@Canes4life said in Blues vs Stormers:
Except in NPC there are no big Saffas running around.
No, there's big Kiwis running around
The big Saffa's thing is a bit of a myth. There's plenty of large Kiwis running around, they just don't play for the Canes.
Romano is a big lump, talented and experienced. Auckland had to cope with him a couple of times in the NPC.
@Tim said in Blues vs Stormers:
Auckland's maul defense in the NPC was extremely good. Lemalu and Whetton shut down every maul they came up against.
I've never seen an NZ side spend as much time on the maul during warmup (although it was mostly attacking setup)
It was clearly a focus.
@Duluth I was meaning more around the fact that they live and breath mauling. Kiwis aren't conditioned to it as much because we like to play an expansive game. As a result when we come up against Safas in Super Rugby they are very difficult to stop because they spend so much time perfecting the art.
I don't think they are any better than Canterbury's NPC side. When the backs screw up, Canterbury changes gear and mauls teams to death. Ta$man aren't bad at it either.
@Duluth They are probably an exception to the rule because of their gnarliness, overall though you would have to say South Africans love the maul more than Kiwis hence why the majority of our Kiwi sides struggle. On the other hand it really limits their style of rugby because they have little else in their arsenal - case in point being the Canes game on Saturday.
@Canes4life said in Blues vs Stormers:
you would have to say South Africans love the maul more than Kiwis hence why the majority of our Kiwi sides struggle.
Other NZ sides struggle against Canterbury. The maul is a large part of their string of titles. It's worth noting when an NZ side manages to negate it.
@Duluth Yeah but Canterbury are an exception. They have always played a very structured style of rugby which is bread into them from a young age - they master the basics of rugby really well hence why they win more often than not in playoff footy.
In contrast for example, the Canes and Wellington sides might not be good at maul play etc, but they are renowned for their ability to rip teams apart even when their forwards are back peddling because they have always had x factor loosies and great backs to do that.
Tbh i'm glad most teams in NZ don't focus too much on the maul. It might be a safe option in finals footy etc but as a spectacle it is a bloody bore to watch. We need variety in the game so I guess our teams will always be fairly poor at stopping the maul.
Match Blues v Stormers
Kick-off 19:35 local
Referee Nick Briant
AR1 Glen Jackson
AR2 Federico Anselmi
TMO Ben Skeen
@KiwiMurph Looking forward to this match!
@nzzp said in Blues vs Stormers:
Now you can fark around, form a string of players out the back who aren't bound, stop, start, go sideways and backwards, and then eventually wander up the field. Modern mauls I don't like.
This is the main issue with mauls these days. The stop and go is bollocks and just leads to another level of differing interpretation. We have situations where a maul is going backwards but is allowed to stop and then power up field. It's is straight up stupid.
Just make it so a maul can move once and if it moves sideways or backwards that counts as the once.
@Nepia said in Blues vs Stormers:
@nzzp said in Blues vs Stormers:
Now you can fark around, form a string of players out the back who aren't bound, stop, start, go sideways and backwards, and then eventually wander up the field. Modern mauls I don't like.
This is the main issue with mauls these days. The stop and go is bollocks and just leads to another level of differing interpretation. We have situations where a maul is going backwards but is allowed to stop and then power up field. It's is straight up stupid.
Just make it so a maul can move once and if it moves sideways or backwards that counts as the once.
disagree. But i feel like we have this discussion every year.
Not sure you have noticed, but the refs are way less lenient on them now, and the snake mauls have gone as well. Having to move the ball rather than the man backwards has changed a lot of the maul dynamic, for the better IMO.
@mariner4life said in Blues vs Stormers:
disagree. But i feel like we have this discussion every year.
but, but I love a good whinge every year: 
@mariner4life Yeah would have to agree there the Mauls are more defined and the Refs I think have controlled them well, Much better than the moving players backwards bullshit we had before, That was a mess.
@Chris said in Blues vs Stormers:
@mariner4life Yeah would have to agree there the Mauls are more defined and the Refs I think have controlled them well, Much better than the moving players backwards bullshit we had before, That was a mess.
real good as a player if you drilled your pack how to do it well, and you could just grind teams in to the dust. But yea, it's better with the balance we have now
@mariner4life Being an ex mid field back not my favourite part of the game,But its what we have in the game so better now than before
@Chris said in Blues vs Stormers:
@mariner4life Being an ex mid field back not my favourite part of the game,But its what we have in the game so better now than before
i was the guy in the middle of that maul directing traffic. yelling, slapping backs, informing the ref what was going on, and getting shoulders smashing in to my kidneys for my trouble. god i miss that
@mariner4life HaHaHa a real forward.
@mariner4life said in Blues vs Stormers:
@Chris said in Blues vs Stormers:
@mariner4life Being an ex mid field back not my favourite part of the game,But its what we have in the game so better now than before
i was the guy in the middle of that maul directing traffic. yelling, slapping backs, informing the ref what was going on, and getting shoulders smashing in to my kidneys for my trouble. god i miss that
So you were the one doing no actual work 
The real maulers have their head down and can’t be seen, Reuben Thorn for example
@SammyC said in Blues vs Stormers:
@mariner4life said in Blues vs Stormers:
@Chris said in Blues vs Stormers:
@mariner4life Being an ex mid field back not my favourite part of the game,But its what we have in the game so better now than before
i was the guy in the middle of that maul directing traffic. yelling, slapping backs, informing the ref what was going on, and getting shoulders smashing in to my kidneys for my trouble. god i miss that
So you were the one doing no actual work
Reuben obviously wasn't smart enough to be trusted to organise everything. Someone also has to be trusted to pull down the lineout. Reuben obviously couldn't be trusted with that either.
@Canes4life said in Blues vs Stormers:
@Duluth Yeah but Canterbury are an exception. They have always played a very structured style of rugby which is bread into them from a young age - they master the basics of rugby really well hence why they win more often than not in playoff footy.
In contrast for example, the Canes and Wellington sides might not be good at maul play etc, but they are renowned for their ability to rip teams apart even when their forwards are back peddling because they have always had x factor loosies and great backs to do that.
Tbh i'm glad most teams in NZ don't focus too much on the maul. It might be a safe option in finals footy etc but as a spectacle it is a bloody bore to watch. We need variety in the game so I guess our teams will always be fairly poor at stopping the maul.
A maul provides variety
