Blues v Highlanders
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@act-crusader said in Blues v Highlanders:
Blues look laboured and disorganised in attack.
Looked a bit like us when Toddy would try to cram Danny, Slade and Tom Taylor into the backline?
Tana needs to get them moving the ball from side to side - probing for the gap that never comes!
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@rocky-rockbottom totally agree,even the stats are quite hard to believe,
Highlanders. Blues Tackles made 158. 61 Missed Tackles. 17. 10 Offloads in Tackle. 8. 16 Turn overs conceded. 19. 17 Clean Breaks. 1. 2 Penalties Conceeded. 9. 7Only stat that counts is the score line I guess,they should add another couple of other stats when they put these together
Good decisions
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@nzzp said in Blues v Highlanders:
Well, I left early. It was shit. Our halfback seemed to think that slow, looping passes were a good idea, and it didn't get better.
Yep. Ruru was just as much at fault as Gatland for the first try. The pass was taken above his head.
As others have said, a lot of that backline is Development level only.
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@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.
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And what was the excuse when more of those players were fit earlier in the season? Or last year?
The fact is that injuries happen, and you have to rely on your squad (which Tana picked). Look at what the injuries the Chiefs had, and that all still look like a coached team and their new players look like they understand the team pattern and contribute to the result.
I defy you to describe the Blues pattern/gameplan on attack or defence. We have disintegrated into a team of individuals.
Just look at things like the non-selection of Ben Lam. Or plays his counties favourites over Akira last year.
The problems start at the board, obviously as they keep picking celebrities for coaches, but Tana is clearly out of his depth and should quit. Or be sacked.
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@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...
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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.
