Blues v Chiefs

[Duluth]

This is the Blues side from when Ofa made his debut in early 2013:

Charles Piutau
Frank Halai
Francis Saili
Jackson Willison
Rene Ranger
Chris Noakes
Piri Weepu
Peter Saili
Luke Braid
Steven Luatua
Ali Williams
Culum Retallick
Angus Ta'avao
James Parsons
Tom McCartney

Keven Mealamu
Ofa Tu'ungafasi
Anthony Boric
Brendon O'Connor
Jamison Gibson-Park
Baden Kerr
Albert Nikoro

[Canes4life]

@Daffy-Jaffy said in Blues v Chiefs:

@Landers92 said in Blues v Chiefs:

sounded like ticket sales were great

Good to hear, Ofa deserves a big crowd.

On the news yesterday they said it's looking like getting close to 30k

[antipodean]

@Duluth That's a stacked team.

[African Monkey]

@Duluth said in Blues v Chiefs:

This is the Blues side from when Ofa made his debut in early 2013:

Charles Piutau
Frank Halai
Francis Saili
Jackson Willison
Rene Ranger
Chris Noakes
Piri Weepu
Peter Saili
Luke Braid
Steven Luatua
Ali Williams
Culum Retallick
Angus Ta'avao
James Parsons
Tom McCartney

Keven Mealamu
Ofa Tu'ungafasi
Anthony Boric
Brendon O'Connor
Jamison Gibson-Park
Baden Kerr
Albert Nikoro

Only the real Blues fans remember those days.

[Machpants]

@African-Monkey said in Blues v Chiefs:

@Duluth said in Blues v Chiefs:

This is the Blues side from when Ofa made his debut in early 2013:

Charles Piutau
Frank Halai
Francis Saili
Jackson Willison
Rene Ranger
Chris Noakes
Piri Weepu
Peter Saili
Luke Braid
Steven Luatua
Ali Williams
Culum Retallick
Angus Ta'avao
James Parsons
Tom McCartney

Keven Mealamu
Ofa Tu'ungafasi
Anthony Boric
Brendon O'Connor
Jamison Gibson-Park
Baden Kerr
Albert Nikoro

Only the real grumpy old fluffybunny Blues fans remember those days.

FIFY

[African Monkey]

@Machpants said in Blues v Chiefs:

@African-Monkey said in Blues v Chiefs:

@Duluth said in Blues v Chiefs:

This is the Blues side from when Ofa made his debut in early 2013:

Charles Piutau
Frank Halai
Francis Saili
Jackson Willison
Rene Ranger
Chris Noakes
Piri Weepu
Peter Saili
Luke Braid
Steven Luatua
Ali Williams
Culum Retallick
Angus Ta'avao
James Parsons
Tom McCartney

Keven Mealamu
Ofa Tu'ungafasi
Anthony Boric
Brendon O'Connor
Jamison Gibson-Park
Baden Kerr
Albert Nikoro

Only the real grumpy old fluffybunny Blues fans remember those days.

FIFY

Yeah that too.

The side looks like a rebuilding NBA side full of new draft picks. Some went on to succeed at the franchise, some moved on and had success elsewhere, and some were just not up to standard.

[Tim]

Blues ball carrying will be well down on last year, with Sotutu and Ioane absent. At least Tuipulotu is available.

[Duluth]

@Tim said in Blues v Chiefs:

Blues ball carrying will be well down on last year, with Sotutu and Ioane absent. At least Tuipulotu is available.

The form and fitness of Suafoa is key. He was slightly off the pace in the NPC (he had a decent excuse)

He needs to carry well and he might need to play 80mins finishing at lock

[African Monkey]

@Tim said in Blues v Chiefs:

Blues ball carrying will be well down on last year, with Sotutu and Ioane absent. At least Tuipulotu is available.

Yeah will be very interesting to see Clark and Suafoa tomorrow. We really need them and Segner to step up this year if we wanna go deep in this comp with the absence of Akira and Sotutu currently injured.

[Tim]

It will also be interesting to watch Evans off the bench. He went up a notch last year, and could have a break-out season. Was awesome at U20 level.

[Tim]

@African-Monkey

Sotutu and Ioane were also huge parts of our maul attack and defence, and the lineout.

[Tim]

Fusitu'a might be the player I'm most excited to see tomorrow.

He made massive strides last year and was a weapon as a rookie prop. Lets see if he is a future All Black.

[taniwharugby]

@Tim will give others opportunities while also seeing how good Coventrys coaching is.

[Tim]

@taniwharugby said in Blues v Chiefs:

Coventrys coaching

???

[African Monkey]

@taniwharugby said in Blues v Chiefs:

@Tim will give others opportunities while also seeing how good Coventrys coaching is.

He's the Moana forwards coach.

[African Monkey]

@Tim said in Blues v Chiefs:

@African-Monkey

Sotutu and Ioane were also huge parts of our maul attack and defence, and the lineout.

They were, and their size and aggression in close will be hard to replace. It went a long way for us last season on our way to the title.

[taniwharugby]

@African-Monkey haha I meant Cotter...

[Bovidae]

It appears that Jahrome Brown had an illness so maybe didn't train all week. He is playing for the Chiefs Dev team though.

[KiwiMurph]

I wonder if the new focus on speeding up play as a result of 30 secs allowed to set scrums and lineouts will limit the effectiveness of Vern ball this year.

Blues player I'm most interested in is Clark - a lot of talent but has work to do in defence and in tight.

[Bones]

Sky trolling blues fans with TJ. Brilliant.