Final - Crusaders v Chiefs
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Even more of a Hugh performance by Fletcher Newell going the whole 80 minutes considering he played the whole game with a grade-two MCL injury.
He injured his knee in the Blues SF.
Probably will put Newell out of the French series.@Chris said in Final - Crusaders v Chiefs:
Even more of a Hugh performance by Fletcher Newell going the whole 80 minutes considering he played the whole game with a grade-two MCL injury.
He injured his knee in the Blues SF.
Probably will put Newell out of the French series.What a monumentally dumb decision that may turn out to be.
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Watched the game cold. First half felt great and it just needed something to make it explode but it never came. Might be fair to say Clayton was out-coached as Saders played it on their terms only.
Chiefs surely knew DMac would be targeted early and often (and late!) so should have had something up their sleeve.
Crunch minute errors killed them: 68 giveaway pass by Carter, 69 Piss weak aerial from ENS and Jordan kicks on, 70 Jacomb drops it, 73 lose line out while on TV replay, 74 Reihana and Jordan back to back massive aerial wins, 77 - very weird move off the scrum that looked preplanned but not executed and goes into touch.
I’d say they lost the final a couple of weeks ago though.
@game_film said in Final - Crusaders v Chiefs:
Watched the game cold. First half felt great and it just needed something to make it explode but it never came. Might be fair to say Clayton was out-coached as Saders played it on their terms only.
Chiefs surely knew DMac would be targeted early and often (and late!) so should have had something up their sleeve.
Crunch minute errors killed them: 68 giveaway pass by Carter, 69 Piss weak aerial from ENS and Jordan kicks on, 70 Jacomb drops it, 73 lose line out while on TV replay, 74 Reihana and Jordan back to back massive aerial wins, 77 - very weird move off the scrum that looked preplanned but not executed and goes into touch.
I’d say they lost the final a couple of weeks ago though.
Those cold watches are hard, but you see a lot which is missed in the heat of the moment.
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@Yeetyaah said in Final - Crusaders v Chiefs:
Well I'm bloody gutted to say the least. I thought the first half was pretty well fought and grand final worthy. The second half was played a little too safe especially from the Chiefs. They all went inside their shells. Maybe we need to have a few years where we don't make it past the QFs to take the pressure off and have a full reset? I dunno man but 3 grand final losses in 3 years stings. Deserved Crusaders victory nonetheless. I thought Gardner was great on the whistle bar the one high shot called on Dmac which was shoulder on shoulder.
Always my team of course but man I'm gutted. Up the Chiefs. Well done to the Crusaders.
I agree with you; the Chiefs definitely went into their shells in that second half but some of that was down to the Crusader's ability to shut down anything the Chiefs threw at them. In saying that, the Chiefs kicked the ball away far too much.
The Chiefs have put teams to the sword this year by chancing their arm in all areas of the park and backing themselves through their flare. We rarely saw that on Saturday and I think a big part of that was the Crusader's tactic of targeting DMac early with a few tough shots, he seemed to lose all of his confidence after getting smoked, which then impacted the rest of the backline because he then became a lot more hesitant in his decision making.
@Canes4life said in Final - Crusaders v Chiefs:
I agree with you; the Chiefs definitely went into their shells in that second half but some of that was down to the Crusader's ability to shut down anything the Chiefs threw at them. In saying that, the Chiefs kicked the ball away far too much.
The Chiefs have put teams to the sword this year by chancing their arm in all areas of the park and backing themselves through their flare. We rarely saw that on Saturday and I think a big part of that was the Crusader's tactic of targeting DMac early with a few tough shots, he seemed to lose all of his confidence after getting smoked, which then impacted the rest of the backline because he then became a lot more hesitant in his decision making.
Totally agree, Sadders had a plan to negate DMac and it worked. This is the problem I have with DMac starting at 1st five for the ABs, opoition have plans for nuetralising him and if they can keep to the script they can win, haveing him came on latter against tied oposition without a DMac kill script and he blows them away.
Also didn't help the Chief's cause that their scrum, lineout and kick-catch went to shit, they just didn't seem to have an answer and the Sadders kept them pined in their half and were making good over the advantage line progress with no mistakes with their forward drives, with the few times they did gey out of their zone the Sadders didn't fuck around they just kicked it back and put them back under presure.
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It was pretty predictable really, target the playmaker as he is pertty much all of their attacking flair and also a notorious flake under pressure.
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It was pretty predictable really, target the playmaker as he is pertty much all of their attacking flair and also a notorious flake under pressure.
@Canerbry said in Final - Crusaders v Chiefs:
It was pretty predictable really, target the playmaker as he is pertty much all of their attacking flair and also a notorious flake under pressure.
you got a pertty mouth
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@Canerbry said in Final - Crusaders v Chiefs:
It was pretty predictable really, target the playmaker as he is pertty much all of their attacking flair and also a notorious flake under pressure.
you got a pertty mouth
@reprobate said in Final - Crusaders v Chiefs:
@Canerbry said in Final - Crusaders v Chiefs:
It was pretty predictable really, target the playmaker as he is pertty much all of their attacking flair and also a notorious flake under pressure.
you got a pertty mouth
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@reprobate said in Final - Crusaders v Chiefs:
@Canerbry said in Final - Crusaders v Chiefs:
It was pretty predictable really, target the playmaker as he is pertty much all of their attacking flair and also a notorious flake under pressure.
you got a pertty mouth
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I thought a number of the hits on Dmac were late and the Crusaders were lucky to get away with it.
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It was pretty predictable really, target the playmaker as he is pertty much all of their attacking flair and also a notorious flake under pressure.
@Canerbry said in Final - Crusaders v Chiefs:
It was pretty predictable really, target the playmaker as he is pertty much all of their attacking flair and also a notorious flake under pressure.
You are right, DMac is no Richie M. Richie left. Time to get behind the South Islander 10 that stayed in New Zealand. That's Damian McKenzie. I guess you could support Reihana but he's from St Kents ..
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It was pretty predictable really, target the playmaker as he is pertty much all of their attacking flair and also a notorious flake under pressure.
@Canerbry said in Final - Crusaders v Chiefs:
It was pretty predictable really, target the playmaker as he is pertty much all of their attacking flair and also a notorious flake under pressure.
This has been a real problem for the ABs, both DMac and Mo'unga have been really flaky when the heat goes on, Mo'unga in particular has been a possum in the headlights on many occasions for the ABs. I think that's why the coaches have gone with Beauden so much, he makes errors etc, but he doesn't tend to get flustered when the opposition are trying to target him.
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@Canerbry said in Final - Crusaders v Chiefs:
It was pretty predictable really, target the playmaker as he is pertty much all of their attacking flair and also a notorious flake under pressure.
This has been a real problem for the ABs, both DMac and Mo'unga have been really flaky when the heat goes on, Mo'unga in particular has been a possum in the headlights on many occasions for the ABs. I think that's why the coaches have gone with Beauden so much, he makes errors etc, but he doesn't tend to get flustered when the opposition are trying to target him.
@No-Quarter said in Final - Crusaders v Chiefs:
@Canerbry said in Final - Crusaders v Chiefs:
It was pretty predictable really, target the playmaker as he is pertty much all of their attacking flair and also a notorious flake under pressure.
This has been a real problem for the ABs, both DMac and Mo'unga have been really flaky when the heat goes on, Mo'unga in particular has been a possum in the headlights on many occasions for the ABs. I think that's why the coaches have gone with Beauden so much, he makes errors etc, but he doesn't tend to get flustered when the opposition are trying to target him.
Always thought Mo'unga was better in the wet than Beauden and when he first became part of the ABs I would have picked him for the wet test but stayed with Beauden for the dry ones.
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The biggest issue is going away from Mounga, and then McKenzie, to Barrett. Who is worse, despite far more opportunities. You can't develop in that position without continuity, and constantly being undermined by being dropped/rotated is a killer for player confidence, in a position which requires instantaneous decision making. If you're second-guessing yourself, you're not going to play well - and that is exactly the position our coaches have put (all three of) those guys in.
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The biggest issue is going away from Mounga, and then McKenzie, to Barrett. Who is worse, despite far more opportunities. You can't develop in that position without continuity, and constantly being undermined by being dropped/rotated is a killer for player confidence, in a position which requires instantaneous decision making. If you're second-guessing yourself, you're not going to play well - and that is exactly the position our coaches have put (all three of) those guys in.
@reprobate said in Final - Crusaders v Chiefs:
The biggest issue is going away from Mounga, and then McKenzie, to Barrett. Who is worse, despite far more opportunities. You can't develop in that position without continuity, and constantly being undermined by being dropped/rotated is a killer for player confidence, in a position which requires instantaneous decision making. If you're second-guessing yourself, you're not going to play well - and that is exactly the position our coaches have put (all three of) those guys in.
And I think it clearly showed in 2023 when they persisted with Richie he played his best footy and especially in the RWC, on the biggest stage.
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@Canerbry said in Final - Crusaders v Chiefs:
It was pretty predictable really, target the playmaker as he is pertty much all of their attacking flair and also a notorious flake under pressure.
You are right, DMac is no Richie M. Richie left. Time to get behind the South Islander 10 that stayed in New Zealand. That's Damian McKenzie. I guess you could support Reihana but he's from St Kents ..
@nostrildamus Sorry not quite sure what you're on about?
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@Canerbry said in Final - Crusaders v Chiefs:
It was pretty predictable really, target the playmaker as he is pertty much all of their attacking flair and also a notorious flake under pressure.
This has been a real problem for the ABs, both DMac and Mo'unga have been really flaky when the heat goes on, Mo'unga in particular has been a possum in the headlights on many occasions for the ABs. I think that's why the coaches have gone with Beauden so much, he makes errors etc, but he doesn't tend to get flustered when the opposition are trying to target him.
@No-Quarter said in Final - Crusaders v Chiefs:
@Canerbry said in Final - Crusaders v Chiefs:
It was pretty predictable really, target the playmaker as he is pertty much all of their attacking flair and also a notorious flake under pressure.
This has been a real problem for the ABs, both DMac and Mo'unga have been really flaky when the heat goes on, Mo'unga in particular has been a possum in the headlights on many occasions for the ABs. I think that's why the coaches have gone with Beauden so much, he makes errors etc, but he doesn't tend to get flustered when the opposition are trying to target him.
DMAc and BB have had so many chances (BB more so), and yet the same flaws remained. It makes it even more exasperating that they didn't at least try Plummer (you know, SR winning 10 Plummer) in the captain's seat once in a real game. Even the Bled dead rubber would have been a legitimate test.
