Blues v Chiefs

[Yeetyaah]

Thought I'd drop this here. I decided to be a cheeky bugger on the Blues Instagram the other night and got roasted by them in return. Rieko Ioane then shared it on his Instagram story.

[KiwiMurph]

Interesting that Chiefs and Gatland are happy to put Trask at 10 for game 1 meanwhile the Canes won't even put McLutchie in their squad but instead go with 3 journeyman 10s.

[DrivingMaul]

@KiwiMurph That's harsh, Fletch Smith is hardly a journey man

[Crucial]

@DrivingMaul said in Blues v Chiefs:

@KiwiMurph That's harsh, Fletch Smith is hardly a journey man

Well he has journeyed from Ta$man to Canterbury to Otago to Wellington without setting the rugby world alight.....

[KiwiMurph]

@Crucial don't forget Waikato.

[Crucial]

@KiwiMurph said in Blues v Chiefs:

@Crucial don't forget Waikato.

The home of the 'journey'

[DrivingMaul]

This is his big opportunity

[Tim]

According to radio sport, Rieko Ioane has dropped some weight. Trying to boost speed?

[Yeetyaah]

@Tim surely he wouldn't need it. He's quite a lean athlete. Was speed his issue last year?

[KiwiMurph]

@Yeetyaah actually yes. He looked less explosive last year than earlier years. It looked like was carrying some more weight. So I think this is a good move.

[Tim]

[Machpants]

@Tim said in Blues v Chiefs:

According to radio sport, Rieko Ioane has dropped some weight. Trying to boost speed?

Dropping weight for the midfield from wing?

[KiwiMurph]

Nice to see a different approach is being taken with Akira (ie not playing him into the ground).

Was expecting Rieko at 13. Excited to see how Marchant goes.

[Tim]

There are several players with minor injuries who are not available for the opening round including James Parsons (back), Otere Black (rib), Finlay Christie (neck), Gerard Cowley-Tuioti (shoulder), Ezekiel Lindenmuth, Jared Page, Tanielu Tele’a while James Tucker is waiting on scan results on an injured knee..

https://blues.rugby/rieko-ioane-eyes-50th-cap/

[Tim]

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/rugby/news/article.cfm?c_id=80&objectid=12304307

[Duluth]

Lamborn is the biggest surprise. I guess he went well in the pre-season?

Looking forward to see how the hookers go. Eklund is a good solid player and then hopefully Niuia can have a similar impact he had at the RWC

[DrivingMaul]

With rookie hookers and a 6 in the locks (Robinson) I expect the Chiefs to really target the lineout

[mariner4life]

@Duluth said in Blues v Chiefs:

Lamborn is the biggest surprise. I guess he went well in the pre-season?

Looking forward to see how the hookers go. Eklund is a good solid player and then hopefully Niuia can have a similar impact he had at the RWC

As a Chiefs fan, I'm gonna miss Parsons...

[KiwiMurph]

@mariner4life said in Blues v Chiefs:

@Duluth said in Blues v Chiefs:

Lamborn is the biggest surprise. I guess he went well in the pre-season?

Looking forward to see how the hookers go. Eklund is a good solid player and then hopefully Niuia can have a similar impact he had at the RWC

As a Chiefs fan, I'm gonna miss Parsons...

I was going to say - this is a big opportunity for Eklund and Nuia. Blues desperately need some new options at hooker.

[Nepia]

As a Chiefs fan I'm glad that Akira isn't even on the bench, glad that the Ginga is starting at lock, and quite glad that Lamborn is starting at 7 as he's never really seemed like Super level and he's really a 6.5 up against Cane on the openside, ah crap, scratch that.

I don't know much about Marchant, hopefully, he's not good at feeding Reiko on the wing.