Blues v Lions
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15 Stephen Perofeta, 14 Matt Duffie, 13 Rieko Ioane, 12 TJ Faiane ©, 11 Mark Telea, 10 Otere Black, 9 Sam Nock; 8 Hoskins Sotutu, 7 Blake Gibson, 6 Dalton Papalii, 5 Jacob Pierce, 4 Gerard Cowley-Tuioti, 3 Sione Mafileo, 2 James Parsons, 1 Karl Tu’inukuafe.
Reserves: 16 Luteru Tolai, 17 Joe Walsh, 18 Marcel Renata, 19 Aaron Carroll/Sam Caird, 20 Akira Ioane, 21 Jonathan Ruru, 22 Harry Plummer, 23 Emoni Narawa
Players not considered with injury: Tanielu Telea (shoulder – season), James Tucker (ACL – season), Ray Niuia (knee – season), Josh Goodhue (ankle), Alex Hodgman (calf).
https://blues.rugby/focus-on-performance-for-early-game-at-eden-park/
With captain Patrick Tuipulotu to sit out his All Black rest, along with Ofa Tu’ungafasi, 46-game veteran Gerard Cowley-Tuioti gets his first start of the season after coming off the bench in his first game back from an injury in the Mitre-10 Cup. There’s a strong look to the pack with in-form Karl Tu’inukuafe joining 110-cap hooker James Parsons and Sione Mafileo, playing his 49th time for the Blues, forming the front row, while All Black Dalton Papalii returns from his break to join Blake Gibson and Hoskins Sotutu in the loose forwards. The backline is virtually unchanged with Matt Duffie, like his North Harbour mate Mafileo, playing his 49th game to give Joe Marchant his first spell of the season with TJ Faiane to take over the captaincy. There is plenty of impact to come off the bench especially Akira Ioane, who covers all three loose forward spots, and impressed against the Hurricanes last week. Southland replacement prop Joe Walsh is set to earn his debut for the Blues off the bench along with hooker Luteru Tolai, who made an excellent job as replacement in the win over the stormers in South Africa. -
Robinson getting a rest? NOt showing on the injured list.
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@taniwharugby said in Blues v Lions:
Robinson getting a rest? NOt showing on the injured list.
the Blues are also forced to rest hard-nosed blindside Tom Robinson this week with a minor head knock -
Big Karl has played all 6 games also, so I guess he is not on the '6 games in a row max' All Blacks rest protocol? Unless they have allowed him one more game so that the team doesn't have to be without both top props at once (especially with Hodgman also out).
Interesting both this game and the Chiefs v Canes (Jaco Peyper) have SA refs.Referee Marius van der Westhuizen
AR1 Jaco Peyper
AR2 Ben O'Keeffe
TMO Glenn Newman -
Have not seen much of Joe Walsh. Here are some good clips of him playing for the Stags.
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15 Tyrone Green, 14 Jamba Ulengo, 13 Manuel Rass, 12 Dan Kriel, 11 Courtnall Skosan, 10 Elton Jantjies (c), 9 Andre Warner, 8 Hacjivah Dayimani, 7 Ruan Vermaak, 6 Marnus Schoeman, 5 Marvin Orie, 4 Willem Alberts, 3 Frans van Wyk, 2 Jan-Hemming Campher, 1 Dylan Smith
Replacements: 16 Pieter Jansen, 17 Sti Sithole, 18 Carlu Sadie, 19 Wilhelm van der Sluys, 20 Len Massyn, 21 Morne van den Berg, 22 Shaun Reynolds, 23 Andries Coetzee -
@Daffy-Jaffy pretty sure that's just the same clip over and over for 6 minutes.
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An all Harbour tight 5. That has to be a first for the Blues.
Parsons mentioned the other day that Akira has been hitting PBs in training. Would've been nice if he got in the starting backrow, but he's at least made his way ahead of Lamborn in the pecking order. He now just has to make his way ahead of Blake so that he's in the 23 once Robinson gets back.
Stink news about Telea and Tucker. They would've been handy in a long season.
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@Machpants said in Blues v Lions:
With 5 cases in NZ? No way it would be an over reaction.
stop all those foreigners bringing in thier illnesses!
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@Machpants said in Blues v Lions:
@nzzp said in Blues v Lions:
@nzzp said in Blues v Lions:
Anyone think there's a risk of this being played in an empty stadium (jokes about Blues crowds aside)? Pasifika done, ODI and F1 behind closed doors; are we goign the same way?
Well, it's going ahead at the moment. Brave call by Super; I'm going out on a limb and betting that by next weekend the games will be heavily affected; either not being played, or with no crowds.
With 5 cases in NZ? No way it would be an over reaction.
We aren't doing wide testing, we have no idea how many cases are in NZ.
That said, I'm thinking of having a shower in hand sanitser and heading along.
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@taniwharugby said in Blues v Lions:
@Machpants said in Blues v Lions:
With 5 cases in NZ? No way it would be an over reaction.
stop all those foreigners bringing in thier illnesses!
Close all the airports to pasenger flights might do that, not stopping rugby games. Oh, by the way, no more medicine whilst we do that as they generally come in on passenger flights. A bit like closing schools, sounds good but school kids are not generally badly effected and all it means is losing half of your doctors and nurses who have to stay at home with the kids!
