Highlanders v Blues
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You can see the difference this year in the Blues forwards. They are supporting the ball carrier, protecting the ball at the breakdown, and muscling up. In previous years it was their obvious soft underbelly but you can see what this new coaching group is bringing. Loving what Sotutu is bringing this year, hopefully he can keep it going.
The Clan look better as well but still the same old errors that put themselves under pressure are just so frustrating. People are praising that new fullback but the comedy of errors he made defensively leading up to that Blues try at the break was mindblowing. WTF? -
@Old-Samurai-Jack People seem to forget that the Blues forwards were fucking good in 2022 all the way up to the final. Then Eklund choked. 14 wins in a row didn't happen by accident.
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@Tim said in Highlanders v Blues:
@Old-Samurai-Jack People seem to forget that the Blues forwards were fucking good in 2022 all the way up to the final. Then Eklund choked. 14 wins in a row didn't happen by accident.
They were good and would have been "fucking" good if the Crusader's forwards didn't do a number on them in the final in 2022. Not being an arse, but the Blues forwards have capitulated in the past when it mattered. Early days but they battered a handy Clan tight five and some things like supporting the ball carrier and protecting the ball at the breakdown were very obvious in this game. They seem to be playing as a unit and not as individuals this season.
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@Old-Samurai-Jack said in Highlanders v Blues:
@Tim said in Highlanders v Blues:
@Old-Samurai-Jack People seem to forget that the Blues forwards were fucking good in 2022 all the way up to the final. Then Eklund choked. 14 wins in a row didn't happen by accident.
They were good and would have been "fucking" good if the Crusader's forwards didn't do a number on them in the final in 2022. Not being an arse, but the Blues forwards have capitulated in the past when it mattered. Early days but they battered a handy Clan tight five and some things like supporting the ball carrier and protecting the ball at the breakdown were very obvious in this game. They seem to be playing as a unit and not as individuals this season.
This a bit of a myth, you can't really say forwards, maybe tight forwards. The Blues loosies outworked the much hyped Crusaders loosies in that match (who were outstanding in defence the week before against the Chiefs) in both attack and defence even allowing for Tom Christie being allowed to come in from the side and pilfer at pretty much every ruck.
That final was a lot closer than people make it out to be these days. A good win to the Crusaders but some context gets lost as the years pass.
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@Nepia said in Highlanders v Blues:
@Old-Samurai-Jack said in Highlanders v Blues:
@Tim said in Highlanders v Blues:
@Old-Samurai-Jack People seem to forget that the Blues forwards were fucking good in 2022 all the way up to the final. Then Eklund choked. 14 wins in a row didn't happen by accident.
They were good and would have been "fucking" good if the Crusader's forwards didn't do a number on them in the final in 2022. Not being an arse, but the Blues forwards have capitulated in the past when it mattered. Early days but they battered a handy Clan tight five and some things like supporting the ball carrier and protecting the ball at the breakdown were very obvious in this game. They seem to be playing as a unit and not as individuals this season.
This a bit of a myth, you can't really say forwards, maybe tight forwards. The Blues loosies outworked the much hyped Crusaders loosies in that match (who were outstanding in defence the week before against the Chiefs) in both attack and defence even allowing for Tom Christie being allowed to come in from the side and pilfer at pretty much every ruck.
That final was a lot closer than people make it out to be these days. A good win to the Crusaders but some context gets lost as the years pass.
The main difference was Whitelock at lineout. An All Black great doing what All Black greats do.
Dalton coming back from surgery was also a huge factor, even though he played well in that game.
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The main difference was Luke Romano giving his old Crusaders mates the line out calls before the match. He was sent up to Auckland as a spy 😉
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Darry "looks like medial ligament, didn't look good"
