Western Force vs Hurricanes
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With the Force playing Moana Pasifika tomorrow and with certain players ruled out last minute before our game against the Rebels, does anyone have the inside word on who will be travelling to Perth?
The Force will be on their third game in the space of seven days so should we really bother sending the likes of Ardie and Jordie all the way over to Perth before the playoffs…
Others that could do with a rest are Howden, Lomax, Morgan and Walker-Leawere. I feel like they’ve played plenty of minutes lately.
@Stargazer have you heard anything more about how D Flanders is trucking?
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@Canes4life No idea about Flanders, but he hasn't been back playing club rugby yet, so I think it's safe to say he won't be on the plane to Perth. Would love to be wrong though.
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Interesting last round.
As you suggest canes4life we could send a bit of a B team.
The Reds have the Saders, and the Tahs have the Blues. You'd expect the NZ teams to get up so even if we lost we'd still stay in 5th.
I could see the Tahs winning at home though since it's a nothing game for the Blues.
Most likely we'll play the Chiefs, but if we slip up most likely we'll be away to the Brumbies. I think I'd rather play the Chiefs than the Brumbies away TBH. Brumbies play the type of rugby the Canes don't normally cope well with.
The tricky thing would be if the Force get 5 against Moana, then they will still be in with a chance to make the 8 if they beat us, so they could go all out.
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Just thinking some more - are the Drua a chance against the Chiefs? If they get up we'd want to beat the Force and get the home quarter.
Weighing it all up I think I'd still pick a strong team. Try finish 4th or 5th at worst. Away to the Saders or Brumbies would be much harder than the Chiefs.
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@foobaNZ said in Western Force vs Hurricanes:
Just thinking some more - are the Drua a chance against the Chiefs? If they get up we'd want to beat the Force and get the home quarter.
Weighing it all up I think I'd still pick a strong team. Try finish 4th or 5th at worst. Away to the Saders or Brumbies would be much harder than the Chiefs.
Canes will go all out against the Force with a chance for 4th.
Playing in Fiji is not an easy task and has banana skin written all over it. -
@foobaNZ said in Western Force vs Hurricanes:
Interesting last round.
As you suggest canes4life we could send a bit of a B teamIt a tough one. Have tired (or injured) players for the semi's due to travel etc or take a punt on a side missing 5th spot. I would take a punt and rest key players where the team is well covered. Esp as some have recently had the flu it seems
But as mentioned by crucial 4th is also possible. But very unlikely.
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@Winger said in Western Force vs Hurricanes:
@foobaNZ said in Western Force vs Hurricanes:
Interesting last round.
As you suggest canes4life we could send a bit of a B teamIt a tough one. Have tired (or injured) players for the semi's due to travel etc or take a punt on a side missing 5th spot. I would take a punt and rest key players where the team is well covered. Esp as some have recently had the flu it seems
But as mentioned above by crucial 4th is also possible. But very unlikley
I hope they don't send a 'B' team, like the idea of going for it, if there any chance of making top 4.
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Ah but a lot of Holland's B selections are better than his A selections, so that's a twist!
As long as Ardie goes we're fine, he has pretty much dragged the canes over the line two or three times this season, we'd be hanging around with the Highlanders without him.
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@Machpants said in Western Force vs Hurricanes:
Ah but a lot of Holland's B selections are better than his A selections, so that's a twist!
As long as Ardie goes we're fine, he has pretty much dragged the canes over the line two or three times this season, we'd be hanging around with the Highlanders without him.
Nah the Canes aren’t that bad mate. We actually have a bit of depth in most positions, something the Landers don’t have as we saw on the weekend.
The Canes have had a massively disrupted season with injuries aswell and we have coped admirably to be fair. Ardie doesn’t need to go to Perth for us to win, guys like Howden, Laubsher etc are all more than capable of slotting in there as we’ve seen recently.
I’m confident that if we send a team similar to the one that played the Drua, and more recently the Rebels that we will come away with the points. It’s not necessarily a B team, it’s just that we won’t have to risk the likes of Barrett and ASav before the playoffs which to me is the smart thing to do.
Something like the below would do nicely with a few additional players as travelling reserves.
- Pouri Rakete-Stones
- Dane Coles
- Owen Franks
- Scott Scrafton
- Justin Sangster
- Caleb Delany
- Blake Gibson
- Tyler Laubsher (if fit)
- TJ Perenara
- Ruben Love
- Salesi Rayasi
- Peter Umaga-Jensen
- Bailyn Sullivan
- Wes Goosen
- Josh Moorby
- Asafo Aumua
- Xavier Numia
- Pasilio Tosi
- Tom Parsons
- Du Plessis Kirifi
- Cam Roigard
- Jackson Garden-Bachop
- Billy Proctor
That means we can rest J Barrett, A Morgan, J Savea, A Savea, I Walker-Leawere, J Blackwell, T Mafileo, TK Howden and Tyrel Lomax who have all had big shifts lately.
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UPDATE: Going from the photos on Getty it looks like a good chunk of the side hasn’t made Tuesday training, a worry considering they fly out tomorrow.
This could be further effects from the flu that ripped through the squad on Saturday.
There is no sign of Aumua, ASavea, I Walker-Leawere, Perenara, Lomax, J Barrett, R Love, D Coles, P Umaga-Jensen, TK Howden and probably a few more.
Looks like all of Prinsep, Iose, Patafilo and Bird are all there now though which is interesting.
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@Canes4life Looking at those photos, it's impossible to predict a full line-up, because sometimes a player wears a bib with a number and in other photos it's another player wearing the same number. Again in other photos you see them just in a training jersey without number. For example, in one photo Wes Goosen wears the bib with no. 14 and J Savea just a number-less jersey; in another photo Julian wears the bib with no. 14. Same with Scrafton and Blackwell and the no. 4 bib. Both Iose and Prinsep wearing the no. 8 bib in some photos and no bib in others. Ah, the suspense ....
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@Stargazer yeah that's what I was thinking aswell. I wonder how many players who weren't there today will make the plane? Could be a bit of a makeshift Canes team for this week but it's not like they haven't dealt with distruptions already this season. I will back us to beat the Force no matter who we send over.
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well then in the words of John Campbell go the Hurricanes!!!
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I'd like to see Tosi start a game for once. He's exclusively seen as an impact player. But he was good in each of his short outings so far so why not try him in the starting XV to see how he can scrummage, lift or move bodies in the rucks. He could add some muscle in a lightweight frontfive.
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Hurricanes
1 Pouri Rakete-Stones, 2 Dane Coles, 3 Owen Franks, 4 James Blackwell, 5 Justin Sangster, 6 Caleb Delany, 7 Du'Plessis Kirifi, 8 Brayden Iose, 9 TJ Perenara (c), 10 Aidan Morgan, 11 Salesi Rayasi, 12 Billy Proctor, 13 Bailyn Sullivan, 14 Wes Goosen, 15 Josh Moorby
Reserves: 16 Asafo Aumua, 17 Xavier Numia, 18 Tevita Mafileo, 19 Blake Gibson, 20 Ardie Savea, 21 Jamie Booth, 22 Jackson Garden-Bachop, 23 Teihorangi Walden
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@Stargazer said in Western Force vs Hurricanes:
Hurricanes
1 Pouri Rakete-Stones, 2 Dane Coles, 3 Owen Franks, 4 James Blackwell, 5 Justin Sangster, 6 Caleb Delany, 7 Du'Plessis Kirifi, 8 Brayden Iose, 9 TJ Perenara (c), 10 Aidan Morgan, 11 Salesi Rayasi, 12 Billy Proctor, 13 Bailyn Sullivan, 14 Wes Goosen, 15 Josh Moorby
Reserves: 16 Asafo Aumua, 17 Xavier Numia, 18 Tevita Mafileo, 19 Blake Gibson, 20 Ardie Savea, 21 Jamie Booth, 22 Jackson Garden-Bachop, 23 Teihorangi Walden
Bit of a mix, should be to much for the force, touch wood!
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@Machpants Delany looks to be lock cover. Pretty solid side considering the circumstances.
Good to see Brayden Iose returning, thought he was gone for the season.
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@Stargazer Billy Proctor must the signing of the century now that he is good enough to be a starter at second five, along with fullback, winger and centre. J. Garden-Bachop must be getting the shakes that the selectors will also unearth some hitherto unknow latent talent in Proctor that makes him the next big thing at first five.
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@Higgins lol are you alright mate? 😂
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Lol poor PUJ can't even make the 23 for a game like this.
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@foobaNZ he was coughing after the game on Sat and didn’t make training on Tuesday so wouldn’t be surprised if he was still sick.
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There is a long list as being unavailable for selection:
Devan Flanders, Reed Prinsep, Pepesana Patafilo, Dominic Bird, Ruben Love, Alex Fidow, Tyrel Lomax, Isaia Walker-Leawere, TK Howden, Tyler Laubscher, Peter Umaga-Jensen, Jordie Barrett
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@Canes4life oh right - probably wouldn't have been picked anyway, unfortunately!
This should be a great game. Force will go all out to give themselves a shot at the 8.
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Ardie on the bench to come to the rescue if required.
Force have a sniff of the finals (or at least want to put pressure on the Landers)
A loss for the Canes and a win for the Tahs over a shadow Blues side could end up with Canes having to go to Canberra which won't be an easy task.
Canes fans have every right to be a little nervous. -
@Bovidae said in Western Force vs Hurricanes:
There is a long list as being unavailable for selection:
Devan Flanders, Reed Prinsep, Pepesana Patafilo, Dominic Bird, Ruben Love, Alex Fidow, Tyrel Lomax, Isaia Walker-Leawere, TK Howden, Tyler Laubscher, Peter Umaga-Jensen, Jordie Barrett
That must be about the first time the Canes have included an "unavailable" list in their media release!
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@Stargazer I got that from the article on allblacks.com.
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@Crucial said in Western Force vs Hurricanes:
Ardie on the bench to come to the rescue if required.
Force have a sniff of the finals (or at least want to put pressure on the Landers)
A loss for the Canes and a win for the Tahs over a shadow Blues side could end up with Canes having to go to Canberra which won't be an easy task.
Canes fans have every right to be a little nervous.It’s got banana skin written all over it but I think we’ll be too good. I think three games in one week will be too much for the Force aswell.
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Coach Jason Holland and All Black Jordie Barrett did not travel to Perth for their clash with the Force at HBF Park after being grounded by the flu.
The flu has gone through the Hurricanes squad in the last week with a handful of players, including both hookers Dane Coles and Asafo Aumua, late withdrawals from last weekend’s win over the Rebels.
Assistant coach Chris Gibbes, who missed last weekend’s match with the flu, will step up with Holland stuck at home. -
Media release:
Prior to lead club in milestone match | Latest Rugby News | Western Force
Head coach Tim Sampson has named an unchanged line-up for Saturday night’s massive Round 15 match-up with the Hurricanes at HBF Park.
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@Stargazer interesting selections, you'd think Kaitu'u, Rodda and Godwin would be starting in a game like this.
The Force 7, 8 and 13 are all fairly light weight for their positions.
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@Stargazer said in Western Force vs Hurricanes:
Coach Jason Holland and All Black Jordie Barrett did not travel to Perth for their clash with the Force at HBF Park after being grounded by the flu.
So a positive and a negative.
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@Canes4life He’s just been named at 12 for Wainuiomata so can’t be too bad.
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@mikey07 lol you're joking. I suppose if he was too unwell at the time when they had to board the plane then he was never a chance.
We may never seem him in a Canes jersey again which is a real shame.
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@Canes4life That’s what I’m hoping, but more then likely the latter my mates friends with him and he told him Holland really doesn’t like him but wouldn’t go into further detail.
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@Canes4life said in Western Force vs Hurricanes:
@Machpants Delany looks to be lock cover. Pretty solid side considering the circumstances.
Good to see Brayden Iose returning, thought he was gone for the season.
He was!
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I hope Gibbes understands that win/lose tonight we will be playing the Brumbies next week so I hope he doesn’t even risk Ardie now that nothing rides on this game.
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hoping Jeremy Thrush can grab himself 1 last meat pie
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@FakatavaFuture haha he looks pumped up.
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BlackwellðŸ˜
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@FakatavaFuture typical tits for hands.
