Blues 2017
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@KiwiMurph said in Blues 2017:
Rieko played mostly/all Mitre 10 Cup at 13 for Auckland and was easily the best player in a woeful team. He runs attacking lines of a classic centre. Outside SBW offloads he could be a weapon. He still has work to do on his distribution but so does Moala. His pace makes him a short term option at wing agreed.
In attack he was good but defensively seemed well off the reading and footwork needed even at NPC level. If he can correct those then he should make a decent go at it. But I would keep him on the wing.
However, given we've seen Naholo given time at test level in the midfield when required, I expect he will be given an opportunity in the midfield.
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@ACT-Crusader Yeah personally I think that is simple coaching - the Auckland team looked v poorly coached combined with the truncated format of Mitre 10 Cup - for example by contrast his defence was impressive when he came off the bench and played the whole second half at centre for the ABs v France - that looked to be the impact of a few weeks in ABs camp. Having Umaga as coach and the ability to actually work with him (not having him bugger off to 7s) will surely only help.
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@Bovidae said in Blues 2017:
@mimic Francis prefers 1st 5 as well according to the TV news tonight.
If I was a Blues supporter I wouldn't be confident West can get the best out of the backline.
I'm surprised Francis didn't injure his back from carrying West last year..
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@KiwiMurph Yep hope to see Akira getting more starts now with Luatua chasing the money. Starting to get annoyed at us constantly losing ABs before their prime.
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@African-Monkey said in Blues 2017:
@KiwiMurph Yep hope to see Akira getting more starts now with Luatua chasing the money. Starting to get annoyed at us constantly losing ABs before their prime.
Why would Tana do that if he felt Luatua was the best option to play? Sure, later in the season or against certain teams he may want to invest in the future, but his primary aim is to win games this year, not next.
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First team selection named in two days! Any guesses for shock starters/omissions for our first game?
Michael Collins might be a shock starter. He started at 12 against the Canes in preseason and started at fullback against the Chiefs. He also looked to have played quite a bit of fullback later in the Canes game as well.
Mafileo could be a starter in the first game as well. Looking at one of the pictures posted early in the game against the Chiefs on the Blues twitter, it was Mafileo and Manu who started at prop. They've destroyed both the Chiefs and Canes scrums together so I think there's a high chance they'll give Mafileo a start against the Rebels.
I have a feeling Moala will be a shock omission from the starting line-up. I don't recall him playing in the Canes game and I don't think he started the Chiefs game. He was also in the 10s team, where it was almost all lower half of the roster guys. I hope this doesn't mean much and he's in the starting team.
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Starting xv v cheifs was
- Manu
- Moulds
- Mafileo
- Tupou
- Cowley-Tuioti
- Luatua
- Gibson
- Ioane
- Pulu
- West
- Nanai
- Francis
- Ioane
- Duffie
- Collins
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@Daffy-Jaffy Cheers. Did you go to the game?
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@Tim No sorry just heard through the grape vine. Scrafton may come in for C-T but he may be injured as he pulled out of the 10's and did not play Friday either. Also depends on how Gibsons knock was. If that is close to the starting team for the Rebels the bench could have some impact. Imagine the likes of Kaino, Charlie, Patrick, Tungafaasi, Faiva, Ranger, Moala, Pryor coming on 2nd half!
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The players who did not play the Chiefs game for various reasons, niggles etc were - Jerome, Royal, Guyton, Nanson, O'Donnell, JP, Perofeta, Patrick, SBW, Prattley.
The strength of that front row is both Mafileo and Manu are so short making them impossible to get under for taller players, plus they both live for scrums.
My concern for this team is the lineout. Short locks, Moulds' dodgy throwing and Faiva's inexperience could cause problems. They will have to make good use of Luatua and Ioane to mix it up against a typically tall and competitive Aussie lineout. -
@Daffy-Jaffy
Royal played v chiefs in the last 25.
Moulds in the front row was the difference in the dominating scrums. When he came on they dominated, when he went off it was even. Just my observation at the situation. -
@Northlandallday OK, good to know Royal is fit coz he came off injured during the 10's. I got that list of non players from the following Blues tweet during the game in response to someone asking who's playing..
@BluesRugbyTeam
Shorter list is who isn't playing
Jerome, Joe, Billy, Brandon, Declan, JP, Stephen, Patrick, SBW, Pratters -
@Daffy-Jaffy Err, sorry yeah, it was the Canes game Royal came on for the last 25. Royal came off the 10's game, looked like a bit of a limp.
