Blues 2021

[Chris B.]

@kiwimurph It's Ruru who's had the most chances.

I don't know about the other stuff.

[Nogusta]

So with Clarke heading off to the Mount now - who out of Narawa/Lam/Kneepkens/Heem should get first crack for the SR TT!?

[nzzp]

@nogusta said in Blues 2021:

So with Clarke heading off to the Mount now - who out of Narawa/Lam/Kneepkens/Heem should get first crack for the SR TT!?

AJ Lam had a tremendous few minutes on the park. High workrate, chased down the kickoff from the Blues at 19-19, and did a good job.

Not saying he'll keep that up for 80 min, but I was impressed.

[Stargazer]

@nogusta said in Blues 2021:

So with Clarke heading off to the Mount now - who out of Narawa/Lam/Kneepkens/Heem should get first crack for the SR TT!?

Is that certain? All I could find in the media is this (from 1 May 2021):

Caleb Clarke says he’ll use next week to decide whether he’ll go to the Olympics or play Super Rugby trans- Ta$man for the Blues and then for the All Blacks.

The team will then have week off, before preparing for their first game of the inaugural Super Rugby trans- Ta$man competition.

But the 22-year-old Clarke says he’ll spend the next few days deciding whether he’ll chase a gold medal at the Tokyo Games, or spend the rest of the season in the 15-man game.

Clarke says right now he doesn’t know which way he’s leaning, but it will be one that Blues coach Leon MacDonald, All Blacks coach Ian Foster and sevens coach Clark Laidlaw will be anxiously waiting on.

“I’m talking to both parties at the moment,” Clarke said.

“Personally I feel like I haven’t really got to my full potential, it’s been a lot harder this year, trying to get into these games.

“So that’s one side of it, but on the other, the Olympics is a once in a lifetime opportunity, so we’ll see how we go.”

https://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/rugby/all-blacks/124978492/caleb-clarke-to-decide-next-week-if-its-olympics-or-blues-and-all-blacks-for-him-this-winter

[KiwiMurph]

He should go to 7s. He's in a real funk at the moment and I think 7s would be a great way for him to get his attacking mojo back. Getting away from the Blues attacking game plan/attacking coach would be a good idea.

[Duluth]

@nzzp said in Blues 2021:

@nogusta said in Blues 2021:

So with Clarke heading off to the Mount now - who out of Narawa/Lam/Kneepkens/Heem should get first crack for the SR TT!?

AJ Lam had a tremendous few minutes on the park. High workrate, chased down the kickoff from the Blues at 19-19, and did a good job.

Not saying he'll keep that up for 80 min, but I was impressed.

I would go for Lam as well

It's interesting how many 14's there are. Caleb started every match at 11, Telea mostly was the 14 but occasionally it was Heem.
So the Blues really are looking for an 11

Lam, Narawa and Kneepkens consistently started on the right wing for their provinces

[Nepia]

@duluth said in Blues 2021:

@nzzp said in Blues 2021:

@nogusta said in Blues 2021:

So with Clarke heading off to the Mount now - who out of Narawa/Lam/Kneepkens/Heem should get first crack for the SR TT!?

AJ Lam had a tremendous few minutes on the park. High workrate, chased down the kickoff from the Blues at 19-19, and did a good job.

Not saying he'll keep that up for 80 min, but I was impressed.

I would go for Lam as well

It's interesting how many 14's there are. Caleb started every match at 11, Telea mostly was the 14 but occasionally it was Heem.
So the Blues really are looking for an 11

Lam, Narawa and Kneepkens consistently started on the right wing for their provinces

I want them to move Reiko there, he's their best left wing.

[Duluth]

@nepia said in Blues 2021:

he's their best left wing

and he's the best centre

There's a queue of exciting young wingers that are worth a look. The same can't be said for 13

[Kirwan]

@duluth said in Blues 2021:

@nepia said in Blues 2021:

he's their best left wing

and he's the best centre

There's a queue of exciting young wingers that are worth a look. The same can't be said for 13

For all those people moaning about his distrubition, check out his pass to Sullivan for his try. Perfect.

Some of the other Blues players could take a leaf out of his book, so many passes going behind the player, kills the attack.

[Nepia]

@duluth said in Blues 2021:

@nepia said in Blues 2021:

he's their best left wing

and he's the best centre

There's a queue of exciting young wingers that are worth a look. The same can't be said for 13

I don't disagree with any of that, but I'd like to see him reinstalled as AB 11.

[Mackerzzzz]

the blues need to find a backline and stick to it. the Plummer in 12 idea and even piriofeta in 15 has not worked.

[Mackerzzzz]

@mackerzzzz said in Blues 2021:

the blues need to find a backline and stick to it. the Plummer in 12 idea and even piriofeta in 15 has not worked.

There best backline for me:

9. Nock
10. Black
11. Clarke/ or Lam
12. Faiane
13. Ioane
14. Heem
15. Sullivan

[nzzp]

@mackerzzzz said in Blues 2021:

@mackerzzzz said in Blues 2021:

the blues need to find a backline and stick to it. the Plummer in 12 idea and even piriofeta in 15 has not worked.

There best backline for me:

9. Nock
10. Black
11. Clarke/ or Lam
12. Faiane
13. Ioane
14. Heem
15. Sullivan

Don't kind 14 and 15.

For me, swap 10 BB, 14 Lam and 15 JB and it's all good

[Dice]

@duluth Mark Telea back on the left wing? He was way better on the left wing than on the right last year, but got shifted to the right because of Caleb.

Lam played on the left wing in pre-season and played left wing off the bench against the Canes, so he's an option there.

[nostrildamus]

overall impression I get is the Blues have talent, not always in the right position, but skill-wise and tactically have stalled or gone backwards.
That suggests limitations in coaching.

[Crucial]

@nostrildamus said in SRA Round 10: Blues v Chiefs:

overall impression I get is the Blues have talent, not always in the right position, but skill-wise and tactically have stalled or gone backwards.
That suggests limitations in coaching.

The talent is actually what is obscuring the other issues in a way. In a number of Blues games they give the overall impression of being rabble but then you look at the scoreboard and they are performing as well as the more organised looking opposition. They are second highest on the try tally, top in the metres carried tally and offloads, yet bottom in the defenders beaten ranks.
Opposition teams have to work hard to score as well.
However something just doesn't seem right. It could be just a confidence/headspace thing. Visible frustration from coaches is usually a good indicator that the players aren't following the plans or that they aren't executing as well as they train.
Personnel clarity from coaches hasn't helped but is that desperate attempts to get players out there that will follow instructions?

[nzzp]

@nostrildamus said in SRA Round 10: Blues v Chiefs:

overall impression I get is the Blues have talent, not always in the right position, but skill-wise and tactically have stalled or gone backwards.
That suggests limitations in coaching.

/shrugs. I'd agree, if you hadn't seen major improvements in the last couple of years under Leon. What I think we're lacking is leadership and rugby nous out there. BB probably papered over those cracks last year with confidence from fullback, and you saw it losing Parsons and then Tuipolotu and Robinson this year. We didn't have leaders out there for most of the season, and we lacked the rugby IQ to really drive the team into the right places.

Three good games, followed by 5 poor ones. Hopefully SRTT gives the team a chance to get some confidence, hit their straps and work their butts off. I'm still reasonably confident about our medium term future - we're attracting and keepign decent players, we've got a decent coach, and we are miles away from the rabble we had in the past.

[nostrildamus]

@nzzp said in SRA Round 10: Blues v Chiefs:

@nostrildamus said in SRA Round 10: Blues v Chiefs:

overall impression I get is the Blues have talent, not always in the right position, but skill-wise and tactically have stalled or gone backwards.
That suggests limitations in coaching.

/shrugs. I'd agree, if you hadn't seen major improvements in the last couple of years under Leon. What I think we're lacking is leadership and rugby nous out there. BB probably papered over those cracks last year with confidence from fullback, and you saw it losing Parsons and then Tuipolotu and Robinson this year. We didn't have leaders out there for most of the season, and we lacked the rugby IQ to really drive the team into the right places.

Three good games, followed by 5 poor ones. Hopefully SRTT gives the team a chance to get some confidence, hit their straps and work their butts off. I'm still reasonably confident about our medium term future - we're attracting and keepign decent players, we've got a decent coach, and we are miles away from the rabble we had in the past.

I agree regards overall improvements. Then we only differ on skills. I'm not saying he's a bad coach, fundamentally, but they need to consistently get to the next stage, and there needs to be leadership and rugby nous in the backs (and replacement forwards).
My suggestion (and having BB at 15 is too far from the action for this) is at 10 or 12 a genuine, intelligent, astute playmaker.

Oh and the 9-10 weekly lolly scrambles aren't helping. Alternate pairings, not just position.

[mariner4life]

@nostrildamus said in SRA Round 10: Blues v Chiefs:

10 or 12 a genuine, intelligent, astute playmaker

this looks like the key

based on watching last year, and the highlights and threads for this year, the difference between winning and losing SRA is having a guy who can break a game open touch the ball a lot.

[nzzp]

righto, a quick comment on SRA.

Overall, I'd give us a pass mark, but only just. We didn't deliver results-wise, but we put some decent effort.

Top of my head thoughts

Tight 5 B+/A-
One of the stronger packs in the comp. Didn't deliver at some critical times. Massive improvements in defence of mauls and actually in setting mauls too. Still plenty to work on though - rugby nous isn't quite there. Scrum was a weapon in the early rounds, but seemed to struggle later ... not sure why.

The prop rotation should have been one of our big strengths. Not much mobility outside Ofa though.
Plenty of minutes for Darry (who should keep building nicely), and we really missed Pat T. GCT was consistently good for us, without being outstanding.

Hookers improved on last year, and went fine, just not outstanding.

Would score higher, but didn't dominate like they should have given the talent.

Loosies A
Strength area with significant depth. Dalton was immense, Choat looked good at the end, and Tom R was massive for us. HOskins took a few games to come up to speed. Akira was good without being the massively dominant figure of the last few years.

Halfbacks D
Too much changing, not enough game plan clarity to allow any one of them to succeed. I think all the halfbacks have clear work-ons.

10s D
Marginally harsh perhaps. Otere needs to get his mojo back (from games 1-2) and learn to goal kick. Plummer just needs to lift his game.

Midfield C
Rieko B to B+, 12s consistently D. Distribution a big issue. Combinations an issue. Plenty to work on. Rieko is building nicely I think. 12 was a real issue for us. Really not sure why TJ woudln't be keeping that backline together

Back 3 D
Workrate too low, finishing too low, creation too low. Defence OK. Didn't create much at all, or feel super dangerous. Shut down consistently.

Coaching C
Forwards went OK in general, backs were very average this season. Leadership and IQ on the field not great.

Moment of the season: disallowed maul try against the Chiefs. The ref and TMO don't overturn it (wrongly, in my view) and you've got a winning season and are off to the final.

So, yeah. Promised plenty, didn't deliver enough. Still better than we've been, but (hopefully) not nearly as good as we're going to be.