A big improvement from last week. Which I wasn't expecting given the emotional situation going into this game
The attack started the game fine. However the team panics, tightens up, and reverts to one off runners. It's worth having a look at Ruru/Plummer/TJ next week. See if we can get the Auckland combination working
The squad has fundamental problems. MacDonald can't fix those mistakes this year
The worst thing about this result is that it puts so much pressure on the next game. Big difference from 1-2 from 0-3.
Going to be a challenge to get the attitude and confidence right.
@Kirwan said in Jaguares vs Blues:
The worst thing about this result is that it puts so much pressure on the next game. Big difference from 1-2 from 0-3.
Going to be a challenge to get the attitude and confidence right.
Sunwolves will be favourites for sure. I could easily see them running a tired Blues team ragged
@Steven-Harris said in Jaguares vs Blues:
Auckland in last years Mitre 10 Cup played for each other and had great on field leadership ..how much of that do you attribute to coach who had an average record with Samoa..?,
A massive amount was how Both coaches fixed the culture, consistent selections and got the best out of a very young squad.
Perhaps some of the older heads just need to go. Parsons, Pulu, Nonu for example. And just get the young guys in there.
TJ should be at 12.
@Kirwan said in Jaguares vs Blues:
TJ should be at 12.
It's not good coaching to make your (hopefully) long term 12 a 13 and ruin his development and confidence.
Still, who else are they going to put there? Rieko?
@antipodean Tele'a could be an option but distribution could be an issue.
@antipodean said in Jaguares vs Blues:
@Kirwan said in Jaguares vs Blues:
TJ should be at 12.
It's not good coaching to make your (hopefully) long term 12 a 13 and ruin his development and confidence.
Still, who else are they going to put there? Rieko?
Rieko at 13 might be the best use of the squad. Get him involved more TJ in his right position, put the old centres out to pasture.
@Chris-B said in Jaguares vs Blues:
@KiwiMurph said in Jaguares vs Blues:
One thing I was impressed by - Akira's defence. He has also developed his passing game this year. AB coaches would be pleased.
Does he look like he's added a bit more bulk this year to anyone else?
Too many things got fucked up five metres from the tryline and in pretty soft ways.
One thing... it won't win the Blues the title alone - but, it will win them a lot more games, and that is an effective lineout drive. I think I'm right that they didn't score from it at all last year? And haven't this year? They've got a big forward pack and lots of guys who've been around the ABs, and Coventry is supposedly a gun forwards coach - it's inexplicable.
Crusaders turned what could have been cliffhanger last night into a comfortable win by driving over from two lineouts.
The 2nd to last penalty they got was really poor execution all round. Kick didn't get close enough to the line, and then a loopy throw to the back. I agree that should be an area of the game they can really improve, a simple lineout drive would have likely got them home.
@Kirwan said in Jaguares vs Blues:
@antipodean said in Jaguares vs Blues:
@Kirwan said in Jaguares vs Blues:
TJ should be at 12.
It's not good coaching to make your (hopefully) long term 12 a 13 and ruin his development and confidence.
Still, who else are they going to put there? Rieko?
Rieko at 13 might be the best use of the squad. Get him involved more TJ in his right position, put the old centres out to pasture.
I don't think anyone had major issues with him at 13, he can still make use of his pace on the outside there. It was the insistence of playing him at 12 that was so frustrating.
@KiwiMurph said in Jaguares vs Blues:
One change I would make is Scrafton for Cowley Tuoiti.
Scrafton for Goodhue.
Goodhue to the bench ahead of GCT
Not because Goodhue has been bad.. I just prefer Scraftons abrasiveness and he could provide some leadership that is clearly lacking
@No-Quarter said in Jaguares vs Blues:
@Kirwan said in Jaguares vs Blues:
@antipodean said in Jaguares vs Blues:
@Kirwan said in Jaguares vs Blues:
TJ should be at 12.
It's not good coaching to make your (hopefully) long term 12 a 13 and ruin his development and confidence.
Still, who else are they going to put there? Rieko?
Rieko at 13 might be the best use of the squad. Get him involved more TJ in his right position, put the old centres out to pasture.
I don't think anyone had major issues with him at 13, he can still make use of his pace on the outside there. It was the insistence of playing him at 12 that was so frustrating.
Yep, Tana playing at 12 was utterly stupid.
OK< so on first (and only) viewing, I think that Jaguares hooker scored, I think he was in, but what happens, if a replay shows he was out, but the Broadcaster (local or not) has failed to provide it?
I am more talking in terms of repercussions for the broadcaster, as the game points are gone now.
Sliding doors and all, but was still a pivotal moment in the game.
Did anyone else think that the last scrum should have been re-set? The ball came out the side past the flanker. Does it no longer need to come out the back?
@Kirwan said in Jaguares vs Blues:
@KiwiMurph said in Jaguares vs Blues:
One thing I was impressed by - Akira's defence. He has also developed his passing game this year. AB coaches would be pleased.
Yeah, that try saver on the line was huge. Would have liked to see him run from the back of at least one of those scrums.
It's almost like they were deliberately not having him run from the back, Frustrating.
@Nepia said in Jaguares vs Blues:
It's almost like they were deliberately not having him run from the back, Frustrating.
Yes. I thought the same thing last week too.
@Kirwan said in Jaguares vs Blues:
@antipodean said in Jaguares vs Blues:
@Kirwan said in Jaguares vs Blues:
TJ should be at 12.
It's not good coaching to make your (hopefully) long term 12 a 13 and ruin his development and confidence.
Still, who else are they going to put there? Rieko?
Rieko at 13 might be the best use of the squad. Get him involved more TJ in his right position, put the old centres out to pasture.
Its been made clear Rieko is a winger only this year unless major injuries force them to shift him.
Speaking of 13 - Blues have had problems there since 2011. Year after year. This is the 4th coaching group since then with the same issue.
@KiwiMurph said in Jaguares vs Blues:
Speaking of 13 - Blues have had problems there since 2011. Year after year. This is the 4th coaching group since then with the same issue.
I honestly think it's really just a byproduct of being directionless in the 9/10 jerseys. No consistency of selection of philosophy over that period with wildly different styles of play. Some of those Halai/Willison/Sailli combos were perfectly decent at this level IMO if given consistent, stable ball.
@Kirwan said in Jaguares vs Blues:
Nonu is looking like really dud buy.
49 minutes in his 12 jersey and we are calling it?
We have 240 minutes of evidence that he may not be the biggest dud acquisition by the club this season.
@rotated said in Jaguares vs Blues:
@Kirwan said in Jaguares vs Blues:
Nonu is looking like really dud buy.
49 minutes in his 12 jersey and we are calling it?
We have 240 minutes of evidence that he may not be the biggest dud acquisition by the club this season.
He’s not going to get any faster, and that the clearest observation so far about where he’s at. He’s getting left behind by the pace of the game.
So yes, I’m calling it. Two games, ran around a handful of times.
Tana selecting his mate has cost us a viable centre selection in the squad.
@Kirwan said in Jaguares vs Blues:
@rotated said in Jaguares vs Blues:
@Kirwan said in Jaguares vs Blues:
Nonu is looking like really dud buy.
49 minutes in his 12 jersey and we are calling it?
We have 240 minutes of evidence that he may not be the biggest dud acquisition by the club this season.
He’s not going to get any faster, and that the clearest observation so far about where he’s at. He’s getting left behind by the pace of the game.
So yes, I’m calling it. Two games, ran around a handful of times.
Tana selecting his mate has cost us a viable centre selection in the squad.
Do yo uthink they had his speed data when they picked him? Because most of the other parts of his game are going well ... just slower than he was
Also, what a goddamn frustrating game to watch. We did enough to win, the Jaguares did their best to hand it to us,a nd we still coughed up the W. Very very very frustrating to watch.
When we supported direct runners off the ruck, we gained a shedload of metres and looked great. So naturally we went back to one off running without support. FML.
@Kirwan said in Jaguares vs Blues:
Nonu is looking like really dud buy.
Much like Toulon didn’t watch Savea before signing, the Blues didn’t watch Toulon before signing Nonu. Having watched maybe 5 or so Toulon games with Nonu in the team, he’d just lost pace. Still the « will Nonu make the RWC thread » gave some amusement value.
The next couple of practices I would have those forwards run around a cone 10 meters behind the line so that they learn to hit the line at pace especially Akira. This flat shit is not doing it. The Blues are mental midgets. To lose that scrum at the end of the game sums it up.
@broughie said in Jaguares vs Blues:
The next couple of practices I would have those forwards run around a cone 10 meters behind the line so that they learn to hit the line at pace especially Akira. This flat shit is not doing it. The Blues are mental midgets. To lose that scrum at the end of the game sums it up.
Why focus on Akira? He wasn’t even used for the hit ups, bizarrely.
Annoying to lose a game we shouldn't have but with the last 24 hours being a tough one, they can be forgiven. I feel it's gonna be an even tougher week getting back home with a lot of other stuff going on so it will be a testing time going into the Sunwolves game.
@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.
Jeez they'd better beat the Sunwolves, but I wouldn't put the house on it.
The Blues suck. They suck bad.
Rewind to October and the NPC final and see who was drawing the long bow between Auckland burgling a title and the Blues improving....?
@shark said in Jaguares vs Blues:
Jeez they'd better beat the Sunwolves, but I wouldn't put the house on it.
The Blues suck. They suck bad.
Rewind to October and the NPC final and see who was drawing the long bow between Auckland burgling a title and the Blues improving....?
Canterbury fans? Cute you think Auckland beating you twice in a season is burgling a title too.
People keep throwing this strawman at Blues fans, we have been consistent with what we expected.
McDonald hasn’t had a chance to select his squad yet. The new board and chairman haven’t had time for any fundamental changes, and the relationship with Auckland Rugby has only started to improve.
I just want to see improvement this year, and it’s there in patches. Long way to go.
@Northlandallday Absolutely. People will stick it in as usual about how rubbish we are etc. but moments like this put rugby into perspective. The players will be going through a lot at the moment.
@Kirwan said in Jaguares vs Blues:
@shark said in Jaguares vs Blues:
Jeez they'd better beat the Sunwolves, but I wouldn't put the house on it.
The Blues suck. They suck bad.
Rewind to October and the NPC final and see who was drawing the long bow between Auckland burgling a title and the Blues improving....?
Canterbury fans? Cute you think Auckland beating you twice in a season is burgling a title too.
People keep throwing this strawman at Blues fans, we have been consistent with what we expected.
McDonald hasn’t had a chance to select his squad yet. The new board and chairman haven’t had time for any fundamental changes, and the relationship with Auckland Rugby has only started to improve.
I just want to see improvement this year, and it’s there in patches. Long way to go.
When Auckland drop back to something between crap and middling again this year, and you sandwich the 2018 heist between that and being so poor they nearly got relegated in 2017, yeah I think the vast majority of all fans will consider Auckland's fortuitous season as a burgled title.
What's "long way to go" actually mean in terms of a Blues fans' right to expect improvement?
I would have thought after the NPC final based on the reaction that Harry Plummer and Dalton Papa'alii were the second coming of Fox and Jones and the Blues were going to be a force....
Firstly congratlualtions to Jaguares who defended extremely well. Two world-class finishes from Moyano.
Not the worst performance from the Blues, after what had been a difficult 24 hours. I am encouraged that Patrick T, Reiko Ioane and Dalton Papali'i are hitting form. All three will get time with the ABs this year.
The Blues still not smart enough as a team. They are competition with the Chiefs for the NZ conference wooden spoon. Akira Ioane has the talent to be world class, but he needs to defend with more purpose and vary his angles of attack when running. Otere Black and Ma'a Nonu need to learn the lessons of this one. Too predictable in attack, not enough ambition. Who is the attack coach? Blues scrum not good enough either. Who is the scrum coach?
@shark said in Jaguares vs Blues:
What's "long way to go" actually mean in terms of a Blues fans' right to expect improvement?
I would have thought after the NPC final based on the reaction that Harry Plummer and Dalton Papa'alii were the second coming of Fox and Jones and the Blues were going to be a force....
What? Papalii didn't even play the semi or the final in NPC and Plummer hasn't even had a proper crack at 10 yet.
@shark said in Jaguares vs Blues:
@Kirwan said in Jaguares vs Blues:
@shark said in Jaguares vs Blues:
Jeez they'd better beat the Sunwolves, but I wouldn't put the house on it.
The Blues suck. They suck bad.
Rewind to October and the NPC final and see who was drawing the long bow between Auckland burgling a title and the Blues improving....?
Canterbury fans? Cute you think Auckland beating you twice in a season is burgling a title too.
People keep throwing this strawman at Blues fans, we have been consistent with what we expected.
McDonald hasn’t had a chance to select his squad yet. The new board and chairman haven’t had time for any fundamental changes, and the relationship with Auckland Rugby has only started to improve.
I just want to see improvement this year, and it’s there in patches. Long way to go.
When Auckland drop back to something between crap and middling again this year, and you sandwich the 2018 heist between that and being so poor they nearly got relegated in 2017, yeah I think the vast majority of all fans will consider Auckland's fortuitous season as a burgled title.
Jesus, that loss still hurting is it?
@No-Quarter you can tell? 
@KiwiMurph said in Jaguares vs Blues:
@shark said in Jaguares vs Blues:
What's "long way to go" actually mean in terms of a Blues fans' right to expect improvement?
I would have thought after the NPC final based on the reaction that Harry Plummer and Dalton Papa'alii were the second coming of Fox and Jones and the Blues were going to be a force....
What? Papalii didn't even play the semi or the final in NPC and Plummer hasn't even had a proper crack at 10 yet.
That was how it seemed based on Auckland fans' reactions
