@african-monkey said in Lions v Blues:

@KiwiMurph maybe it's time to bring back Sam Prattley?

Haha fml. They really should keep Wright at hooker and fly over an actual loosehead.

I think people are being harsh on the midfield combo. They got better as the game went on and both stood out in the second half.

Rieko put Nanai into a gap in the second half with a beautiful pass.

Realistically who the heck else are the Blues going to have in midfield - Faiane has yet to show anything at this level.

Don't get cute - keep SBW and Rieko together and let them build a combo.

What was the first scrum penalty for?

@tim

I think that the one Hodgeman went to ground briefly before coming back up and dominating the rest of the scrum?

Ruru made a couple of big mistakes, but he gets to the ball and clears it. Looking forward to his combo with Perofeta. Think we looked better without Pulu.

SBW was very good in the 2nd half. That midfield combo will do some damage when it settles in.

Scrafton and other bench forwards went well. Ofa T was good today.

Great to see Ioane driving a player over the line at the end.

Need to tighten up a bit - less pushed passes in the first half, and tighter defence all round.

@booboo said in Lions v Blues:

Wey hey. Well done the Bluesers!

Just finished watching the recording.

Felt sorry for the Blues as most of the Lions' tries came from errors.

A win in Africa, at altitude, after travel delays, v Lions.

Maybe T is doing a good job...

What would the odds have been on both the Blues and Warriors winning away in the same weekend/night?

@virgil dunno but wouldn't have minded $5 on it

@booboo said in Lions v Blues:

@virgil dunno but wouldn't have minded $5 on it

We'd all like to retire on a $5 bet

@nepia this woulda been a good start...

Just incase people didn't know, I think Hamish Bidwell hates the Blues

@african-monkey said in Lions v Blues:

Just incase people didn't know, I think Hamish Bidwell hates the Blues

Fark, that's bitter.

@nzzp said in Lions v Blues:

@african-monkey said in Lions v Blues:

Just incase people didn't know, I think Hamish Bidwell hates the Blues

Fark, that's bitter.

Is it fair though? The Blues lost to a very weak Chiefs side that they should have been able to put away. To me it does say more about the Lions

@hooroo we put the boot into the Blues on most occasions,but on this occasion to fly into Joburg a day late and beat a Lions team that has been easily been the best team in the republic in the last few seasons and at various stages of the game your down 0-21 & 10-28 and you finish the stronger against the home team at altitude,to me that’s a more than solid effort
Personally I think the Blues were very poor against the chiefs,I believe they dropped their standards from the Landers game.

@steven-harris the Blues also had better selection v the Lions than they had v Chiefs - Rieko at centre, Wright as the bench hooker, Perofeta as the replacement 10 etc.

@steven-harris said in Lions v Blues:

@hooroo we put the boot into the Blues on most occasions,but on this occasion to fly into Joburg a day late and beat a Lions team that has been easily been the best team in the republic in the last few seasons and at various stages of the game your down 0-21 & 10-28 and you finish the stronger against the home team at altitude,to me that’s a more than solid effort
Personally I think the Blues were very poor against the chiefs,I believe they dropped their standards from the Landers game.

Fair enough. I guess time will tell regarding the effectiveness of the Lions. It is always good to go and win away in SA

@kiwimurph My 6/2 bench pick with Perofeta covering fullback paid off.

Nick Mallett on the game:

Full credit to the Blues. They made 938m against 547 for the Lions. The Lions had to make 177 tackles and 86 for the Blues. The Lions missed 32 tackles against 12 for the Blues. The Blues made 208 passes to 110 for the Lions, so nearly twice as many, and they enjoyed 63% territory as opposed to 37%. Those are really dominant statistics in terms of metres made, forcing the opposition to tackle more and, in the end, it was the better team that won.

Collins really does need to work hard on that speed/agility. He gets in great positions but just needs that explosiveness to be able to exploit them better.

@tim

Which is part of the reason why Blues fans should be a little wary. We were dominating the stats throughout the game, yet somehow we were down by 18 points at the the 63min mark?? Until that final quarter it looked like a continuation of the Chiefs match.

There's loads of positives from this match, but you still have to look at how much of a hole the Blues got themselves into.

@duluth

It's a good point, but I think you might have to buckle up and let that happen, because a few of those points came about from the way the Blues play - pushing passes and trying to take advantage of space can lead to turnovers (e.g., SBW dropped offload) and intercepts (e.g., Ruru) that lead to points. They are a risky team, but can really punish sides when it comes off.

I thought this game was similar to the same match from a couple of years ago.

I just looked it up, back in 2014 it was a slightly different result. Instead of winning 38-35 the comeback fell short and we lost 36-39. At the 64min the Blues were down by 15

@gt12

Good point. Then we might as well go all out attack - Duffie to fullback and Clarke on the wing. Try to win games 55-50

@tim said in Lions v Blues:

Nick Mallett on the game:

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Full credit to the Blues. They made 938m against 547 for the Lions. The Lions had to make 177 tackles and 86 for the Blues. The Lions missed 32 tackles against 12 for the Blues. The Blues made 208 passes to 110 for the Lions, so nearly twice as many, and they enjoyed 63% territory as opposed to 37%. Those are really dominant statistics in terms of metres made, forcing the opposition to tackle more and, in the end, it was the better team that won.

We were meant to end this game with no legs, but it was the Lions who ended up gassing because of how many tackles they had to make.

Although our bench did well, I'm wary of expecting them to repeat that feat, as they were given a pretty favourable situation to come into.