Blues Women v Chiefs Manawa
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Sunday 20 March 2022 - 7.35pm
Blues women
The nib Blues will be buoyed with the return of captain Aroha Savage and experienced Black Fern Eloise Blackwell for the key clash against Chiefs Manawa in Sky Super Rugby Aupiki in Hamilton on Sunday.
Coach Willie Walker has chosen largely the same side that beat the South Island Matatu side mid-week. -
The Chiefs have named their team but then it disappeared from their website. Fluhler is back to play at centre.
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Chiefs Manawa
1 Angel Mulu
2 Luka Connor
3 Tanya Kalounivale
4 Pia Tapsell
5 Harono Te Iringa
6 Victoria Edmonds
7 Les Elder ©
8 Kennedy Simon
9 Arihiana Marino-Tauhinu
10 Kelly Brazier
11 Ruby Tui
12 Carla Hohepa
13 Stacey Fluhler*
14 Portia Woodman
15 Hazel TubicReserves:
16 Grace Houpapa-Barrett
17 Awhina Tangen-Wainohu
18 Santo Taumata
19 Chyna Hohepa
20 Mia Anderson
21 Tynealle Fitzgerald
22 Ariana Bayler
23 Chelsea Semple
24 Renee Wickliffe
25 Langi Veainu*Denotes Waitomo Chiefs Manawa debutant
Unavailable for selection
Kelsie Wills. -
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Got my tickets. Excited as hell.
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That's a handy looking Chiefs backline (if they were playing 7s)
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Chiefs Manawa lead 8-0 at HT. It would be nice if they could win a lineout!
The rain will be on its way.
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One-way traffic. Chiefs Manawa putting on a clinic. By far the best team in Super Rugby Aupiki.
Having some of the best Black Ferns 7s/XV combo players in the squad helps. Good job from coach Bunting.
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All Chiefs.
Have been lucky enough to have more game time in the comp and lead up but it would also have been weird for Blues to take the trophy after default points.
Hopefully next year we get a better comp because this has been entertaining.
Also hopefully the Selectors for the RWC has seen what they need. -
Christ what was the penalty count? Never had a doubt that Manawa would win.
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@yeetyaah said in Blues Women v Chiefs Manawa:
Christ what was the penalty count?
The number of penalties has been a theme across all of the games. Discipline will be something that the Black Ferns will need to work on because we know what the likes of England and France will do when they can kick to the corner.
Never had a doubt that Manawa would win.
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Why only 35 minute halves? (You can tell I haven't watched many ... any ... hames prior.)
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Rolling subs, 25-strong squads and 35-minute halves were some of the adjustments in the name of player welfare due to the Covid-19 disruptions in the delayed build-up to this inaugural competition.
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@stargazer said in Blues Women v Chiefs Manawa:
One-way traffic. Chiefs Manawa putting on a clinic. By far the best team in Super Rugby Aupiki.
Having some of the best Black Ferns 7s/XV combo players in the squad helps. Good job from coach Bunting.
I'm at 42 mins ... and against 13 and a 6 player scrum with both starting props on the pine ... it should be one way traffic.
Enjoyed it so far and Chiefs Manawa the beteter team till now regardless of cards.
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I've quite rated the ref so far too. Well in control. Can't really identify any area I've thought she's got wrong.
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@booboo said in Blues Women v Chiefs Manawa:
I've quite rated the ref so far too. Well in control. Can't really identify any area I've thought she's got wrong.
Yeah. Maintain ref was good.
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@booboo said in Blues Women v Chiefs Manawa:
I've quite rated the ref so far too. Well in control. Can't really identify any area I've thought she's got wrong.
The second YC was a bit baffling.
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@crucial said in Blues Women v Chiefs Manawa:
@booboo said in Blues Women v Chiefs Manawa:
I've quite rated the ref so far too. Well in control. Can't really identify any area I've thought she's got wrong.
The second YC was a bit baffling.
That was a terrible decision.
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@yeetyaah 25-9 in favour of the Chiefs.
Wasn't a fan of the way the breakdown gets reffed in the women games. As @Bovidae said, the defensive team always get favoured at breakdown when a lot of the time they don't even allow the ball to get released, on top of players not even supporting their bodyweight, hence the massive penalty counts and it really stunts the flow of these games.
Other than that, I thought it was a decent enough tournament and when there wasn't a penalty blown every 2 seconds, the Chiefs looked very good. Well done to them.
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@african-monkey said in Blues Women v Chiefs Manawa:
@yeetyaah 25-9 in favour of the Chiefs.
Wasn't a fan of the way the breakdown gets reffed in the women games. As @Bovidae said, the defensive team always get favoured at breakdown when a lot of the time they don't even allow the ball to get released, on top of players not even supporting their bodyweight, hence the massive penalty counts and it really stunts the flow of these games.
Other than that, I thought it was a decent enough tournament and when there wasn't a penalty blown every 2 seconds, the Chiefs looked very good. Well done to them.
Is that because the refs get more practice at Sevens where rucks are blown very quickly?
As I said earlier, I found the games entertaining so wouldn't moan too much about reffing style.
Man, we need to get some more gametine and coaching in though so that coaches can spot flaws and have time to work on them.
As an example the Blues THP had a bad lack of technique against mauls. Would just lean on them while upright. She was a sizable unit but no help. A coach with time to work on skills would show her how to crouch and drive with her legs or lock in.
Can't blame the coaches though, they only have time to get patterns and set pieces praticed.
NZR talk about pathways for the womens game but need to make that a reality. That starts with the FPC and a comp that provides more games with more 'pressure' games too. Maybe a tiered or regional structure for the first half of the tourney? -
@stargazer also playing their 4th game on the bounce which included the preseason game against Matatu, not to mention stacked to the gunnels ,why Portia Woodman is playing for the Chiefs who the hell knows ..?, against a team only playing their 2nd full game ..
There was nothing fair about this comp , If this was the Mens Super Rugby Comp it would be all over the media .. -
@steven-harris Yeah, it would have been better if Woodman had played for the Blues, and Tui and Brazier for Matatū. I guess its one of the consequences of the BF7s being based in Mt Maunganui.
Can't really complain about the rest. The whole covid situation has ruined things. If the players were full-time professionals, they could have postponed games instead of cancelling them, but they aren't.
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There were 3 current Black Ferns from the Chiefs region that were playing for other teams (Poua and Matatū). The Chiefs are fortunate to have 3 strong teams so have a good player base, without having to use other BF7s players like Blyde.
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Chiefs Manawa also took rookies from other areas into their squad so that other franchises didn't have to be weaker in accommodating them. eg Maia Joseph
Give things a chance. It will always take a handful of seasons for teams to settle as players look for better opportunities rather than being in stacked squads. There will still be an element of it but not perhaps as much.
Re: the BF7s thing, they themselves are rebuilding and most of the Sevens players will be concentrating on that format. Bit of a perfect storm this year with 'senior' players wanting a big flourish with CG and RWC representation before retiring.
The teams themselves know that they could only play the cards dealt so I doubt there will be much bragging about the win. They would all prefer a full home and away comp.