Good to get Gibson out of that Auckland enviroment and into a proper one.

Keep safe Blues, these Crusaders are dodgy and have a horrible culture.

@tim Haha so we have an opposition coach basically saying that our selections are horrendous.

Imagine if Umaga was still coach. Michael Collins would be starting and Nanai would be playing for Manukau Rovers

Looks like this was the thread to get Waikato rugby back on track.

Lol good one Devlin you irrelevent clown

@sammyc Larry the lamb decided to come over and sign my hat haha. But great win, great to finally go to a game down here where we've won, it's usually miserable going to an Auckland/Blues game down here.

Thought Lemalu was huge again stopping their rolling maul. He really has made a huge difference for us there and the Cantabs barely tried to take us on there after that. We outmuscled them for once across the field and didn't get dominated at set piece which also goes a long way. Tumua Manu surely has to be signed by the Blues next year. He shut down their outside backs brilliantly and was a constant threat on attack along with TJ Faiane. Ruru was also fantastic behind the scrum I thought. Annoying to concede 2 late tries but can't be to fussy as we never win down here to begin with so we'll take that.

Hats off to Luke Romano for Canterbury as he was virtually a one man band today.

Strange feeling going into this game. I'm still shocked with Michael Tamoaieta's passing tbh to the point where I don't really seem to care about tomorrow's result.

@MN5 said in Black Caps v Pakistan:

Shot Black Caps and great work Rossco. Again, what a record for a NZ batsman.

All over tomorrow. Just like their predecessors this Pakistan team can't play too well overseas.

They play all their tests overseas

@Kirwan Why have that when we can have Michael Collins chipping the ball out on the full for no reason to enjoy.

@South-Africa-Man I must say it's great having you on board! Hope you stay around haha.

@South-Africa-Man Well said bruv. This should inspire them.

@Stargazer If he played for Hawke's Bay or the Crusaders you'd be all over him too.

@South-Africa-Man I never post there haha. It was another boxing forum or 2 I remember you from lol.

@South-Africa-Man Corrie Sanders was the far better South African heavyweight

@trodthesod Oh damn I could have given some of them a ride up to Chch haha to jump on a flight.

I assume its because of the fog? Its very foggy in Dunners today.

@South-Africa-Man How the hell did you find your way on here and still talk about that drug cheat Frans Botha hahahaha

@Steven-Harris My criticism comes after there were far inferior players getting picked after he was playing the house down from 2017-2018 for both Auckland and the Blues yet people continued to knock him for no reason or as @Nepia says, shift the goalposts and find other reasons to criticise him. Yes he was in awful shape in the Mitre 10 Cup and was in a bad place and faded in last years Super Rugby but it wasn't helped with him getting played into the ground by the Blues with a lack of competition at the time.

Now he's just found his form from previous seasons but I'm sure there will be some reason as to why he'll get overlooked for higher honours.

They'll find another reason not to pick Akira as usual. Hansen failed badly there, whatever the personal agenda he had with him there.

Must say it was well worth the trip going down for the game. There were plenty of Blues supporters down there which I was surprised by as there was nex to no one when we played the Crusaders. The stadium was fantastic, easily the best in the country and credit to the Highlanders fans who were very gracious in defeat. I'll definitely head down again for a game that's for sure.

On the game, we completely out muscled them where they couldn't deal with our size and couldn't slow our ball down. Our big names Akira, Pat and Ofa really did smash them around and Karl T monstered their scrum along with Ofa. I notice Christie copped a bit of flak but he was very good I feel both in cover defence and by getting our attack going from the base. Caleb Clarke surely has to be in the next ABs squad as well. He looked like he was running around against little kids every time he touched the ball. Credit to the Highlanders as well, the never give up and always punch above their weight. Couldn't stand that penalty Smith got for diving which I hate in general but never mind.

Special mention to Alex Hodgman as well who came and spoke to me after the game. Absolutely top bloke who's enjoying running around injury free. He's certainly playing very well and continues to get better.