@African-Monkey said in Chiefs v Blues:

@Canes4life We've won 2 of the last 3 there and beat them 25-0 last year with Barrett having a blinder in both victories.

Nevertheless, Chiefs to win by 10.

I finally had a chance to watch this game. Good to see Wrampling have a strong game until he had to leave the field with cramp. I hadn't realised he was still so young, being eligible for the U20s next year too. Gabe Robinson did his NZ U20 chances no harm either.

@ploughboy said in Waratahs v Chiefs:

i feel we are strugling at tighthead this season. ryan not us good as last season and dyer finding his feet.

Yeah, Ryan is finding the scrummaging is different in SR compared to Europe. The main thing is just to have a solid platform on your own ball.

@Stargazer said in Chiefs v Rebels:

@KiwiMurph said in Chiefs v Rebels:

Late change

DMac in for Ioane on the bench

Not because of an injury. Sad to read on Ioane's instagram that his father passed away (cancer).

The black armbands suggested someone had died.

@Steven-Harris said in Chiefs v Highlanders:

Dawai has been good

His best game for the Highlanders I thought. Not a big sample size so far though. 🙂

@cgrant said in Moana Pasifika v Chiefs:

There is also Finau in contention for a bench spot. I like his physicality.

I'm a fan too, but I was still surprised he made the bench in game 1.

The Chiefs are short on THP

Yes, and the injuries to Ta'avao and Moli haven't helped, which is why there was an SOS to Ryan. Dyer is only 23. The majority of the young props in the Chiefs system that I am familiar with are LHs.

@Crucial Any idea if Alex Harford will feature this year for the Saders?

For the Blues, I noticed that Darry had a knee brace on. One of the Lay brothers had a moon boot on.

Darry torn/ruptured LCL.
James Lay suspected lisfranc injury on the OTHER foot 🤦‍♂️

@Bovidae malimali looked dangerous on the few occasions he was given the ball could be useful

I hate that we lost a test that was there for the taking, but on the “firsts”, I’m a little less fussed/shocked about the fact we lost to the Argies at home. We play them twice a year and have been doing so for a few years now, plus they have coaches that are very familiar with AB rugby, add to that their development, it was bound to happen.

This doesn’t remove all the issues we are seeing with our play etc.

@cliff said in Chiefs 2023:

@Bovidae perhaps most of them will be playing against the blues A in the curtain raiser before the main game

I didn't realise there was another Dev match, as the Chiefs don't publicise these games. I might go along earlier then.

@pakman said in SF Crusaders v Chiefs:

@kiwi_expat said in SF Crusaders v Chiefs:

@Canes4life said in SF Crusaders v Chiefs:

Can Robertson just take Foster’s place already.

Yep, Incredible defense. Every Crusaders player knew what to do in every situation. Their line speed in defence, the outside defender coming up quicker to shut wide play down, only three max in the tackle, another defensive line quickly forming behind the ruck, and great communication. Then rinse and repeat. Brilliant coaching, Robertson surely has the best defensive set-up in the Southern Hemisphere.

A big part of this is ruck judgement. If ball not obvious to be won, Chch is excellent at clearing their players out so arguably the ruck has ended. I'm not sure where the offside line is in such instances but they appear to line up parallel with the foremost opposition player. So in practice, perhaps 2m downfield from where the halfback picks up the ball.

By the time the ball gets to the oppo first five Chch defense is over the advantage line.

Really makes it difficult to impossible to get go forward from slow ball.

My gut tells me the offside line needs to be moved further back, but not sure exactly how to achieve that.

Maybe make it 5m back from front of first oppo player at the ruck which was?

5m gaps are very hard to police and would end up with lots of debatable calls. I thought that interpretation they tried of being 'clearly onside' rather than 'clearly offside' worked well. It wouldn't stop good ruck management defence like that you describe but it made a very clear method for the AR to identify those small half steps that make a big difference in these situations.

(I'm not complaint about anything in this game here just discussing the offside line topic)

As far as tackling is concerned, Finau is the most Kainoesque loose forward in NZ.

I have finally skimmed through a viewing of this game. The Chiefs were completely dominated in the tackle so the backs were always on the back foot. Losing both 1st 5s by HT didn't help the Chiefs but I don't think it would have mattered.

Noah Hotham was definitely the most influential player on the field.

Te Hiwi was one of the form midfield backs in the tournament so deserves selection for the NZ U20s IMO.

@ploughboy going from today’s result it looks like you have enough talent to pick from.

If only the game lasted 70 mins. Those conditions were very foreign to NZ teams, and there weren't many Chiefs who didn't drop the ball at some stage. None of the subs really has much positive impact on the game.

Nankivell looked disinterested on the wing.

I am assuming Trask will be out with concussion so a big decision to be made on who plays at fullback. I think McMillan might go with Ioane.

As I understand it Brial is available for NZ U/20 selection that is why he is playing in this tournament for the Crusaders.

Just an add on the Family Michael Brial etc have been living in Queenstown since Joe was 9.So as I understand it the whole family has moved permanently to NZ.Even though Joe went back to Australia for secondary school.

@Crucial

Given that Stevenson is probably part of our best back three (leaving, I assume, which is why he is unsighted), I'd say our best back three should be (11) ENS, (14) Lowe, (15) Stevenson.

However, McMillan will have to select his BOP baby, so the best we can hope for is ENS, Lowe, and Trask.

@Canes4life said in Rebels v Chiefs:

@ACT-Crusader atleast we beat the Tahs. 😂

We’ve been underdogs all season.

Hopefully a few more players like Retallick, Ioane and Weber are back on deck this weekend or next, maybe even Stevenson. McMillan really needs to decide on his best back three from here on, and must realise that Gatland and Trask can't start together.

The Chiefs have played the 3 best Aust teams to date so as long as they win their remaining 3 games should secure 4th position and a home QF. That said, their away record is much better than their home record this season.

Ross rightly got props for his work at scrum time, but one thing which spider cam showed was how much Taukei’aho worked with him to overwhelm the TH. Impressive stuff when that was Tupou!
Must be one of first names down on AB team sheet.

@gt12 said in Chiefs v Waratahs:

How fucking good is Lord?

That line out take in the 23rd minute was sweeet.

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@stargazer said in Chiefs vs Moana Pasifika:

@bovidae I saw a photo of Stevenson after the game walking with crutches. Didn't look good, but could just be to ease the pain. Fingers crossed.

Yeah, I read that on Stuff. The options for the outside backs could be very thin. Narawa and Trask were already out, Lowe looks to be being held together with strapping, and ENS was troubled with a hamstring in the 2nd half before being replaced.

I'd rather see him in a black jersey than G. Bridge. The latter is known to be safe (that 2022 SA game aside) but is not of international calibre in terms of danger for the opposition.
It would be interesting to see his stats (defenders beaten, meters gained, aso).

@machpants

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@shark said in Chiefs vs Crusaders:

@shark said in Chiefs vs Crusaders:

@duluth said in Chiefs vs Crusaders:

Saying "He'll go well back at 6" is writing him off

What a retard

Fuck off. You said: I think he disappointed at 8 because he lacks the skillset.

Yeah, looked very lacking in skillset last week, for sure.

Apologies for the language, seems a bit OTT upon reflection 😉

At least you didn't slap anyone 🙂

@stockcar86 said in Moana Pasifika vs Chiefs:

@bones said in Moana Pasifika vs Chiefs:

@shark I think I first started when he confused So'oialo with Conrad Smith

Maybe there needs to be a concussion protocol for commentators - get too many names wrong and they sub in Sumo for 10 minutes while Nisbo is off trying to remember what colour undies he has on

That will work, 10 minutes of Sumo nicknames only, then bring on TJ to get overexcited about anyone tangentiality related to Tasman/Crusaders and underexcited about anyone tangentially related to the Blues, then bring on Laban to tell us what school everyone went to and piss off anyone not already pissed off.

During the last ten minutes, the Crusaders front five was : Bower - Klein - Pole - Gardiner - Whitelock, barely NPC level. Easy task for the Chiefs to outmuscle them.

Blues post match press conference

@kiwiwomble said in Blues/Chiefs/Highlanders game of 3 halves:

anyone give a bit of an over view of the Landers? kind of feel we were just holding on even thought we were fielding pretty much full strength teams

Will probably see a lot more of the style they want to play in the real games but I thought they were just lacking enterprise in their play (for Super). Gregory made good ground quite often but usually then died with the ball as there was no support or anticipated runs off him.
Forwards seemed OK (against the Chiefs)

@bones said in Waratahs v Chiefs:

@nostrildamus already plenty of turnover "specialists" in the squad weren't there, what else did he offer? It's not like others (including Kirifi) weren't also doing brilliantly at turnovers, as well as excelling in other areas.

He has a fantastic surname, ripe for puns.

@bovidae. Yep I would like to see Brodie back... But I noted the others playing club as is Finn Hoeata.

@stargazer said in Reds v Chiefs:

@booboo said in Reds v Chiefs:

And further, at the risk of ridicule, I still think the red was harsh.

It was understandable in terms of the protocol, but I still have reservations. To my mind he wasn't attempting a tackle, he ran into the line that the halfback was running, and there was resultant contact, made to look worse by slomo.

Fire away.

Okay, I'll bite. The red was fully deserved and very similar to that of Alex Hodgman, who got a 3-week suspension. If it was just an unfortunate collision while running into the same line as the Reds' halfback, he wouldn't have jumped and directed his left shoulder towards the halfback's upper body (I assume he intended to hit him in the chest or shoulder). If he was just running, he would have kept both his feet on the ground and ran straight. He would probably have braced for impact with his right arm; instead, he used his left shoulder.

I haven't read the entire thread, but I just would like to add that Weber deserves a Razzie for the worst actor. Faking to be shocked by the decision. 👎🏼

The other thing about that play with DMac going in like that, it also exposed a hole. Poor play all round.

@pakman said in Chiefs v Brumbies:

Watched first half. Jacobson, DMac and ALB all very good. Chiefs scrum dominant. Ross and, in particular, Mafileo getting plaudits. A word also for Vaa’i at TH — excellent grunt and noticeably weakened when he went off, and Taukei'aho, who seems to have been very effective attacking Alaalatoa.

As against Ponies, who Ben Darwin on podcast said were trying a new TH lock behind Alaalatoa. Hames also noted that chiefs scrum lost extreme potency once Vaa'i departed.

The way Tiatia was playing it was more likely to be a try for the Force at the other end of the field.