2017 Super Rugby - Preseason games
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The Blues showed loads of promise as they went down fighting, eventually losing 38-33 to last year’s Super Rugby champions in their first pre-season game of the year.
It was a tight, fast-flowing contest that was broken up into four 25 minute quarters. The Blues dominated the early stages with two tries to new signing Michael Collins in the first 20 minutes, both converted by Ihaia West, but the Hurricanes fought back with one converted try of their own just before quarter time.
Early in the second, Piers Francis carried on as he left off last season, dotting down beneath the sticks. Again the Hurricanes answered back with a try of their own, keeping the score 21-12 in favour of the home side at halftime.
But the match ebbed and flowed as both coaches rang the changes, and the third quarter saw the Blues under pressure early, absorbing more than 10 phases of play in front of their own line before Ambrose Curtis managed to streak clear and score a try down the other end.
From there the momentum was well and truly on the side of the Hurricanes, who ran in three tries in a row, two of them converted. A brilliant try by Pasqualle Dunn brought the Blues back into it in the last quarter, before the fight back was finally scuppered by a yellow card to Sam Nock and a 98th minute try to the away side.
But head coach Tana Umaga will be pleased with what he saw. Though the Blues’ discipline let them down at times, young guns Collins and Dunn impressed, and veterans Kara Pryor and Melani Nanai showed they’re tracking well for the new season ahead.
“We are pretty happy with what we saw,” Umaga said. “We gave the players a good hit-out, tried to implement some of the things we have been working on and we have come away without any injuries.
“We finished with a young and green group who have been training their butts off for eight week filling in for our All Blacks – we had nearly a whole starting 15 on the sideline and they gave a good account of themselves.”
Scores:
Blues 33 (Michael Collins 2, Ambrose Curtis, Piers Francis, Pasqualle Dunn; Ihaia West 3 conversions)
Hurricanes 38 (Ngani Laumape, Jeffery Toomaga-Allen, Chris Eves; Jordie Barret 1 conversion, Otere Black 2 conversions, Tiaan Falcon 1 conversion)
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@Tim veterans Pryor and Nanai? 😎
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@taniwharugby Yeah, that did raise an eyebrow.
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@Stargazer said in 2017 Super Rugby - Preseason games:
@Duluth Thanks for the updates! What was your impression of both teams? Which players stood out, if any? Noticed any particular issues? I know it's only a PS game, but I really would have liked to be able to watch these games.
I'm sure both sides are unhappy with the number of penalties. The Blues late in the first half and the Canes late in the second half.
Most of the penalties were for offside.. I think they were more 'lack of urgency' offsides rather than cheating. It's worth noting that it was stinking hot so that probably explains some of the effortCanes would be concerned about the scrum in the first half
I wouldn't read too much into anything else. I was paying more attention to the Blues but most of the starting XV were subbed around half time. Attack became one off the ruck, running into contact.
The initial Blues locking pair worked well together - Tupou (who was captain) and Scrafton. With PT missing that might be the starting second row.
They had an interesting initial loosie combo too:
7 Gibson
8 Ioane
6 Pryor
I would have thought Gibson would be the one more likely to move to blindside..Some other comments on the Canes:
- Lowe was impressive at centre
- Luamape is a beast. Using him off the bench against tiring defence makes sense.
- J Barrett needs to use his arms when he tackles
- Goosen looks flakey under the high ball. Canes fans should be nervous if he starts matches
- NMS was tidy without any freakish moments. He spent a lot of time at first receiver.
- Clearly I paid no attention to the Canes pack
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One area of improvement will be avoiding giving away so many penalties at the tackle and breakdown, but Umaga said it wasn't a big issue.
"We wanted the referees to be very hard on us so we can adapt...it's not a hard one, our boys just need to be disciplined around that area."Simple, effective messaging. The question will be if Tana has managed to address an obvious work on for the Blues over the last few years; discipline and effort.
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@Stargazer Seems defence was optional in the last 15 mins.
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Went to the blues pre season as well and the open day before it. Kids loved it and got a few autographs, met the players etc. My crack up son said Sbw could only sign his arm and not his blues jersey as he was yet to prove himself as a blues player haha. Was in front of Jerome too who we know from school and kids rugby quite well. He just laughed!
