Blues v Force
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Saw a replay of the game.
Akira was the good story for the Blues - came on at 6 and got stuck in. Playing much more to his potential. I think next week start him at 6, Gibson at 7 and Kaino at 8, bring Luatua off the bench.
Agree Pulu's passing in general was off, along with others. They couldnt get a flow on until towards the end, the stop start didnt suit the Blues.
Was good to see Scrafton get a run -- agreed on comments that he has bulked up - he went well. Duffie was excellent, Rieko and Ihaia impactful and generally the defence and discipline wasnt too bad.
Will need to be much better next week vs the Highlanders but they can cause problems.
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Akira was great on both sides of the ball. I tend to think he plays his best rugby when he's our main ball carrier - he gets more of a rhythm into his game that way and other parts of his game seem to feed off it. It'd be nice if he was rewarded with a start next week, but then I loved Luatua's play before the suspension. I'd be happy with either starting to be honest.
I wonder where Parsons gets the confidence to turn down easy 3s to instead kick for touch and go for lineout drives, because for us, it's such a low percentage play, because we are so bad in that area of the game. When the lineout drive gets sacked or halts, we lose the ball somehow in the phases after. IIRC, each time we've turned down a shot at the sticks this year, we've come back with nothing, except on the Akira try on the weekend. Against the Bulls, I could understand the 2nd turn down of 3, because we were going for a bonus point, but even then, we lost the ball at the lineout and got lucky that Kaino smashed that guy back inside the try line to get us a scrum.
Faiane didn't get to show much on attack since the ball was slow and messy when he was on, but watching at the ground and then at home, I thought he was top notch on defense. He made some very good reads and tackles, and covered a lot of ground. He was directing and talking a lot out there too. I was a little worried the double ACL injury would hamper his speed and potential, but seeing him scoot on that disallowed try put my mind at ease.
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how the fuck does a player as shit as Parsons has been this year not only keep his spot, but gets to be the skipper?
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@Hooroo it's a fantastically poor piece of defending by the winger though. He's outside a prop with a heap of space, he's got to make a decent decision. And his best decisions there was jam in on the centre and force the pass. Given how far he's run, and the dummy was netball-esque, there is a good chance that fucks up. Even if he doesn't, the winger is alone, and there is cover coming. But he decides to go for the ball, takes no one, and turns a one-on-one into a two-on-one and it's a simple run in try.
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@mariner4life probably because the latter happened before the season started...TBF his throwing used to be bang on, but his throwing and general play is all round average so far this year.
@Hooroo I don't believe he was cited, think there have been a few examples like that where nothing has happened, Jeff Wilson was discussing it on RS yesterday morning.
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@taniwharugby said in Blues v Force:
@Hooroo I don't believe he was cited, think there have been a few examples like that where nothing has happened, Jeff Wilson was discussing it on RS yesterday morning.
At the game it was very clear in real time- no effort to wrap, just led with the shoulder. He got the 'they scored a try so no YC' get out of jail thingy which always annoys me.
That said, I'm not sure how much of the game the ref was watching
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@Dice You can also see on the above GIF that Faiane recognises the opportunity/space outside him before he gets the ball and then throws a pass right on the button to Moala. It seems basic sort of stuff but historically these aren't always a given for Blues backs. He seems like a genuine midfielder, again which is something that hasn't been in large supply within the Blues. He may miss out this week with SBW coming back but he looks promising.
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@KiwiMurph said in Blues v Force:
@Dice You can also see on the above GIF that Faiane recognises the opportunity/space outside him before he gets the ball and then throws a pass right on the button to Moala. It seems basic sort of stuff but historically these aren't always a given for Blues backs. He seems like a genuine midfielder, again which is something that hasn't been in large supply within the Blues. He may miss out this week with SBW coming back but he looks promising.
Good spotting. Faiane calls for the ball from 2nd receiver instead of letting the ball go to Francis inside him. If it goes to Francis first, the defense probably has a second to slide over to close the space and the break doesn't happen. It wouldn't surprise me if Faiane knew the prop was out there, hence why he called for it and passed it early for Moala to get an opportunity on the prop.
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FABTJF
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@No-Quarter Brother, what a Wiseguy...
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@mariner4life said in Blues v Force:
@Hooroo it's a fantastically poor piece of defending by the winger though. He's outside a prop with a heap of space, he's got to make a decent decision. And his best decisions there was jam in on the centre and force the pass. Given how far he's run, and the dummy was netball-esque, there is a good chance that fucks up. Even if he doesn't, the winger is alone, and there is cover coming. But he decides to go for the ball, takes no one, and turns a one-on-one into a two-on-one and it's a simple run in try.
Showed some really poor defensive communication there. He panicked and looked to think the intercept was his only option. Meanwhile the sweeper was tracking over to be the last man defence and could have got to the outside if the pass had still been freed.
From my little experience that's when you want your fullback screaming at you and claiming the outside man.
