Blues 2017

[Duluth]

Classic hot and cold Ranger he looks sharp now

Gatland takes it to the line 20m out makes a half break offloads to Ranger who beats the fullback

Blues take the lead 21-19

[Duluth]

Ranger subbed off.. took a minor knock when he scored

Tua on

[Duluth]

Half time 21-19

Quality of both sides play much better in the 2nd quarter

Vaega looks dangerous and Gatland continues to improve

[Tim]

@Duluth Great to hear about Vaega.

He looked sharp in his 2016 Super Rugby appearances, and had good NPC. Hope to see him get some game time soon.

[Whites72]

@Duluth how has dalton popoali'i played? What is his best position? 6,7 or 8

[Duluth]

Royal charges down a clearing kick then Canes penalised for offside

Blues score from another maul. Not sure who got it

Blues ahead 28-19

[Duluth]

@Whites72

He's done lots of good work on defence, really accurate. Not much phase play in this game though

[Duluth]

Canes held up over the line after another maul attempt

They barge over a couple of phases after the scrum

Kirikiri with his second

28-26

[Duluth]

Some soft defence and the Canes are in under the posts

They lead 33-28

[Duluth]

Penalty outs the Blues on attack

They almost score from the maul. Held up over the line after a couple of pick and goes

Well worked midfield move from the scrum. Rayasi scores

Blues back in front 35-33

[Duluth]

There's been a lot of mauls from 5m out in this game

A series of penalties get the Canes another one

They score from the maul (1st in 5 attempts?)

Canes 40-35

[Duluth]

Goodhue, who has played well, falls off a tackle out wide

Canes in again (O'Rielly?)

45-35

[Duluth]

Hyland has had some good touches

[Whites72]

Sounds like a hell of a game

[Duluth]

And that's it

Uneven quality. Typical dev game.

No one beating down the door for selection. Royal, Goodhue, Dalton, Gatland, Vaega and Ranger in the second 20mins the better players

Dalton named Blues player of the day

[Duluth]

@Whites72

Would have been better without each side conceding a couple of really easy tries. Not bad for a dev match though

[mimic]

@Whites72 said in Blues 2017:

@Duluth how has dalton popoali'i played? What is his best position? 6,7 or 8

Growing up he played a lot of 6/8.. I'm guessing they might try and convert him like they did with Gibson, because we lack 7s

[KiwiMurph]

@Duluth Thanks very much for the commentary - good to read.

[Stargazer]

Thanks for the updates @Duluth!

Lacking a Canes' line-up, do you know whether Jonah Lowe (centre or wing) and Tiaan Falcon (first-five) were playing?

[Duluth]

@Stargazer

No idea sorry

Never saw the Canes team list and wasn't paying much attention to the opposition