Blues v Hurricanes
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@kirwan actually Nock was really good. Fast to ruck, crisp passes hitting the runners. Start of the second half put up two poor kicks and got subbed. Ruru came on and then gave away 3 points straight away but played pretty well. No doubt he is a more aggressive runner but for me Nock starts. A lot less errors, and better pass. The team runs a lot better when he is the link man. As TR says his game has really developed.
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After the Clan's surprise win the Canes had some real heat on to get a win last night or cement their bottom place.
Just over the halfway mark and they have their backs against the wall now. If they can't beat the Saders then the best they can really hope for now is third.On the flip side I reckon Blues have the other final spot sewn up. Clan, Chiefs and Canes will nullify each other sharing points around so that one more win for the Blues settles it. Even a handful of BPs could be enough.
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Love how the Canes selections came back to bite them, what’s the saying don’t change a winning formula, Blackwell once again showing how rubbish he is imagine running out of the line and missing the tackle!!. I think it’s time to drop the Savea experiment and give Visignia or Patafelo a game and see how they go you might aswell our seasons over.
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@mikey07 said in Blues v Hurricanes:
Love how the Canes selections came back to bite them, what’s the saying don’t change a winning formula, Blackwell once again showing how rubbish he is imagine running out of the line and missing the tackle!!. I think it’s time to drop the Savea experiment and give Visignia or Patafelo a game and see how they go you might aswell our seasons over.
I have to admit mikey, I wondered a bit about the selections, though I tend to think well I not at trainings etc, so perhaps I don't know why the decisions are made. But still some didn't seem to come off.
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@mikey07 no doubt they will somehow blame the loss on Walker-Leawere when he showed exactly what we were missing in the first half when he came on. He should be starting every week from now on.
Savea needs to move to seven and drop the number 8 experiment, that’s half the problem - we lose too much size with him, Kirifi, Prinsep and Blackwell in the pack. I would prefer a back row of Prinsep, Savea and Flanders.
Anyway, we might aswell start looking to Super Rugby Australia, our chances of getting a finals berth almost seem impossible now but atleast we should start giving the likes of Ruben Love, Devan Flanders & PUJ starts. I’d also like to see Danny Toala come into the 23, no point starting Laumape because it sounds like he’s out the door.
Also does anyone know where Kane Le’aupepe is? We could really do with his 2.01m, 120kg frame.
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@dan54 said in Blues v Hurricanes:
@mikey07 said in Blues v Hurricanes:
Love how the Canes selections came back to bite them, what’s the saying don’t change a winning formula, Blackwell once again showing how rubbish he is imagine running out of the line and missing the tackle!!. I think it’s time to drop the Savea experiment and give Visignia or Patafelo a game and see how they go you might aswell our seasons over.
I have to admit mikey, I wondered a bit about the selections, though I tend to think well I not at trainings etc, so perhaps I don't know why the decisions are made. But still some didn't seem to come off.
In all honesty I don’t think the Hurricanes selection was based on the week’s training.
Pouri Rakete-Stones played off the bench for the Canes the previous weekend - his club Pirates were told on Tuesday that he was available for them on the Friday club opener. Same with Danny Toala at his club Hastings RS.
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@african-monkey said in Blues v Hurricanes:
Also not convinced by Tolai at this stage
Considering Tolai and Apisai were originally fifth and sixth ranked hookers behind Parsons, Niuia, Vikena and Ekland, I think they are generally going OK. Tolai is 23 and Apisai 24, so both are still young for hookers at this level with time to develop.
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@canes4life said in Blues v Hurricanes:
Also does anyone know where Kane Le’aupepe is? We could really do with his 2.01m, 120kg frame.
He and Gareth Evans don't appear in any photos of training. I've seen photos of Evans at community events; not Le'aupepe.
I think it's fair to assume that they are injured, but it would be great if the Canes media team tried to understand that their supporters want to be kept up-to-date about non-playing players and provided some info on them under their team namings. No good journos in Welly to ask the questions, unfortunately.
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@daffy-jaffy Fair point you make, but I thought Tolai was very inaccurate in his work last night but yes, youth is on his side and it is good to get guys like Tolai, Darry etc. starts in games like this which will benefit the side going forward, but for now, Eklund is the first choice hooker and Tuipulotu and Goodhue with Cowley-Tuioti coming off the bench is our best lock combo.
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@canes4life Something like this
Numia,Coles,Lomax...IWL,Scrafton...Flanders,Savea wouldn’t mind Iose getting a run at 8 to see how he goes or even 6
Campbell, Love
Rayasi, Toala, PUJ, Visignia, JBBench;
Malifeo, Aumua, Fidow
Mitchell, Kirifi
Roigard can’t stand Taumateine
Leger because there’s no one else
Proctor -
@african-monkey Vikena is due back for the upcoming U20 comp and Niuia may not be far away so it will be interesting to see how they use them going forward. Entirely agree that Ekland is number one though. Has he got one more game to sit out?
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@daffy-jaffy Yup Eklund has the Highlanders game to sit out. Niuia is probably better than Tolai at this stage of his career, but at the same time, I don't mind Tolai playing as it'll be more beneficial for us in the future giving Tolai the experience.
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@african-monkey Starting any game is a bit of a novelty for Tolai. Until last npc he rarely got more than 10 or 15 mins off the bench for Harbour with the perennial Parsons in his way.
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@bones said in Blues v Hurricanes:
@hooroo said in Blues v Hurricanes:
Captain’s a massive bell-end when it comes to post match interviews, isn’t he.
Did I miss something?
Think he's talking Ginge?
Gave it the run of cliches. "Full credit ", " Thanks to the ladies in the kitchen for the spread" etc.
I thought it was amusing, more so than a fake Japanese accent anyway.
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@kev said in Blues v Hurricanes:
@kirwan actually Nock was really good. Fast to ruck, crisp passes hitting the runners. Start of the second half put up two poor kicks and got subbed. Ruru came on and then gave away 3 points straight away but played pretty well. No doubt he is a more aggressive runner but for me Nock starts. A lot less errors, and better pass. The team runs a lot better when he is the link man. As TR says his game has really developed.
It was noticeable how much faster the ball was getting out of the rucks when Ruru came on.
Nock had a poor half, and with the battle of the 9s being so close he really couldn’t afford to. Ruru made and impact last week too.
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@canes4life I’d rather Toala at 12...let’s be honest this will never happen regardless
