Blues 2020
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Fan voted All Time Blues XV + 2nd XV.
As voted by you! Presenting our All-Time Greatest Blues XV!! (and as an extra bonus the 2nd XV)
Some interesting things about the voting:
- 10,000 votes were cast across Instagram, Facebook, Twitter and Member emails.
- Sir Michael Jones makes BOTH teams. Winning the Openside by public demand and coming second in the Blindside voting.
- The closest fought positions were Loosehead Prop and Halfback. Each spot coming down to 25 votes or less.
- Rupeni Caucaunibuca’s inclusion on the right wing comes at the request of the public (Like ‘Iceman’) receiving more votes than the other choices.
- Carlos Spencer, Zinzan Brooke and Tony Woodcock dominated their respective positions, receiving more than 80% of the votes for their place in the team.
What do you think? Who was unlucky? Who would you switch? Which team wins head to head? Who would you choose as captain and coach?
The winner of the signed jersey will be announced next week!
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Akira but no Rieko. The Blues have had some great wingers.
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Michael Jones is in both teams. Swap him out in the 2nd XV with Gus Collins. Was no fan of Lee Stensness but he did more for us than SBW, would also probably have Cashmore ahead of Piutau.
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@African-Monkey Yep, SBW shouldn't be in there. His best years were with the Chiefs and Crusaders. But he has plenty of fans.
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@Bovidae Yeah, he got the young people's votes that's for sure, despite barely playing for us and being a big waste of money. I think TJ Faiane has probably contributed more to the Blues than SBW as well....
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@African-Monkey said in Blues 2020:
Michael Jones is in both teams. Swap him out in the 2nd XV with Gus Collins.
Can see why though. He was our best 7 and our second best 6. Gus comes in 3rd for sure.
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taniwharugbyreplied to Bovidae on 27 Apr 2020, 06:19 last edited by taniwharugby 27 Apr 2020, 07:49
@Bovidae Reichlemann played a bit at 6 too IIRC too, he was a bloody good player.
But id have Gus in behind the Iceman, but Iceman cant be in 2 teams either...
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Speaking of backrowers...
could be 28 when he gets back ... could fill a role for us at 6 (Blues and who knows at the higher level). Will be very interesting to see how he adapts back to NZ. Everyone who went to Europe prior to that came back wrecked for teh NZ game.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/sport/news/article.cfm?c_id=4&objectid=12328130
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@nzzp said in Blues 2020:
Speaking of backrowers...
If he did come back when he’s 30/31 I’d pick him at lock
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@Duluth Kaino was 32 when he played in 2015 RWC and was excellent.
If Steven came back next year, he'd be turning 30 in April (also, Happy Birthday Steven Luatua - 29 today!). Not sure if he'd be right for a lock - he's shorter than Jerome!
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Loads of loosies at the Blues not as many locks
I've always been sceptical of Kaino being listed as 1.96. Luatua is listed between 1.94 and 1.96 (apparently he was taller at the Blues and AB's than other teams)
I'm reasonably sure Luatua is taller than Kaino regardless of what the stats say
There's plenty of successful shortish locks in SR. Plus with Robinson at 6 there would be plenty of lineout targets
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Clearly he should go to another franchise, rather than shoehorn him into lock, if there are too many loosies already at the Blues?
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Fairly sure Rugby stats men just take a look and estimate from there.
Or exxagerate for effect much like the fact Andre the Giant was never 7 foot 4 or 5
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@Nepia said in Blues 2020:
Clearly he should go to another franchise, rather than shoehorn him into lock, if there are too many loosies already at the Blues?
If he comes back its because he wants to reach 100 Blues caps.
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@KiwiMurph said in Blues 2020:
@Nepia said in Blues 2020:
Clearly he should go to another franchise, rather than shoehorn him into lock, if there are too many loosies already at the Blues?
If he comes back its because he wants to reach 100 Blues caps.
In that case sending Akira or Dalton to the Chiefs would be best.
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@Duluth said in Blues 2020:
Yup he's mid 1.90's significantly shorter than Retallick. About the same as a Brad Thorn/Hemepo etc
A similar height to Tu'ungafasi and Ta'avao. Not forgetting Jordie.
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@Duluth said in Blues 2020:
What's your point? Are you saying he is too short to play lock? He's done well there before
IIRC that was due to his excellent vertical leap. Maybe a bit of athleticism that may have reduced as he has aged?
Safe hands in the lineout though.
I would have taken him in the RWC squad easily, he's still a very good player with a huge workrate. Has become McCaw like in his running lines to the right place at the right time.
I cant see Bristol letting him go easily. He is the glue in that team. (who the fuck is Piutau?)Was arrogant of NZ rugby to think he would be happy to stay here without encouragement. A bit of perserverance with him and he would have locked in the 6 jersey easily IMO.
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@Crucial said in Blues 2020:
IIRC that was due to his excellent vertical leap. Maybe a bit of athleticism that may have reduced as he has aged?
Safe hands in the lineout though.Maybe. But a decline in athleticism is part of the reason I'm not sure about him replacing an AB level loosie.
If he's still at his peak the UK money will be very tempting. If he comes back it's more likely to be a player on the decline
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@Duluth said in Blues 2020:
If he's still at his peak the UK money will be very tempting. If he comes back it's more likely to be a player on the decline
We just don't know in ilght of C19 though. The money may disappear, and then if the differential is lower, where would you choose to ride out the plague? NZ is paradise - and we should be reminding people of that ...
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@Crucial said in Blues 2020:
@Duluth said in Blues 2020:
What's your point? Are you saying he is too short to play lock? He's done well there before
IIRC that was due to his excellent vertical leap. Maybe a bit of athleticism that may have reduced as he has aged?
Safe hands in the lineout though.
I would have taken him in the RWC squad easily, he's still a very good player with a huge workrate. Has become McCaw like in his running lines to the right place at the right time.
I cant see Bristol letting him go easily. He is the glue in that team. (who the fuck is Piutau?)Was arrogant of NZ rugby to think he would be happy to stay here without encouragement. A bit of perserverance with him and he would have locked in the 6 jersey easily IMO.
Just some bum...
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@Dice said in Blues 2020:
@Bones TBH, he's a much better fullback now than when he was here. He was a much better winger than fullback when he was still in NZ.
Reminds me of a recent interview that Pat Lam had with Jim Kayes where he said that Eddie Jones told him that if Piutau and Luatua were eligible for England, he'd select both of them for England.
That's hardly a surprise - if they were eligible for the ABs they'd both be selected!
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@junior said in Blues 2020:
@Dice said in Blues 2020:
@Bones TBH, he's a much better fullback now than when he was here. He was a much better winger than fullback when he was still in NZ.
Reminds me of a recent interview that Pat Lam had with Jim Kayes where he said that Eddie Jones told him that if Piutau and Luatua were eligible for England, he'd select both of them for England.
That's hardly a surprise - if they were eligible for the ABs they'd both be selected!
Highly unlikely they'd be able to make their way past Bridge and Fafita though eh.
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@Bones said in Blues 2020:
@junior said in Blues 2020:
@Dice said in Blues 2020:
@Bones TBH, he's a much better fullback now than when he was here. He was a much better winger than fullback when he was still in NZ.
Reminds me of a recent interview that Pat Lam had with Jim Kayes where he said that Eddie Jones told him that if Piutau and Luatua were eligible for England, he'd select both of them for England.
That's hardly a surprise - if they were eligible for the ABs they'd both be selected!
Highly unlikely they'd be able to make their way past Bridge and Fafita though eh.
How could I forget those two mainstays of our successful RWC campaign?
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@Bones said in Blues 2020:
@junior said in Blues 2020:
@Dice said in Blues 2020:
@Bones TBH, he's a much better fullback now than when he was here. He was a much better winger than fullback when he was still in NZ.
Reminds me of a recent interview that Pat Lam had with Jim Kayes where he said that Eddie Jones told him that if Piutau and Luatua were eligible for England, he'd select both of them for England.
That's hardly a surprise - if they were eligible for the ABs they'd both be selected!
Highly unlikely they'd be able to make their way past Bridge and Fafita though eh.
Depends if Piutau played in the Perth match and Luatua would have been watching Scott Barrett-Hanson from the bench anyway.
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@Nepia he's trying to steal your thunder @mariner4life
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@Bones said in Blues 2020:
@Nepia he's trying to steal your thunder @mariner4life
I was robbed of a nomination!
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@Dice said in Blues 2020:
@Crucial said in Blues 2020:
@Duluth said in Blues 2020:
What's your point? Are you saying he is too short to play lock? He's done well there before
IIRC that was due to his excellent vertical leap. Maybe a bit of athleticism that may have reduced as he has aged?
Safe hands in the lineout though.
I would have taken him in the RWC squad easily, he's still a very good player with a huge workrate. Has become McCaw like in his running lines to the right place at the right time.
I cant see Bristol letting him go easily. He is the glue in that team. (who the fuck is Piutau?)Was arrogant of NZ rugby to think he would be happy to stay here without encouragement. A bit of perserverance with him and he would have locked in the 6 jersey easily IMO.
Just some bum...
Fair enough. I have to admit I hadn’t seen him play for a while. I must have watched them during a slow patch for him.
Glad to see they are getting some value for money -
@African-Monkey said in Blues 2020:
Michael Jones is in both teams. Swap him out in the 2nd XV with Gus Collins. Was no fan of Lee Stensness but he did more for us than SBW, would also probably have Cashmore ahead of Piutau.
McDonald was a very good blindside flanker too. Troy Flavell could be at 6 and Royce Willis at 5.
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@cgrant said in Blues 2020:
@African-Monkey said in Blues 2020:
Michael Jones is in both teams. Swap him out in the 2nd XV with Gus Collins. Was no fan of Lee Stensness but he did more for us than SBW, would also probably have Cashmore ahead of Piutau.
McDonald was a very good blindside flanker too. Troy Flavell could be at 6 and Royce Willis at 5.
Luatua ahead of Gus McDonald.
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I'll take that Super draw.
Both times we come off the bye to play the Crusaders. That's pretty good considering the comp is going to be brutal.
Can't wait for mid June now ...
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I wonder if they'll have a warm-up game. They can probably have an in-house game.
1 Karl Tuinukuafe
2 James Parsons
3 Sione Mafileo
4 Patrick Tuipulotu
5 Jacob Pierce
6 Tom Robinson
7 Dalton Papali'i
8 Hoskins Sotutu
9 Sam Nock
10 Beauden Barrett
11 Mark Telea
12 TJ Faiane
13 Rieko Ioane
14 Joe Marchant
15 Stephen Perofetavs
1 Alex Hodgman
2 Kurt Eklund
3 Ofa Tuungafasi
4 Josh Goodhue
5 Gerard Cowley-Tuioti
6 Tony Lamborn/Waimana Riedlinger-Kapa
7 Blake Gibson
8 Akira Ioane
9 Jonathan Ruru
10 Otere Black
11 Jordan Hyland/AJ Lam
12 Harry Plummer
13 Caleb Clarke?
14 Emoni Narawa
15 Matt Duffie -
I wonder what the plan is for Marchant?
If I remember correctly he was due to go back to the UK in June - but given there's no rugby over there at the moment it might make more sense for him to stay down in NZ and play NZ derbies.
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