Blues v BI Lions

Crucial

@Crucial it looked to me like they made the call before they got to the line out. The advantage to this is everyone knows what is happening in advance. The problem is, without the call to go off as usual, everyone's timing gets thrown out. Players get used to the rhythm of how the set piece works, and you need to stick to it.

I called line outs for a long time, and learned early on, even when you get the chance to call early, still call it at the line like usual. Otherwise you would be astounded how often even a simple play gets fucked up. For a composit team that need for the prompts would be even greater

You can see Itoje calling to the hooker just before the throw so he is probably doing just what you say.
The set up timing may have been out for Marler as there was a delay while an extra ball was removed from the field. Nonetheless he wasn't ready to lift when Itoje called.
Just think blaming the hooker for that is harsh. His throw looks to go spot on to where Itoje was meant to be.

Chris B.

@pukunui said in Blues v BI Lions:

Didn't think Perofeta was too bad. Great pass for the first try. As West showed it isn't that easy to throw that sort of ball. He went pretty well for a young guy making his starting debut against the Lions with shitty service from Pulu who was fucking slow to clear the ball as usual..

I must have missed the good stuff Collins did. He looked his usual slow, unable to beat a tackle or take a gap self.
Nanai would have had a field day with that shitty lions defence. What did Collins actually do other than not fuck up?

A error free game from Collins - that's surely the very first thing you want from your fullback?

Caught everything that was kicked to him, including an excellent mark under intense pressure during the downpour (which he converted into a free kick) and the contested take that led to West's try.

Kick returns were all well judged - including that very nicely judged one that found touch 40 metres upfield that you've dismissed as "lucky".

Nice save when your man Perofeta dropped the ball on his own line.

At least one nice running break returning the ball.

Was he spectacular? Not particularly - just very solid in everything he did. So my assessment - given how much criticism he's copped on here - was that he was "pretty good". I think that's accurate. Your remarks about him for this game seem pretty unfair.

Tim

Should've been a card for the neck-roll.

KiwiMurph

@Chris-B. Yeah credit to Collins - that's about his peak performance - and that's all you can ask for. He made 0 errors which was great Well done that man.

A few other Blues also played to their peak. Pulu for example made very few errors. His passing isn't the best but overall he played at his best.

Not known for being a team to go 80 mins seeing the likes of Luatua, Akira and SBW emptying the tank and playing with so much energy late in the game was impressive.