Blues v Crusaders

[Old Samurai Jack]

The Crusaders are a mess and some players are just not up to this level and the others are floundering about headless. Lineout was an absolute disgrace. Even the commentators were dumbfounded by their decision to keep doing the same lineout formation failure after failure. The coaching box is not up to it, pure and simple.
Sad to see Moody's form. Reece and Newell were pretty good.
Blues on the other hand, doing the basics well esp. in the forward pack. Basically, did a Crusaders on the Crusaders, attacked the set piece, great maul defense, and bollocked them at the breakdown.

[Bovidae]

@Tim said in Blues v Crusaders:

McWhannell is very good in the air.

Yes, one of his main strengths is picking off opposition throws.

[nzzp]

Just watching the second half

Man the crusaders were lucky not to get more grief from the ref. They weren't even trying to be onside

[Tim]

@Duluth said in Blues v Crusaders:

Grace has missed the most tackles of any player in the competition

His defence was poor in the NPC too. Not up to this level.

[Bones]

@Duluth was it an issue under Penney at the tahs too?

[Duluth]

@Bones

Cant really remember. Maybe?

Skimming through the 5 games in 2021 the Tahs got thrashed by the Brumbies (10-61) & Reds twice (7-41, 14-46) beaten comfortable by the Rebels (14-33) and lost narrowly to the Force (16-20)

[Kirwan]

@nzzp said in Blues v Crusaders:

Just watching the second half

Man the crusaders were lucky not to get more grief from the ref. They weren't even trying to be onside

BOK always gives the Crusaders an easy go.

[Duluth]

Another angle of the AJ Lam try. Look at that shitty attempted tackle

[antipodean]

@Duluth said in Blues v Crusaders:

Look at that shitty attempted tackle

You're going to have to narrow that down.

[number9]

Not impressed with my Blues, we should of killed thr Crusaders with all the possession we had. Ref was handing out more cards than a black jack dealer which were justified. Don't think we executed that well

[Dan54]

Meant to comment yesterday, loved the heritage jerseys, and first time I saw Caleb Clarke make a run I thought of his old man, not so much as looking like him, but similar build, and similar gait when he runs, also McWhannel reminded me of Andrew Blowers with the mo and headgear.

[Duluth]

@number9 said in Blues v Crusaders:

Not impressed with my Blues, we should of killed thr Crusaders with all the possession we had.

I agree. Loads of errors and the passing in the backs has been off. Seems like the players and coach acknowledge that too.

We’re picking up wins and have plenty of home games coming up. You don’t win the competition in the first five weeks (Canes fans..)

[African Monkey]

@Duluth Yup, you only have to get to the finals. We learned that the hard way in 2022. It's important when you peak as we faded from about the Brumbies game in Canberra that year and ended up scraping through to the final before getting done by the Crusaders.

Chiefs fans will probably say the same about last season for them.

[KiwiMurph]

@number9 said in Blues v Crusaders:

Not impressed with my Blues, we should of killed thr Crusaders with all the possession we had.

Blues forwards were impressive

Blues backs are where the issue lies

Christie is a poor 9 whose spot should be under pressure - Perofeta played better than vs Tahs but still blew a number of good opportunities - they pick a midfield that isn't built to ball play but just big and run straight (whoever they pick it's the same M.O.) Forbes actually offered a bit of difference