Hurricanes v Crusaders
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@act-crusader said in Hurricanes v Crusaders:
@tim said in Hurricanes v Crusaders:
@act-crusader Sione Havili is a good tackler but is more of a 6.5 type of player.
I agree. He’s active in defence but we need a bit more attack from our loosies.
His problem is that he isn't a pilfering threat at the breakdown and he doesn't feature with ball in hand. Which to be honest you could say the same about all our backrow options
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@cantab79 Blackadder was a loss tbf but yes, the Crusaders weak backrow got exposed. I would barely call Douglas NPC standard, Grace goes missing a lot in games and is certainly not an 8 and Havili and Christie are both about the same level to me, good on the tackle but need good dance parners if they are to form an effective loose trio.
I've compared Christie to Luke Braid in the past, well Havili similar as well. Both lack a bit of athleticism around the breakdown to be really effective. Harmon for me was always the best 7 at the Crusaders, he just always seemed to get injured at the wrong time, but was a far more rounded player that the other 2.
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@act-crusader said in Hurricanes v Crusaders:
@mikey07 said in Hurricanes v Crusaders:
@kev I agree an absolute fan boy for any Ta$man player it’s quite sickly.
Is Jordie Barrett playing for Ta$man now....
In TJs wet dreams he does.
Apart from gushing over Ta$man and the Saders, TJ has always had a habit of picking a player in their early days and being a massive fan boy all of their career.
Love looks to be his latest. -
@act-crusader said in Hurricanes v Crusaders:
@chris-b said in Hurricanes v Crusaders:
@arhs said in Hurricanes v Crusaders:
Campbell was much better than Hall too. Thought Whitelock and Bridge both went well.
For some reason, Hall looked really laboured out there.
Bridge started really well. I noticed him less as the game went on. Will Jordan was the opposite - which makes me wonder if they play the same role a bit much and Big Leicester is a better fit if Jordan is at fullback?
Maybe the converse when Havili is at fullback.
Leicester at centre was a real handful for the Canes defence. He always seems to beat the first tackle (or at the very least stand them up).
Looks like he'll be spending quite a bit of time there in the near future, so it's helpful that he was.
Losing Moody and Goodhue should help even up the competition a fair bit!
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@act-crusader said in Hurricanes v Crusaders:
@crazy-horse Douglas is a good NPC player and that’s it in my opinion.
We are missing Todd’s breakdown work and more importantly his link play. None of our current crop seem to support in attack.
A few years back Dunshea had a storming game for an invitation XV vs the B&I Lions, yet he's barely featured in the loose forwards since as far as I can recall. They're shifting SBarrett to 6.
He's been excellent from the bench the last couple of games has Dunshea.
Sanders should be better for his run.
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@voodoo said in Hurricanes v Crusaders:
I dont mind the golden point. Maybe I don't care enough about the purely of the table and the comp anymore given how little I watch? But I liked the drama, even though my team was on the wrong side of it today. it also gives the players a little of that big-game feel, the need to score next, the need to get into the right part of the field and set up for a droppie. I think it could provide good pressure experience for the bigger stage.
Love was fun to watch tonight, really enjoyed seeing a young guy play with confidence. So much to be said for that first touch of the ball going well! But we should also give JB some credit for helping the young guy. For a 10, he really had to do limited 10 duties. No kicking for goal, no restarts, no responsibility for exits. He also barely played 1st receiver in phase play.
None of that is a criticism of the young fella, it's a really good way to introduce him, just an observation that he didn't really lead the team around the park as a 10 is typically expected to do, he just had free reign to play with energy.
I don't think they got the balance right there in helping out. Love showed straight away that he was capable and should have been given more rope. Jordie was awful in running the 22 clearances.
All OK with taking the set kicking pressure away from him but the 10 should have been allowed to do the basics of the 10s job.
It came back to bite them in the end. Jordie wasn't 100%, Love wasn't calling the shots and a reserve NPC halfback had to try the exit that ultimately lost them the game. -
@crucial said in Hurricanes v Crusaders:
@voodoo said in Hurricanes v Crusaders:
I dont mind the golden point. Maybe I don't care enough about the purely of the table and the comp anymore given how little I watch? But I liked the drama, even though my team was on the wrong side of it today. it also gives the players a little of that big-game feel, the need to score next, the need to get into the right part of the field and set up for a droppie. I think it could provide good pressure experience for the bigger stage.
Love was fun to watch tonight, really enjoyed seeing a young guy play with confidence. So much to be said for that first touch of the ball going well! But we should also give JB some credit for helping the young guy. For a 10, he really had to do limited 10 duties. No kicking for goal, no restarts, no responsibility for exits. He also barely played 1st receiver in phase play.
None of that is a criticism of the young fella, it's a really good way to introduce him, just an observation that he didn't really lead the team around the park as a 10 is typically expected to do, he just had free reign to play with energy.
I don't think they got the balance right there in helping out. Love showed straight away that he was capable and should have been given more rope. Jordie was awful in running the 22 clearances.
All OK with taking the set kicking pressure away from him but the 10 should have been allowed to do the basics of the 10s job.
It came back to bite them in the end. Jordie wasn't 100%, Love wasn't calling the shots and a reserve NPC halfback had to try the exit that ultimately lost them the game.Yeah, I'd probably agree with that - it made sense to start with, but Love could/should have been given more responsibility as the game wore on
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@act-crusader said in Hurricanes v Crusaders:
@chris-b said in Hurricanes v Crusaders:
@arhs said in Hurricanes v Crusaders:
Campbell was much better than Hall too. Thought Whitelock and Bridge both went well.
For some reason, Hall looked really laboured out there.
Bridge started really well. I noticed him less as the game went on. Will Jordan was the opposite - which makes me wonder if they play the same role a bit much and Big Leicester is a better fit if Jordan is at fullback?
Maybe the converse when Havili is at fullback.
Leicester at centre was a real handful for the Canes defence. He always seems to beat the first tackle (or at the very least stand them up).
On the evidence of this game the posters who melt down about Ioane not passing enough are going to straight up have heart attacks if Leicester moves to centre regularly. At least with Reiko you can seem him looking for options, Leicester looks he's a faster version of Brent Todd when he first went to Canberra, head down run straight and bust or take the tackle.
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@nepia dunno, he seems to be looking for the miracle off-load!
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@mikey07 said in Hurricanes v Crusaders:
I was really impressed with the Canes jersey in the 52 mins I watched before I had to go out, well except Laumape he’s playing like he’s already on the plane and generally doesn’t care so he might as well jump on the plane now would rather they play Toloa or someone at 12. Maybe Aso
They would almost certainly play Proctor ahead of Toala (or anyone for that matter) given his almost Blackwell like certainty of selection come what may.
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@higgins you would assume PUJ will move into 12, Proctor will come back into 13 and ideally Toala will come into the 23. Either that or they will bring Rayasi back in and Jordie will cover 12/13.
On Proctor, he has been bloody good for us on defence when he's started at 13 but lacks the attacking flair which PUJ showed yesterday.
I actually liked the Toala, PUJ combo when they played the Blues in 2019 so hopefully they give it another go at some point.
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@canes4life There are a couple of ways of looking at things like this. Picking defensively good players probably won't see you concede that many points but to win games you actually have to be capable of scoring points. All good keeping the opponents to nil but if you can't score any yourselves the best you can hope for is a nil nil draw. Scoring heaps of points but also leaking a few at least puts you in with a chance of victory.
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@taniwharugby said in Hurricanes v Crusaders:
@nepia dunno, he seems to be looking for the miracle off-load!
That's what I thought as well. He played centre very close to the wing. Spent his time in the tramlines trying to get through tackles and offload to others around him. It looked dangerous at times but certainly wasn't trad centre play.
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@higgins you could say that's why the Nonu and Smith combination was so great. One was the definition of attack and the other was the definition of defense. Getting that balance right in a centre combination is crucial so that's why I can only see a PUJ / Proctor combo going forward. (pending Laumape's departure).
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@canes4life I liked that Toala-PU-J combo that they used in one game ... ages ago.
But because that won't happen, I hope Toala can find a spot at the Chiefs or Landers.
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@stargazer would he have any better chance at those other franchises? If Laumape leaves he will be third in the pecking order at the Canes. I think Toala needs to lock a Magpies starting position down first before he demands a starting position at any other franchise.
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@canes4life I think he'll already be happy - for now - if he makes the bench. Knowing the Canes, they'll find a way to leave him out of the 23, even if Laumape leaves.
He isn't just a good 12, he's also a good fullback. In club rugby he's playing at first five, so there are multiple options of using him.
Also, the Landers should just drop Tomkinson (who wants to play for Samoa, so should just bugger off to Moana Pasifika). I think Toala has more potential than Gregory, but I agree with your last sentence. He has the curse of Ili playing out of his skin for the Magpies (hence why he's starting for the Rebels each and every week, too). Not sure whether Ili is coming back this year ...
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@stargazer to be fair from the limited minutes I’ve seen of Toala he looks like a genuine talent. I’m sure injuries will happen at some stage and he will get an opportunity some where, just hope he takes it with both hands, whether it’s at the Canes or another kiwi franchise.
It’s would suck if he decided to go elsewhere but maybe the Pasifika team could be an option for him.
Speaking of former Hastings boys players, what happened to Kini Nahalo?
