i would say that the fact that you are inept at the breakdown is a bigger reason for your team being a bit shit than a red card for eye-gouging, james
Yes good comment. All night long Genia was like a mole burrowing away for the ball because his forwards couldn't recycle it cleanly and those were on the occassions where they did retain possession. Must have taken Genia 10 seconds each ruck to get his hands on it. Very very slow ball.
Such a good weekend in terms of mixing it up a bit, but not good for the bookies. Sharks were so fucking good.
Playing some of the best rugby we've played in years. Pretty tough end to the season but I hope we can pull it off. Sucks that we're losing a few sparks next season.
Hurricanes are going to look interesting next season. Out: Andre Taylor, Leiua, Bateman, Levave, Lam In: Woodward We're going to have some issues at 12. I would suspect, with Nonu off contract and Hammett going, he will probably return. What we're looking like: 1. Ben Franks 2. Dane Coles 3. Jeffery Toomaga-Allen/ Schwalger 4. Jeremy T.hrush 5. James Broadhurst 6. Brad Shields 7. Ardie Savea 8. Victor Vito 9. TJ Perenara 10. Beaudan Barrett 11. Julian Savea 12. Ma'a Nonu* 13. Conrad Smith 14. Cory Jane 15. Jason Woodward 16. Motu Matu'u 17. Goodes 18. Sione/ Eves 19. Reddish 20. Callum Gibbins 21. Smylie 22. Banks/ Marshall/ Parkes 23. Proctor It's our bench which takes a pretty big hit tbh. I like the side though, lots of youth but yeah gutted to see some of those boys go. That being said there is 12 ABs in that side, so with that in mind, if we can't do anything special, we never will. Minus Woodward, that backline would be good to go to start in a test for the ABs.
That line up has 1 game written all over it. By that I mean I expect injuries to hit and those 15 only to be together very briefly. Magically they all stay fit - they win the comp.
Indeed. Few injuries in key places and we're screwed. More so than we have ever been in quite some time. Then again we still have ITM Cup to show some gun up and comers....
The Canes are fielding a very strong team this weekend as well, but I agree with Hurricane in that some of those players are so ridiculously injury prone.
No we're not..... Conrad Smith out, Andre Taylor out (who was finally hitting form again). This means we have Bateman at 13 (shudders) Leiua at 12 I like though. Proctor at 15 is meh. I would have preferred Jane slot back at 15, then Proctor at 14, attacking wise that's not so smart but then again, we need to be at the top of our defensive game against the Saders. I would assume we're starting Ardie instead of Lam to try and be energetic at ruck time. Basically we need to get the ball out to Julian/ Jane and get go forward. They'll rip us through the middle.
Highlanders are ripping the Chiefs to shreds now, these linebreaks. Glad I put money on the Highlanders - dunno why the odds were so high for them. Not complaining.
Bye bye Chiefs tbh. Can't see them making the play offs now, they don't deserve to either imo, way too inconsistent this year. Pretty terrible game, waaaay too many turnovers but basically the Highlanders jumped on their opportunities and made some decent breaks. Highlanders scrum was awesome, can't say the same about their lineout. Chiefs started playing some decent rugby towards the end but it was all too late and the Highlanders defence was too good.
