Hurricanes vs Blues

[Canes4life]

I thought the Blues would probably win this one but after looking at both teams and the surprise return of Flanders off the bench, I’m liking the Canes, especially at home.

Awesome to see Higgins get a chance, hope he takes it with both hands. Tevita Mafileo also gets a shot.

[Duluth]

@Daffy-Jaffy said in Hurricanes vs Blues:

6/2 bench

6/2 is a good fit for the direct game plan

Also, Funaki might be getting ahead of Nock in the pecking order

[Winger]

@Daffy-Jaffy said in Hurricanes vs Blues:

HURRICANES (1-15): Tevita Mafileo, Asafo Aumua (co-c), Tyrel Lomax, James Tucker, Isaia Walker-Leawere, TK Howden, Peter Lakai, Brayden Iose, Cam Roigard, Brett Cameron, Kini Naholo, Riley Higgins, Billy Proctor (co-c), Josh Moorby, Ruben Love

RESERVES: James O'Reilly, Xavier Numia, Pasilio Tosi, Caleb Delany, Devan Flanders, TJ Perenara, Peter Umaga-Jensen, Salesi Rayasi

Referee: Jordan Way

Assistant Referees: Nick Hogan, Natarsha Ganley

Once again, no complaints with this team (subject to James Tucker performing).

Riley Higgins. Really rate him and he seems to be a level above last year. But early days yet but I don't rate PUJ at 2nd so hope he performs
Morgan not in the 23
Mafilio gets a start. I'm sure Numia, who has been in great form, will get lots of game time
Flanders back

Howden needs to step up after last week

Good to see Perenara back. But I will miss the excellent Smith like passing from the last 2 weeks

[Canes4life]

@Winger plenty to like about the squad. Should be a cracking game, meant to be perfect conditions aswell.

[BerhamporeNinja]

should be a cracker! cant wait! Come on Canes!

[BerhamporeNinja]

@Daffy-Jaffy Canes scrum will be tested when Lomax comes off, and Tosi up against Ofa

[Canes4life]

@BerhamporeNinja Ofa isn’t on the bench. For Tosi who’s gone from being a Number 8 three years ago to the way he’s scrummaged to start the year, he could have a really high ceiling. He’s a big unit aswell and could be a real secret weapon for the Canes going forward, hope he sticks around.

We also can’t forget Tevita Mafileo who hasn’t even laced up yet. He was called into the ABs last year and is definitely no mug. This is probably the strongest load of props the Canes have had since 2015/2016 and they seem to be really pushing each other to get better.

My only worry is if we lose Aumua, we have a fairly weak/inexperienced bunch of hookers sitting behind him and if he goes down, that will definitely impact us against the stronger sides. I suppose you can say that about a number of players across all the teams though.

[Machpants]

Ofa isn't even in the 23

[KiwiMurph]

Fusitua is a good young prop himself who has made really good strides - a match up with Lomax will be a terrific barometer for how far along his scrummaging is.

[Canes4life]

The Canes need to square the ledger this week.

Head to head: Hurricanes vs Blues
Played: 40
Blues won: 20
Hurricanes won: 19
Drawn: 1
Blues points for: 1,068
Hurricanes points for: 998

[DaGrubster]

@Duluth

Caleb Clarke - family wedding!?!? It better be his!

[foobaNZ]

I gotta say the most enjoyable thing about this season is the selections. Long may it continue.

Looking at those 23s the Canes should edge this, particularly at home. Should be a cracker.

[BerniesCorner]

Jeez the Canes are the real sh*t now. So good.

[Canes4life]

@foobaNZ yeah super refreshing. So much better than Holland always shoe-horning the likes of James Blackwell, Reed Prinsep and Julian Savea into the side every week when clearly they weren't up to it.

Clark Laidlaw seems to be picking players on form despite experience which is great to see. He isn't afraid to give Higgins the hot seat as a starter even though he's super young, whereas if Holland was in charge he would have given the gig to Umaga-Jensen based on the fact he's the more experienced player.

The players seem to have brought into the culture set by Laidlaw and that was strongly evident in the way they pulled through against the Reds, that will put us in good stead when the going gets tough later in the season.

[Duluth]

Canes $2.5 v Blues $1.55

I'd have it a bit closer than that. There's good value for the confident Canes fans though

[mariner4life]

@Duluth said in Hurricanes vs Blues:

confident Canes fans

are there any other type?

[foobaNZ]

@mariner4life it's our year.

[Canes4life]

@Duluth I think home advantage is a big one here, both teams look fairly even on paper so that could be the difference.

Canes fans have every right to be confident, we've had to deal with an incompetent coach for so long so hopefully it's all rainbows and butterflies from here.

[Duluth]

@Canes4life said in Hurricanes vs Blues:

@Duluth I think home advantage is a big one here, both teams look fairly even on paper so that could be the difference.

Canes fans have every right to be confident, we've had to deal with an incompetent coach for so long so hopefully it's all rainbows and butterflies from here.

There's reasons for Canes fans to be confident. Canes set piece has been more consistent (including kickoffs in that). The Blues defence needs to tighten up too.

However regarding the change of coach, is Laidlaw that much of an improvement? A game against the Force and being taken to extra time by the Reds is a small sample size. Also isn't that offset by the loss of Ardie & Jordie (for this match)?

Since 2020 the two sides the results have gone 6-2 in the Blues favour, 3-1 in Wellington: Blues v Canes 2020-Now

Mostly close matches and the Canes have a big chance this week. Blues deserve to be slight favourites though

[Canes4life]

@Duluth I think the major improvement for the Canes has been Laidlaw picking the right players. Holland never picked players on form over his tenure, instead he picked players on reputation with the hope they would find form through playing mins and it never worked, leaving us fans super frustrated. The Canes have had the talent over the last two/three seasons but Holland failed to utilise it VS Laidlaw who isn't afraid to throw players into the cauldron even when they are less experienced so to speak i.e. starting Tosi, Vijoen, Lakai, Higgins etc.

Another factor which brings a huge amount of hope is that 90% of this Canes side have been together now for three or four seasons so there should be a natural uplift in performance as the team matures, which I think they are doing now. I remember the Crusaders pinpointed a few years back that the golden average age of your squad should be around 25/26, the Canes now have that average.

Obviously, we can't fully judge Laidlaw yet because there have only been two rounds but signs are positive that the foundation is there. Similar to what the Blues went through post 2020 after losing to the bigger NZ sides for years (including the Canes).

Also 2020 coinsided with you guys stealing Beaudy from us so there is also that.