Blues v Hurricanes
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Blues named.
Papalii out with minor injury/illness. Huge loss.
SBW, Ofa and Nanai back.
- Matt Duffie, 14. Rieko Ioane, 13. Orbyn Leger, 12. Sonny Bill Williams, 11. Caleb Clarke, 10. Stephen Perofeta, 9. Augustine Pulu ©; 8. Akira Ioane, 7. Murphy Taramai, 6. Jerome Kaino, 5. Gerard Cowley-Tuioti, 4. Patrick Tuipulotu, 3. Ofa Tuungafasi, 2. James Parsons, 1. Ross Wright.
Reserves: 16. Matt Moulds, 17. Pauliasi Manu, 18. Sione Mafileo, 19. Ben Nee-Nee or Lyndon Dunshea, 20. Kara Pryor, 21. Jonathan Ruru or Sam Nock, 22. Dan Kirkpatrick, 23 Melani Nanai.
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Really? Caleb Clarke is a good enough player to push the best 11 in the world to 14?
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@no-quarter Rieko can play 11 or 14 - played 14 for the Blues in his debut season in 2016. I'd rather shift Rieko to 14 than the one match rookie.
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@KiwiMurph fair enough. From an All Blacks perspective I'd rather he plays 11 all year. He's played 11, 12, (I think) 13 and 14 so far. Tana doing his best to ensure he doesn't hit top form by constantly shuffling him. Is he trying to turn him into Toeava v2.0?
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@kiwimurph said in Blues v Hurricanes:
Blues named.
Papalii out with minor injury/illness. Huge loss.
More so when it's Taramai that replaces him in the 7 jersey.
Man what a huge last 12 months for Ross Wright.
From 2016 he looked out of shape (even by his standards) came back in probably the best shape I had seen him in for 2017 M10 Cup, initially wasn't even in line as a starting prop, injury gave him a shot, went on tour with NZ Maori and then picked up by the Blues and now a 2nd start (has Moulds even started 2 games in his 3 years?) not bad for a 31 year old!!
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@taniwharugby Agreed. Meanwhile Blake Gibson still nowhere to be seen - despite being back at training weeks ago - has he had another injury - who knows - Blues are awful at communicating injuries.
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@hooroo said in Blues v Hurricanes:
I see someone is going to make the easiest $23k this year!
Bombed a $100k bet on the Canes beating the Blues @$1.23
That's a multi booster for all having a punt this weekend
Ha - that guy hasn't taken into account the return of Sonny-Bill who is seriously pissed off at everyone dissing his man Tana. He's turning up to show everyone just why he gets paid the big bucks!*
*May be sent off in the third minute for a no arms shoulder charge that breaks Beaudy's jaw!
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@taniwharugby said in Blues v Hurricanes:
Man what a huge last 12 months for Ross Wright.
From 2016 he looked out of shape (even by his standards) came back in probably the best shape I had seen him in for 2017 M10 Cup, initially wasn't even in line as a starting prop, injury gave him a shot, went on tour with NZ Maori and then picked up by the Blues and now a 2nd start (has Moulds even started 2 games in his 3 years?) not bad for a 31 year old!!
Technically he's only at the Blues as a short term injury replacement too.
Unfortunately it also says a bit about the decline of Pauliasi Manu. I don't think he ever reached his previous standards after returning from that long injury
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@duluth he started a game at hooker didn't he, or was he only a replacement?
Not a huge number have done that (play prop and hooker) Tom McCartney may have done it too (although was hooker/prop)
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Wright was the bench hooker in the 3rd game (vs Lions) since then he has been used as a prop. A prop injury on that tour changed his role.
It makes his starting spot even more unlikely. Called up on a short term deal as a HookerMcCartney? Fairly sure he started a Blues match at LH. He did that more for Auckland and even had a game at TH
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Taramai's rating in this side seems to go up and down constantly
At the end of last season his contract wasn't extended. A few months later they changed their minds and gave him another contract.
Early in this season, despite injuries at 7, he suddenly got passed by Kiri Kiri who wasn't in the original squad.
Kiri Kiri held that spot despite being shit.Then players returned from injury and he seemed to be behind both Papalii and Pryor (although Taramai had a brief injury somewhere around here)
Now he's ahead of Pryor again
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@stargazer Yes that line up should be quite decent and on paper they are. The problem comes when they are on grass and have never met each other, or if they have it was in another position. That whole combination and team thing.
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Hurricanes
15 Nehe Milner-Skudder
14 Julian Savea
13 Matt Proctor
12 Ngani Laumape
11 Ben Lam
10 Beauden Barrett
9 Finlay Christie
8 Gareth Evans
7 Ardie Savea
6 Brad Shields (c)
5 Sam Lousi
4 Vaea Fifita
3 Jeff Toomaga-Allen
2 Ricky Riccitelli
1 Toby SmithReserves
16 James O'Reilly
17 Chris Eves
18 Ben May
19 Michael Fatialofa
20 Blade Thomson
21 TJ Perenara
22 Ihaia West
23 TBCPERENARA RETURNS TO HURRICANES SQUAD FOR BLUES MATCH
Vice-captain TJ Perenara will make his comeback to the Hurricanes squad via the bench on Friday night against the Blues at Eden Park. Perenara has been sidelined since early April after injuring his knee against the Sharks in the Investec Super Rugby match in Napier but has made excellent progress in his rehabilitation. His inclusion is one of five changes to the match-day squad from the one that beat the Lions 28-19 at Westpac Stadium last Saturday. The depth at lock has seen Hurricanes head coach Chris Boyd rotate players within the squad with Sam Lousi starting in the second row with Michael Fatialofa moving to the bench. Wing Vince Aso was originally named to start but has been withdrawn because of a wrist injury and replaced by Julian Savea. A decision on who will be in the reserves will be made later on Wednesday. Prop Ben May has recovered from illness after he was withdrawn late for the Lions match while Blade Thomson makes a welcome return to the squad. Boyd said the squad was excited at the opportunity to head north to Eden Park for its first away match against a New Zealand club this season. Kick-off at Eden Park is 7.35pm. -
@stargazer said in Blues v Hurricanes:
15 Nehe Milner-Skudder
14 Julian Savea
13 Matt Proctor
12 Ngani Laumape
11 Ben Lam
10 Beauden Barrett
9 Finlay Christie
8 Gareth Evans
7 Ardie Savea
6 Brad Shields (c)
5 Sam Lousi
4 Vaea Fifita
3 Jeff Toomaga-Allen
2 Ricky Riccitelli
1 Toby SmithReserves
16 James O'Reilly
17 Chris Eves
18 Ben May
19 Michael Fatialofa
20 Blade Thomson
21 TJ Perenara
22 Ihaia West
23 TBCStuff is reporting that the 23 is Jordie Barrett
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@duluth said in Blues v Hurricanes:
Stuff is reporting that the 23 is Jordie Barrett
Yeah, that article from Bidwell must have been written/updated after the Canes' media release was posted.
Injury update Vince Aso:
Aso ... suffered a wrist injury that might rule him out for weeks and which forced the Hurricanes to name a squad to meet the Blues on Friday that included some bloke called TBC. Jordie Barrett eventually passed a fitness test to claim that vacant place and join TJ Perenara on the bench to play at Eden Park. But that's scant consolation for Aso, who had been named to start on the right wing. Julian Savea will now play there instead. He had an X-ray on a wrist that's inconclusive and we haven't been able to get in to have an MRI scan until tomorrow. Either way he's not right for the weekend," Hurricanes coach Chris Boyd said. -
@stargazer said in Blues v Hurricanes:
You can say what you like about individual players, but that Blues line-up looks pretty good to me.
Kind of our point about the coaching. When this sort of lineup was put out earlier in the season, before some of the injuries, the team still looked disorganised.
