The Chiefs team that started the game was quite different to what was originally listed. Slater was at hooker. Ross was at LH prop. I don't think Coxon played at all. Vaa'i was at lock, and Brown went to the bench. Ardron moved to no.8 and Sowakula to 6 but they might have alternated a bit. Falcon started at 1st 5, Nankivell at 2nd 5 in place of Manu, Stevenson moved to fullback and Alaimalo to the left wing. DMac came on at HT. The wind was strong and it was behind the Blues in the 1st half. The Chiefs dominated the opening 10 mins but couldn't score when camped on the Blues' line. The first 2 Blues tries were from stupid mistakes from the Chiefs. Stevenson had a brain fart and chose to run the ball 5 m from his own goal line when he had plenty of time to kick it out. He was penalised for holding on and the Blues scored from the resulting lineout. For the 2nd try a poor 5 m scrum by the Chiefs was compounded by Ardron and then TTT throwing passes under pressure so that Tupaea gets a hospital pass on his goal line, resulting in a turnover. The Blues might be the happier of the two teams but their starting XV was closer to what should play in Rd 1 than the Chiefs. Falcon made a couple of nice linebreaks but his kicking was really poor. The opening kickoff didn't go 10 m and the others were inaccurate. Trask put a kickoff out on the full and both 1st 5s missed touch from penalties. TTT still looked tentative and his clearance wasn't great at times. In summary, it was a typical pre-season game where mistakes were made. I didn't see any major injuries except for Falcon's hand or fingers being looked at, but he continued.

@MN5 said in QF 3: Jaguares v Chiefs: @Jaguares4real said in QF 3: Jaguares v Chiefs: @MN5 said in QF 3: Jaguares v Chiefs: @Jaguares4real said in QF 3: Jaguares v Chiefs: @MN5 As you want to be wilfully obtuse/dense I'll break it down for you Fact that ARG are 10th in rankings is: A. Meaningless B. Linked to their lack of intensity for Test matches they consider friendlies There's been ALOT of changes to ARG in last 18 months Ledesma going from Jaguares HC to Pumas HC in 2018 As well as Quesada now being the Jaguares HC in 2019 Times are changing Pumas have woken up from their lethargy & incompetence at all levels of the game Says who ? I have a feeling the ABs would be mighty pissed off if they lost the number one ranking. Scotlands two victories both came in the last 18 months. ABs are a different animal They've been #1 for most of the Professional Era Pumas have no interest TBH in rankings You can play mickey mouse teams & pick up points **SCO victories whilst nice are ultimately meaningless long term RWC is the objective & as I've stated already Pumas were still getting their shit together** OK, well in that case hopefully all international matches between World Cups are called off. What's the point in them ? Pub quiz in Glasgow.. "And the final question to win the £200 is: Take Thats first album consisted of four words, the first two words were "Take That" so what was the second two words. . .? There was a long pause then a wee Glasgow man pipes up... Was it "Ya C@nt"...?!

Think we’d have a better shot against the Jaguares, but the direct flight to Christchurch is understandably more appealing! https://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/rugby/super-rugby/113466880/super-rugby-chiefs-hoping-to-face-topseeded-crusaders-in-quarterfinal

@shark It's not hard to understand, it's merely wrong. Each of Havili'i, Bridge, Reece and Ennor are in possible AB contention. They would not care less about the guys behind them, because the guys behind are far worse than they are. They will play every game as well as they can, because they are looking at higher honours, not over their shoulders. Meanwhile other teams have their best players not being fielded. That's a far worse situation that worrying that some of your also-rans can't make the team. I would love it if the Chiefs could field Damien McKenzie, at the cost of not being able to field Etene Nanai-Seturo.

The tackle is over the top of the shoulder thus probably should be a penalty try anyway.

Not sure if it's been mentioned, but Otere didn't even get off the bench in this game. Actually, 3 players didn't get off the bench, which is pretty rare these days. I bet the coaches were almost going to make it 4, but they somehow convinced themselves to let Pulu come on.

Never forget fellas

@cgrant said in Highlanders vs Chiefs: For a few Ferners here : it's Jacobson and not Jacobsen. Pity. It would make a better story if he was the son of Danish migrants.

@Chester-Draws said in Hurricanes vs Chiefs: @Rancid-Schnitzel said in Hurricanes vs Chiefs: @No-Quarter said in Hurricanes vs Chiefs: @Rancid-Schnitzel I've been waiting for days for you to comment on Jordie's performance. This thread is now complete. Ha ha. He still wasn't at 12 though! For me, this isn't a Canes thing or Beadie's brother thing. I saw Jordie play for the NZ U20s and Canterbury before he ever signed for the Canes (I assumed he would stay down south) and could see that he was a special talent. It's frustrating when he does stupid shit (unnecessary offloads etc) but the potential is massive and he's still very young. Some people are very quick to throw players on the scrap heap. Just look at Nonu. NZ sees lots of "special" players. Sorry, but that's not enough. Damien McKenzie is plenty special, but that doesn't mean he should start every game. Another really special player was Rupeni Caucaunibuca. But special really, really isn't enough. The follow through is just as important. I'm sorry, but that is a bizarre post.

Our forwards were absolute meh for most of that match. TBH I thought we would lose by more when I saw the starting side. But we really need to learn how to defend at close quarters I lost count how many attacks came from straighttheough the middle of the ruck. Where were our guard dogs FFS?

@Nogusta Well that's fucked for the young bloke. He was starting to really show some form too at fullback.

@cgrant good point, almost like a Cane lite.

I was impressed by Luke Jacobson. His tackling was ferocious, hit the rucks with efficiency and ran hard. He is one to watch this year IMO. Incredible game from Alex Nankivell too. I hope he will keep playing like that. A combo with ALB could be interesting in the next weeks to come.

Weber looks well off the pace to me. Hesitant at the breakdown and his passing is erratic at best.

Switching DMac back to his best position is the best news out of Hamilton so far this season, let's hope they try it.

I need to qualify what I meant by my comment about NPC form meaning nothing. It can certainly play you into a Super Rugby squad, but doesn’t neccessarily mean you can translate that form into SR, and some find that step up much harder than expected. It’s relatively easy to dominate at the lower level but then the next step is becoming harder by the year as our depth is eroded. Problem being, how often in the NPC is a freshie coming up against an established Super Rugby player, or veteran, in ten rounds?

@Duluth Missed that.

@Nepia Coaches, as well - Leon, KK, Andrew Goodman, Hammer....Toddy is away seeking global domination!

@Duluth lucky nobody on here got on their high horse insisting that they knew the laws and it was a straight red. #nobody knows the fucken law interpretations with any certainty