Hurricanes v Blues
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Someone else who'd make a fine bruising 6 is Papalii. Just kept going and going today too.
What the fuck is up with 2nd 5 selections in NZ? Canes the only ones selecting a proper 12 at 12 consistently and look what happens.
Nice win canes, just held onto that ball all day and it counted in the end. Huge fight from the blues to hang in there though and definitely seemed to take their chances much better than the canes.
Eklund looks like a keeper. Christie doesn't.
Weird moment in the game when they flashed up Ngani's running stats and he had 92m, cut to ten or so minutes later after he's made a 30m charge and they flash them up...93m....what the?
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As good as the improvement in the Blues game is,a certain inability to control games is evident.The first ten minutes was a nightmare for them,and to their credit fought back to be even at half time.From my point of view the Blues were very lacklustre all night and looked to be just hanging in.Strangely though at five to go they had the lead.If ever they needed to fizz it was tonight with regard to the points table.All things being equal the Champioship is now the Crusaders to lose I feel.The fight will be for places on the table.Hold onto second should be the Blues target.
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@Old-Samurai-Jack fair enough, we all see things how we see them
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@Bones funny I mentioned to my bro after last weeks game that I thought Dalton ran heavy. Doesn’t appear light on his feet say like Ardie or even Akira. Like you say it might be just the way it comes across, but he got stood up a couple of times tonight. He’s got damn good shoulders though in how he hits. Did he play league as a kid?
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@ACT-Crusader yeah he makes Cane look like a hot stepper but considering that, he's got a great eye on defence as he gets it right a lot and certainly makes it stick.
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@ACT-Crusader said in Hurricanes v Blues:
JGB lack of class really showed tonight. He’s not a bad player but I thought he stifled some of the line breaks the Canes were making. He just couldn’t take advantage of those situations. He’s a little predictable in attack which makes it easy for the defence.
I think Smith needs another shot.
Just finished watching the game. And watched JGB closely. I thought he had one of his better games for the Canes. He certainly didn't stifle the Canes backline. His mistakes were giving away one penalty (not releasing), passing the ball forward re Jordie's non try (but he was being tackled as this happened) and dropping one ball from Goosen (in a tight situation). But otherwise he was good. Took the high balls, passing was good, tried a few thing a bit different. Some came off and a few didn't
Blackwell was back to passing to the ground again, But otherwise the team went well and was a good game to watch. Kirifi is a good player now. One of those I never expected much from (when he was first signed) but has really stepped up. Armstrong has a much better game too. PUJ had a game he can be very happy with. As can his midfield mate who maybe had his best ever Canes match.
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I saw nothing to suggest that Mounga should not retain number 10 jersey for the All Blacks.
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Only saw bits of the game as I was out but from what I saw, we were dominated for large parts of it. Please get Plummer out of the 12 spot immediately. He looked lost out there. Suprised it was so close in the first half. Laumape looked like a prime Jonah Lomu out there.
@Canes4life ya proved to be correct on this occasion ya bastard
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@ACT-Crusader wasn't there a bit of tug and war between the Warriors and the Blues for Papalii? Or am I thinking of someone else?
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@African-Monkey had my heart in my mouth when the Blues scored theat last try. Thankfully the boys brought it home.
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@Canes4life said in Hurricanes v Blues:
@African-Monkey had my heart in my mouth when the Blues scored theat last try. Thankfully the boys brought it home.
The olds went last night along with the rest of the 20,000. Said it was a great game and the crowd was into it
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My two cents on the game and where do I start.
Well how can you not go past Laumape's try after gassing Beaudy and running over Otere at the line. Fair play to Beauden hitting right back with an impressive surge under the posts.
The Hurricanes were quite dominant in the early stages of the game but they struggled to finish their chances through line breaks from Laumape and Peter Umaga Jensen, who I might add had his best game in a Hurricanes jersey. The Hurricanes had the advantage at scrum time which allowed them to get well over the advantage line on attack, again though they will be a tad grumpy for not executing. A positive for the Canes is that they showed calmness under pressure in those final 10 minutes that will give them plenty of confidence heading down to Christchurch next week.
From a player perspective the three standouts for me were Ngani Laumape, Jordie Barrett and Peter Umaga Jensen. Ngani Laumape, well his performance speaks for itself and if you haven't seen his brilliant interview post game, check it out here - https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=2805567983004746. Jordie Barrett was exceptional and rose to the occasion against his older brother when it really mattered. He caught everything kicked his way aswell which would have pleased the All Black coaches. Lastly, Peter Umaga Jensen took his chance, he ran with purpose and intent all night, constantly looking dangerous. Broke through the heart of the Blues defence early with a hard and direct line, in what was a common sight all night.
From a Blues perspective they showed plenty of grit and determination to halt that Canes early onslaught which is promising for such a young group. A sign of a good team is one that stays in the fight without really firing too many shots and that's what the Blues did last night. They took all their chances when they came and nearly pulled off a win that looked highly unlikely after the first 20 minutes.
From a player point of view I was really impressed with Kurt Eklund, he continues to grow his game and will push for the top Blues hooking spot moving forward, and deservedly so. Dalton Papali'i was my next pick of the Blues bunch, he was everywhere on defence, making something like 18 tackles which was massive on a night like this. Mark Telea's stocks also continue to rise, every time he got the ball it took about two or three guys to put him down. With a bit more coaching on his defence and technique under the high ball he could very well push for higher honours soon.
Game Highlights:
Post match presser:
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@Gunner said in Hurricanes v Blues:
Kirifi is a hard man to tackle, he’s like a clone of Ardie. Wouldn’t mind seeing how he goes in black, but I don’t think he’s the style of player they’ll be looking for in a 3rd string 7.
Quite an eye-catching performance from Kirifi.
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Just watched the game again and we deserved to lose that one. Don't think we had a real advantage in any area in the game.
If you want to know what James Blackwell would look like as a blindside, just watch Carroll play at 6 for us. We should've started Lamborn or brought in Riedlinger-Kapa.
Outside of that poor miss on Laumape, I thought Papali'i was pretty good for us. Was everywhere and was rag dolling guys most of the night. Scoreline could've been worse without him.
31 missed tackles is just too much from us. So many poor misses and bad reads by us, especially in the first half. Defense got much better after that Coles try in the 2nd half though.
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@Bones said in Hurricanes v Blues:
Weird moment in the game when they flashed up Ngani's running stats and he had 92m, cut to ten or so minutes later after he's made a 30m charge and they flash them up...93m....what the?
Same person who reports Ardie's height?
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I think if Faiane had started yesterday, you’d have won - 6 missed tackles between Plummer and Ioane in the midfield really hurt and Plummer was a bit lost on both sides of the call. Faiane and Ioane are usually very dangerous - I think that one change may have slowed the Canes down a bit.
There are also a few players looking pretty tired - Pat T missed 3 and wasn’t at the same level as recent games.
Btw, player with most missed tackles (according to rugby pass) was .... Paps with 4. He made 21 though, to lead them team (followed by Rieko with 18!)
