I'd just like to say thanks to Ardie for getting us out of that shit storm.

Outstanding effort from Auckland. Really dominated in all facets. Please give those Cantabs a spanking next week.

From a Wellington persepctive Ben Lam showed exactly why he will never be an A.B. Didn't look interested at all. Toomaga Allen was another that just didn't really care about being out there.

As a Wellington and Canes fan I hope they don't get many games for the Canes this year. I don't care if Ben Lam scores 100 tries in a season, an attitude like that won't win any championships. He has proven time and time again that he goes missing in the big ones, just another big lazy wing that only cares about looking good.

Many on here believe Renata should be a Canes re-signing. 100% agree, atm all we need is a scrummaging prop and he looks to be getting better and better. Also how does Akira not make the A.Bs 51 man squad after a performance like that. Luke Whitelock is probably the most boring and ineffective player to ever grace New Zealand pro footy fields, only gets in through his Cantab connections.

@tim Painful isn't it. Any one of us could have come up with a better list of squad players and these guys get paid for it.

Funny how in their season review they saw srummaging as a real weakness, yet they bring back every single player from that campaign, including the scrum coach who has been there far too long. If this was the NFL, none of them would have a job anymore.

Right, so you move the most dynamic loose forward to where he will be the least effective, that makes total sense..arggh. Having all three of those guys on the park makes sense but you would have to think out of all three of them Ardie is probably the least equiped to play blindside.

This is very cool:

@tim @tim Defensively Aso has too much to work on at centre. As a Canes fan I'm very suprised Aso has been given a look before Proctor. For me Proctor is the most important cog in the Canes backline and it wasn't a coincidence that we turned to shit after he injured himself this year. Same thing happened in 2016, once Proctor injured himself we didn't look the same then either.

@tim more than Brett Cameron.

@chris-b When Hammett first took over he said "judge me on my results" and as a Canes fan we gave him the benefit of the doubt, before swiftly realising he was far too inexperienced, lacked any real tactical coaching ability and obviously had no idea how to communicate with the melting pot of athletes in that Canes environment. Don't forget guys like Gear and Weepu also signed elsewhere as they knew it was probably career suicide sticking with a team that was being coached by someone completely out of his depth.

In my mind the return of players like Nonu and the introduction of local & experienced coaches in the form of Plum and Boyd probably reflects the true reason our results improved.

Mark Hammett may well be a successful coach down the track and may go on to coach a team to a Super title, but his time at the Canes was a failure because he wasn't ready to take on a position like that. He should have done his time at NPC level before getting a gig like that, something that still baffles me today.

So no, he doesn't deserve credit for the 2016 title.

Attended the game at Levin, the Canes came out firing and managed to build around 20 phases before scoring through Vince Aso. The Crusaders then had a 15-20 minute period where they took control and scored 3 tries through dominant set piece and maul play. The Crusaders were also strong at the breakdown, negating a number of attacking plays by the Canes. 19- 7 halftime.

The second half started in similar fashion with the Crusaders scoring two tries and going about their work in a tidy fashion. The Canes then brought on the likes of Fidow, Aumua & Walker-Leawere and the game shifted towards the Canes who started to dominate the collision with their powerful running game - two quick tries to the Canes had them momentarily back in it, before the Crusaders deflated any hopes with a late try.

Standouts from the Crusaders:
Number 12 (name escapes me): this young fella looks very good, broke the line a couple times and was very hard to contain.

Jordan Taufua: He was brutal at times and looks even bigger than he was last year. Dominanted alot of contact that he was involved in and looks ready for a big year.

Bryn Hall: looked very tidy at the base of the scrum and was probably the pick of the halfbacks.

Standouts for the Canes:
Sam Henwood: he was into everything early on and will be a very good backup to Ardie this year.

Alex Fidow: Dominated with ball in hand and wasn't too bad at scrum time. Was a big reason for the Canes re-assurgence.

Asafo Aumua: physically dominated in the contact when he came on. If he isn't on the bench against the Waratahs I will be very suprised.

Worries for the Canes:
Ongoing selection of James Blackwell as a lock: he is far too small to be a lock. Crusaders were killing the Canes scrum when he was packing down.

Halfback: Jono Hickey was shocking, I lost count of how many times he dropped the ball or fumbled it at the base of the scrum. Halfback is a big worry if Perenara gets injured.

Fullback: The overated Chase Tiatia nearly played a whole game at Fullback because we had no one else in the reserves. Harken came on and finished there. A worry if Jordie gets injured.

All and all it was a nice afternoon up the coast, great crowd and no injuries to boot.

Bring on the Blues next week.

@ACT-Crusader they usually miss out to other players that are actually playing. For Laumape to be playing like he is and miss out on selection to someone that has hardly shown any form for the last 2 years, has hardly played this year and cost us the Lions tour, it must be hard to swallow.

@Bones said in Pick your clubs all time team.:

HOBM Eagles.
15 Colin Sullivan
14 Chase Tiatia (or Bernie Fraser if we can go back to pre-amalgamation)
13 Misi Fata-Meafou
12
11 Hosea Gear
10 Jon Bentley
9 Piri Weepu
8 Doug Power
7 Semo Sititi
6 Gavin Hill
5 Jeremy Thrush
4
3
2 Elvis Taione
1

Ope Peleseuma - Centre (Wellington Lions)
Brian Lima - Utility (Auckland, Highlanders, Blues)
James O'Reilly - Hooker (Wellington Lions, Hurricanes)
Joe Apikitoa - Prop (Wellington Lions, Hawkes Bay)
Ben Power - Hooker (Hawke's Bay)
Salesi Rayasi (Wellington, Auckland, Hurricanes, NZ Sevens)

This isn't my club but Norths (Porirua) would have a fairly handy team.

1. Jacob Ellison / Anthony Perenise
2. Leni Apisai
3. John Schwagler
4. Chris Middleton
5. Api Naikatini
6. Jerry Collins
7. Du'Plessis Kirifi / Serge Lilo
8. Faifili Levavae
9. TJ Perenara
10. Jackson Garden Bachop
11. Alapati Leiua
12. Tamati Ellison
13. Robbie Fruean
14. Connor Garden Bachop
15. Buxton Popoali'i

Interesting:

https://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/rugby/super-rugby/120889329/super-rugby-restart-bestcase-scenario-is-june-with-australia-as-host

@Bones said in Pick your clubs all time team.:

4 Sam Lousi

He would have had to lose a few kegs to rep Eastbourne's solo 85kg team.

If anyone has a bit of time here's a look inside school rugby, following St Pats Silverstream. Featuring players like Rocco Berry (Warriors), Josh Southall, Iona Apineru (NZ Schools)

@Chris-B how does Ben May not make the 3 jersey?

@rotated he was a coach for a year or two but played for Wests Roosters.

@Daffy-Jaffy Petone updated:

1. Ken Gray / Laurence Hullena
2. Tim Mannix
3. Neemia Tialata
4. Inoke Afeake / James Blackwell
5. Ross Filipo
6. Brad Shields
7. Martin Leslie / Ben Herring
8. Andy Leslie
9. Ian Stevens
10. Simon Mannix / Lima Sopoaga / John Dougan
11. Alex Telea
12. Jason O'Halloran / Riky Flutey
13. Tana Umaga / Vince Aso
14. Mike Clamp / Karl Te Nana
15. Alan Hewson

@shark he switched between lock / 8

Petone Rugby - feel free to fill in the gaps

1. Ken Gray
2. ?
3. Neemia Tialata
4. James Blackwell
5. Ross Filipo
6. Brad Shields
7. Ben Herring
8. Andy Leslie
9. ?
10. Lima Sopoaga (Junior Rugby)
11. Jared Kahu (Junior Rugby)
12. Riky Flutey
13. Tana Umaga
14. Vince Aso
15. Allan Hewson