@African-Monkey
Totally agree! No doubt a funeral to attend this week. The reality will be in the face! So many players at the end of the Jaguars game looked devastated. Far more than usual. Give the lads a break, get it together this week and slam the sunwolves.
Northlandallday
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@kev haha, well Dan Bowden hasn't been much chop for a while, his poor dad tho. 😁
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@Duluth said in Blues v Highlanders:
@KiwiMurph said in Blues v Highlanders:
Some serious question marks have to be asked of Tana's outside back recruitment.
He lost Li and Lam, didn't want Visinia and brought in Collins, O'Donnell and Ambrose Curtis. He also missed out on promising Northlander Solomon Alaimalo. Trainor has yet to be sighted except for the Brisbane 10s where he looked poor.
Yeah the outside back selections have been strange
Also not signing GPT at hooker. He was one of the last signings for the Highlanders. With Parsons having concussion issues, Moulds not good enough at lineout time it seems crazy not to select a good set piece hooker who has been in great form in the last two NPCs.
Last year selecting Matenga ahead of Fatialofa and Seu is unforgivable. That talent from the region is probably lost for good.
Parsons concussion issues only arose part way through npc, so there's no way you could know that was going to happen. GPT and Moulds were both wider training the previous year at the same time. They both got little to no game time. Both had good NPC seasons. They both had serious injury issues last NPC season. So really signing of Q McDondald was out of left field. Blues could have retained both.
Moulds had excellent impact off the bench v Landers and the Blues lineouts were all won from there on in.
Parsons had massive issues at line out time and he's usually bang on, so what's the issue? Probably lots of small things making a big mess. -
Stoked that Tana can see the big picture here for these young fullas. I think they need a bloody good rest and some fun times, being under the pump for too long will fry them.
These guys sure as hell don't deserve public dissection at this point in their rugby careers.
Heaps of experts will be quoting how much they're paid to do their job blah blah, but no job is worth it if it's 365 24/7, I hope they get most of June off. Not because they shouldn't make ABs or Maori ABs but because having a mindful rest could be very influential to their form going forward. -
Good to see a couple of new caps with Blundell and Hohaia. Hope Breen isn't out for long, Hawkins had one of his better days so he can keep that up all season.
Moulds nailed the end of game interview and said it all really. -
Great game, could have gone either way. Take nothing away from the effort off the bench but it probably wasn't our strongest and certainly less experienced which I think contributed to the loss.
Our set piece was excellent so good to see the line outs running smoothly. Harbour looked a bit disorganised there at times.
Bit concerned about our locking trio and where they sit now as far as injuries go. -
@bones said in Blues 2018:
@tim "real professional sport"?
Bidwell, if he was a real sports journalist we might care what he has to say. Bin it with all his other mutterings.
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Firstly really proud of the Boys for their near brilliant season. Great to see them still taking it to Wellington right to the end. Wellington are the form team this year, pretty sure they take out the premiership if they were up there.
Jackson looked like a one eyed one armed bandit for half the game. -
Shame we aren’t seeing much of Scrafton this year. The current locks have been solid but he needs game time and looked ready for more a month ago.
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I gave Matiu my first vote because of his enormous work rate, But he got caught so many times with the ball on the ground and penalised, definitely a work on. You could blame the clean outs but he also doesn't release the ball back in a strong position. Pryor and Debreczeni had near their best games.
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@steven-harris
Yeah I thought the changes were at least 5 mins early especially considering the Blues bench. Maybe even 10 mins early. The yellow was definitely the costly 10. -
Toll Northland Mitre 10 Cup Squad for 2017
Toll Northland Mitre 10 Cup Squad for 2017:
Solomona Alaimalo
Fullback | Otamatea | 10 GamesChris Apoua
Prop | Mid Northern | 1 GameTim Bond
Lock | Hikurangi | 0 GamesPeter Breen
First five-eigth | Old Boys Marist | 8 GamesMurray Douglas
Lock | Awanui | 0 GamesMichael Faleafa
Loose Forward | Hikurangi | 7 GamesTroy Gilbert
Midfield | Old Boys Marist | 20 GamesJack Goodhue
Midfield | United Kawakawa | 0 GamesJoshua Goodhue
Lock | Kamo | 7 GamesScott Gregory
Midfield | Hikurangi | 0 GamesDan Hawkins
First five-eigth | Otamatea | 38 GamesBlake Hohaia
Midfield | Kamo | 0 GamesJordan Hyland
Utility | Wellsford | 19 GamesPhil Kite
Prop | Old Boys Marist | 9 GamesJosh Larsen
Lock | Mid Northern | 8 GamesJone Macilai
Wing | Awanui | 27 GamesMalcolm MacLeod
Halfback | Mid Northern | 8 GamesMatty Markwick
Halfback | Old Boys Marist | 5 GamesMatt Matich
Loose Forward | Western Sharks | 10 GamesJaycob Matiu
Loose Forward | Hora Hora | 12 GamesMatt Moulds
Hooker | Otamatea | 34 GamesSamuel Nock
Halfback | Kerikeri | 17 GamesJordan Olsen
Hooker | Mid Northern | 16 GamesDan Pryor
Loose Forward | Old Boys Marist | 54 GamesKara Pryor
Loose Forward | Old Boys Marist | 29 GamesJack Ram
Loose Forward | Kerikeri | 28 GamesRene Ranger
Utility | Wellsford | 65 GamesRopate Rinakama
Prop | Waipu | 0 GamesTom Robinson
Lock | Western Sharks | 5 GamesHoward Sililoto
Prop | Old Boys Marist | 26 GamesTamati Tua
Midfield | Hikurangi | 9 GamesNamatahi Waa
Prop | Hikurangi | 27 GamesMatt Wright
Fullback | Wellsford | 34 GamesRoss Wright
Prop | Wellsford | 71 GamesCoach - Derren Witcombe
Assistant Coach - Dale MacLeod
Manager - Brad Te Haara
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@Stargazer
Tamati Tua, Northland, ok! -
@Tim said in Highlanders vs. Blues:
@Northlandallday Needs to work on his throwing though.
First throw overthrow not good, the rest were spot on. Did ya see P-T wild throw and Parsons numerous miss throws.
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@taniwharugby Markwick went off relatively early in the BOP game so I'd suggest perhaps he's injured?? McLeod play far better than last year, even tho he had a couple of loose kicks, it was a big step up from last year skill wise.
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@Steven-Harris
No one would have a real problem with this situation if Parsons was performing but you can’t create real competition for his position if you don’t let anyone else play it. Sad really Parsons deserves a break too, he looked stuffed. -
@taniwharugby Goodhue has stitches in that eye split, so I think it's a good move to keep his playing minutes limited for this week.
Looking forward to see this squad perform V Auckland, they have no Ioane's that's got to be a bonus for the Taniwha. -
@ACT-Crusader said in Highlanders vs. Blues:
@Dice the ultimate team guy is Sonny. Pulu, Moala and the two hookers are probably thanking him. The media aren't really talking about the poor passing and diddlying around at the base by Pulu, or the fact that George looks a shadow of himself and was outplayed by his direct competition for an AB squad jumper, or the fact neither hooker can throw with any degree of consistency, or the second unit scrum being on ice skates.
Well done that man
Sonny played great! Let's talk about his return from a major injury ie: Achilles torn to shreds, reconstructed and back on the field in 8 mths, legend!
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@kev
Yeah He's out injured, something like a foot ligament? I'd think Neville would have to be next on the bus for locks or loosies maybe? -
@kev and two great throws in a row!
Jaguares vs Blues
v Auckland
Blues v Highlanders
Blues 2017
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Blues 2018
Semi v Wellington
Brumbies vs Blues
MOTM v Counties
Highlanders vs Blues
Toll Northland Mitre 10 Cup Squad for 2017
Blues 2017
Highlanders vs. Blues
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Blues v Highlanders
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Highlanders vs. Blues
Mitre 10 Cup 2018
Blues vs Waratahs