Highlanders Blues game.......the antidote

Second under cover game in a row, but no real comparison.

Both teams giving it plenty but the Highlanders are so much sharper and generally aggressive, leading 17 zip at the break.

Question for all you Kiwi's boys en girls; is Jamie Joseph a future AB coach? I love the way his side plays with great balance of dog and intelligence, aggression and skills?

Looking forward to Benji's SXV debut.

Benji parts the waves and enters the fray at fullbak.

Ben Smith looked good for the Highlanders. Marshall had a couple of nice touches for the Blues at the end there.

The Highlanders let the Blues back in and probably should have conceded a losing bonus point to that last penalty kick. It summed up the Blues' night that it went wide.

Here we go again,giving teams a forty miute start just isnt good enough.

No didnt look good Laurie. Thats 7 straight losses...10 including the trial matches. Once again the tight stuff seems to be lacking. Marshalls clearly a leader and playmaker and thats what he must be used for, especially if the Blues want to take the fast open game route again and keep the game as broken up as they possibly can. We are going to struggle all year at set piece time.
Canes are doing very well so far at 10-6 down considering their packs getting monstered.

After four seasons the two former heavyweights of the SA conference...the stormers and the bulls ...are finally paying for their limited styles. The basic one up stuff is getting shown up by sides that have a few more strings to their bow.
The sharks looked ominous but given their home status and domination of the set pieces, the canes did pretty well considering. The blues all out attack mode is at the other end of the scale meaning sides like the chiefs, sharks and if we believe the hype, the warratahs will have the right mix to fight out the title this year.

aucklandlaurie wrote:
Here we go again,giving teams a forty miute start just isnt good enough.

I think Highlanders fans might talk about not being able to play 80mins. They wasted a few leads last year.

In that first forty the major distinguishing factor for me was how much Aaron Smith outplayed Piri Weepu.

King - lots of Scotland fans had Joseph on their wishlist for the national coaching slot. I don't know what he does exactly, but his sides always look like they're going to score.

Thats a good point i dont know what he does either, but give him a team of young nobodys and he gets them playing beyond them selves, give him a team of stars (like he had last year) and they do absolutely nothing.

aucklandlaurie wrote:Thats a good point i dont know what he does either, but give him a team of young nobodys and he gets them playing beyond them selves, give him a team of stars (like he had last year) and they do absolutely nothing.

The 'Brian Clough' phenomenon, interesting.

Noakes needs to be dropped Kerr should be back soon.

 Benji in open play looked great, there is certainly potential.

Yes Benji looked like a kid wanting to get at the toys from the sideline. Perfect scenario for him to enter the game- when practically all is lost- no ones hardly going to blame him. has the instincts of a halfback wanting to tap and run quickly and get things going- probably his very best trait- running at the opposition in broken play- so how JK incorporates that into wherever he plays will be interesting. Just get the feeling he needs to be on the field.

Other than the Otago backs playing out of their skins I thought Charles Piatau showed enough for Hansen to start looking at displacing Dagg this year. They guys a high octane punisher with the ball, fearless under the high ball and with Dagg being so so for some time now...the pressures on.

Calm down Taylor. Dagg didn't have a top super season last year but there was nothing wrong with his AB form. And Piatau can run for sure but I think he might struggle to put it all together at the top level. May be next year.

Pretty enviable production line of quality full backs.

Speaking of quality backs, what do our Kiwi brethren make of rumours that Robbie Robinson may be heading to a Scottish pro team to get some international game time with Scotland prior to the RWC?

nganboy wrote:Calm down Taylor. Dagg didn't have a top super season last year but there was nothing wrong with his AB form. And Piatau can run for sure but I think he might struggle to put it all together at the top level. May be next year.

Just think Daggs been in second gear for a couple of seasons now. Piatau was the best player on the Northern tour with way more hunger than Dagg. Saders backline is sagging a bit already and Dagg could struggle again I reckon. Anyway, ...calmed down, plenty of rugby to see before any of that happens...

well well well...
http://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/rugby/super-rugby/9766672/Israel-Dagg-ditched-by-Crusaders-for-Blues-game