Game of three halves - Blues/Crusaders/Chiefs - 20/02, 12pm
-
The Blues are now looking to play their final Super Rugby pre-season hitout against the Crusaders in Christchurch this weekend as they deal with a potential squeeze ahead of the kickoff of the competition proper.
Hore admitted that the best-case scenario for the Blues now was to play their final pre-season hitout against the Crusaders in Christchurch at some stage this weekend. After having only the game of three halves in Wellington last Saturday, it is felt one more match is necessary ahead of the scheduled Super Rugby Aotearoa kickoff against the Hurricanes in Wellington on Saturday, February 27. “For the game to take place we would need to go to a Level 2, and either a team come to us or us go to a team,” said Hore. “There are protocols in and around that. Level 1 would be fantastic, but even then we’d have to play I think now away.
The Blues boss confirmed logistics of playing the final pre-season game in Christchurch were already advanced, including staging the match outside of the Crusaders’ home ground. “That’s all been looked at. They’re getting prepared for their season, but there are other venues that could potentially be used in Christchurch,” he said. “If we’re in Level 2 we can’t have crowds anyway and the No 1 priority is to give the boys a hitout. “To be honest, to play the Crusaders we’d probably play them on the beach. That doesn’t worry us. We’ve just got to stay focused on getting through the logistics of potentially moving out of Auckland and getting a game.”
-
It will be interesting to see what they are going to do with this game. Playing without crowd in Auckland on Saturday; playing with a crowd in Christchurch on Saturday; or waiting a few days to see if Auckland can go to level 1 soon and play the game with a crowd (early) next week and maybe still looking to postpone the round 1 game?
Playing the game in Chch seems the best option.
-
The Blues are delighted with news of the move to Level 2 Covid Alert in Auckland, so they can get their Sky Super Rugby Aotearoa campaign back on schedule. The team has been isolated at home with individual training only, as Auckland has been in Level 3 lockdown. “We will be involved in a number of discussions and meetings tonight in order to finalise plans given the change in Alert levels,” said Blues CEO Andrew Hore. “The reality is that we could not contemplate safely competing in the opening round of the Sky Super Rugby Aotearoa competition, arguably the best rugby contest in the world, without training together and hopefully taking part in a pre-season match. “We are working on a range of options including the initial plan to take on the Crusaders. We have been humbled by the level of support from the other Super clubs. We are fierce rivals on the field but off it, the clubs are incredibly supportive and acting in the best spirit to ensure the Sky Super Rugby Aotearoa competition is successful,” said Blues CEO Andrew Hore. “We will be in a position to announce definitive plans tomorrow after a range of discussions take place over the next 24 hours.” NOTE: There will be a zoom conference on Thursday with details of pre-season arrangements for the weekend. We will advise timing and details tomorrow morning.
-
The main info:
The Chiefs have come to the party and will host both the Blues and Crusaders in a ‘game of three halves’ on Saturday to round out a rescheduled Super Rugby Aotearoa pre-season. The noon fixture (live on Sky Sport) will be played at Hautapu Sports in Cambridge and will be closed to public. The match will be played under NZR level 2 operating protocols due to the close proximity to Auckland and need to take maximum precautions ahead of Super Rugby Aotearoa.
-
@arhs said in Game of three halves - Blues/Crusaders/Chiefs - 20/02, 12pm:
@ploughboy lol. My former home ground...
the only thing i remember about that ground is getting binned for punching on with a dude that was rucking my halfbacks head
it was shit because he hit me harder than i hit him.
-
The third ground where I lost so much skin has not been watered!Remember playing a Waikato Junior trial game on it in the distant past. No hands in the ruck,kick out on the full anywhere on the field,three points for a try,no lineout lifting,the fine art of dribbling a tactic,and we called that rugby.!!Tight heads were so difficult to achieve,because the ball had to go in straight that if you could drop the scrum as a hooker you became famous.Cant recall a game of three halves either.
-
Goodhue at 13 and Havili at 12! Great!