SF: Chiefs vs. Brumbies
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I'm no Chiefs fan, but their lock/loosie situation fascinates me. You should ink in Retallick at 5, Cane at 7, and Jacobson at 8, but who joins them? Finau was great last week, I was baffled they took him off and not Sowakula. I would start him 6, but will they consider playing Vaa'i there? Would be a big mistake IMO... As for lock, I think Lord is the best of those other three if he is playing at his best, and he also compliments Retallick quite nicely. Ah Kuoi deserves the bench spot, so a tough call will have to be made...
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@friedrugby said in SF: Chiefs vs. Brumbies:
I'm no Chiefs fan, but their lock/loosie situation fascinates me. You should ink in Retallick at 5, Cane at 7, and Jacobson at 8, but who joins them? Finau was great last week, I was baffled they took him off and not Sowakula. I would start him 6, but will they consider playing Vaa'i there? Would be a big mistake IMO... As for lock, I think Lord is the best of those other three if he is playing at his best, and he also compliments Retallick quite nicely. Ah Kuoi deserves the bench spot, so a tough call will have to be made...
Finau is inked in as well IMO. He gives it everything as is likely carrying some war wounds so subbing him last week and making PGS empty the tank was possibly a good call.
Vaa'i will be the other starting lock if fit and deserves to be. If he isn't fit then the call gets interesting.1,2,5,6,7,8 plus 4 (if fit) select themselves. 3 is an interesting one. Ryan's game has grown and tbh is probably doesn't matter who starts and who finishes. I wonder if the stats bear out a theory that there are more scrums later in the game?
Only backline decision is the midfield starters. ALB/Nanks or Poihipi/ALB? Happy either way . -
@friedrugby said in SF: Chiefs vs. Brumbies:
I'm no Chiefs fan, but their lock/loosie situation fascinates me. You should ink in Retallick at 5, Cane at 7, and Jacobson at 8, but who joins them? Finau was great last week, I was baffled they took him off and not Sowakula. I would start him 6, but will they consider playing Vaa'i there? Would be a big mistake IMO... As for lock, I think Lord is the best of those other three if he is playing at his best, and he also compliments Retallick quite nicely. Ah Kuoi deserves the bench spot, so a tough call will have to be made...
I can only guess that Finau had emptied the tank and they made the decision based on that data. I'd start him too - much bigger impact on defence.
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@antipodean I found the praise PGS got fascinating because I didn't think he has a particularly impressive game. Do we see any chance Vaa'i starts at 6?
Put it this way, the Chiefs have made a mistake if all four locks are in the 23, but it wouldn't surprise me.
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@friedrugby said in SF: Chiefs vs. Brumbies:
@antipodean I found the praise PGS got fascinating because I didn't think he has a particularly impressive game. Do we see any chance Vaa'i starts at 6?
I'd start Vaa'i over PGS.
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@friedrugby said in SF: Chiefs vs. Brumbies:
@antipodean I found the praise PGS got fascinating because I didn't think he has a particularly impressive game. Do we see any chance Vaa'i starts at 6?
Put it this way, the Chiefs have made a mistake if all four locks are in the 23, but it wouldn't surprise me.
They haven't groomed Vaa'i at 6 during the season so very unlikely when Finau is playing so well.
If the ABs want to have a late change at 6 Finau ticks all the boxes except experience. He's a stronger more effective version of Frizell. Brings go forward, stopping power and a bit of aggression. Has the inclination and ability to go at defenders in the carry rather than absorbing or trying to go around them. Gets post tackle metres from that and ties opposition players up on the ground instead of them being at the side of the tackle and able to get back on their feet quickly.
Would be a big call but he really is looking like the guy we've been searching for post Kaino. -
Using Vaa'i at 6 in the past was mainly due to injuries. No reason to go away from what has worked all season.
The interesting selection for the QF was that Lord (returning from concussion and with minimal game time) still started ahead of Selby-Rickit.
Ah Kuoi also provides cover at 6, so they can't carry a specialist lock unless Finau is the no.8 cover.
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@Machpants said in SF: Chiefs vs. Brumbies:
@Crucial can't see it this year but next
You never know. The selectors have searched in vain for ages for someone like this. Do they throw him in the squad, give him some time off the bench and have a look? Would help if SB was in the squad concentrating on being a lock.
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@friedrugby said in SF: Chiefs vs. Brumbies:
I think Finau probably fits into the category of good Super player, but not quite test level... Luke Jacobson is the man for the ABs IMO.
Why not both?
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Because I don't think Finau is a test player... would want to see him dominate for another season, but I think he is another Frizell, A Ioane, etc. who blows hot and cold and is a highlight reel player.
Dom Gardiner, if he can stay fit next year, I think is probably the man. Him and Oliver Haig both remind me a lot of Liam Squire, who was awesome on the blindside. Will be intriguing to see what Razor does, but will he go for a proper bastard at 8? I would, which is where Jacobson fits. A quiet achiever, makes a million tackles and does the hard yards.
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@friedrugby said in SF: Chiefs vs. Brumbies:
Because I don't think Finau is a test player... would want to see him dominate for another season, but I think he is another Frizell, A Ioane, etc. who blows hot and cold and is a highlight reel player.
Dom Gardiner, if he can stay fit next year, I think is probably the man. Him and Oliver Haig both remind me a lot of Liam Squire, who was awesome on the blindside. Will be intriguing to see what Razor does, but will he go for a proper bastard at 8? I would, which is where Jacobson fits. A quiet achiever, makes a million tackles and does the hard yards.
I'm not sure if we've been watching the same things but I wouldn't call Jacobsen a 'proper bastard'. Has a good hard shoulder and gets through the work but so does Finau. I wouldn'y say Finau is a highlights player either.
All I want at 6 against our key opposition is a guy that stands his ground close in and can carry hard with some leg drive.
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lol friedrugby is NZ Freddie Fittler. Cooked take after cooked take
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@Bovidae said in SF: Chiefs vs. Brumbies:
Squire was a highlights reel no.6.
if he was playing against Australia. He was fucking ordinary against everyone else.
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@mariner4life said in SF: Chiefs vs. Brumbies:
@Bovidae said in SF: Chiefs vs. Brumbies:
Squire was a highlights reel no.6.
if he was playing against Australia. He was fucking ordinary against everyone else.
I wasn't complimenting Squire. A run out wide usually made the highlights.
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I'm not a huge Squire fan (he seemed to be picked on his physical size rather than a variety of skills, work ethic and how he complemented the others IMO) but he was carrying quite a few injuries. Not sure I would have picked him but also not sure we saw the best of him in Black. I thought he might have a concentration problem rather than a form problem and given his later public declarations of mental health issues I'm not at all sure we saw him at 100%.
Finau is interesting, (and a friend of Frizell, gets advice from him) could be a litmus test on how out of the box the AB coaches will be this year (depending also on how influential Ryan is in selections).
