Blues vs Rebels
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@kiwiinmelb said in Blues vs Rebels:
The scary part for Australian rugby , (bit early to call obviously, )
But this could be Nz's weakest team again .
I was thinking the same. Blues have clearly improved but I'm not expecting the other NZ teams to have deteriorated much from last year. If we dominate again at what point do you have to say the aussie and saffa teams are just not good enough and therefore the competition is a waste of time. (yeah I know stupidly early to be making vast predictions..could be eating my words at some point)
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Was at the game.
Impressions -
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Despite the below cant read too much into it - Blues depth is superior to Rebels but thats not saying much. Plus round 1 means little - Blues often start well - Brumbies wooped Canes week 1 last year.
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Rieko is a freak. Looked a few levels above his competition. He looks a natutal at centre - to me it looked like he has worked on his distribution and vision over the offseason.
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Pulu was brilliant - he can be hot and cold but has started hot.
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Tight 5 went well considering the names. Real solid. Tupou looks a solid captain.
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Francis and to a lesser degree Collins solid and provides the glue
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Blues used a lot of wide passing out the back off turnover/good ball - keen to use space.
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Not a bad game of rugby for round 1. Not as many dropped balls or penalties - high shots werent over officiated.
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the grass held up well.
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very good stadium to watch rugby at. Rebels small fanbase seem genuine too - diff atmosphere to Tahs games at SFS.
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10,000 was the crowd - probably 20% of that were kiwis.
So overall cant read too much into it - Chiefs next week is going to be a tough ask - but Blues started about as well as they could have hoped - that is all you can ask for. One happy Blues fan.
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@Frank He started slow. Bad missed tackle early on for Rebels first try. He got better as the game went on. Put in some great tackles-turnintomauls- which is his specialty - completely set up Rieko's hat trick - could have scored himself. Workrate looked pretty good - decent involvement. Not too bad for week 1.
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Just watched replay.
That was a bit of an arse raping. Bit difficult to gauge where the Blues are at, but IMHO they looked better than they have for a long time. I think Blues fans can dare to become a little bit excited.
Garden variety Bachop isn't very good is he. Actually the Rebels were particularly shit.
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From a marketing point of view , that rebels team lacks personality ,
Trying to promote it in an AFL town wont be easy
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Yeah Rebels struggle to market with their stars - let alone without about 5 of their best players.
One thing I was impressed with the Blues was the skills - generally the kicking and passing - that was a real weakness under kirwan and even somewhat last year under Tana. I know theyve brought in a rated skills coach from Ireland so will be interesting to see how it goes - next week v Chiefs away is a whole other proposition.
