Blues v Crusaders
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Great game of rugby.
Great to see John Smit back too, with two nicely taken tries off the bench for the Blues. Pity about the silly penalty.
Speaking of which, Jonny Sexton would be proud of Sevu Reece's acting skills there
AB selectors spoiled for choice at 6 and 8 - will they make the right choices? Sotutu, Ioane, Grace, Blackadder, Robinson, without looking outside the Crusaders and Blues franchises
Surely Will Jordan should start AB matches not be in the wider squad?
Is Whitelock NZ's greatest ever lock? I know Rettalick is probably a tad better at his peak, but Whitelock is like the energiser bunny, just keeps on going going
Ofa is going to cost the ABs a match with a red card with his flying missile cleanouts. Give it up son.
Great game of rugby -
@crazy-horse said in Blues v Crusaders:
@nta said in Blues v Crusaders:
@crazy-horse said in Blues v Crusaders:
@nta said in Blues v Crusaders:
I also don't remember Codie Taylor being so big on the whinge. Usually he just gets on with the job, but he was having a crack at the officials about lineout gaps and not being exactly where he wanted etc.
Was it a targeted ploy to get into the head of Williams? Or was he just having a bad day? The push in the face at scrum time etc.
Seriously? Happens every game I would have thought.
I was talking Taylor in particular - he is usually just getting around the park doing great things, and he still did that . I'm not saying he had a bad game.
But something had him acting up a little today. If a lineout isn't precisely where he wanted it, usually he'll just step left or right and get the ball in. Like most hookers.
@chris said in Blues v Crusaders:
@nta said in Blues v Crusaders:
I also don't remember Codie Taylor being so big on the whinge. Usually he just gets on with the job, but he was having a crack at the officials about lineout gaps and not being exactly where he wanted etc.
Was it a targeted ploy to get into the head of Williams? Or was he just having a bad day? The push in the face at scrum time etc.
I thought Taylor had an Awesome day wouldn't say he was off.
And I didn't
Just wondering if something was giving him the shits.He tried stepping sideways and the ref got up him
Just watched it again: the gap is around a metre which is what you want. Taylor halts proeedings, so Williams asks him to throw from the mark, Taylor points out Blue is on the mark, Williams moves Blue back and then Taylor still has an issue with it, so WIlliams tells him to throw.
It was gamesmanship when he had a perfectly good lineout to throw at, with a gap, and Blue never contested. If he'd just stepped into the gap and thrown it would have been game on.
Being the best team in the comp doesn't mean you also get to carry on like a pork chop.
EDIT:
Actually, maybe it does. #CustodiansOfTheGame -
it is amusing reading the thread then watching games, seems some posters seem to have decided a player played shit/great before kick off.
Accuracy is key for the blues, something I dont think they can get with Ruru at 9, he is a strong defender and over the ball, but as someone above said, do the Blues need another loose forward?
No, they need a 9 to get the ball out quickly, kick accurately and make thier tackles when they come down thier channel, kinda like what Christie did in the 2nd half, both he and Nock pass better, both kick better (IMO Nock has one of the better box kicks around and a better pass than both Ruru and Christie) Christie probably on a par with Ruru with his running.
So next week Christie will (or should) start, meaning 4 games, 3 9s started, not great for building the 8/9 and 9/10 combos, which are crucial to the success of any team.
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@nta I get it and don't disagree, but we see gamesmanship all the time - from all teams.
I think the Blues had the Crusader lineout a little uptight at times during the game. Whatever the Blues were doing I think they unsettled them a bit.
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@taniwharugby a couple of Ruru's box kicks were dire, but got lucky bounces.
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@crazy-horse said in Blues v Crusaders:
@nzzp said in Blues v Crusaders:
@crazy-horse said in Blues v Crusaders:
@nta I see I am going to have to watch what Reece did again. Didn't notice any theatrics apart from him putting his hand out to 'appeal' for a penalty.
I'm astonished ... he went down and stayed down like he'd been shot. Very soccer-like
Must have been too busy reading this place. I've always wondered how people can watch the game and post at the same time. It seems I can't.
Was at the pub after watching the other half try on about a million dresses for a wedding we have coming up, what is it about seeing chicks in a bra and undies in a changing room and knowing you canāt do anything about it ? So frustrating.....
But yeah, Reiko made a good half break and was about to comment on the fern but I got told to put my phone away and chat to her, not a bunch of people on the internet. Fair enough. She had shouted the beer after all.
The other three teams are complete also rans compared to these two.
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@crazy-horse said in Blues v Crusaders:
I think the Blues had the Crusader lineout a little uptight at times during the game. Whatever the Blues were doing I think they unsettled them a bit.
Shame it took them so long to get into a rhythm disrupting the Crusaders maul. I thought by the last 30 they were really precise on the maul defence.
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@mn5 said in Blues v Crusaders:
Was at the pub after watching the other half try on about a million dresses for a wedding we have coming up, what is it about seeing chicks in a bra and undies in a changing room and knowing you canāt do anything about it ? So frustrating.....
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@nta said in Blues v Crusaders:
@mn5 said in Blues v Crusaders:
Was at the pub after watching the other half try on about a million dresses for a wedding we have coming up, what is it about seeing chicks in a bra and undies in a changing room and knowing you canāt do anything about it ? So frustrating.....
Just the other half, nothing else worth perving at.
She did enjoy me telling her that a pair of twins were playing against each other in the game though.
Speaking of locks as someone mentioned earlier itās pretty hard to look past Sam Whitelock as one of the best weāve had, heās played well for about a million years.
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Congratulations to the Crusaders. Such a well-oiled and ruthless machine, some of their big game players (Whitelock, Mo'unga, Goodhue) really stood up. I hope the ABs selectors are noticing how well Will Jordan and David Havaii are playing.
The Blues are still a work in progress. Three obvious work-ons to me:
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Discipline. 16 penalties is far too many to concede against a side as good as the Crusaders.
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Defensive work rate. Ethan Blackadder made 17 tackles in that game, Goodhue and Havaii 15 each, Taylor and Whitelock 12 each. The most from a Blue was Tuipolotu and Choat with 9 each and Choat came off the bench. You are not going to beat the Crusaders by allowing them to score 40+ points.
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Finding ways to get the ball in the hands of Caleb Clarke in space. He's a fantastic runner and attacking weapon but had only three carries in this game. The Blues need to look at their attacking game plan. Let the dangerman be the dangerman.
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@sparky said in Blues v Crusaders:
You are not going to beat the Crusaders by allowing them to score 40+ points.
slightly better kickign and we put 30 on the crusaders. That's not shabby.
Crusaders were super clinical, particularly in the first half, but seemed to get a lot of points handed to them.
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Liam Napier opines about a team being the real deal. It is obvious the Blues were inferior to the Crusaders today,but they did match tries scored.I would suggest this Blues team was the real deal last year and to continue to denigrate a team because they canāt finally beat arguably the best franchise team in world rugby,is to downplay the significant progress they have made.Of course they are the real deal.
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@trodthesod cheap clickbait journalism. My surprise knows no bounds.
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@trodthesod depends what you mean by real deal. If real deal means title contenders then Napier is right.
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Your right of course ,but the āreal dealā for some reason grinds my gears.
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Some of the shoddy play from both teams today,suggested neither team was the ā real dealā!
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