Chiefs v Blues
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I just think that comments along the line of 'Chiefs were shit, Blues were shitter' do both sides a disservice in a game with massive effort from both sides and flashes of brilliance here and there.
Yeah, Blues had a patch in the first half where they had their heads down and stopped communicating but they fought their way out of that scenario, got back in front and put in an excellent defensive effort.
Chiefs were smarter, and in a way the loss of DMac for his skill challenged brother actually hindered the Blues. Chiefs knew that the only way they would win from that point was to play very low risk rugby and maintain possession. When the Blues eventually got the ball in hand it was always in a bad position and the Chiefs would apply pressure to force errors. I hate to admit it, but it was a Crusaders like game after 30 minutes from the Chiefs.
I just can't see how the Chiefs were supposedly rubbish yet BBBR, Cane, Ardron, The front row, TTT and all the backs actually had good games. Again Messam made a difference helping with leadership and graft just when it was needed.
A post earlier said DMac had an alright game. FFS, that first Chiefs try was an absolute piece of first-five brilliance. He doubled around a 20 metre pass to create an overlap then executed a flick on overhead pass to set it away. I couldn't even work out how he featured twice at first. Aside from that his decision making and kicking from hand was looking good to that point.
Injuries aren't an excuse but they certainly played a part in the way that game went.@crucial Agree on effort. And DMac was superb in that try.
Sad to say, but I thought Blues were a lot better when JK went off. One of my faves, but seems a shadow of his former self.
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@crucial Agree on effort. And DMac was superb in that try.
Sad to say, but I thought Blues were a lot better when JK went off. One of my faves, but seems a shadow of his former self.
@pakman said in Chiefs v Blues:
@crucial Agree on effort. And DMac was superb in that try.
Sad to say, but I thought Blues were a lot better when JK went off. One of my faves, but seems a shadow of his former self.
Looks to have fallen off the Rodders cliff, sadly.
Kind of highlights the performances of Messam in a way. 160 odd super games and adding value still.
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@pakman said in Chiefs v Blues:
@crucial Agree on effort. And DMac was superb in that try.
Sad to say, but I thought Blues were a lot better when JK went off. One of my faves, but seems a shadow of his former self.
Looks to have fallen off the Rodders cliff, sadly.
Kind of highlights the performances of Messam in a way. 160 odd super games and adding value still.
@crucial Fairly old now, but disappointing that he doesn't APPEAR to be providing much leadership either.
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@crucial Fairly old now, but disappointing that he doesn't APPEAR to be providing much leadership either.
@pakman said in Chiefs v Blues:
@crucial Fairly old now, but disappointing that he doesn't APPEAR to be providing much leadership either.
Possibly his little domestic troubles may have lowered his mana somewhat.
I know that is off-field, but I doubt he wanted to put his head up for a long while.
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I couldn't make out much of the Chiefs tactics in that 2nd half. The first half they had adopted a pretty much un-Chiefs like approach, that of direct, gutsy endless pick-and-gos not without profit having led to the first try; (good homework on the Blues deficiencies on D) but then in the 2nd half they went away from that completely, onto some fairly indirect headless chicken stuff, with plenty of spilled ball.
Yet AGAIN pulled out of the fire by BBBR (that guy is just godamn awesomeness on a plate) and I am loving the new-look dynamic young fulla Messam, with Cane as well = such committment to the cause every bloody week. Can I also just mention the efforts of Ta'avao who has really dug in for the Chiefs this season. -
I couldn't make out much of the Chiefs tactics in that 2nd half. The first half they had adopted a pretty much un-Chiefs like approach, that of direct, gutsy endless pick-and-gos not without profit having led to the first try; (good homework on the Blues deficiencies on D) but then in the 2nd half they went away from that completely, onto some fairly indirect headless chicken stuff, with plenty of spilled ball.
Yet AGAIN pulled out of the fire by BBBR (that guy is just godamn awesomeness on a plate) and I am loving the new-look dynamic young fulla Messam, with Cane as well = such committment to the cause every bloody week. Can I also just mention the efforts of Ta'avao who has really dug in for the Chiefs this season.I definitely think that the Chiefs had identified the damage the Sharks runners had made in the inside channel a week earlier and tried to exploit that in the 1st half, especially. The problem was handling errors, poor passes and turnovers let the Blues off the hook. Pulu should have done much better with his opportunity but neither commited the defender with a man outside him or beat him on the outside.
It was certainly very tense at the game and even though the Chiefs completely dominated the 2nd half they failed to convert that into points until the PT through more poor options (looking at you Sowakula), good scrambling defence by the Blues and an Akira sneaky hand. I was always concerned that a Chiefs' mistake would lead to a Blues try against the run of play. We also had a scoreboard clock malfunction when the Chiefs had that series of 5 m scrums as 6 mins suddenly disappeared so the clock read 79 mins not 73 mins. If that was confusing for the crowd I can only imagine how the players would have reacted on the field as desperation set in.
As a few others have said, I thought DMac played very well in the time he was on the field, and took a step forward this week in his ability to direct the team. MMac is not a player to inspire any confidence and was a doormat on defence. At least he didn't lose the game for the Chiefs. Props (pun intended) to Hoeft as the Chiefs scrum had the ascendency throughout. Yes, Parsons, even before you only packed down 7 forwards - dumb.
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I definitely think that the Chiefs had identified the damage the Sharks runners had made in the inside channel a week earlier and tried to exploit that in the 1st half, especially. The problem was handling errors, poor passes and turnovers let the Blues off the hook. Pulu should have done much better with his opportunity but neither commited the defender with a man outside him or beat him on the outside.
It was certainly very tense at the game and even though the Chiefs completely dominated the 2nd half they failed to convert that into points until the PT through more poor options (looking at you Sowakula), good scrambling defence by the Blues and an Akira sneaky hand. I was always concerned that a Chiefs' mistake would lead to a Blues try against the run of play. We also had a scoreboard clock malfunction when the Chiefs had that series of 5 m scrums as 6 mins suddenly disappeared so the clock read 79 mins not 73 mins. If that was confusing for the crowd I can only imagine how the players would have reacted on the field as desperation set in.
As a few others have said, I thought DMac played very well in the time he was on the field, and took a step forward this week in his ability to direct the team. MMac is not a player to inspire any confidence and was a doormat on defence. At least he didn't lose the game for the Chiefs. Props (pun intended) to Hoeft as the Chiefs scrum had the ascendency throughout. Yes, Parsons, even before you only packed down 7 forwards - dumb.
Great analysis. I felt that Messam and Retallick carried the Chiefs through with their efforts. Ta'avao was great also. From the sideline it was very frustrating to see all the mistakes (especially Sowakula one ) from the Chiefs when they had so many opportunities. But, quite surprised the Blues wing only caught offside ahead of the kicker once, when it seemed blatant at other times in second half. And ref and TJ also missed the ball played on the ground on blues line. So, end result meant none of that mattered.
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Messam should be starting so if Cooper and Barnes want Sowakula as a ball-runner at no.8 then put Liam at 6. I'm a fan of Boshier but he has given away a lot of stupid penalties in recent weeks. Bring him off the bench for Sowakula in the 2nd half.
Agree about Ta'avao, who has been an unsung hero for the Chiefs with all the front row injuries. He brings some leadership as well. Ross is also playing big minutes, although Tu’inukuafe is a strong scrummager. Wainui has played much better than I, or anyone, expected but Fa'auli still worries me. He lacks rugby smarts.
Yeah, Duffie was in front of the kicker more than once (ex RL player
) but I think most wingers are offside from box kicks regularly and it's ignored by the officials.The game next Friday vs the Canes will be interesting as both teams could be without their first-choice 9 and 10.
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Rugby is a funny game, if the Blues had BBBR and Cane on their team i dare say they would be winning more games tgan they are losing and people would be saying Tana is doing a good job.
But back in the real world the Blues failure to get out of their half killed them. Whoever thought persisting with a 7 man scrum that was going backwards was a better idea than risking an overlap and try out wide also has to take a large part of the blame. Just dumb.
Thought the goodhue penalty for the card was a tough one given he was pinned by a chiefs leg but then again Ofa should have been carded for putting a shoulder into a guy in the air before he even had the ball.
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Rugby is a funny game, if the Blues had BBBR and Cane on their team i dare say they would be winning more games tgan they are losing and people would be saying Tana is doing a good job.
But back in the real world the Blues failure to get out of their half killed them. Whoever thought persisting with a 7 man scrum that was going backwards was a better idea than risking an overlap and try out wide also has to take a large part of the blame. Just dumb.
Thought the goodhue penalty for the card was a tough one given he was pinned by a chiefs leg but then again Ofa should have been carded for putting a shoulder into a guy in the air before he even had the ball.
@pukunui Defo a YC for Ofa given todays rulings
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@pakman said in Chiefs v Blues:
@crucial Fairly old now, but disappointing that he doesn't APPEAR to be providing much leadership either.
Possibly his little domestic troubles may have lowered his mana somewhat.
I know that is off-field, but I doubt he wanted to put his head up for a long while.
@chester-draws said in Chiefs v Blues:
@pakman said in Chiefs v Blues:
@crucial Fairly old now, but disappointing that he doesn't APPEAR to be providing much leadership either.
Possibly his little domestic troubles may have lowered his mana somewhat.
I know that is off-field, but I doubt he wanted to put his head up for a long while.
Or maybe he overdid it at his 35th birthday celebrations on Thursday?!
