Crusaders v Blues

African Monkey

Lol McNicholl . Canerbry's forgotten to take his medication as usual.

Siam

<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="African Monkey" data-cid="562470" data-time="1457110427">
<div>
Lol McNicholl . Canerbry's forgotten to take his medication as usual.
</div>
</blockquote>
 
Not sure Blues supporters can laugh at anyone really

African Monkey

<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="Siam" data-cid="562471" data-time="1457110544">
<div>
Not sure Blues supporters can laugh at anyone really
</div>
</blockquote>
We can when people make stupid calls like that.
 
I love it how people are saying that we're back and that it'll be a great season after one game, and then say it's gonna be a long season after one loss where we put a half strength team out. As I said earlier, we never win in Chch so it was a perfect time to experiment as the target is to win the next two games before the bye (at least it should be anyway).

Billy Tell

Mo'unga looks good. I feel a bit more relaxed about the FH situation. Can't wait to have Dagg and Crotty back - Dagg can go to 15, and we can pair Havili and Crotty in the centres. Fonatia can start reading about the delights of Wales.
 
I reckon Romano will never play for NZ again - Beauden's bro and Tupou already look (much) better. Also, surely Moody has leapfrogged Crockett.
 
Tana really farked up his starting XV there - should have stuck with the same halves from last week.

kiwiinmelb

Yeah will be interesting to see how Moody goes this year , 
 
Went under the radar , but he probably was the Beaver of the 2015 WC

Gunner

<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="kiwiinmelb" data-cid="562479" data-time="1457121414">
<div>
 but he probably was the Beaver of the 2015 WC 
</div>
</blockquote>
Saw a few did you? Lucky bastard.
 
I would have been lucky if I saw just the one during the WC, considering my wife was pregnant and vomiting every 5 minutes.

Chris B.

<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="ACT Crusader" data-cid="562442" data-time="1457084545">
<div>
We've still got big issues from 10 out, although Richie looked a little more composed than last week and Nadolo and Havili got into the game a bit. 
Neither teams midfields did anything of note. 
Pack looked good and we got a bit of impact off the bench from our reserve fatties. 
Good to get a win, but I'm not expecting too much different until we get one of our midfield players back.
</div>
</blockquote>
 
Probably didn't help losing Wainui after about 5 minutes. We ended up with the Mako$ midfield of Havili and Fonotia - and Volavola at fullback.
 
Things should improve when Crotty, Dagg and Freuan return - though I'd like to see a Crotty-Wainui midfield, with Freuan off the bench against tiring defences. And this assumes that Dagg's knees aren't shot.
 
The lack of penetration still a worry. The Crusaders just seem to have to work so much harder to score tries than other teams.
 
On the plus side, there won't be many teams with a better set piece than us - and Mo'unga looks pretty viable.

taniwharugby

When the Crusaders had sets of phases I though Ellis took the ball the wrong way a number of times, it seemed he was creating space on one side, only to take it back to the other, think it was particularly noticable in the 20 phase section just before half time I think it was, that ended with a dumb grubber, a couple of times when the camera zoomed out, you saw Macilai in space, you'd of thought getting him the ball in space rather than throwing it back to Nadolo to try to bust through in traffic might be a better tactic.

Mister G

The Blues with all their talent should have won by 15 against a terrible Crusaders team,but once again a terrible coach holds them back. Is it that hard for the Blues to find someone not on an ego trip.

Stargazer

<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="Mister G" data-cid="562765" data-time="1457197934">
<div>
The Blues with all their talent should have won by 15 against a terrible Crusaders team,but once again a terrible coach holds them back. Is it that hard for the Blues to find someone not on an ego trip.
</div>
</blockquote>
 
Terrible Crusaders team? They weren't terrible. They need injured players like Dagg, Fruean and Crotty back, but apart from that they're okay (halves) or good (forward pack).

Immenso Rapido

Only watched the highlights, and it was bloody awful. Imagine watching the full 80.

Stargazer

So what do you Blues supporters think?
 
 
<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote">
Blues rotation policy unlikely to change Monday 7 Mar 2016 3:31 p.m. 
 The Blues rotation tactics are unlikely to change despite their 28-13 loss to the Crusaders in Christchurch. The decision to drop backs Ihaia West and Bryn Hall for Friday's game after they starred in an upset first round win over the Highlanders left many puzzled. Coach Tana Umaga said history showed an entire squad wins the competition and he believes everyone deserves an opportunity. "Obviously the first game was great but you've got to be able to back that up and we need to have players right across, we've got a big squad and we've got to keep those guys interested and we believe that guys deserve opportunity and we want to keep doing that," Umaga said. "We made a lot of decisions and changes in our backs but we couldn't get front foot ball. Umaga said the Crusaders deserved credit as the Blues failed to get into gear. "You have to take your hat off to the Crusaders. They're a good side and they didn't allow us to get our game going and they show the amount of pressure we're going to come up against in this competition. "In a cauldron you get when you head down to Christchurch and when you come up against a team that's pretty determined, obviously they weren't too happy with their performance the week before so they came out pretty motivated and we weren't able to withstand that. "We were trying to pressure ourselves into doing things and maybe we got a bit frustrated." All Blacks Charlie Faumuina isn't expected to return from his hamstring injury yet with Umaga saying they were still managing the situation. The Blues host the Hurricanes at Eden Park on Friday. Newshub.
</blockquote>

African Monkey

I doubt he'll go to those extreme measures again. I'm sure he'll keep giving guys a run but not change the whole side at once like he did on Friday.

nzzp

I'm still pretty relaxed about it. Tana knows what he is doing. I think our objective for the year is >3 wins and build a squad. Tana will give a lotof people opportunity I reckon, and then bin them if he doesn't think they can step up. As people have said, losing in Chch is something that has happened for so long that another one doesn't really matter.
 
Positives:
we were under the cosh for an entire half and still only a try behind
Defence scrambled well (like last week)
We only (!) conceded 25 despite being smashed all over the paddock
Scrum came good in the second half
 
Cons
We were under the cosh all game
Halves seemed not to know each other
 
 
All in all, we have so little experience in the squad that for me this year is about building a base for the future.

taniwharugby

youd like to think he is working toward a plan, and that plan has plenty of leeway in 2016, well if he was smart he'd of had some very low KPIs put in his contract for year one anyway.

pukunui

There is giving guys an opportunity and there is rotating guys so much that none get a run of form and all lose confidence.
IMO players should get a shot in a near full strength team. Not one where 50% has been swapped out from the week before.
The ABs used to do the wholesale changes but have wound it back more recently and it seems to be a better gauge of players.

Cantab79

Yes rotating for rotation's sake seems like a recipe for failure. Tana Umaga seems like he's in a rush to give experience to his wider squad, when the reality is doing so takes time. Years even. He would be much better off trying to play his best XV, and then using his reserves bench to blood youngsters whom he wants to develop. Over the course of the entire season it is more than likely that many of his wider squad members get more time as the impact of injuries increases.

kiwiinmelb

I wasnt impressed with the changes or the way they played on the weekend, but I think its a bit early to judge him , 
 
Before the season started , and he studied the draw , current champions first game , followed by the Crusaders away , if you offered him 1 win from 2 , Im sure he would happily take that , 
 
 lets see what happens next , Blues vs Canes , Canes should be desperate , will be interesting

The Silver Fern

Crusaders v Blues