Chiefs v Blues
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@pakman said in Chiefs v Blues:
@crucial Agree on effort. And DMac was superb in that try.
Sad to say, but I thought Blues were a lot better when JK went off. One of my faves, but seems a shadow of his former self.
Looks to have fallen off the Rodders cliff, sadly.
Kind of highlights the performances of Messam in a way. 160 odd super games and adding value still.
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@pakman said in Chiefs v Blues:
@crucial Fairly old now, but disappointing that he doesn't APPEAR to be providing much leadership either.
Possibly his little domestic troubles may have lowered his mana somewhat.
I know that is off-field, but I doubt he wanted to put his head up for a long while.
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I couldn't make out much of the Chiefs tactics in that 2nd half. The first half they had adopted a pretty much un-Chiefs like approach, that of direct, gutsy endless pick-and-gos not without profit having led to the first try; (good homework on the Blues deficiencies on D) but then in the 2nd half they went away from that completely, onto some fairly indirect headless chicken stuff, with plenty of spilled ball.
Yet AGAIN pulled out of the fire by BBBR (that guy is just godamn awesomeness on a plate) and I am loving the new-look dynamic young fulla Messam, with Cane as well = such committment to the cause every bloody week. Can I also just mention the efforts of Ta'avao who has really dug in for the Chiefs this season. -
I definitely think that the Chiefs had identified the damage the Sharks runners had made in the inside channel a week earlier and tried to exploit that in the 1st half, especially. The problem was handling errors, poor passes and turnovers let the Blues off the hook. Pulu should have done much better with his opportunity but neither commited the defender with a man outside him or beat him on the outside.
It was certainly very tense at the game and even though the Chiefs completely dominated the 2nd half they failed to convert that into points until the PT through more poor options (looking at you Sowakula), good scrambling defence by the Blues and an Akira sneaky hand. I was always concerned that a Chiefs' mistake would lead to a Blues try against the run of play. We also had a scoreboard clock malfunction when the Chiefs had that series of 5 m scrums as 6 mins suddenly disappeared so the clock read 79 mins not 73 mins. If that was confusing for the crowd I can only imagine how the players would have reacted on the field as desperation set in.
As a few others have said, I thought DMac played very well in the time he was on the field, and took a step forward this week in his ability to direct the team. MMac is not a player to inspire any confidence and was a doormat on defence. At least he didn't lose the game for the Chiefs. Props (pun intended) to Hoeft as the Chiefs scrum had the ascendency throughout. Yes, Parsons, even before you only packed down 7 forwards - dumb.
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Great analysis. I felt that Messam and Retallick carried the Chiefs through with their efforts. Ta'avao was great also. From the sideline it was very frustrating to see all the mistakes (especially Sowakula one ) from the Chiefs when they had so many opportunities. But, quite surprised the Blues wing only caught offside ahead of the kicker once, when it seemed blatant at other times in second half. And ref and TJ also missed the ball played on the ground on blues line. So, end result meant none of that mattered.
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Messam should be starting so if Cooper and Barnes want Sowakula as a ball-runner at no.8 then put Liam at 6. I'm a fan of Boshier but he has given away a lot of stupid penalties in recent weeks. Bring him off the bench for Sowakula in the 2nd half.
Agree about Ta'avao, who has been an unsung hero for the Chiefs with all the front row injuries. He brings some leadership as well. Ross is also playing big minutes, although Tu’inukuafe is a strong scrummager. Wainui has played much better than I, or anyone, expected but Fa'auli still worries me. He lacks rugby smarts.
Yeah, Duffie was in front of the kicker more than once (ex RL player
) but I think most wingers are offside from box kicks regularly and it's ignored by the officials.The game next Friday vs the Canes will be interesting as both teams could be without their first-choice 9 and 10.
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Rugby is a funny game, if the Blues had BBBR and Cane on their team i dare say they would be winning more games tgan they are losing and people would be saying Tana is doing a good job.
But back in the real world the Blues failure to get out of their half killed them. Whoever thought persisting with a 7 man scrum that was going backwards was a better idea than risking an overlap and try out wide also has to take a large part of the blame. Just dumb.
Thought the goodhue penalty for the card was a tough one given he was pinned by a chiefs leg but then again Ofa should have been carded for putting a shoulder into a guy in the air before he even had the ball.
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@chester-draws said in Chiefs v Blues:
@pakman said in Chiefs v Blues:
@crucial Fairly old now, but disappointing that he doesn't APPEAR to be providing much leadership either.
Possibly his little domestic troubles may have lowered his mana somewhat.
I know that is off-field, but I doubt he wanted to put his head up for a long while.
Or maybe he overdid it at his 35th birthday celebrations on Thursday?!
