The Silver Fern

@Steven-Harris said in Blues 2025:

@brodean the Blues don’t need a new backline they need to completely change their mindset which means a change in Philosophy in and around attack
A new plan with a new attack coach would be a start

Without taking anything away from the Blues last year whilst the style and method was super effective and it won them a title they have tried to roll out the same game plan that doesn’t always involve their outside backs

Everyone knows they come in through the front door and keep hammering their way through the same channel totally ignoring a backline who much be in danger of catching a cold
Friday night they were held up on 4 occasions driving at the line with all those forward charges where was the game drivers directing opportunities?
The stats don’t lie ,this Blues team struggles to score points
So for me it’s a coaching ideology issue

The majority of the backs are in a form slump so they do need a few changes to freshen things up. Mostly importantly Christie should be replaced. Things were better when Nock came on. Christie is a handbreak.

I agree the back coach and attack coach should be replaced but I don't see that happening this year

I don't think the issue is the forwards and I don't think Segner can be blamed. He doesn't have the same type of impact as Aki but he does impact in other areas

It's the backline starting at Christie. The only back who has shown consistent form is Lam. Evans has probably been next best. Barrett had a couple of good games. The rest have been average to a shower of shite.

All of the following haven't come close to meeting their own standards:

Plummer, Perofeta, Sullivan, Clarke, Telea, Ioane, Forbes and Christie. Christie needs to be replaced. The others need to lift their game and or be replaced. The backs coach needs to face criticism for the performances across the backs. He hasn't got close to the best out of them.

Blues need a new backline coach and Auckland needs a new coach.

@booboo said in Reds v Blues:

I did give up at half time as I was getting fucked off with the officiating.

Just into second half and Ta'avao's try gets wiped out. Seriously?

Genuine question: is the restriction on the number of phases you can go back no longer a thing?

I'll continue to grumble through the rest of the game ...

Way is always like this.

@Nepia said in Reds v Blues:

The Blues were shit, the officials were shit, the Reds were pretty good.

The Reds played well in spurts. If the Blues were smarter they would have won comfortably

@antipodean said in Reds v Blues:

I can't watch any more games where Christie starts or Way officiates. Both are infuriating.

Indeed.

@pakman said in Reds v Blues:

@NTA said in Reds v Blues:

I don't think Rieko got the ball in space once?

Absolute amateur hour from the Blues forwards - lineout picked to bits, scrum unable to execute at critical times.

No, it wasn't the greatest officiating, but look at how smart the Reds were to hold them up over the line rather than trying to brute force a stoppage.

Kiss and his team are smart.

Ryan's offside play where he managed to hold Eklund up was a penalty try.

Yup. He was also offside again soon after to prevent a try

Yeah they need a new backline coach

Ryan was offside again in stopping that try. Blues not catching a break with the ref

@Steven-Harris said in Crusaders v Blues:

You have got to give Rob Penny and his coaching group his dues for keeping Fletcher Newall on the paddock for the entire 80 minutes , 2 very impactful moments at scrum time in the last 10 minutes
We are often critical of coaches who make pre arranged subs but on this occasion common sense prevailed

Let's see how Newell's season plays out.

@KiwiMurph said in Chiefs v Blues:

Meihana Grindlay not listed as injured.

He has presumably been passed by Taele.

That's nuts in my opinion. Taele often looked out of his depth at NPC level. He had a high error rate. I understand there is a lot of hype around him but he's going to get dominated by Tupaea. At least Grindlay has some size to compat Tupaea. Grindlay has a lot more composure and lower error rate than Taele too.

@Bones said in Blues v Chiefs:

@brodean said in Blues v Chiefs:

@sparky said in Blues v Chiefs:

@booboo said in Blues v Chiefs:

Not read thread... but Telea did score. Bad decision, but good result ...

Looked to me like his arm was in touch before the ball was grounded. It was tight, but no try was the right decision.

Both of Ratima's knees were on the ground when he connected with Tele'a in the field of play therefore its a penalty try. You must be on your feet to tackle or attempt to play the ball and he stopped a certain try off his feet.

13.3 A player on the ground in the field of play, without the ball is out of the game and must:

a. Allow opponents who are not on the ground to play or gain possession of the ball.
Sanction:Penalty.

b. Not play the ball.
Sanction:Penalty.

c. Not tackle or attempt to tackle an opponent.
Sanction:Penalty.

Looking forward to all the desperation diving tackles being penalised because the player was on the ground. As well as every goal line tackle around the ruck as the tackler had his hand on the ground so is off his feet.

Ratima was not a typical scenario. He went sliding in on his knees.

@sparky said in Blues v Chiefs:

@booboo said in Blues v Chiefs:

Not read thread... but Telea did score. Bad decision, but good result ...

Looked to me like his arm was in touch before the ball was grounded. It was tight, but no try was the right decision.

Both of Ratima's knees were on the ground when he connected with Tele'a in the field of play therefore its a penalty try. You must be on your feet to tackle or attempt to play the ball and he stopped a certain try off his feet.

13.3 A player on the ground in the field of play, without the ball is out of the game and must:

a. Allow opponents who are not on the ground to play or gain possession of the ball.
Sanction:Penalty.

b. Not play the ball.
Sanction:Penalty.

c. Not tackle or attempt to tackle an opponent.
Sanction:Penalty.

@Jet said in All Blacks 2025:

@darylmitchell said in All Blacks 2025:

@Jet said in All Blacks 2025:

@cgrant said in All Blacks 2025:

@nzzp said in All Blacks 2025:

@cgrant do you think Razor will drop a Barrett?

No, but JB could take the 15 jersey. He was very good at fullback for Leinster vs Clermont in every aspect of this position.

They already have their Sexton replacement too.

That Sam Prendergast is absolutely mustard and better than any 10 we have knocking around on our shores. The way he takes it to the line is a joy to watch. He's not particularly fast and not obviously strong but he has an eternity on the ball.

He is better than the current iteration of Barrett and McKenzie already.

The difference is NZ has a lot of quality talent coming through in the forwards (Sititi, Lakai, Va'ai, Numia, Tosi, Holland etc..), Ireland is struggling to replace the old guard who are busted flushes.

Beating Ireland shouldn't be used as a measuring stick, Argentina almost pipped them at home, Ireland were absolutely woeful against them and Australia.

Ireland have found a generational 10 now though during/since the A.I's. One we didnt face.

Crowley, Byrne and Frawley wont get a look in anymore.

This Prendergast lad is legit.

Prendergast has looked flakey at test level. He makes NPC level mistakes.

@booboo said in Exodus:

@Canes4life said in Exodus:

How Fihaki was selected in front of Stevenson I will never know.

Pure speculation but perhaps his move was already signalled and there was no point picking him?

I believe Stevenson stuck around another year to see if he got any opportunities with the new coaching set up.

@Dan54 said in Exodus:

Shame about Stevenson going, (say the same about anything that takes away depth) but I maybe not as gut wrenched as a few. I always thought he was a bloody good 15 with a good punt, but maybe seemed to go missing big times in quite a few games. Very much like Akira Ioane type player, perhaps had everything but that last 2% in mind department? Just my take, so don't shoot me. I honestly thing Chiefs will be well served with ENS at 15, but I not really a Chiefs man so obviously not deep into it.

Stevenson and ENS are both better than Fihaki and Reece. Reece has had ample opportunities but is a flake under the highball and lacks the pace to be an international winger plus he's a basically a crim that got two free passes.

The double standards of these coaches boggles the mind.

@Landers92 said in Sevu Reece - in trouble again:

To be thrown a lifeline by NZR and the Crusaders and to then do that and throw it back in their face is something else. Keep in mind Razor was the coach that wanted to give him a chance back then too. Really hope we never see him in the AB jersey again, embarrassing he was even an AB this year with it hanging over his head. You can’t tell me management didn’t know about it…

I saw him at the Christchurch cup day(the night this happened) and he was absolutely munted, not a care in the world for how he was carrying on. Just a bad look all round. Should 100% be charged, everyone else would.

My understanding is he was charged. Then discharged without conviction by the judge - for the second time. Which means the judge understood he was guilty but chose not issue an official punishment.

@darylmitchell said in All Blacks 2024:

@reprobate

DP is taller and heavier than Read, heavier than Kaino, Sititi is 3kg heavier than Kaino, heavier than Read, Blackadder is the same height and weight as Kaino. Lakai is 110kg the same weight as Kaino.

Savea is really the only outlier, Jacobson and Cane are same weight as McCaw, I don't think you could be further off the mark.

Papali'i is listed as 193cm which I think is pretty close to the mark and Jacobson is a similar height. De Groot is listed as 190cm.

Kaino is listed as 196cm and Read 193cm but I wouldn't be surprised if these figures were the other way round.

Savea is listed as 190cm and Rieko is listed as 189cm but Rieko is clearly taller

Akira is listed as 194cm and Suafoa is listed as 196cm

I'd say a lot of the listing figures seem like BS.

Experience only gets you so far. France had 300 less caps than us in the starting XVs but ultimately they won because their players were better than ours. There wasn't anything special about their game plan.

Actual rugby ability will ultimately beat experience if you do the basics right.

We couldn't even kick to the corner and score from a lineout maul. Something they did in one of their 3 tries to our 2
.

Picking fast wings instead of your favourite experienced Crusader player who gets burnt by a lock in the previous games.

Can anyone explain the amazing balance Robertson describes with Cane, Sititi and Savea?

I thought Kaino, Read and McCaw were balanced and this new trio is nothing like that.

@Nepia said in All Blacks 2024:

@brodean said in All Blacks 2024:

@Nepia said in All Blacks 2024:

@brodean said in All Blacks 2024:

@Nepia said in All Blacks 2024:

@reprobate said in All Blacks 2024:

@Nepia said in All Blacks 2024:

@reprobate said in All Blacks 2024:

and they should have known that after Wayne Smith.

Huh? Smith has head coach success. He was the first Cantab to win Super.

Yeah fair point. Great AB assistant coach, didn't translate to great AB head coach.

TBF, I think he chucked it in too early for us to really know.

What he is poor at is as a CEO, his term in charge of HB was terrible.

True. We know however that Wayne Smiths ABs won 11 out of their first 14. One more than Razor. Interesting that Smith deemed that to be such a failure that he should reapply for his job.

And then NZR fell for a grifter who had no head coach success himself, who gained some success as a head coach in conjunction with a successful Super coach using a successful Blues gameplan until he missed a vital part of it (forwards) in the one match that mattered.

I find this a bit confusing. Which one is the grifter?

Mitchell. He had two seasons as Chiefs coach before getting the AB job. He was essentially fired from Sale before that.

Oh. For a moment I thought Foster or Robertson were the grifters.