Blues 2019
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JK accidentally confirmed on Breakdown tonight that Scrafton is off to the Hurricanes next season. Which is annoying as he was obviously to me the best 5 lock in the squad. Sadly injuries and coach preferences for the too soft Goodhue and the too short C-T early on meant he did not get a chance to prove it till now. The question for next year now is who to replace him. Young Jacob Pierce is in the squad but always injured and hardly even plays for Harbour so its hard to judge if he is up to it. My hope would be that they are chasing Olmstead. James Tucker from Waikato was with them briefly preseason and I would be fine with picking him up. I rate young Jamie Lane from Ponsonby but need to see him play more rep rugby. He has signed for Auckland. Signing Scrafton and Laupepe for next year will give the canes a bit more size and steel in the middle row.
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@Daffy-Jaffy I wonder if Pari-Pari Parkinson is heading north?
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@Tim That would be nice but doubtful. Also maybe Whetton might be looking for more game time?
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@Daffy-Jaffy They chose Jacob Pierce instead of Scrafton so they must see something in him, or is it a case of poor recruitment from the Blues again? From what I've seen of Lane, he looks a bit soft to me. Needs a big Mitre 10 Cup.
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Daffy Jaffyreplied to African Monkey on 21 May 2019, 20:50 last edited by Daffy Jaffy 21 May 2019, 20:53
@African-Monkey Someone said on here that Scrafton wanted to move in search of more game time, rather than them choosing Pierce over him (they already had both in the squad). Coventry rarely played Pierce for Harbour prefering to use C-T or with young Danny Drake (who trained and played with the Blues preseason so must also be in the picture for next year, i'd forgotten about him). They inherited Pierce from Tana/Hanks so he may even be cut for Drake or another? Jamie Lane appears to have bulked up a lot this season and is looking more physical to me, admittedly only at club level so far. ( I follow Ponsonby).
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Nigel Yelden hasn't heard anything about Scrafton leaving.
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A couple of my colleagues have heard that rumour too. D'Arcy asked Scott direct in an interview yesterday and did not answer it directly - hope that helps some
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If true he could be another Fatialofa type that Auckland let get away - helped us win a Championship too
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@Canes4life
It’s true and he will be an absolute asset. -
@Daffy-Jaffy It was me and it came from a good mate of mine who is the manager for his club team who was talking to his grandad. Now that you put it that way it does sound a bit strange haha but he mentioned Jacob Pierce being given a contract/Scrafton being annoyed at a lack of game time so I might have to ask him again haha.
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@African-Monkey once again you have got to ask some serious questions, I mean to say we all saw a sample bite of how good Scrafton was last year..
Should have been locked in.
On an upside not I have been informed there is going to be a review shortly from the Blues in and around high performance and the high performance role...this is gonna be interesting..! -
@Steven-Harris said in Blues 2019:
On an upside not I have been informed there is going to be a review shortly from the Blues in and around high performance and the high performance role...this is gonna be interesting..!
Hanks? Should have been gone years ago
Hopefully they look at Redman as well. The purge is only half done
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@Steven-Harris Yeah, he's a good player and if he hadn't been injured, he'd be one of the first picked every week. Great pickup from the Hurricanes.
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Scrafton will be on the Canes bench to watch Blackwell play ! The latter is Plumtree's favorite lock and will it change next year ?
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@cgrant all Plumtree needs to do is move Blackwell to six and we are sorted. He went well for the Lions there through the NPC so I don't know why Plum has this drive to turn Blackwell into a lock. With Mitchell, Leaupepe, Scrafton and the pending Walker-Leawere as options there is no need to look at Blackwell as a lock option.
Anyway it won't matter too much if they decide to re-sign the likes of May and Eves as our propping options.
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@Daffy-Jaffy said in Blues 2019:
@Tim That would be nice but doubtful. Also maybe Whetton might be looking for more game time?
I could see Whetton coming back up. I'd be happy with him as a signing.
Another option is maybe playing Tom Robinson at lock at times next year, then just roll out Akira, Gibson and Papali'i in the backrow. That would get all our best talent on the field at once.
Even starting Robinson at 6, then letting him finish the last 20 or so minutes at lock should be seen as an option going forward. Surprised it hasn't been tried even once this year.
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@Dice given he has played the bulk of his M10 Cup rugby at lock (IIRC only very small minutes at 6) you'd have thought they would have seen him there (assume he was probably even signed as a lock who can play 6?) or at least an option there.
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Emoni Narawa starting interesting and is that asaeli tikoirotuma? The former chief?
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Is Caird playing for Northland this year?
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@KiwiMurph Is "S Vikena" Soane Vikena from last year's NZ Schools team?
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@Tim yes.
Good Tua finally having a run too, been missing in club footy.
Northland having a trial of sorts on Saturday so shame a few out in this fixture...although obviously good for them.
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@taniwharugby said in Blues 2019:
Northland having a trial of sorts on Saturday so shame a few out in this fixture...although obviously good for them.
where is it? I may be in Whangarei and pop along for a look
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@nzzp 1230 at Hora Hora on Saturday, team sheets in taniwha forum, although they included some players named here.
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@KiwiMurph Team looks weaker than I thought it'd be.
Seems like many of the Auckland guys weren't considered for the game, probably because of the short turnaround from Monday.
Patrick's little bro on the bench - he was part of the champion St Peters team last year. Also, Eric Rush's son at 6. Quite a few rugby connections in that team.
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Is there a team list for that game?
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One player definitely leaving is lock Scott Scrafton, who has signed with the Hurricanes. Scrafton has been a good performer for the Blues over the last three years and recently returned from a serious knee injury.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/rugby/news/article.cfm?c_id=80&objectid=12236630
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@Tim with most of the better midfielders locked in at other franchises ,looks like we are looking heavily towards the Mitre 10 Cup or possibly offshore to fill vacancies ..
I just suspect with the Blues they don’t always look to select a player that fits the needs of what is required ,it’s been a while since we have had a real thinking midfielder, we had one in Micheal Little but we were too quick to offload him and once given a chance in Sunwolves colours you just got to see how good this guy is..little is the sort of player I believe would enhance a player like Tumua Manua if he returned to the Blues because of his creative ability
Nonu and Faiane have been solid but to me at times lacked real creativity which showed up in a couple of games.
Nonu is always at his best either on off the top lineout ball or very quick ball with time something our forwards don’t always supply..I really think given the options they don’t have I would be working overtime to keep one of the 2 ,more likely Nonu, I have got plenty of time for SBW who incidentally will be available for selection against the Reds this weekend..I just think with SBW if injuries are starting to bite..
But if we can’t one the other will do ,still think we are gonna need experience.Wearing my Northland hat, I was up watching the Northland trials in Whangarei on Saturday it was great to see both Matt Johnson and Tamati Tua oppose each other ;I thought Johnson looked very solid and I was impressed Tua, looked like he’s bulked a bit and looked very solid, defensively he looked after Johnson very well...
Given that both have been with the Blues before,I will watching their Mitre 10 Cup form with great interestIf the rumours of Scott Gregory heading to the Highlanders are to be believed ,that’s a bit of blow in my opinion he would have been a great utility option who can also play wing..has a great left foot as well something we lack in the Blues especially when it comes to red zone exits.
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@Salacious-Crumb Got admit,I can’t say he’s been one of my favourites over the years, but that was pretty cool especially becoming a vegetarian to support his son..some things are bigger than sport.!
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Well, shit. Just looked at the table. We're 5-1-9, and third to last. On paper, we haven't made a real change from last year.
That said, we split the series with the Landers and Chiefs, whcih is heartening. Just frustrating to continue to shit the bed whenever we look like we could be going somewhere.
Tough life as a Blues fan. Some real improvements, but a damn tough comp to build in.
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@kev says something when their most consistent performers have been a rookie and a veteran All Black ..!
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@kev said in Blues 2019:
@nzzp I think you have to be realistic and say the Blues have made no progress. At times they have looked much better but the table is the real answer.
You're a harsh marker.
The real measure is arguably NZ teams.
Split the series against the Chiefs and Highlanders
Dominated but lost against the Canes at home
Were a missed goal kick against splitting the series against Canterbury (but outclassed down there)I'd say that's some progress, from our record under JK and Tana. The Chiefs at home were amazing - some absolutely low percentage tries that came off, and we didn't quite have enough.
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@Steven-Harris said in Blues 2019:
@kev says something when their most consistent performers have been a rookie and a veteran All Black ..!
Huh? Nanai is neither of these.
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@KiwiMurph only really came up with those 2 because they had been mentioned as possible RWC contenders not that I ever realistically thought they were real possibilities..
Nanai probably comes into the conversation..but I do think both Robinson & Nonu have been the most consistent. -
@Steven-Harris Nonu? I assumed you meant Ofa for the veteran All Black.
Post 1776 of 2005