Blues v Brumbies
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1 Joshua Fusitu’a
2 Ricky Riccitelli
3 James Lay
4 Patrick Tuipulotu
5 Cameron Suafoa
6 Tom Robinson (Adrian Choat)
7 Dalton Papalii
8 Hoskins Sotutu
9 Finlay Christie
10 Beauden Barrett
11 Caleb Clarke
12 Roger Tuivasa-Sheck
13 Rieko Ioane
14 Mark Telea
15 Stephen PerofetaReserves:
16 Kurt Eklund
17 Ofa Tuungafasi
18 Marcel Renata
19 James Tucker
20 Adrian Choat (Anton Segner)
21 Taufa Funaki
22 Bryce Heem
23 Jacob Ratumaitavuki-KneepkensPlayers not considered:
Sam Darry (knee), Akira Ioane (knee), AJ Lam (illness), Sam Nock (calf), Harry Plummer (ribs) -
PAPALII: BLUES READY TO MEET BRUMBIES’ CHALLENGE — Blues Rugby
DHL Super Rugby Pacific hits Melbourne this weekend with the Blues gearing up to take on the Brumbies on Sunday, March 5 at AAMI Park in the penultimate game of Super Round which sees all teams converge on Melbourne for a festival weekend of rugby. Despite being played in Australia, the game is con
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Bit annoyed to not see Zarn in the 23 - he needs to be playing.
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No Zarn again? He's not on the injured list, surely he's a better option than JRK.
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good side, made better by the rissoling of the props especially, and maybe the hooker but i've seen Riccitelli play too many shit games to call him an upgrade on anything.
Robinson in makes the Blues even more of a menace at the breakdown.
If they can be quicker to re-organise on attack this week they should put the brumbies away.
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good to see Tom back, been a long absence from regular play for the big fella.
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Interesting that they haven't gone with Laulala for this one with the Brumbies being a big scrummaging team.
As criticized as he is on here, he murdered the Brumbies scrum in last years semi.
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Hodgman has really fallen away.
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@Bovidae covid
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@Bovidae true think it's in the camp zarn included
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A tough test for the Blues first half front row with Slipper back starting.
And the lineout will be challenged.
Brumbies (1-15): James Slipper, Lachlan Lonergan, Allan Alaalatoa (c), Nick Frost, Cadeyrn Neville, Rob Valetini, Rory Scott, Pete Samu, Ryan Lonergan, Jack Debreczeni, Corey Toole, Tamati Tua, Len Ikitau, Andy Muirhead, Tom Wright.
Replacements: John Ulugia, Blake Schoupp, Rhys Van Nek, Darcy Swain, Luke Reimer, Nic White, Noah Lolesio, Ollie Sapsford. -
@Daffy-Jaffy Toole vs Telea is going to be a fascinating matchup.
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Deadly backline! still looking forward to the day RTS "best player in the world" justify his selection in ABs. but seriously looking forward to seeing Talea run a muck again. why the Canes let him go is beyond me
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@BerhamporeNinja said in Blues v Brumbies:
best player in the world
I don't think this has been said by anyone.
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Blues could struggle up front. I hope they have been putting in the lineout defense work because you know what is coming.
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@Nepia JK said it last week on breakdown
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@BerhamporeNinja said in Blues v Brumbies:
@Nepia JK said it last week on breakdown
Anyone not an idiot … 😏
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@Old-Samurai-Jack so I expect us to smash them up front now after your Blues prediction last week 😉
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@Nepia haha fair call
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@African-Monkey You're welcome.
One day I'll be right about the Clan. Our time is coming!
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@Old-Samurai-Jack Hopefully this week 😉
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@BerhamporeNinja said in Blues v Brumbies:
looking forward to seeing Talea run a muck again. why the Canes let him go is beyond me
I'm guessing you mean Telea? My memory is terrible, I don't recall him being at the canes at all for some reason.
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@Bones said in Blues v Brumbies:
@BerhamporeNinja said in Blues v Brumbies:
looking forward to seeing Talea run a muck again. why the Canes let him go is beyond me
I'm guessing you mean Telea? My memory is terrible, I don't recall him being at the canes at all for some reason.
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@Canes4life yeah that was the first article when I googled.
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BOK being the ref should help the Blues as he'll want to keep the game going.
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@Bovidae said in Blues v Brumbies:
BOK being the ref should help the Blues as he'll want to keep the game going.
You'd hope so. He may struggle with scrum resets though, especially if one team is stronger.
The Chiefs/ Saders game worked well because both teams brought into a decent scrum battle with both feeling they could take the other at any time.
Once the front row 'trickery' takes hold, scrums get messy. Will BOK have the balls to move to free kicks early?Edit: BOK reffed the semi between these two and the Brumbies then coach blew up at him after the game feeling they were robbed. Will be interesting.
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@BerhamporeNinja said in Blues v Brumbies:
Deadly backline! still looking forward to the day RTS "best player in the world" justify his selection in ABs. but seriously looking forward to seeing Talea run a muck again. why the Canes let him go is beyond me
I wouldn't say the Canes let him go, Telea was never fully contracted to the Canes, only in the wider training group, he was also in the Blues wider training group that same year (2019). With the non-contracted players it often requires an injury for them to be promoted to a fully contracted player (see Sevu Reece at the Crusaders, Big Karl at the Chiefs etc).
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Also it's not like he's always been playing like this. I used to think he was a bit flakey, particularly when kicked too.
Something changed last year and his error rate dropped and at the same time he's become more of a threat.
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@Duluth Good point - a few years ago George Bridge absolutely schooled Telea in the air. He's gotten better every year.
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@Duluth said in Blues v Brumbies:
Also it's not like he's always been playing like this. I used to think he was a bit flakey, particularly when kicked too.
Something changed last year and his error rate dropped and at the same time he's become more of a threat.
It's still something that I think will get really tested again, especially if he ends up in the ABs.
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Brumbies have always been an awkward side for the Blues
Blues have never won 4 in a row against them. All other NZ sides have a longer winning streak vs Brumbies
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Only just now, the Brumbies have published their squad for this game.
Media release:
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@Stargazer said in Blues v Brumbies:
Only just now, the Brumbies have published their squad for this game.
It was named a day ago, there's a post further up in this thread
They just didn't bother updating their website until today
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@Duluth I've been keeping an eye on their website and socials, and they hadn't published it before. The source for that earlier squad must have been the one submitted to SANZAAR and published somewhere else. It also wasn't on the rugby.com.au website before.
There's probably a reason why the title of their media release contains the word "confirm".
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@Stargazer I found that earlier team list on 'The Roar' site. They have a history of occasionally posting teams the day before the official release, even NZ teams.
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Today will be an interesting test of the new approach to speed up the game.
It will be 30+ degrees by kickoff and in the direct sun - there will be temptation for a lot of stoppages.
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Might be even smaller crowd than yesterday - and that's saying something
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@KiwiMurph said in Blues v Brumbies:
Might be even smaller crowd than yesterday - and that's saying something
it's a good idea in principle - but travel is $$$ at the moment, and this does not feel well promoted. But you need a weekend of good rugby to make it work, and fans keen enough to sit through 4-5 games over a few days.
Go the Blues. Important to get this win and keep going
Safeguard Global ACT Brumbies confirm side for Super Round headliner against the Blues | Latest Rugby News | Brumbies
