@antipodean said in Blues v Sunwolves:
I don't know if it's the opposition, but the Blues showed some structural promise tonight.
Plummer at 10 I think was key.
Ioane brothers brilliant tonight.
SBW good shift.
Considering the travel very happy with that result. Good job.
I thought Cowley-Tuioti was poor in the 1st half but his defence has been outstanding in the 2nd. Akira was fantastic on attack and defence (as usual), Rieko had a great game out wide and it's great to see Melani Nanai at the back who looks a hell of a lot better than that bloody Michael Collins (as we all knew already apart from Tana and Tony Hanks). He's easily been our best back this season so far. Halfback remains a massive problem for us however. Pulu makes a hell of a lot of errors and Nock still looks a bit scared out there.
A bit scrappy but hey, a wins a win without Tuipulotu, Hodgman and Tu'ungafasi as well.
@African-Monkey said in Blues v Sunwolves:
Cowley-Tuioti
Yeah, a lot better in the 2nd half. Thought Robinson was better in the 2nd too.
match report: Thank fark we won
Stadium report: while I'm a one eyed aucklander, NH stadium is one of the top three in the country to watch rugby. From a pure watching point of view, arguably the best - the stand is steep and high, and it reminded me of the old Mallard stand in Welly. That said, the queues for food were embarassing, particularly given how many staff were on (like the Blues: lots of effort, but not a lot of result).
Ioane (R) Outstanding. Serious gas. Quiet otherwise - but give him a sniff and he'll be gone. All Blacks should get the best out of him
Akira - still runs very upright. Ridiculous strength.
Ref - inconsistent. As always. Light policing of offside sometimes. The 'try' absolutely bemused us at the ground - looked like the carrier wrapped the defender... so why the heck is that allowed to play on? Video referees are just all over the place
All in all, a good night out, and everyone enjoyed it (except the poor bastard near us who took teh Sunwolves on a multi :D)
@nzzp said in Blues v Sunwolves:
match report: Thank fark we won
Stadium report: while I'm a one eyed aucklander, NH stadium is one of the top three in the country to watch rugby. From a pure watching point of view, arguably the best - the stand is steep and high, and it reminded me of the old Mallard stand in Welly. That said, the queues for food were embarassing, particularly given how many staff were on (like the Blues: lots of effort, but not a lot of result).
Ioane (R) Outstanding. Serious gas. Quiet otherwise - but give him a sniff and he'll be gone. All Blacks should get the best out of him
Akira - still runs very upright. Ridiculous strength.
Ref - inconsistent. As always. Light policing of offside sometimes. The 'try' absolutely bemused us at the ground - looked like the carrier wrapped the defender... so why the heck is that allowed to play on? Video referees are just all over the place
All in all, a good night out, and everyone enjoyed it (except the poor bastard near us who took teh Sunwolves on a multi :D)
Yeah we were in the top part of the stand, pretty much in the middle and had a great view.
Thought the Sunwolves were very cynical at times, and with a better ref would have more than two yellow cards.
Backline looked much better with Plummer at ten, and we don’t have to hide our ten on defence with him there. Black came on and it was back to the last few weeks for the final 15mins.
Goal kicking needs to improve though.
Parsons is a Trier but amazes me they continue to use him as a ball runner when he rarely ever gets to the gain line let alone over.
The use of the bench is interesting too.
Decent outing though, a win will do thier confidence a world of good
@pakman said in Blues v Sunwolves:
@nzzp Has to be said Wolves were razor sharp at the beginning. Beautiful crisp handling backs, and some serious gas, in particular Booth. Noticeably how they lost their mojo once Blues softened them up with their physicality.
Both they and the Jaguares are starting to justify the expansion. It's what we want to see - teams improing and being competitive
@Machpants said in Blues v Sunwolves:
@nzzp just in time for them to be kicked out, if rumors are true. Problem is with the wolves, not exactly a Japanese team. Almost as many blues region players as the blues! Doesn't apply to jags
It's frustrating - disrupt a good comp to expand, do it badly, and then abandon it just as it's starting to show fruit. Needed the support of the clubs I suspect, to make it worthwhile and offer a decent pathway.
Looks like around 11 of 29 are SE Asian descent in the team list below.
@nzzp said in Blues v Sunwolves:
@Machpants said in Blues v Sunwolves:
@nzzp just in time for them to be kicked out, if rumors are true. Problem is with the wolves, not exactly a Japanese team. Almost as many blues region players as the blues! Doesn't apply to jags
Looks like around 11 of 29 are SE Asian descent in the team list below.
That list is not the complete Sunwolves' squad. The full squad is here (54 players!): https://sunwolves.or.jp/team/player/2019/
Of the 25 Japanese internationals in the squad, 15 were born in Japan, 1 in South Korea, 1 in South Africa, 2 in Tonga (one went to school in NZ) and 6 in New Zealand.
Apart from the Japanese internationals, there's a whopping number of NZ players: 14 (not counting Pauliasi Manu and Phil Burleigh)!
Also 5 South Africans, 4 Australians, 3 Tongans, a Fijian, a Georgian and a NZ born Scot (Burleigh).
@Bones said in Blues v Sunwolves:
I don't mind Ken at all, think he provides a point of difference. At least he's not yet been criticised for pronouncing names correctly or actually knowing stuff about rugby and the players.
He's got the Nisbo bug tonight though. Apparently Nanai is playing in 11,14 & 15. Busy lad!
Now now.
Mind you he had an interesting take on Gerhard.
@taniwharugby no use of bench. Blues still not making good choices on or off the field.
@nzzp said in Blues v Sunwolves:
the old Mallard stand
Have visions of a whole heap of ducks watching footy 
(Millard)
@Rocky-Rockbottom said in Blues v Sunwolves:
The ginge halfback ran like Forrest fucking Gump on stilts.
That guy put in the worst halfback display in McLean Park ever last year for the Canes (ok that’s probably hyperbole, worst equal with all of Chris Eaton’s), it was like he was a different person last night.
@African-Monkey said in Blues v Sunwolves:
@Nepia Was that against the Sharks? Yeah I was trying to remember last night whether it was him, Judd, Christie and for some reason Kayne Hammington even though Hammington hasn't even played for the Hurricanes who had that disasterous game.
Yep, that was the match.
@booboo said in Blues v Sunwolves:
@Bones said in Blues v Sunwolves:
I don't mind Ken at all, think he provides a point of difference. At least he's not yet been criticised for pronouncing names correctly or actually knowing stuff about rugby and the players.
He's got the Nisbo bug tonight though. Apparently Nanai is playing in 11,14 & 15. Busy lad!
Now now.
Mind you he had an interesting take on Gerhard.
Hah that wasn't directed at you actually, I'm sure I've seen it on here a few times as a criticism of Ken, which seems bizarre.
@Rocky-Rockbottom said in Blues v Sunwolves:
ekeing out a narrow win at home versus the fearsome Japanese Sunwolves frankenmess franchise, the unwanted castoffs of other franchises. Whoop de fucken doo. Yet the visiting crew of motley lepers still play with more verve and guile than our dipshit plonkers. Srsly, besides the Ioane's there is sweet fuckall magic about this Blues side. Michael Little came back and absolutely kicked our arses. The ginge halfback ran like Forrest fucking Gump on stilts. Then he ran some more. Where the fuck was Pulu, queuing up for a fucken pie?
On the bright side, quite rooting the Blues ranga 6. Bit of Paul Tito abrasiveness about him. Must be an enraged ranga thing. He seems to like fucking peoples shit up and that is what he does.
Scrum went very well. Good to see Scrafton back.
I see your point but I was pleased that when the going got a little tough this Blues team dug in and got the result.
I was skeptical about Sonny Bill as Cap, but looking at footage after game clear he has mana and can take the boys with him.
@KiwiMurph said in Blues v Sunwolves:
Plummer at 10 I think was key.
He's got a better passing hame than Black. Also, the Blues ten is going to get erratic ball no matter who is picked at halfback. Plummer copes with shitty ball a lot better than Black
If his goalkicking was better it would be an easy choice
He was a great goalkicker during the u20's. Hopefully he can go back to whatever he was doing back then.
@pakman he was a clear target for the Sunwolves, and they forced a number of errors down his channel, but if you shut him down or restrict his ability to off-load it hinders things further out.
The thing with Pulu, I think it almost looked deliberate to leave the space on the fringes and trust the second line would pick up Booth as they knew he couldnt go long to score, but after a couple of decent incursions they decided to shut the hole.
Against the Chiefs the SW's were very accurate with thier ruck work and choosing when to contest and when to stand off and wait for the next phase, this time they commited more to these breakdowns with the bigger ball runners and to shut down SBW.
@pakman said in Blues v Sunwolves:
I see your point but I was pleased that when the going got a little tough this Blues team dug in and got the result.
I was skeptical about Sonny Bill as Cap, but looking at footage after game clear he has mana and can take the boys with him.
There's 3-4 moments where the Blues got a lead and then let them back into the match. A better side would have buried them. However Tana Kirwan's/John Umaga's side would have found a way to lose that one
It's an improvement
Blake Gibson was well off the pace. Hopefully that game blew the cobwebs out. We need the four quality loosies fit so we can start sharing the workload.
With Gibson and Scrafton in the 23 we have a bit more leadership to call on too
The scrambling defence was good but the ease of some of the initial line breaks has been a concern in every match.
I thought it was interesting to see quite a lot of chat out on the field. Both Ioane brothers, Nanai, SBW etc. I'm used to seeing the Blues walk around with puzzled looks on their faces so it was good to see some chat. SBW commented on it post game.
The other thing I really enjoyed was we were problem-fixing along the way … the boys were speaking up and problem-solving on the field.@KiwiMurph said in Blues v Sunwolves:
I thought it was interesting to see quite a lot of chat out on the field. Both Ioane brothers, Nanai, SBW etc. I'm used to seeing the Blues walk around with puzzled looks on their faces so it was good to see some chat. SBW commented on it post game.
You could see them joking and staying relaxed too. TJ seems to be in the middle of that, like he was for Auckland.
In previous years you could see the pressure building as a team got close.. which would result in the inevitable loss in the last 5mins