Blues 2022
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@taniwharugby ,Neil Barnes the Taranaki coach and has been part of the chiefs ,tried to convince McMillian and Gatland to select Sam Caird in the 2020 chiefs squad ,reckons hes a late developer and his base fitness is 2nd to none ,superb at lineout and kick off recieves and his work rate is off the scale
Very quick for a big man as well..
One thing i will always say about Caird,he is always consistant performer in a Taniwha team where a majority of players dont always front. -
@steven-harris Caird really struggled to make an impact for the Tahs. Physically he really struggled with Super Rugby Aus and Trans Ta$man.
A hard toiler who didn't have the ability to physically impose himself was how it looked.
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@george33 He was injured a lot during his time at the Canes, and when he wasn't injured, he didn't get picked. One cap only. After a good and completely injury-free season with Hawke's Bay, the Canes decided not to re-sign him. It's a familiar story. The Canes did the same with Hugh Renton and look how well he's going for the Landers.
Cridge has been very good for the Magpies the last few years; starting almost every game. Trained with the Crusaders during 2021 preseason. He has a business near Christchurch, so a development contract is probably not an option for him anymore.
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@kiwimurph neither did whetton and I kept reading how he should of been picked for the Blues
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@steven-harris said in Blues 2022:
@kiwimurph neither did whetton and I kept reading how he should of been picked for the Blues
I don't disagree - Whetton was hugely disappointing for Tahs. Just pointing out that Super Rugby looked too high of a ceiling for Caird.
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@kiwimurph Tahs are last year we’re a very young inexperienced team that were poorly coached ..
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@steven-harris said in Blues 2022:
@kiwimurph neither did whetton and I kept reading how he should of been picked for the Blues
I don't think anyone has said that for a while. People wanted Whetton at the Blues a few years ago when he was close to the best lock in the NPC.
Injuries look to have caught up to him now and he looks a lot slower around the field.
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@steven-harris said in Blues 2022:
@taniwharugby ,Neil Barnes the Taranaki coach and has been part of the chiefs ,tried to convince McMillian and Gatland to select Sam Caird in the 2020 chiefs squad ,reckons hes a late developer and his base fitness is 2nd to none ,superb at lineout and kick off recieves and his work rate is off the scale
Very quick for a big man as well..
One thing i will always say about Caird,he is always consistant performer in a Taniwha team where a majority of players dont always front.Steven, Caird is awesome. No doubt he deserves a contract. Blues should be snapping him up.
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@kev I posted earlier that Caird is 1 year into a 2 year deal at the Warratahs. So unless they have dropped him early he will not be available to select.
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@daffy-jaffy we will see, I mean contracts mean next to nothing these days, and aus teams don't often release players to play npc.
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@taniwharugby He was the best of four super rugby Locks on the field last night.
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@daffy-jaffy he and goodhue combine really well for us
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@taniwharugby said in Blues 2022:
@daffy-jaffy we will see, I mean contracts mean next to nothing these days, and aus teams don't often release players to play npc.
I'm not sure that's still true. I think that was mostly the case in years that there was an NRC comp in Oz.
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@taniwharugby can confirm Caird terminated his contract with the Warratahs ,he had an out clause
The Blues have been highly impressed with his workrate and core skills despite the early poor form of the Taniwha which kept Caird on the Blues radar and that was before last night,so i can only assume his stakes have gone up even further after last nights outstanding individual performance. -
@steven-harris Also he was in the Blues WTG the season before going to OZ so they will already know a bit about his work ethic etc. At 24 he is about ready to mature physically and seems bulked up compared to before he left for the Warratahs.
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@daffy-jaffy looks several Kgs heavier which can be seen in his physicality which has improved immensely scrummage is definitely a work on .
GTC & PT in terms of their physical presence will be hard to replace -
@bovidae said in Blues 2022:
Umaga's replacement was going to be named by now wasn't it?
The oil is Craig McGrath has been offered the defense coach role. Apparently he helped a bit this year and they were very impressed with his work
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@nogusta said in Blues 2022:
@bovidae said in Blues 2022:
Umaga's replacement was going to be named by now wasn't it?
The oil is Craig McGrath has been offered the defense coach role. Apparently he helped a bit this year and they were very impressed with his work
I assume he’ll keep working with Auckland too?
With Halangahu & Afeaki at NH the Blues are actually having links to the provincial teams again
