The Silver Fern

Watched the game and was impressed with both teams.

NZ U20s:

• work in close was awesome. Pick n gos were killing the canes.
• definately won the turnover battle with U20s poaching 6-7 balls at rucks.
• halfbacks were outstanding. Sharp passes and dangerous running.
• lineouts were awful but maybe to be expected
• going wide was a problem and couldnt find Stan enough
• scrums looked very impressive

Hurricanes

• lineouts were great. Not sure who the looks were but they worked hard
• Jordi at 9 looked a cut above
• Rova in midfield looked dangerous. Must have made 3-4 line breaks.
• Denyer played and got a double playing wing. Looked really good.
• Tj at fullback also looks like hes past his injury woes
• scrum was not good. Looked second rate vs U20s

Overall a pretty fair game with Canes winning by 1 point i believe.

Playoff for 3rd and 4th was entertaining. Credit to all the teams playing 3 games over a week and looking better and better.

Blues
Front row and loosies were powerful. Not only the starters, but the bench forwards were immense. The hookers should pat each other on the back as they were awesome.

Simpson was solid in the backs and led his team really well. Norrie looked fantastic with ball in hand. Made the midfield for the Canes look silly at times in broken play.

Hurricanes
Lets be fair, frontrow is not their strength. They really struggled against a physical Blues front row. Falloon in the second row was working hard but by far the best forward on the field was Berg-mclean playing 7. The smallest forward on the pitch and yet he must have had 5 or 6 pilfers and made a huge amount of tackles. Support play was superb as well.
Tamati and Thompson were excellent in the halves. Really quick ball and used their outsides well. Midfield struggled on D.
Solomon and Denyer, outstanding again for the Canes. These two have had a great tournament. Kennedy try was superb as well. Reserve halfback brought some energy off the bench.

Be good to get an indication from people with no affiliation to a team who they feel stood out for each U20 Super team and could be in line for an NZ U20 invite.

I will rule myself out for the Chiefs but some players that really impressed me from other franchises were:

Blues - Finau, Tatafu, Tuitupou, Woodley, Simpson, Norrie

Hurricanes - Falloon, Irving, Berg-Mclean, Bason, Tamati, Oconnor, Denyer, Solomon

Crusaders - Oudenryn, Mafi, Powell, Mcleod, Kalouda, Cameron, Roberts, Kunawave

Highlanders - Tengblad, Rutledge, Pledger, Muliaina, Harvey, Rangituia

@Bovidae canterbury were great to watch. That pack and with the young 10 pulling the strings, no doubt favourites for the comp in a couple weeks time.

To be honest, that video doesnt quite show just how dominant their forwards were. Some poor tackling by Wellington in their pack and at 1st 5 made for a long day. Outside backs look the goods though.

Just heard from my nephew who plays for the Chiefs U20s that there has been significant interest from teams across the ditch to obtain young kiwi players with big money ($200,000 year 1 and increases over 3 years by $50k each year) with a plan in mind to keep them for the wallabies. Coaches and management are all aware but cant do anything about it.

Sad state of affairs.

We always go for the physically imposing players if there is a 50/50 call to make. It can pay off if you get it right but the defence of some of our big boys and especially outside backs leaves alot to be desired.

My personal feelings are this team could be great. They have 90% of the right selections in the squad. The coaching group have come through the system. Fundamentals is whats letting this group down. Tackling, lineouts and scrums in particular. This showed in the warmup game as well to a certain degree.

Give me a rugby player who can play both ways over the speciman or flashy footwork. Im sick of the selections for the razzle player rather than those that can do their roles.

I hear you both. I too read his articles but often am left scratching my head. Example, his teams of the week. There were some hugle impressive scores and individual players last weekend and then i see some of his picks for team of the week and i just laugh. Picking players from Wellington College and St Pats Town, both of whom got thumped and looked awful (i watched both games) stinks of favouritism.

NZ U20 named

Hurricanes U20 played and won vs a mixture of Palmy Prems and wider squad Hurricanes up in Palmerston North today.

U20s looked to play their A side in the first 20min of each half and for the most part looked alot better than the game vs Crusaders. Scrums still took a bashing and will be worrying that coaching staff leading into the tournament next week. Definately better ball retention and handling was improved across the board.

Backs were strong with some nice touches in the midfield by Campbell and Stan out the back. The winger *11 (one of the jacobs) scored a couple tries and looks to be one to watch out for with speed and silky footwork.

I know theres big wraps on the 10 from hawkes bay but i dont see how. Very reluctant to tackle and is not a great ball player. I worry this might be a red flag for this team as well as their set piece.

Bench was good. Oconnor from manawatu should probably start at 10 as he looks for more composed and dangerous. Forwards worked hard against some impressive specimen in the Prems and wider Canes.

Couple niggly injuries looked to hit late.

From the two games ive now seen i do fear this team could get run around by bigger, more mobile teams like the Chiefs and Saders. They just lack that flow and cohesion at the moment.

I think the backs are absolutely the stars of the show with a strong midfield, Stan at fullback and Jacob *11 (maybe denyer?) on the wing. Oconnor, if he starts could be the best thing this team does to overcome some tough games.

@Bovidae was a mixed bag from what i could tell. Mosese, Odenryn etc came off the bench. Backline looked at full strength however.

Was in Wellington to pickup a desk so i went along to the Hurricanes vs Crusaders game in upper hutt.

As predicted, Crusaders forwards were pretty exceptional. Front row in particular were stand outs. The hooker was all over the field and in general a hard man to bring down. Loosies were working hard all game and found plenty of room close to the ruck.

Wellington forwards tried hard but they are not physical enough and definately dont have the skillset of the Crusaders forwards. The 10 and fijian winger also really impressive.

Hurricanes game was very predictable and for some odd reason very forwards orientated. Jai at 9 was ok but the 10 from HB was very average. Good kicking game but poor running and passing.

Stanley at 15 was quiet. They shut him down well. His defense was sound. Wingers for Canes were very good. Two Jacobs on the team sheet. The 11 in particular looks very sharp and scored the try of the day.

Bench was good for Canes, especially the inside backs. Crusaders were cruising by this point and will be a tough match up in Taupo.

@Mauss super interesting and makes a ton of sense. The game and game plans are evolving and whilst its harder to find a Savea, Clark or someone of that ilk, it may not be nessessary or a requirement anymore to always have that power winger.

If you dont mind me asking Mauss, what do you do?

You sound like a coach or tech advisor for a team. Id put money on it.

Strong halfbacks. Agree 100% with these 3 selections. Midfield as well looks fairly spot on for me.

I think we are weak at 10. Simpson is good but not great and we all know my feelings on Cole. Tiatia could have been a better option.

Outside backs a little perplexed. Maisiri and Saunoa werent even the best outside backs for their teams letalone making this squad. Rangitutua, Denyer, Norrie, Salmon would have been ahead of these two in my books.

@SouthernMann from the outside looking in i would say Inch isnt in the frame this year. Mika had a better U20 campaign. Then again, i thought other players had better campaigns then some that made NZ U20 so what would i know

@Bovidae team is locked in and players are aware. Theyve been told an announcement will come Thurs/Friday.

Didnt ask about the locks but our boy did say there were 3 players on stand by for already injured players.

Crusaders, Chiefs and Blues look very strong on paper. I hope theres a darkhorse in there somewhere (maybe babaas?) that will shake up the comp a little.

Prediction

1. Crusaders
2. Blues
3. Chiefs
4. Canes
5. Highlanders
6. Babaas
7. Drua
8. Moana

MVP: Oudenryn

Clutch by the Crusaders last night. When they needed to they kept it close and tight. Both team defences were a mess, much like the first semi final.

The final most wanted will happen Saturday. Chiefs too strong for the Canes. Forward pack were immense and tiatia was all over his opposite. Chiefs gave no room to the canes dangerous outside backs. Some silly play (yellow card jacob kennedy) and poor handling (tight 5 and halfback) let the game get away.

Chiefs vs Crusaders will be epic. Odenryn has been huge for the Saders and Inch will need to play his best vs Tiatia. Big forward packs on both teams.

@Canes4life must of watched slightly different games as i thought the lineouts were poor. Regardless, good luck to the boys over in SA. Team will be up against it but we might thrive on not being considered favourites.