Hurricanes v Blues

[African Monkey]

@Tim The AB conspiracy theories would come out if Akira started. If it were Coles though, people would be praising him for his passion.

[Tim]

@African-Monkey You know Ioane has been overplayed, because there's been no niggle for a few weeks.

[African Monkey]

@Machpants Tbh, I still think the Canes will win (not even joking)

31-29 Canes you heard it here first.

[Chris]

Been impressed with Lindenmuth

[nzzp]

@Tim said in Hurricanes v Blues:

@nzzp A little forward?

Just watched the highlight - looks a line ball -- tight, but probably just a line ball. Hard with that perspective to call it

[Stargazer]

I haven't seen anything from SBW in this game that justifies his inclusion in the ABs squad and leaving out (most likely) Laumape.

Yes, I know, it's early days.

[Tim]

@Chris Didn't he spend the summer with the Crusaders last year?

[Nepia]

@Tim said in Hurricanes v Blues:

Did I just watch 40 minutes of rugby without a single bit of niggle from Coles or Akira Ioane?

Even BBBR wasn't too niggly last night either ... NZ rugby getting soft!

[Victor Meldrew]

@Machpants said in Hurricanes v Blues:

PUJ needs a slap from fat boy Bishop for not going closer to the posts FFS

He could have passed inside to Christie as well.

Oh, hang on....

[Stargazer]

@Victor-Meldrew Haha, Christie would have dropped it.

[Chris]

@Tim yes he did he looks good solid in the scrums great with ball in hand

[Tim]

Really pleased with the props. Looks like we've got four decent options at LH now. We need a more consistent player than Mafileo at TH. Hope Renata can keep developing.

[Donsteppa]

@African-Monkey said in Hurricanes v Blues:

@Donsteppa I respectfully disagree. No need to lose key players in a meaningless game like this.

I guess it's the old 'preservation v momentum' situation for coaches to work through, they'd probably love both!

[nzzp]

@Stargazer said in Hurricanes v Blues:

I haven't seen anything from SBW in this game that justifies his inclusion in the ABs squad and leaving out (most likely) Laumape.

We saw the same thing with Nonu for years though - would just phone it in for Super, and then smash it at International level.

The ABs back themselves to et the best out of people, and you can see what SBW brings. Big, fast, offloading machine, with the track record not to choke under severe pressure. Risk is age, condition and actually getting some damn game time!

[Stargazer]

Great impact from Fletcher Smith. Much better than JGB already.

[gt12]

@Stargazer

Given that JGB laid that on, isn’t that a bit harsh?

[Tim]

Two rucks already that the blues have forgotten to hit.

[Stargazer]

@gt12 I'm talking about more than that passage of play though.

[African Monkey]

@Tim Losing concentration as usual.

[Tim]

@African-Monkey Yup. It's those periods where they lose their pattern and gift possession to the opposition.