Blues vs Waratahs
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I think Ma'a offers more in leadership stakes than SBW - he strikes me as having a bigger influence on teams than SBW. Also has more skills overall than the latter. Either will need to do some convincing to get into the AB squad IMHO.
One of the downsides of players like Nonu heading off after 2015 is all that experience vanishing overnight. Would have been great if we'd had him for a year or two to ease in the likes of Goodhue and ALB.
@Victor-Meldrew said in Blues vs Waratahs:
I think Ma'a offers more in leadership stakes than SBW - he strikes me as having a bigger influence on teams than SBW. Also has more skills overall than the latter. Either will need to do some convincing to get into the AB squad IMHO.
One of the downsides of players like Nonu heading off after 2015 is all that experience vanishing overnight. Would have been great if we'd had him for a year or two to ease in the likes of Goodhue and ALB.
Funny. Everything I have read suggests the exact opposite.
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I think Ma'a offers more in leadership stakes than SBW - he strikes me as having a bigger influence on teams than SBW. Also has more skills overall than the latter. Either will need to do some convincing to get into the AB squad IMHO.
One of the downsides of players like Nonu heading off after 2015 is all that experience vanishing overnight. Would have been great if we'd had him for a year or two to ease in the likes of Goodhue and ALB.
@Victor-Meldrew said in Blues vs Waratahs:
One of the downsides of players like Nonu heading off after 2015 is all that experience vanishing overnight. Would have been great if we'd had him for a year or two to ease in the likes of Goodhue and ALB.
You think he would stay around to not get starts? If he stayed he would have continued to start, and ALB would never have been picked in the first place.
There's never really been a time when players "eased" in others. They used to retire in the non-professional era rather than watch themselves be squeezed out. Now they go overseas.
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Cracks me up watching Parsons.
Dude is an absolute Trier, often in the right spot to take the hit up, take down the big ball runner, in the right spot in the maul...but he rarely makes the gain line, similarly he rarely gets turned over, rarely stops anyone dead, instead tackles as you teach a little kid on the big kid.
Look up journeyman in the dictionary and Parsons is what you will see. Every team needs one of him, just not really as your starter.
If he was a bit bigger, a bit faster, a bit stronger...
Nonu looking good, be interesting to know if his 10m/40m times are down on previous years.
Blues grinding out some points is much better than a big win.
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Cracks me up watching Parsons.
Dude is an absolute Trier, often in the right spot to take the hit up, take down the big ball runner, in the right spot in the maul...but he rarely makes the gain line, similarly he rarely gets turned over, rarely stops anyone dead, instead tackles as you teach a little kid on the big kid.
Look up journeyman in the dictionary and Parsons is what you will see. Every team needs one of him, just not really as your starter.
If he was a bit bigger, a bit faster, a bit stronger...
Nonu looking good, be interesting to know if his 10m/40m times are down on previous years.
Blues grinding out some points is much better than a big win.
@taniwharugby Yeah was evident with Parsons last night haha. Carried a lot but probably averaged about half a metre per run after getting smashed on every carry.
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His name is spelt "Ma'a Nonu" but it can be pronounced as "Living Legend".
This is a guy who made his NPC debut in 2002 and his Super Rugby debut in 2003. In his distinguished international career he donned the famous Black Jersey for 104 Tests, contributing to two World Cup wins with tries in the 2011 Semi Final and the 2015 Final.
Tonight he set up Tom Robinson for the first try with a superb pass, he set up Caleb Clarke for the second with another superb pass and had the instincts honed by nearly two decades playing and training at an elite level to be in the right place to take the offloaded from Reiko Ioane to run in and score a try himself.
A great signing for the Blues. Their young players must be learning so much from playing with perhaps the greatest ever 12 to play the game.
@sparky said in Blues vs Waratahs:
Their young players must be learning so much from playing with perhaps the greatest ever 12 to play the game.
Tim Horan retired years ago
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His name is spelt "Ma'a Nonu" but it can be pronounced as "Living Legend".
This is a guy who made his NPC debut in 2002 and his Super Rugby debut in 2003. In his distinguished international career he donned the famous Black Jersey for 104 Tests, contributing to two World Cup wins with tries in the 2011 Semi Final and the 2015 Final.
Tonight he set up Tom Robinson for the first try with a superb pass, he set up Caleb Clarke for the second with another superb pass and had the instincts honed by nearly two decades playing and training at an elite level to be in the right place to take the offloaded from Reiko Ioane to run in and score a try himself.
A great signing for the Blues. Their young players must be learning so much from playing with perhaps the greatest ever 12 to play the game.
@sparky said in Blues vs Waratahs:
His name is spelt "Ma'a Nonu" but it can be pronounced as "Living Legend".
This is a guy who made his NPC debut in 2002 and his Super Rugby debut in 2003. In his distinguished international career he donned the famous Black Jersey for 104 Tests, contributing to two World Cup wins with tries in the 2011 Semi Final and the 2015 Final.
Tonight he set up Tom Robinson for the first try with a superb pass, he set up Caleb Clarke for the second with another superb pass and had the instincts honed by nearly two decades playing and training at an elite level to be in the right place to take the offloaded from Reiko Ioane to run in and score a try himself.
A great signing for the Blues. Their young players must be learning so much from playing with perhaps the greatest ever 12 to play the game
The same bloke who didn’t make 2007 selection with little controversy.
This is where the NZ talent drain really hurts. A lot of players peak much later.
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Best on ground for Tahs: Dempsey. Massive engine, does not avoid the hard stuff - really loves it, in fact - works himself to a standstill. Staniforth also made some tough metres in contact, tho we didn't recycle fast enough to take advantage of that.
Folau was Folau: brilliant in the air, one good try assist, and a bunch of rubbish kicking and failed offloads. I expect more from the highest paid player in the land.
Our scrum did better than I thought it might, and our lineout was generally good.
I would say that if we picked our best team the last few weeks we would have had a much better first half and a better chance of winning, just thru consistency
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Best game I’ve seen Akira play I reckon.. he’s becoming the big bully that the all blacks could use in their loose trio.
Hope the blues waste the chiefs next weekend.
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@Rocky-Rockbottom said in Blues vs Waratahs:
@Machpants said in Blues vs Waratahs:
@SammyC then right at the end he had to slap some body for no reason after they'd got the penalty and big up to the crowd.
reminds me of the old Y2K days when everyone was pleading "where's the mongrel?" while wanting their AB's to still kind of be nice guys. You can't have it both ways. A fluffybunny is still a fluffybunny.
While ignoring all the crap that Cane or BBBR get up to on a field or the thuggery of Moody.
Akira has never been penalised for any of the theatrics. Of which he hardly ever does these days anyway.
As Bones would tell you, it’s his brother doing the old style Jeff Wilson style celebrations.
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Best game I’ve seen Akira play I reckon.. he’s becoming the big bully that the all blacks could use in their loose trio.
Hope the blues waste the chiefs next weekend.
@SammyC said in Blues vs Waratahs:
Best game I’ve seen Akira play I reckon.. he’s becoming the big bully that the all blacks could use in their loose trio.
Hope the blues waste the chiefs next weekend.
Sorry .. I thought this was posted by @SammyC
Who are you and how did you work out Sammy's password?
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@sparky said in Blues vs Waratahs:
Their young players must be learning so much from playing with perhaps the greatest ever 12 to play the game.
Tim Horan retired years ago
@NTA said in Blues vs Waratahs:
@sparky said in Blues vs Waratahs:
Their young players must be learning so much from playing with perhaps the greatest ever 12 to play the game.
Tim Horan retired years ago
It's a shame we never got to watch Nonu trample all over Horan.
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@NTA said in Blues vs Waratahs:
@sparky said in Blues vs Waratahs:
Their young players must be learning so much from playing with perhaps the greatest ever 12 to play the game.
Tim Horan retired years ago
It's a shame we never got to watch Nonu trample all over Horan.
@No-Quarter said in Blues vs Waratahs:
@NTA said in Blues vs Waratahs:
@sparky said in Blues vs Waratahs:
Their young players must be learning so much from playing with perhaps the greatest ever 12 to play the game.
Tim Horan retired years ago
It's a shame we never got to watch Nonu trample all over Horan.
Or trip over himself as Horan skinned him inside and then outside.
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Best game I’ve seen Akira play I reckon.. he’s becoming the big bully that the all blacks could use in their loose trio.
Hope the blues waste the chiefs next weekend.
@SammyC said in Blues vs Waratahs:
Best game I’ve seen Akira play I reckon.. he’s becoming the big bully that the all blacks could use in their loose trio.
Hope the blues waste the chiefs next weekend.
Hmmm. He was better in his last game - TBF that was probably one of his quieter matches (while still being influential).
@Machpants said in Blues vs Waratahs:
@SammyC then right at the end he had to slap some body for no reason after they'd got the penalty and big up to the crowd. He's like itoje. Not sure what the and coaches will think of that cos they notice
They put up with Franks' thuggishness so not sure that would hinder Akira.
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I'm not saying it is a problem for ABs, but it is noticeable. And it wasn't thuggishness - nasty stuff in play aka mongrel that has gone to far like Franks/Moody or even dumb shit like Nonu/SBW tackles can be - but childish pushing after the penalty has been given, then prancing around. Just like Itoje. If he's pushed the guy whilst the ball was in play, I don't care. But after the whistle, when you've won? Just point at the scoreboard, just seemed lame. I had spent the game talking with the boys and saying he had to be in RWC squad as an unknown impact player - then he acts the prat after it was over.
