Hurricanes vs Blues
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Yep, I'm a bit lost on this too. Think Higgins at 12, but wouldn't be screaming of Sullivan ok, and Proctor went to 12. We are in a reasonable place with options. Think Kirifi and Flanders still out, so loosies name themselves. TJ back on bench, but we ok position again if Vijoen can't make 23 (he only injury cover still?) Have to say athough Blues will probably be favourites (rightly) I am quite hopeful that we may sneak an upset.
Did I mention again how much I love having it back on?? -
Yeah we can't afford to have any more lock injuries
I presume we're looking at McWhannell, Beehre & Suafoa this week. Not too bad.. McWhannell
& Beehre are in good form. Suafoa hasn't been used much but he was quality last year -
@Dan54 yeah the Blues will be favourites and rightfully so but the Canes can definitely win this, even without Jordie. We've got the x-factor and the game plan this year to knock over anyone. As mentioned yesterday though it's more our discipline that needs to be reigned in, our maul defense is another obvious work on.
Key positives so far for me though has been our set piece, our scrum has been dominant, our lineouts have functioned in the 90s and our general D/attack seems to be humming. Any Canes team that gets parity up front is always going to be dangerous but it will be bloody interesting to see how we go about mitigating some of those big Blues forwards and trying to stop them rampaging us like they did against the Highlanders.
Going back to the game at Eden Park last year, we probably also need about five guys on Mark Telea at all times.
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Based on the Blues social and feedback from a few articles it looks like the Blues team for this week will look something similar to the below. I guess we'll find out at 4pm.
- Ofa Tu'ungafasi
- Ricky Riccitelli
- Angus Ta'avao
- Laghlan McWhannell
- Josh Beehre
- Anton Segner
- Dalton Papali'i (c)
- Akira Ioane
- Finlay Christie
- Stephen Perofeta
- Caleb Clarke
- Harry Plummer
- Reiko Ioane
- Mark Telea
- Zarn Sullivan
- Kurt Eklund
- Joshua Fusitu'a
- Marcel Renata
- Cameron Suafoa
- Hoskins Sotutu
- Taifa Funaki
- Bryce Heem
- AJ Lam
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Blues will be a true test esp at set piece and Defence. Higgins should start! .. hopefully, is Hoskins injured? they would want to start him, hes on fire!
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Did Jordie end up getting banned?
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@BerhamporeNinja it was mentioned in an article that Segner is going to start at blindside this week and Akira at 8. Hoskins for impact off the bench.
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@Unite I'd say they will announce that when the Canes team is named later. Pretty sure he will get four weeks for that clumsy hit on Petaia.
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The hearings were meant to be last night but I haven't seen anything about the judiciary decisions for the players.
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Barrett banned for three weeks, a week shorter than I expected.
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@Canes4life yeah not happy about the ban i think its BS but also happy with 3 weeks
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I think the key point the canes need to look at over the week is the maul defence, it was pretty poor and giving away 3 (IIRC) tries to mauls isn't good enough. The Blues forwards will be keen on that
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@Canes4life said in Hurricanes vs Blues:
Barrett banned for three weeks, a week shorter than I expected.
tackle school perhaps?
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@nzzp said in Hurricanes vs Blues:
@Canes4life said in Hurricanes vs Blues:
Barrett banned for three weeks, a week shorter than I expected.
tackle school perhaps?
Nope that will make it 2
He might get a lighter punishment if he attends World Rugby’s tackle school, the coaching intervention programme where players can get their suspensions reduced.
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@Machpants huh.
Maybe he's got a good family name?
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They're always 6 mitigated to 3 for being good character and polite etc. Then a week off for tackle school - pretty much every red has been that that I can remember
Anyway you want to be called Scott Ah Wong, he got zero for his red
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@Machpants said in Hurricanes vs Blues:
Anyway you want to be called Scott Ah Wong, he got zero for his red
Nigel Ah Wong. The reason being there was no head contact - I don't know why he was red carded in the first place.
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@KiwiMurph said in Hurricanes vs Blues:
@Machpants said in Hurricanes vs Blues:
Anyway you want to be called Scott Ah Wong, he got zero for his red
Nigel Ah Wong. The reason being there was no head contact - I don't know why he was red carded in the first place.
Yup and that's why his red card was downgraded
"Having conducted a detailed review of all the available evidence, including all camera angles and additional evidence, including from the player and submissions from his legal representative, Aaron Lloyd, the Foul Play Review Committee found the foul play did not breach the Red Card threshold." "With respect to sanction the Foul Play Review Committee deemed the act of foul play merited a Warning as it was close to, but did not breach the Red Card threshold." "In light of the above, the red card will be removed from the Player’s record and it will be replaced with a Warning sanction for the offence which will remain on the Player’s record." "The player is therefore free to resume playing.”
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@KiwiMurph said in Hurricanes vs Blues:
@Machpants said in Hurricanes vs Blues:
Anyway you want to be called Scott Ah Wong, he got zero for his red
Nigel Ah Wong. The reason being there was no head contact - I don't know why he was red carded in the first place.
Twas a joke, see
Maybe he's got a good family name?
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1 Joshua Fusitu’a
2 Kurt Eklund
3 Marcel Renata
4 Laghlan McWhannell
5 Cameron Suafoa
6 Anton Segner
7 Dalton Papali’i
8 Akira Ioane
9 Finlay Christie
10 Stephen Perofeta
11 AJ Lam
12 Harry Plummer
13 Rieko Ioane
14 Mark Tele’a
15 Zarn Sullivan16 Ricky Riccitelli
17 Jordan Lay
18 Angus Ta’avao
19 Josh Beehre
20 Hoskins Sotutu
21 Adrian Choat
22 Taufa Funaki
23 Cole ForbesPlayers not considered: Patrick Tuipulotu (jaw), Sam Darry (knee), Caleb Clarke (family wedding)
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@Duluth 6/2 bench, no Ofa or Caleb.
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HURRICANES (1-15): Tevita Mafileo, Asafo Aumua (co-c), Tyrel Lomax, James Tucker, Isaia Walker-Leawere, TK Howden, Peter Lakai, Brayden Iose, Cam Roigard, Brett Cameron, Kini Naholo, Riley Higgins, Billy Proctor (co-c), Josh Moorby, Ruben Love
RESERVES: James O'Reilly, Xavier Numia, Pasilio Tosi, Caleb Delany, Devan Flanders, TJ Perenara, Peter Umaga-Jensen, Salesi Rayasi
Referee: Jordan Way
Assistant Referees: Nick Hogan, Natarsha Ganley
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The scrum will be tested without Ofa there to mark Lomax.
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I thought the Blues would probably win this one but after looking at both teams and the surprise return of Flanders off the bench, I’m liking the Canes, especially at home.
Awesome to see Higgins get a chance, hope he takes it with both hands. Tevita Mafileo also gets a shot.
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@Daffy-Jaffy said in Hurricanes vs Blues:
6/2 bench
6/2 is a good fit for the direct game plan
Also, Funaki might be getting ahead of Nock in the pecking order
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@Daffy-Jaffy said in Hurricanes vs Blues:
HURRICANES (1-15): Tevita Mafileo, Asafo Aumua (co-c), Tyrel Lomax, James Tucker, Isaia Walker-Leawere, TK Howden, Peter Lakai, Brayden Iose, Cam Roigard, Brett Cameron, Kini Naholo, Riley Higgins, Billy Proctor (co-c), Josh Moorby, Ruben Love
RESERVES: James O'Reilly, Xavier Numia, Pasilio Tosi, Caleb Delany, Devan Flanders, TJ Perenara, Peter Umaga-Jensen, Salesi Rayasi
Referee: Jordan Way
Assistant Referees: Nick Hogan, Natarsha Ganley
Once again, no complaints with this team (subject to James Tucker performing).
Riley Higgins. Really rate him and he seems to be a level above last year. But early days yet but I don't rate PUJ at 2nd so hope he performs
Morgan not in the 23
Mafilio gets a start. I'm sure Numia, who has been in great form, will get lots of game time
Flanders backHowden needs to step up after last week
Good to see Perenara back. But I will miss the excellent Smith like passing from the last 2 weeks
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@Winger plenty to like about the squad. Should be a cracking game, meant to be perfect conditions aswell.
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should be a cracker! cant wait! Come on Canes!
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@Daffy-Jaffy Canes scrum will be tested when Lomax comes off, and Tosi up against Ofa
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Canes4lifereplied to BerhamporeNinja on 6 Mar 2024, 07:39 last edited by Canes4life 6 Mar 2024, 07:43
@BerhamporeNinja Ofa isn’t on the bench. For Tosi who’s gone from being a Number 8 three years ago to the way he’s scrummaged to start the year, he could have a really high ceiling. He’s a big unit aswell and could be a real secret weapon for the Canes going forward, hope he sticks around.
We also can’t forget Tevita Mafileo who hasn’t even laced up yet. He was called into the ABs last year and is definitely no mug. This is probably the strongest load of props the Canes have had since 2015/2016 and they seem to be really pushing each other to get better.
My only worry is if we lose Aumua, we have a fairly weak/inexperienced bunch of hookers sitting behind him and if he goes down, that will definitely impact us against the stronger sides. I suppose you can say that about a number of players across all the teams though.
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Ofa isn't even in the 23
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Fusitua is a good young prop himself who has made really good strides - a match up with Lomax will be a terrific barometer for how far along his scrummaging is.
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The Canes need to square the ledger this week.
Head to head: Hurricanes vs Blues
Played: 40
Blues won: 20
Hurricanes won: 19
Drawn: 1
Blues points for: 1,068
Hurricanes points for: 998 -
Caleb Clarke - family wedding!?!? It better be his!
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I gotta say the most enjoyable thing about this season is the selections. Long may it continue.
Looking at those 23s the Canes should edge this, particularly at home. Should be a cracker.
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Jeez the Canes are the real sh*t now. So good.
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@foobaNZ yeah super refreshing. So much better than Holland always shoe-horning the likes of James Blackwell, Reed Prinsep and Julian Savea into the side every week when clearly they weren't up to it.
Clark Laidlaw seems to be picking players on form despite experience which is great to see. He isn't afraid to give Higgins the hot seat as a starter even though he's super young, whereas if Holland was in charge he would have given the gig to Umaga-Jensen based on the fact he's the more experienced player.
The players seem to have brought into the culture set by Laidlaw and that was strongly evident in the way they pulled through against the Reds, that will put us in good stead when the going gets tough later in the season.
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Canes $2.5 v Blues $1.55
I'd have it a bit closer than that. There's good value for the confident Canes fans though
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@mariner4life it's our year.
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