Blues v Highlanders
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@taniwharugby said in Blues v Highlanders:
@kirwan TBF, Lam really has only come of age this season, was all kinds of average when with the Blues (would have slotted in nicely with this bunch...) and even last year with the canes wasnt near his 2018 form.
LIke all these 'ones that got away' there is no garantees they would have developed into the much better players they did if they stayed with the Blues..plus, how many players have the Blues let go, that havent flourished...
That’s not quite right, he hit form a couple of years ago then got injured. He certainly would have been a better squad choice even if you disagree than Declan ODonnell.
You have to look at who we swapped him for, it’s a joke.
Instead we have a player developed in the Blues region and another franchise is reaping the rewards.
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@taniwharugby i never liked him but lam was an absolute freak in the 2015 mitre 10 cup. I think he done his ACL in the preseason of super rugby straight after so bad timing. Not really Tana's fault.
Blues general play attack was just clueless last night. Funny thing is everyone in rugby attacks very similar in the 1-33-1 shape but the blues just can't seem to create anything out of it. The small things like running square and details around passing are just not there. Last night many times they had overlaps but the defense was able to shit it down fairly easy. Dumb miss passes and lack of square threatening running.
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@kiwimurph said in Blues v Highlanders:
@booboo just an update on your team - Manu started (though Hodgman is injured you could put him in there), Apisai is fit but not able to make the 23 cos he is awful and Duffie was on the bench.
As for some players who played well I thought Tamaioeta actually went well in his first start at tighthead, Papalii shows a lot of promise and Duffie played his best game of the year off the bench.
Oops missed Manu. Realised Duffie was on bench but included anyway.
And agree re Apisai
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An observation not an excuse from a Counties supporter who supports another SR side. Hmmmm. I'm sceptical. It sure reads like you are making excuses.
Incidentally the amount of injuries is similar to what the Chiefs had in that first Chiefs vs Blues game.
When the Chiefs were in that situation it was quite telling how organised they looked. Even with a late change at flyhalf.
A coach in his second competition match with a new side put out a better drilled side than a coach in his third fuck'n season without an injury crisis.But that's because Cooper is better at his job than Umaga. That's faint praise, because every other NZ coach is better at their job than Umaga. Even the much maligned Mark Hammett was better at his job than Umaga.
Umaga is shit. Just an observation
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@duluth Sadly I think that is true.
It is a bit sad to see Umaga fail so miserably because he was a player I admired, but I don't see how there can be any excuses for him as a coach. He's just not up to it on the evidence of this year and last.
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@duluth said in Blues v Highlanders:
An observation not an excuse from a Counties supporter who supports another SR side. Hmmmm. I'm sceptical. It sure reads like you are making excuses.
Incidentally the amount of injuries is similar to what the Chiefs had in that first Chiefs vs Blues game.
When the Chiefs were in that situation it was quite telling how organised they looked. Even with a late change at flyhalf.
A coach in his second competition match with a new side put out a better drilled side than a coach in his third fuck'n season without an injury crisis.But that's because Cooper is better at his job than Umaga. That's faint praise, because every other NZ coach is better at their job than Umaga. Even the much maligned Mark Hammett was better at his job than Umaga.
Umaga is shit. Just an observation
Counties? The fuck?
My provincial allegiances are variously Northland, Auckland, Waikato, Wairarapa-Bush and to a lesser extent Manawatu.
If I have a preferred Super Rugby team it's the Chiefs but that is superseeded by my support for whichever result most benefits the most NZ teams.
Hence, up to last year I was supportive of Umaga as I did see improvements and I really want the Blues to be good. I was (and am) sick of them being shit.
This is year he had to deliver. He hasn't.
Your observation is correct.
As was mine, which was in all honesty was born of wondering "who the are these guys in the backline ... " and working most of the preferred starters weren't there.
Though I did think it was funny when the Blues won in Joburg due to the passion some have against him (ahem).
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I just watched the game again, and surprisingly, this was probably the most structured and most threatening our attack has been all year, it was just the stray passes and handling errors that made it look a bit choppy and unorganized, but we were largely methodical in the way we attacked. We created space well, got over the gain line consistently and got up field with ease, we just didn't have the killer instinct to get the points in the end.The last 15-20 minutes was where we lost a bit of shape though, and that was mostly on the forwards getting too cute with the passes and us(mostly Gatland) shoveling to players in worse off positions.
Outside of Gatland, Hyland was probably our worst player. He was a train wreck out there, particularly on defense. He was missing tackles and making poor reads all game long.
The subs were pretty bad IMO. Papalii shouldn't of come off unless he was tired, which he wasn't(probably the fittest guy in our team). Tuipulotu was just starting to really fire when he got taken off. We also should've taken off Hyland when Manu came on, instead of Faiane, who was one of our better players. And when Hyland went off because of blood, Gatland shouldn't of been the one to come back on.
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@dice Actually I would say that Perofeta was far and away the worst player on the field. Poor kicking has plagued this Blues team. Shifting a player learning his trade to a new position when he is struggling already was an average coaching decision.
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I remember a few years ago when Tana joined Counties as player/coach some guys on here were saying that Tana was making the decisions and Milton Haig was deferring to him. They might have won the Shield under Tana but no one really gave Milton Haig recognition.
Tana obviously has huge Mana from his playing days but he was promoted to Super Rugby level head coach before his time. He needed to pay his dues.
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haha, after watching that awful game late at night (my time zone), I had a dream of the Blues trying to run back to the city over the Bombay hills, but the road was blocked with stopped cars due to some living dead infestation (read-Highlanders). Most of the team got swallowed up in swarms quickly, but Rieko kept breaking free and racing forward. Until he, too, met an ugly death.
Very apt dream! -
I watched a 36 year old Mike Delany run around for the crusaders last night,most people would think why would you pull someone in that old..?,
reason why..he had an outstanding Mitre 10 cup for BOP last year and is a seriously experienced footballer with leadership skills,Who do the Blues sign..?, when you have not got many experienced guys in the halves ,with the greatest of respect they sign Daniel Kirkpatrick who was the 2nd string starting first five for the Wellington Lions,probably no more than a tradesman to be fair and has never set the world on fire Just highlights to me that they really did not consider someone with real leadership skills if either Gatland or Perofeta were struggling
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@rocky-rockbottom the most crazy arse thing about that whole game was when Dunshea the number 6 who to be fair I thought was the best of the Blues Dev squad scored and then proceeded to take the conversion with was only 10-15 metres to the right of the posts,and his attempt hit the the corner flag on the North Stand side of the field,lol..when the score was 27 all,it should have been 29-27 if the first five had taken the bloody kick and taken the win,a win over an international team regardless of wether they are an A Team is a win.
sums up the whole organisation.Lyndon Dunshea normally plays lock for a University,very good solid footballer,now I am not 100% sure,but I think he’s the older brother of the Canterbury Mitre 10 Cup lock Mitchell Dunshea who in my opinion is a lock the Blues should be chasing ,has a massive engine and huge workrate ,was in the Nz under 20s that won the World Cup in 2015
The other player that impressed me was winger Tuitoma originally from Scots College in Wellington,he was actually in the Chiefs Dev Team when they played the Blues Dev a few weeks ago at Shadbolt park in Auckland..he looked really awesome that day too..,must have been released by the chiefs.
