “real deal” for some reason grinds my gears.
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Some of the shoddy play from both teams today,suggested neither team was the “ real deal”!
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Loved it. Remember when Carlos Spencer walked into the corner after scoring in the last minute of a Crusaders-Blues game? Mild piss-taking between opposing players (if funny) is part of the game.
Reece executed it well. I hope him and Reiko had a beer or played a game of Fortnite together afterwards. Storm in tea cup.
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@mn5 said in Blues v Crusaders:
Speaking of locks as someone mentioned earlier it’s pretty hard to look past Sam Whitelock as one of the best we’ve had, he’s played well for about a million years.
Yes I can't recall a single shit game from him.
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@antipodean He looked a bit tired and didn't have a huge impact on the 2019 RWC semi Final and the loss against Argentina last year. But his overall record is superb and for the Crusaders outstanding. Razor seems to know how to get the best out of him too. Great player.
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@sparky said in Blues v Crusaders:
@nta said in Blues v Crusaders:
Bit of saltiness going around on twitter
Classic Auckland media types trying to manufacture a "someone else is the asshole" crisis.
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@canerbry We need to get large crowds back watching Rugby in New Zealand. Its characters that will do that. Both Ioanes, Mo'unga and Reece as well as being fantastic Rugby players are guys with big personalities. Huge assets for NZ Rugby at the moment.
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@mackerzzzz said in Blues v Crusaders:
Tom Robinson is such an underrated player
Wouldn't have thought. Most were picking him for the ABs last year before he was injured.
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@nzzp said in Blues v Crusaders:
@crazy-horse said in Blues v Crusaders:
@nta I see I am going to have to watch what Reece did again. Didn't notice any theatrics apart from him putting his hand out to 'appeal' for a penalty.
I'm astonished ... he went down and stayed down like he'd been shot. Very soccer-like
It was the fact his arms were up and flung out before he had even hit the ground. If he was injured or in danger, he would have used those arms to protect himself. It was fkn digusting soccer-ism, he did the same last week (without the pretending to be injured until TMO call then straight up) when he was bumped after the whistle
