Blues v Force
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@SammyC said in Blues v Force:
@antipodean said in Blues v Force:
@SammyC Clearly all his fault then.
You guys love to put words in peoples mouth,
That should be the TSF tagline.
The Silver Fern
We will put words in your mouth, and then argue all day that you are wrongSure, it's not catchy, but it's accurate!
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@Crazy-Horse said in Blues v Force:
Instead of squabbling over whether the Blues made a comeback or whether Akira played a big part in the comeback can't we all just agree it was the best Blues/Crusaders game since 2005?
Any game we smash the Blues up front is awesome.
I suppose that applies to pretty much every game since 2005 though.
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I do think a bit more time on Akira is needed this season before he'll get fully up and running - his season has been a bit disjointed thus far, game 1 was fine, game 2 he got pulled at halftime after Luatua got red carded and then he's had a couple of cameos off the bench since. Let's give it a few more rounds and re-assess.
On another note - some of the Taufua love on here is a bit outrageous - he has a good motor I agree but he tends to stand out against weaker opposition - I didn't think he was that good against the Blues even despite the fact the Crusaders had 7 current ABs in their tight 5 (5 starting, 2 off the bench) and the Blues were without Faumuina that day. He throws himself about well but his size holds him back from making a bigger impact in the derbies (as say compared to a Squire).
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@Duluth said in Blues v Force:
I've said there was no comeback
He gets through a lot of work for a lazy guy. To carry so many metres in a beaten pack was a good effort
I thought it was worth comparing lazy Ioane with the highly praised Tufua
Note that Ioane has played a lot less minutes:
If you change the comparison to Douglas the stats even up on defence but they are comparable
It's strange that in the Crusaders game when the entire Blues tight five stunk it up in the second half and the maul defence was incredibly disorganised, the player getting the most blame is a loosie that subbed on
Now I'm not even saying that Akira should start, as I said earlier he has been flat since midway through the 2016 NPC. However calling him lazy is overstating things, or else there are a lot of lazy players around. He's just been less effective since recently. The 'lazy' criticism has followed him around even when he was at his peak and on top of almost every metric
It's almost like some people don't like the look on his face
Somebody did exactly the same comparison last year with Ofa T v Owen Franks.
Apparently that also proved that Ofa's workrate was far superior.
I'd like to see stats relating to first 3 to the breakdown amongst others. Taufua has been into everything at the breakdown this year which obviously compromises other stats as he's not standing in midfield waiting to be passed the ball.
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@Duluth said in Blues v Force:
@SammyC said in Blues v Force:
Hopefully Tana has been teaching him angry faces at training
@Duluth said in Blues v Force:
I agree with the comments from the knitting circle he definitely needs to get his facial expression form back to this level
@Duluth said in Blues v Force:
He has a silly expression on his face too
@Duluth said in Blues v Force:
Besides a far better metric of a players performance is facial expression
@Duluth said in Blues v Force:
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Western Force:
1 Ben Daley, 2. Tatafu Polota-Nau, 3. Tetera Faulkner, 4. Matt Philip, 5. Richie Arnold, 6. Ross Haylett-Petty, 7. Matt Hodgson, 8. Isi Naisarani
9 Ryan Louwrens, 10. Jono Lance, 11. Alex Newsome, 12. Billy Meakes, 13. Marcel Brache, 14. Chance Peni, 15. Dane Haylett-PettyReserves
16 Anaru Rangi, 17. Pek Cowan, 18. Shambeckler Vui, 19. Richard Hardwick, 20. Kane Koteka, 21. Michael Ruru, 22. Ian Prior, 23. Robbie Colemanhttp://www.westernforce.com.au/article/big-names-return-battle-blues
This is a NZ v Oz weekend with 4 Kiwi teams playing an Aussie team. There could be some high scoring games and this could be one of them, but also with banana skin potential.
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@KiwiMurph said in Blues v Force:
Hodgson the veteran vs Taramai the non-specialist at 7 will be interesting.
No specialist cover either
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@KiwiMurph said in Blues v Force:
So much for Dane Haylett-Petty being rested 2 weeks - he's back after one.
Hodgson the veteran vs Taramai the non-specialist at 7 will be interesting.
I thought they said DHP wouldn't travel to NZ.
A better looking side than the one they put out against us.
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@KiwiMurph said in Blues v Force:
So much for Dane Haylett-Petty being rested 2 weeks - he's back after one.
Hodgson the veteran vs Taramai the non-specialist at 7 will be interesting.
Dane Haylett-Petty is back in the squad earlier than planned because Curtis Rona suffered a concussion against the Crusaders.
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@SammyC said in Blues v Force:
@Duluth said in Blues v Force:
5 carries for 34m
Tafua for instance 4 carries for 3m and he started
He has a silly expression on his face too
Taufua was excellent in that game, shows how stupid it is to judge a players performance on the basis of ball carries alone.
I don't think Taufua was good in that game at all. I kept a close eye on him through the game because he didn't turn up against Kaino last year after being talked up as an AB prospect, so I was hoping to see him give a better go of it this time around, but he was near invisible.
He spent the game lining up wider from the ruck or in the backline on defense and attack, which is why he barely had any tackles or carries in the game, and only hit about 3 rucks. For someone who barely did anything in the game, he looked real gassed for much of his game time, he literally looked tired for the entire 1st half for some reason. When he got subbed around the 60 minute mark, he looked bemused as to why he was being subbed, but I thought it was pretty obvious why.
