Blues v BI Lions
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What a cracking game. Blues were the Blues and mixed some jaw-dropping magic with jaw-dropping crap. Poor Tana. I wonder if those dreads will last his contract. That West try was insanely good, bloody hell did he show some speed. Thing is also, but for a heel, could have easily been another try for the Blues. They looked good on attack, especially Reiko burning it up down the wing, and SBW showing nous to follow up on that penalty kick that bounced off the post.
There was some shit passing at times, really shit, and some weak grubber kicks that would make any coach want to punch a kitten. But they manned up on defence, and to be honest, the Lions never really looked threatening try-wise.
For the Lions, Halfpenny was excellent, and that boot of his will always punish transgressions. Worst player was that fuckface Williams. Learn how to contest a ball in the air, you wankpuffin.
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@Mokey For what it's worth I think yellow was bit of a turning point, in particular because it made Lions wary of attempting contestable kicks, a staple of theirs. Thank goodness Blues gave up in second half on those chip kicks, which always handed ball back to opposition.
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@booboo said in Blues v BI Lions:
@kiwiinmelb said in Blues v BI Lions:
Wow , lions go into the crusaders game under the pump now , would not want to lose 2 in a row
Cmon easy game. Only the ... err .. Crusaders...
Lions lose that , things could unravel quickly ,
I think they can put together a tough test side ,
But these super rugby sides could trip them up first
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Woooo awesome win for the Blues and NZ rugby in general.
Others have mentioned it but Ioane, SBW and Luatua were the best on the park.
Great to see SBW find some form before the tests.
NZRU need to buy out Luatua's contract like they did with Naholo (and Charlie F's too)
Even as a Savea fan I think Ioane needs to start at 11 now unless Savea destroys the Lions in their game.Didn't think Perofeta was too bad. Great pass for the first try. As West showed it isn't that easy to throw that sort of ball. He went pretty well for a young guy making his starting debut against the Lions with shitty service from Pulu who was fucking slow to clear the ball as usual..
I must have missed the good stuff Collins did. He looked his usual slow, unable to beat a tackle or take a gap self.
Nanai would have had a field day with that shitty lions defence. What did Collins actually do other than not fuck up?As for the Lions, what can you say. The pressure has just ramped up. Itoje looked a bit over rated to me but might get better. Hopefully any future refs will ping their 9 if he continues to pick the ball up and place it at the back of the ruck.
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Collins played his best game.. but some of his play is really frustrating.. does he know how to hit a gap? It's like he's a player from up north..
Perofeta passes the ball into space for Collins to hit the gap.. but Collins doesn't hit the gap and thinks the ball isn't for him so readjusts his line.. then the ball goes to ground.. in the end it looked like a shit pass by perofeta
Same thing happened when Pulu passes Collins the ball and it went into touch.. -
@mimic said in Blues v BI Lions:
Collins played his best game.. but some of his play is really frustrating.. does he know how to hit a gap? It's like he's a player from up north..
Perofeta passes the ball into space for Collins to hit the gap.. but Collins doesn't hit the gap and thinks the ball isn't for him so readjusts his line.. then the ball goes to ground.. in the end it looked like a shit pass by perofeta
Same thing happened when Pulu passes Collins the ball and it went into touch..It's a pretty fucking low bar for him to have his "best" game. Was very lucky that kick he made down the touch early in the game didn't go out on the full. As it was it was a good result but could have put them under pressure.
Someone mentioned that West was no Beaudy but for that try he was close enough.
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@pukunui said in Blues v BI Lions:
As for the Lions, what can you say. The pressure has just ramped up. Itoje looked a bit over rated to me but might get better. Hopefully any future refs will ping their 9 if he continues to pick the ball up and place it at the back of the ruck.
He wasn't picking it up he was heeling it out into the open then standing over it. Fucken weird interpretation of the ball not being out of the ruck though. I know most refs now judge on the HB lifting the ball off the ground but clearly out of the ruck is clearly out of the ruck especially when it is the HB that has put it there.
Would have also been good to see some markers on the offside line put down early as being 'clearly onside' not 'possibly offside' but that is a scourge of the game whenever.
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Perofeta had a bit of a shocker if we're being honest. But he's just a kid on a huge stage for only his second game. It wasn't Cruden test debut level shocker, so that shows something line this can be character building.
Did he try to kick a free kick out on the full? But fortunately missed.
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@Crucial sorry crucial, he was often raking it back with his hands, and one time he did actually pick up the ball, pull it to the back of the ruck, put it down, organised his forwards (while the ref told the blues to stay back) then picked it up and kicked it. I've seen halfbacks get away with a bit, but today was astounding.
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@mariner4life I hope Hansen asks for clarification from the French ref for the first test.
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From The Independent
"Head coach Warren Gatland must have been wondering how the Lions were trailing at half-time, given his side had dominated possession and had the advantage in both the scrum and the line-out. That was partly due to the Blues taking their chances where the Lions didn’t, and also through the ineptitude of the match officials to spot a knock-on through a review when Sonny Bill Williams scored on the stroke of half-time."
The hand that knocked the ball back was very clearly a Lions one.
"The Lions would hit back though with good old fashioned Northern Hemisphere rugby. After winning back-to-back penalties for ruck infringements by George Moala and Akira Ioane, Rieko’s brother, Itoje was able to claim quick lineout ball to set-up the driving maul that allowed CJ Stander to power his way over for the try"
Even the UK commentators said they got away with that one, detaching and rejoining then a break off with players in front.
