Blues 2020
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A very interesting read on Akira
His workload over 2018 and 2019 included 80-minute performances in 28 of his team’s 32 games, and between 2016 and 2019 he bore the highest workload in attack of any of the players charted above: he contributed 9.4% of his team’s carries during this period, while also beating defenders the most regularly and making more metres per carry than everyone except Ardie Savea and Dalton Papali’i. (Ioane averaged 2.1 more carries per 80 minutes than Savea over this period, and 6.3 more than Papali’i.) This data cannot prove or disprove that Ioane met the standards that the All Blacks selectors were asking him to meet, but it does provide evidence to contradict the assertion that only now is he providing an acceptable level of on-field performance. It is also notable that a number of positive public comments from those selectors and his Blues coaches over the last few years have been largely ignored in the framing of his story. Grant Fox’s acknowledgement prior to the 2018 end-of-year tour that Ioane was “getting better at the areas he's been asked to improve at” was published under a headline suggesting that his “star [was] on the wane”, and Leon MacDonald’s comments at the beginning of this season that Ioane had “trained really well, [and] is fit and hungry” did nothing to stop his non-selection for the opening rounds of Super Rugby being painted in the same light. -
@KiwiMurph said in Blues 2020:
A very interesting read on Akira
No one ever questioned Akira Ioane's desire to run the ball. It was his refusal to commit to the clean out that clearly irked the AB selectors. There is a lot more to being a loose forward than running the ball.
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@Cantab79 said in Blues 2020:
@KiwiMurph said in Blues 2020:
A very interesting read on Akira
No one ever questioned Akira Ioane's desire to run the ball. It was his refusal to commit to the clean out that clearly irked the AB selectors. There is a lot more to being a loose forward than running the ball.
Sheesh AC, now you’re attacking your cousin on multiple forums. 😛The Blues used him as a runner, and like some of us have been telling TSF for the past couple of years they worked him like crazy.
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I have attended the Rennie,Coventry practice sessions on the lovely field at Ruakura.Everything they did was accurate and precise.Some of Coventry’s work with the forwards on a paddock near the railway line was legendary for its intensity.The odd flare up was known to occur.Akira may be benefiting from some of that work.
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you'd have to think watching from the sidelines behind Sotutu and Robinson would have been good for him too!
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Karl T playing off the bench for Takapuna tomorrow, so probably still working through his injury.
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Joe Marchant looks back on his Super Rugby stint with the Blues
As the latest guest on the Will Greenwood Podcast, Harlequins and England man Joe Marchant shares his experience of featuring in Super Rugby for the Blues for six months
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Was just having a look at the match stats for each game, and what popped out to me was the amount of tackles we've made/attempted.
Tackles Made/Tackles Attempted
Week 1 vs Hurricanes - 152/174
Week 2 vs Chiefs - 143/161
Week 3 vs Highlanders - 109/124
Week 4 vs Crusaders - 146/171
Week 5 vs Hurricanes - 176/207Total - 726/837
Average Per Game - 145/167
In our 7 games earlier in the year, the total tackles made/attempted was 713/828(102/118 per game), so we've made more tackles in 5 games of SRA than we did in the 7 games pre-covid.
Our penalty count has not helped with this(although we had a penalty issue earlier in the year too), but we're also kicking quite a lot with 27 kicks per game.
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@Dice good work fella, appreciate the thoughts.
If you have a strong forward pack and sound defence, you'll be a contender. Coventry has finally had an effect, and we have both scored Maul tries, and managed to defend some mauls as well - just outstanding from a forward pack that was dynamic at times, but woefully weak in maul defence.
You get the feeling that if we click and get some confidence, we could tear apart some teams. People having fun out there, and it shows... but still working bloody hard for each other. Long may it last
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@Dice said in Blues 2020:
Our penalty count has not helped with this
the goddamned offensive penalties we have conceded this year make me want to throw things. What's super irritating is that the pedantic calls seem to now just be ignored ... I'm such a supporter of clear and consistent rulings, but it's only taken a few rounds for refs to just shrug their shoulders and swallow their whistles.
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@Dice said in Blues 2020:
Was just having a look at the match stats for each game, and what popped out to me was the amount of tackles we've made/attempted.
There's been a reasonable number of defensive errors/individuals getting exposed. What's saved us all year has been the scrambling defence has been extremely good.
Fitness, high standards and forwards to get back on their feet faster than previous years all contribute to thatThe last couple of weeks the scramble has dropped off a bit which is concerning.
Remember a few seasons ago the Highlanders had a kick chase game and their forwards were racking up huge tackle stats.. then the defence fell away.. the cumulative effort took the toll in the last 3rd of the season
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He had 14 months out of the game dealing with a serious knee injury around that period and moved his provincial base from Auckland to Bay of Plenty in 2019 to enable him to spend as much time as he could around his Waihi-based mum.
“It was pretty tough but the timing was good,” reflects Eklund ahead of what will be his second start for the franchise at Eden Park on Sunday. “Over that time Mum was probably at her worst and that was invaluable time I’ll never get back and I appreciated having that. Obviously losing her was pretty tough on my family, and myself.”
Eklund has no contract to play professional rugby beyond this year (he’ll be back at the Bay for Mitre 10) and though he has a solid backup plan – he is a builder by trade and keeps his time in on the tools when he can – he isn’t quite finished with this rugby thing just yet.
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