Crusaders vs Sharks
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@booboo said in Crusaders vs Sharks:
Ok. Am only up to half time in my viewing of the replay. Am tired and will watch the rest in the morning.
But christ Pickerell is a fucking awful referee. He's the anti-Jackson. Looking for every excuse to rule against the home team.
Fuck.
Sharks scrambling and not particularly impressive in the first half but riding the back of a few favourable decisions ahead by 2.
Hopefully the Evil Empire found a way to get home from here.
Taylor Moody Read good in the first 40.
And he only got worse.
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The Goodhue - Ennor midfield experiment was over as soon as Jordan had to leave the field so Goodhue played most of the game in his favorite position and Ennor on the left wing. Hard to make ourselves an opinion about this combination. Jordan looked sharp and incisive before his injury.
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@kev said in Crusaders vs Sharks:
Not many times you see a Crusaders pack rag dolled like that. That’s how the Boks will play the ABs.
Yeah - and it's a bit concerning. Boks could easily have beaten us twice last year - would have but for subbing off Cronje and Le Roux in Pretoria.
I think Hansen needs to think a bit about where and how he adds a bit more physicality to our team.
Kaino's departure is a big loss in this regard and I'm not sure 2019 Kieran Read is going to bring quite the same power that the 2015 version did - and those are important power positions. Nonu and Big Jules had some power in the backs that we haven't fully replaced either.
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@Chris-B said in Crusaders vs Sharks:
@kev said in Crusaders vs Sharks:
Not many times you see a Crusaders pack rag dolled like that. That’s how the Boks will play the ABs.
Yeah - and it's a bit concerning. Boks could easily have beaten us twice last year - would have but for subbing off Cronje and Le Roux in Pretoria.
And England and Ireland. Either Hansen has been flogging them all season in trainings, or we have some real issues to worry about.
That said, we got dominated physically in the SF against the Bokke last RWC. Our attack got us enough points that day -- but against Ireland last year we just created nothing and played terribly.
In hindsight too, the first test against the Bok last year we absolutely dominated everywhere but on the scoreboard. So maybe we just get some faith in Steve-O.
Winning two cups back to back has taken away the sting of possibly (now:probably) missing out on another, too. OUr record at RWC is now good, and it should take some team performance to beat us. If we get beaten by an inspired team on the day I'll be disappointed but not gutted. If we lose to grinding teams playing like the Brumbies or Ireland 2018 I'll be frustrated and probably throw my toys.
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@nzzp don’t forget the dry powder that lies beneath NZRU headquarters.
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@ACT-Crusader said in Crusaders vs Sharks:
@nzzp don’t forget the dry powder that lies beneath NZRU headquarters.
The Gunpowder Plot, 2019 edition
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@nzzp said in Crusaders vs Sharks:
@Chris-B said in Crusaders vs Sharks:
Winning two cups back to back has taken away the sting of possibly (now:probably) missing out on another, too. OUr record at RWC is now good, and it should take some team performance to beat us. If we get beaten by an inspired team on the day I'll be disappointed but not gutted. If we lose to grinding teams playing like the Brumbies or Ireland 2018 I'll be frustrated and probably throw my toys.
I have a sneaking thought in the back of my mind that we should perhaps be pretty desperate to win this Cup, because who knows whether we'll have teams capable of winning in the future. If you use Nonu as being the yardstick of a "Golden Generation", this is the last hurrah. But, more particularly, four more years of Whitelock and Retallick looks some distance off and I don't see many obvious replacements coming through - other than size-wise Triple-P.
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@Chris-B said in Crusaders vs Sharks:
I have a sneaking thought in the back of my mind that we should perhaps be pretty desperate to win this Cup, because who knows whether we'll have teams capable of winning in the future. If you use Nonu as being the yardstick of a "Golden Generation", this is the last hurrah. But, more particularly, four more years of Whitelock and Retallick looks some distance off and I don't see many obvious replacements coming through - other than size-wise Triple-P.
Yeah - but if you threw Piutau and Luatua into this team, they'd probably go to that next level. We have thrown up the talent, we just struggle to keep it.
