Blues
Match thread
Bulls
@Jailbreak7 said in Blues v Bulls:
@taniwharugby Many more draws.
That was a bloody awful last five mins from the Blues. They really need to work on how they start and how they finish games.
They could also work on the middle of games.
Get those three things right and they are in business!
@African-Monkey Number one factor will be who the halfback is ... so probably no.
Why the fuck was Plummer kicking for the win? If there is one thing Black has on Plummer it is goal kicking. Dumb.
The decision to attempt a dropped goal while under penalty advantage from a; so far out & b; when the penalty location was just as far out was a dumb one and summed the Blues game up.... They just don’t know how to manage a game of footy.
You are under advantage, have a fucking crack lads, at worst you’ll be back for the same penalty, at best you score a try and win the game.
Duh!
Maybe they should think about converting Ruru to a loose forward. Abrasive in contact.J But not quite there as a viable scrum-half option.
@kev Game management and option taking is a massive issue along with the level of intelligence of the leaders that are on the paddock..
Jonathan Ruru sums the Blues up, capable of 1 or 2 really good things but has so many flaws in the rest of his game..
His service looks pressured most of the time..throw in a real lack of knowing where defenders are...
A draw was probably a fair result..
What worries me now, we are locked in with many of these players in pivotal positions ..and many of the half decent players all locked away by other franchises...
I would be all over Hayden Parker doing my best to get him back to NZ..for all Plummers talent ,hes had 2 opportunities to win games with clutch kicks and has come up short..
Harsh but true..!
Can’t see us winning our last 2 games..definite improvement in some aspects except in the areas that matter most..doing the little things right which takes care of the scoreboard..
@taniwharugby I thought Nock was the only half back this year to demonstrate the skills the Blues are looking for. Sure that he will pick up a contract for next year.
Ruru seems to have caught Pulu-itis with an increase in the number of poor decisions. He started off the season really well but has fallen away with some erratic play of late.
Game management and just keeping their shape seems to be a real issue.
Nonu for all his experience and quality, it doesn’t seem that he is vocal or asserts himself in the pressure situations to help the team to take control.
The Black/Plummer duo was interesting. Plummer does have a touch of an Aaron Mauger type 2nd 5.
Thought Plummer was good, that last kick aside, he doesn't lack for confidence or heart when taking the ball to the line. He just needs a helping hand from his half-back! A.nd more protection from his forwards. A general awareness of where players are on the field from the Blues would also be good rather thn passes to Mr Sideline.
@pukunui said in Blues v Bulls:
Why the fuck was Plummer kicking for the win? If there is one thing Black has on Plummer it is goal kicking. Dumb.
I actually feel for the kid. He was trying to step up and take responsibility rather than throw the onus back onto his forwards.
Leadership should have stepped in and taken that responsibility off him considering he was hacking the ball. When the ball takes those harsh late turns you know that the kicker isn't striking sweetly or following through properly.
As a former kicker himself Rangi should have known that and sent the message down.
@kev problem is, such limited minutes to show his wares this season (when you consider his form prior to those 2 games) even if he has a blinder for Northland...guess this is the drawback of signing kids out of school rather than letting them develop and mature against the wiley veterans in club footy (who are no longer there either)
Hindsight is all well and good regarding Plummer being the one to take the shot but he'd been kicking all night and actually nailed the conversion from the same side of the field earlier.
Otere coming in cold to take the kick i'm not sure was the answer.
@Crucial Yep, agree totally. Plummer is young and green, but he has the vision and committment. Leadership was key in those last few minutes and was a contributing factor in having the win snatched from them. Patty T will hopefully learn a lot from that.
Just think the pack needs to play more collectively, and perhaps practice their wet-weather ball-handling skills.
@Crucial I had no problem with him going for points. Our season's virtually over anyway and the only way for him to get better in situations like these are by continuing to go for it. If you have a chance to win a game with a penalty kick ou always go for it imo.
Who's to say that we wouldn't have butchered the lineout anyway?
@KiwiMurph Yup, hindsight is a wonderful thing. He'd be a hero if he managed to nail the kick but such is life.
So what halfback have the Blues brought in as 3rd since Nock is out?
Might as well give him a run.
A team with fresher players on the field would probably be less likely to make as many handling errors, and could probably play to a pattern better.
My biggest criticism of MacDonald is his reluctance to use the bench, and more so his lack of squad management.
@KiwiMurph Lewis Gjaltema?
I think you are all making excuses for Plummer.
Thought he had a reasonable game general play wise.
To be fair Eden Park is his home ground and I would imagine he gets to practice on this ground, his last kick had the yips about it.
Come the hour, come the man..can think of many examples of players who have stepped up and nailed kicks...a very young Josh Ioane nailing a penalty from a wide angle in the Mitre 10 cup semi final last year..
It’s moments like these that define a player moving forward.
@Steven-Harris Plummer has done it before too. His wide conversion in the rain tied the Mitre 10 Cup final allowing it to go to overtime.
@KiwiMurph which makes his 2 misses against the Saders in the first game of the season and let’s face it very kickable shots those 2 ,add in tonight’s miss even more unacceptable...has he got what it takes at super rugby level in terms of temperament when put in a clutch situation..?
Forgot to mention 55% kicking success rate..unacceptable in my book.
@Tim said in Blues v Bulls:
A team with fresher players on the field would probably be less likely to make as many handling errors, and could probably play to a pattern better.
My biggest criticism of MacDonald is his reluctance to use the bench, and more so his lack of squad management.
This.
@Steven-Harris said in Blues v Bulls:
@KiwiMurph which makes his 2 misses against the Saders in the first game of the season and let’s face it very kickable shots those 2 ,add in tonight’s miss even more unacceptable...has he got what it takes at super rugby level in terms of temperament when put in a clutch situation..?
Forgot to mention 55% kicking success rate..unacceptable in my book.
2 misses against the 2 time defending champions in his Super Rugby debut?
Ok?
He's a 20 year old rookie thrust into starting.
FFS can we just let the kid settle for a season before throwing him to the wolves.
@hydro11 Curwin Bosh who is only 22 has had kicking success rate around the mid eighties for the last 3 seasons ..If Plummer is to define himself as a top class pivot ,he needs to be much better than 55%..Perofeta as a 20 year old was copping the same criticism for inconsistent goal kicking..regardless of age ,if goal kicking is part of your repertoire, make it count..
I rest my case...
@Steven-Harris said in Blues v Bulls:
@hydro11 Curwin Bosh who is only 22 has had kicking success rate around the mid eighties for the last 3 seasons ..If Plummer is to define himself as a top class pivot ,he needs to be much better than 55%..Perofeta as a 20 year old was copping the same criticism for inconsistent goal kicking..regardless of age ,if goal kicking is part of your repertoire, make it count..
I rest my case...
I don't really understand why a 25 year old should be a better goal kicker than a 20 year old. Plummer will be working a lot on his goal kicking I'm sure. I would have expected a talented young first-five to have done a lot of practice by the time he gets to 20. Hopefully Plummer gets the best coaches in the country and fixes whatever technical issue he has. I do expect a young player to have work ons but I'm just not convinced that goal kicking should be one of them.
Curwin Bosch debuted for the Sharks in 2016....so he's now in his 4th year....that's a fair comparison to a rookie.....
@KiwiMurph said in Blues v Bulls:
Curwin Bosch debuted for the Sharks in 2016....so he's now in his 4th year....that's a fair comparison to a rookie.....
What did he kick in his first season?
Wading through the thread late.
My two cents before commenting on other comments:
- Blues blew that
- Shame Plummer missed that last kick. He'll be remembered for that but he is growing on me generally.
- Ruru scored that but TMO correct in his ruling not over ruling the on field decision
- Crusaders fans will be pissed off for that Bulls try ...
... absolutely not forward but carbon fucking copy of Ennor's pass to Reece. - Fraser was awful, particularly early on. Can't remember specifics apart from the off side off the knock on from the kick off. How. Fucking. Obvious. Was. It?
- And kudos to the 10-14 guys who picked up the pattern of the Saffas forcing a limb or two into the tackle to slow the ball down. They do it so well. See point above about Fraser being awful.
- Blake Gibson. Why?
Other stuffs follows as I read the thread ...
@Gunner said in Blues v Bulls:
Clever slowing the ruck ball down a few phases ago by the bulls player.
Pretended to dive back over to his own side of the ruck but didn’t go far enough and left his knees over the ball, perfectly slowing it down.
Wake up ref!
Cynical. Clever coz they get away with it
@KiwiMurph said in Blues v Bulls:
Can we drag Ruru? FFS!
Oh yeah. They've now got s couple of 10s who can do the job ... find a couple of 9s
@Stockcar86 said in Blues v Bulls:
Good to see Robinson using his boots to ruck the yarpie out of the way of that ruck
This!
@African-Monkey said in Blues v Bulls:
@Stargazer Thought it left the hands backwards myself before floating forward. Game on.
There were posts by culturally cringey Kiwis that suggested we'd whinge about exactly this scenario post Crusaders v Stormers.
Seems we're not.
Who ever you are give your self an upper cut you toss pot. No one (that I have seen so far) is complaining about a legitimate pass/try.
