Hurricanes v Blues

Toddy

Not good enough for you to need to white knight Cane, but he played pretty well. The Blues 7 went pretty well I thought. Along with strong games from Kaino and Luatua, the Blues backrow probably outplayed the Canes backrow.

pakman

Also thought starting Blues back row were on top of what was on paper a very strong Canes trio.
Noticeable that Blues lineout lost a lot once Luatua and Berkhuis departed.
Said it before, but if Reado were ever injured, Luatua is the closest replacement we have. If it were me, in TRC I'd pick Luatua and Read to cover 8 and one of Dixon/Squire to cover Kaino, who was also immense tonight.

taniwharugby

Kara Pryor has a huge upside with his pace which would be the equal of Ardie easily so if he can keep going and fine tune his ganme he'll be a huge asset to the blues.

jegga

<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="taniwharugby" data-cid="593619" data-time="1467461802">
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Kara Pryor has a huge upside with his pace which would be the equal of Ardie easily so if he can keep going and fine tune his ganme he'll be a huge asset to the blues.
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Was impressed with him , was an entertaining game to watch. Piers Francis is smaller than a 12 I would have thought Tana would have picked, handy enough player though.

taniwharugby

Uni the build up to the canes first try, TJP shoulda been pinged for pushing Bryn Hall out of the way which stopped him being able to get at the breakdown

kiwiinmelb

<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="taniwharugby" data-cid="593619" data-time="1467461802">
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Kara Pryor has a huge upside with his pace which would be the equal of Ardie easily so if he can keep going and fine tune his ganme he'll be a huge asset to the blues.
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at a guess I think he might be quicker than Ardie , but Ardie has a physical edge , but that pace will be handy if Tana wants to play an uptempo game

taniwharugby

He is physical enough but plays a bit loose often, but then this is his first season at this level too, so he will learn, some great competition in the blues back row though.

Bovidae

The Blues lack of depth and quality off the bench showed in this game.

Rembrandt

Absolutely cracking game to watch..once the canes got ahead of course and my 'sure thing' multi became more that just a 'possible thing'

booboo

<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="Siam" data-cid="593575" data-time="1467452462">
Blues fellas, what is the name of the young tighthead prop a few seasons ago with the dreads (big ones dyed yellow I think)? he wasn't much good really but always had the "potential" label 
It's not the same guy who made the AB's this year is it? 
I have a mental block and can't be arsed looking it all up lest I get my vowels wrong - cheers</blockquote>
 <blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="Frank" data-cid="593578" data-time="1467452892">Ofa Tu'ungafasi </blockquote>
 
Same guy Siam

booboo

Enjoyable game. 
Nanai impresses me. 
Duffy not as bad as you guys made out. But he's lacking some zip. He's better than Li though (to damn him with faint praise ... ) which is a shame as i really wanted Li to kick on and live up to his potential. 
So Luatua obviously shat his bed pretty bad with the AB selectors. I have yet to see what they and the Fern see in Dixon over Luatua. 
Pryor and Kaino made up a great loose trio for the Blues. 
Fatialofa. I like him. Looks great with the ball ... but missed some tackles quite badly. 
Pat T was awesome. 
Not a fan of Parsons but he keeps chugging away. 
Despite some hoping against hope that the Blues stay crap Tana has improved them measurably this year. If the upward trend continues they should be in the mix next year.

Nepia

<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="booboo" data-cid="593695" data-time="1467505554">
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Enjoyable game. 
Nanai impresses me. Duffy not as bad as you guys made out. But he's lacking some zip. He's better than Li though (to damn him with faint praise ... ) which is a shame as i really wanted Li to kick on and live up to his potential. 
So Luatua obviously shat his bed pretty bad with the AB selectors. I have yet to see what they and the Fern see in Dixon over Luatua. 
Pryor and Kaino made up a great loose trio for the Blues. 
Fatialofa. I like him. Looks great with the ball ... but missed some tackles quite badly. 
Pat T was awesome. 
Not a fan of Parsons but he keeps chugging away. 
Despite some hoping against hope that the Blues stay crap Tana has improved them measurably this year. If the upward trend continues they should be in the mix next year.
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No way, I know it's one of the Fern rules to treat Li like a piÃ±ata but he was much better than Duffie in this match - just on his two cracking tackles alone.
 
I've decided I like Kara better than Dan as players after watching them both this Super season. Dan is all go hard all the time but Kara is more accurate.
 
Did you muddle up Fifita and Fatialofa? I was watching Fat due to the Fern debate about him during the test break and found him to be very average.
 
Parsons is having a better career than what I thought he would. TBF, if he was selected for the ABs now I'd be less inclined to go WTF like when he actually was.

Rancid Schnitzel

<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="Toddy" data-cid="593603" data-time="1467458715">
Fark that was some crap defence from the canes. They had to make a lot of tackles, but still. Vito and Shields missed 4 each and that is way to many for a 6 & 8. Shields has gone backwards this season and Vito seems to have one foot on the plane. 
TJ Perenara is a pretty talented individual. Pity he's so rubbish as a halfback. 
Also, would Julian be dropped from the starting 15 if NMS wasn't injured? The guy needs to go back to club rugby and try and get some confidence back.</blockquote>
 
100% agree, particularly with Savea. The guy can't even catch a high ball any more. He should be dropped from both the ABs and Canes. He can try to win a spot on the EOYT if he plays well for Wellington. Maybe next year he can show a bit more respect for his profession, his teammates, and most importantly the supporters.

Milk

Matt Duffie is an absolute doormat in Super Rugby. Full respect to the guy for getting himself off the deck each time and go looking for more. I'd have retired after just one of the hits he's taken this year.

booboo

<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="Nepia" data-cid="593700" data-time="1467507298">
No way, I know it's one of the Fern rules to treat Li like a piÃ±ata but he was much better than Duffie in this match - just on his two cracking tackles alone. 
I've decided I like Kara better than Dan as players after watching them both this Super season. Dan is all go hard all the time but Kara is more accurate. 
Did you muddle up Fifita and Fatialofa? I was watching Fat due to the Fern debate about him during the test break and found him to be very average. 
Parsons is having a better career than what I thought he would. TBF, if he was selected for the ABs now I'd be less inclined to go WTF like when he actually was.</blockquote>
 
Fatialofa. I've become quite a fan. But he made at least two bad missed tackles.

taniwharugby

<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="Nepia" data-cid="593700" data-time="1467507298">
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No way, I know it's one of the Fern rules to treat Li like a piÃ±ata but he was much better than Duffie in this match - just on his two cracking tackles alone.
 
I've decided I like Kara better than Dan as players after watching them both this Super season. Dan is all go hard all the time but Kara is more accurate.
 
Did you muddle up Fifita and Fatialofa? I was watching Fat due to the Fern debate about him during the test break and found him to be very average.
 
Parsons is having a better career than what I thought he would. TBF, if he was selected for the ABs now I'd be less inclined to go WTF like when he actually was. 
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He was pretty innacurate in his minutes earlier in the Super season and his ITM cup game is based around pace and pretty loose play...whereas Dan has got to where he has through his accuracy and huge motor to just keep going and going.
 
I think Kara probably has a higher ceiling than Dan, but still think Dan is a fantastic player.

KiwiMurph

As has been discussed that was an enjoyable game.
 
As a Blues fan it's disappointing to again lose in the second half due in large part to an inferior bench but looking at the teams on paper it's not unexpected, so this season it's just the way it is. 
 
Some of the bench issues are the Blues own doing however with recruiting, not selecting Fatialofa has been talked about for example but also i'm not quite sure how Greg Pleasants Tate wasn't able to pick up a Blues contract after an outstanding ITM Cup - Quentin MacDonald has been pretty average and Sua hasn't been sighted. GPT is behind two good hookers at the Highlanders and I think Quentin is off overseas so i'd suggest GPT is a good chance of picking up a Blues contract next year. 
 
The Blues also need to work on flattening their attack, particularly in the second half they got stuck deep and flat footed too often. It got worse when Francis went off - West needs Francis there to help with structure. Obviously a much improved Canes defensive effort in the second half played a part in this as did a lack of punch in the Blues backs with much of their firepower missing. 
 
For the Blues in the backs Nanai was excellent, Sau had his best game of the season, however Duffie other than high ball take offers fuck all. In the forwards as has been mentioned the loose forward trio were all outstanding - Pryor has the odd error in his game but I love how he rips into everything. Ofa T was very good up front too - even better than pre-June - that AB camp has done him a world of good.
 
While Pat T did a lot of very good stuff but he also made some errors - he had some soft defence at times, on Marshall and Goodes in the leadup to Goodes try and a couple of other defensive lapses too.
 
I was impressed by Proctor and Goodes for the Canes - they will need to be a lot better next week in Sydney against a Tahs team that seems to have found their mojo (although the Canes had a much better hitout in this game than the Tahs did in an opposed training run game v the Sunwolves). 
 
On Julian Savea my thinking at this stage would be to leave him out of the End of Year Tour - give him time to clear his head and have a proper preseason - it worked for Dagg, i'm not sure 'he needs to keep playing' is the right option for Julian.

taniwharugby

<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="KiwiMurph" data-cid="593727" data-time="1467514524">
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As has been discussed that was an enjoyable game.
 
As a Blues fan it's disappointing to again lose in the second half due in large part to an inferior bench but looking at the teams on paper it's not unexpected, so this season it's just the way it is. 
 
Some of the bench issues are the Blues own doing however with recruiting, not selecting Fatialofa has been talked about for example but also i'm not quite sure how Greg Pleasants Tate wasn't able to pick up a Blues contract after an outstanding ITM Cup - Quentin MacDonald has been pretty average and Sua hasn't been sighted. GPT is behind two good hookers at the Highlanders and I think Quentin is off overseas so i'd suggest GPT is a good chance of picking up a Blues contract next year. 
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Dont think Sua is in the squad, Moulds is the 3rd hooker that cant get any time on the park isnt he?

KiwiMurph

My apologies, yes it is Moulds. Who hasn't had much game time himself. Now that the Blues are completely out of the equation playoff wise, it would make sense to see Moulds get some game time in the last two games.

Frank

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"On Julian Savea my thinking at this stage would be to leave him out of the End of Year Tour - give him time to clear his head and have a proper preseason - it worked for Dagg, i'm not sure 'he needs to keep playing' is the right option for Julian. "
 
The way he is going, I'd be bloody surprised if he makes the Rugby Championship squad.
Moala and Naholo can play left wing. 
 
 
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The Silver Fern

Hurricanes v Blues