Blues v Crusaders
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Tuipulotu excellent. What a game from him. McWhannell also played very well.
Ricciitelli threw well (as did Vikena).
Cotter really has the Blues playing like a top 14 French team haha.
Grace might have to be the most disappointing Crusader. Just hasn't lifted and taked on a senior role.
Hotham and Hannah went well for Crusaders I thought.
Hard to get a read on many Crusaders cos they never got into their game and haven't all season.
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What’s missing in this modern age is good old fashioned honesty. Ricatelli and Aumua hang your heads in shame. Just admit you dropped the ball and spare us needless TMO intervention.
Crusaders are hopeless this year. When your recruits are crusaders players from 5 to 10 years ago you’re in trouble. Newell and Hannah the best of the forwards. No stand outs in the backs, that 10 is a world class journeyman.
I will never rate PT as he is hopeless in the line out at international level but he was good around the field. Solid win for the blues.
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@Billy-Tell said in Blues v Crusaders:
he is hopeless in the line out at international level
And yet one of the notable things about whenever he came off the bench was he seemed to steal the first lineout.
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@Duluth said in Blues v Crusaders:
A few Crusaders with some poor tackle stats
Grace missed 8, Hannah missed 7
Contrary to what TJ and Marshall said the misses were spread out across the game. Crusaders missed 44 tackles, but they actually missed 23 in the first half
23/44 is about 50% so yes probably spread out across the game but what difference it makes not sure it is an absurdly high miss rate
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@Nevorian said in Blues v Crusaders:
@Duluth said in Blues v Crusaders:
A few Crusaders with some poor tackle stats
Grace missed 8, Hannah missed 7
Contrary to what TJ and Marshall said the misses were spread out across the game. Crusaders missed 44 tackles, but they actually missed 23 in the first half
23/44 is about 50% so yes probably spread out across the game but what difference it makes not sure it is an absurdly high miss rate
77% for the game is low
Crusaders have missed more tackles than any other team in SR. Grace has missed the most tackles of any player in the competition
It's definitely a problem
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Finally able to watch the game and a few things really stick out for me. In no particular order:
- Reece is, by orders of magnitude, the best player in the Crusaders.
- Perofeta's decision making is shit. He costs points. Not a good trait for someone playing at 10.
- Christie is an abysmal halfback. Shit pass, takes far too long to make a decision at rucks. Two phases in a row he waddled along while other players actually made an effort to do his job for him, quickly clearing the ball and passing. How he keeps getting minutes is a mystery.
- The difference in this match was summed up by Clarke's brilliant defensive effort on Aumua.
- How many games will Penney lose before he's sacked?
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The Crusaders are a mess and some players are just not up to this level and the others are floundering about headless. Lineout was an absolute disgrace. Even the commentators were dumbfounded by their decision to keep doing the same lineout formation failure after failure. The coaching box is not up to it, pure and simple.
Sad to see Moody's form. Reece and Newell were pretty good.
Blues on the other hand, doing the basics well esp. in the forward pack. Basically, did a Crusaders on the Crusaders, attacked the set piece, great maul defense, and bollocked them at the breakdown. -
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@Duluth said in Blues v Crusaders:
Look at that shitty attempted tackle
You're going to have to narrow that down.
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Meant to comment yesterday, loved the heritage jerseys, and first time I saw Caleb Clarke make a run I thought of his old man, not so much as looking like him, but similar build, and similar gait when he runs, also McWhannel reminded me of Andrew Blowers with the mo and headgear.
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@number9 said in Blues v Crusaders:
Not impressed with my Blues, we should of killed thr Crusaders with all the possession we had.
I agree. Loads of errors and the passing in the backs has been off. Seems like the players and coach acknowledge that too.
We’re picking up wins and have plenty of home games coming up. You don’t win the competition in the first five weeks (Canes fans..)
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@Duluth Yup, you only have to get to the finals. We learned that the hard way in 2022. It's important when you peak as we faded from about the Brumbies game in Canberra that year and ended up scraping through to the final before getting done by the Crusaders.
Chiefs fans will probably say the same about last season for them.
