Just got back from the game. 17K fans turned up tonight which isn’t bad for a Friday game, pretty good atmosphere and an epic fireworks display at halftime. Good to see the Canes and Hnry stadium putting in the effort.

On the rugger, after a lot of aimless kicking in the first 20 by both teams, it was a pretty brutal game from the stands. Kirifi was noticeable when carrying, has absolutely no respect for his body.

I thought Love had a mixed bag, did some things really well but then let himself down with some aimless kicking. I thought Barrett and Proctor weren’t as sharp as what we’ve seen from them earlier in the season. On the Canes, I was impressed how they kept a cool head despite going down by 7 early. Roigard and Love are really good in that area, not getting carried away when we are down and not getting too big headed when we are up. Two cool heads calling the shots which is good to see.

Overall, really enjoyable game but I think a lot of those Canes first stringers really need a rest. Four weeks of big games have taken a toll.

What happened to Aumua? Anyone hear?

Good game of footy. Enjoyed.

@reprobate said in Hurricanes vs Crusaders:

Blackadder and Lio Willie and Leicester

Maybe for the first 5-10 minutes. I don't know what you were watching for the rest of the match.

Delaney carried with oomph today eh, must read my posts.

Cahill looked like Holland.

@Bones said in Hurricanes vs Crusaders:

Delaney carried with oomph today eh, must read my posts.

Cahill looked like Holland.

If Delany was slightly taller he’d be in the conversation. So consistent.

Got an update on Aumua and it could be bad news for us. Shoulder injury and it doesn’t look good. Hopefully not as bad as first thought but he’ll go for scans on Monday.

@Canes4life Sad to hear that. Was hoping he would get good minutes for ABs this year.

@Tim said in Hurricanes vs Crusaders:

@Canes4life Sad to hear that. Was hoping he would get good minutes for ABs this year.

Injuries have really hampered his career so let’s hope he gets some luck with this one. Playing very well atm.

Tuputupu should do a reverse Tosi and move to 8. He'd give STT a run for his money.

@Chris said in Hurricanes vs Crusaders:

Pretty happy with that a lot better performance from the Crusaders we could have won that some shocking ref decisions Gardiner didn’t score and 2 Canes tries from forward passes.
We get Jordan and Barrett back that was a lot better performance away against the form team,
Quite a bit to build on going forward.
I thought we might get smoked the way we were playing a bonus point is ok for me,

Yeah I'm pretty happy with that too, thought before the match we'd get thrashed and was worried when they scored those 2 quick tries before halftime that the floodgates would open.

Lio-Willie's best game of the season. Bkackadder/Gardiner was a good 1-2 punch at 6. Cahill very physical again.

We should have kept McLeod on the wing and put Macdonald at 13, he's a natural 13 and has been carving up at club level playing there.

Havili is an idiot, ruined at least 3 good attacking opportunities with terrible kicks. But to his credit he did defend well.

Next week at home v the blues is going to be good fun.

I'm over NZ refs, so many errors costing both sides tonight (how many turnovers did he let go each way yelling "first man" but ignoring tacklers lying all over the ruck)

Doleman and O'Keefe are both such posers, both seem more concerned with seeing themselves on the big screen than anything else.

Shame to lose Aumua. I hope it's not as bad first feared

Scoreline flattered the Crusaders. Not the best Hurricanes performance by any stretch, but the win was all that mattered.

@sparky said in Hurricanes vs Crusaders:

Shame to lose Aumua. I hope it's not as bad first feared

Scoreline flattered the Crusaders. Not the best Hurricanes performance by any stretch, but the win was all that mattered.

At the game you could tell the players were banged up so they showed plenty of grit to get through and win.

Will be interesting to see what the team looks like next week, I expect almost all of the first stringers to be rested.

Well enjoyed that. Was as close as I suspected it would be. I do think some of Canes will be rested this week, or at least have very light training, they starting to look a little tired ,understandingly. Crusaders look to be coming on strong , and can still see them around at pointy end .
On the ref, I saw no great cock ups, I still don't know of that ball to FF was forward or back in his try, and anyone looking at the angle on tv was guessing too.
Actually if commentators just shut up about refs would help, as they (or Justin Marshal) isn't aware of the laws/rules of game. he said that Hannah should of been penalised for kicking the ball in ruck, bollocks he kicked it toward his own try line ,perfectly legal you can't kick it forward. Samr as crooked throw he called and Marshall said no Crusaders jumper so it wasn't , once again bollocks, if your own noone jumps from either team it has to be straight, otherwise you can just launch ball to halfback. Saw BOK explain it early in season!

@kev said in Hurricanes vs Crusaders:

Why do NZ rugby players kick the ball away? Dumb

All teams do it if there is a strong defence line in front. The whole idea is to get it is to cahse kick and hopefully force a kick back so you get ball with unstructured defence line in front of you.

@canefan said in Hurricanes vs Crusaders:

Tuputupu is a liability. Marshall points out Doleman has stuffed up. Saders didn't compete so throw didn't need to be straight

See post above Coleman was right.

@SammyC said in Hurricanes vs Crusaders:

@Chris said in Hurricanes vs Crusaders:

Pretty happy with that a lot better performance from the Crusaders we could have won that some shocking ref decisions Gardiner didn’t score and 2 Canes tries from forward passes.
We get Jordan and Barrett back that was a lot better performance away against the form team,
Quite a bit to build on going forward.
I thought we might get smoked the way we were playing a bonus point is ok for me,

Yeah I'm pretty happy with that too, thought before the match we'd get thrashed and was worried when they scored those 2 quick tries before halftime that the floodgates would open.

Lio-Willie's best game of the season. Bkackadder/Gardiner was a good 1-2 punch at 6. Cahill very physical again.

We should have kept McLeod on the wing and put Macdonald at 13, he's a natural 13 and has been carving up at club level playing there.

Havili is an idiot, ruined at least 3 good attacking opportunities with terrible kicks. But to his credit he did defend well.

Next week at home v the blues is going to be good fun.

I'm over NZ refs, so many errors costing both sides tonight (how many turnovers did he let go each way yelling "first man" but ignoring tacklers lying all over the ruck)

Doleman and O'Keefe are both such posers, both seem more concerned with seeing themselves on the big screen than anything else.

Yep agree with all of that McNicol put us under a lot of pressure with miracle off loads his time is done.

@sparky said in Hurricanes vs Crusaders:

Shame to lose Aumua. I hope it's not as bad first feared

Scoreline flattered the Crusaders. Not the best Hurricanes performance by any stretch, but the win was all that mattered.

Flattered I would say the score flattered the Hurricanes with 2 tries from forward passes.

@Chris said in Hurricanes vs Crusaders:

@sparky said in Hurricanes vs Crusaders:

Shame to lose Aumua. I hope it's not as bad first feared

Scoreline flattered the Crusaders. Not the best Hurricanes performance by any stretch, but the win was all that mattered.

Flattered I would say the score flattered the Hurricanes with 2 tries from forward passes.

Nice to see the rub of the green go our way for once.

I never felt like the Canes were going to lose that game though, the Saders did well to make it a dog fight but I’m sure the Canes will be happy to get through the block of four big games. They are now in a good position to control their own destiny.

Also, that Gardiner try was bullshit and shouldn’t have been allowed if we are being picky. The ref ran in between Gardiner and Flanders and prevented Flanders from getting up quicker.

Didn't see the match, but from the sounds of it, both teams copped a few bad decisions?

@African-Monkey said in Hurricanes vs Crusaders:

Didn't see the match, but from the sounds of it, both teams copped a few bad decisions?

In this age of TMO and super slow mo there were some clangers. In the good old days before all that it was another day at the park

@Canes4life said in Hurricanes vs Crusaders:

@Chris said in Hurricanes vs Crusaders:

@sparky said in Hurricanes vs Crusaders:

Shame to lose Aumua. I hope it's not as bad first feared

Scoreline flattered the Crusaders. Not the best Hurricanes performance by any stretch, but the win was all that mattered.

Flattered I would say the score flattered the Hurricanes with 2 tries from forward passes.

Nice to see the rub of the green go our way for once.

I never felt like the Canes were going to lose that game though, the Saders did well to make it a dog fight but I’m sure the Canes will be happy to get through the block of four big games. They are now in a good position to control their own destiny.

Also, that Gardiner try was bullshit and shouldn’t have been allowed if we are being picky. The ref ran in between Gardiner and Flanders and prevented Flanders from getting up quicker.

Yeah I mentioned the Gardiner try further up, my reaction was to the score flattered the Crusaders which is BS.
Imagine if that was a Final and we had that performance by a referee that is just not good enough.
We are trying to promote SR and the Referee delivers that tripe, this for both sides I am talking about.

Canes got the rub of the green by the ref as most hometown teams do for some reason. Canes were really off their game but somehow managed to win, though. Good sign.
As dynamic as the Canes loosies are, I feel last night's trio were a bit lightweight. Their front row on the other hand came through with flying colours against quality opposition. That tall Japanese lad at lock would walk straight into an AB squad, wouldn't he? Impossible to keep Fehi in NZ? The guy is a freak.
Crusaders missing Jordan. McNicol did a few BB-esk aimless kicks that really put their team under pressure, Havilli struggled.. Lio-Willie best loosie on the field. Gardiner/Blackadder/Lio-Willie is the best combo for the Crusaders I think. Hotham is AB No.2 halfback for sure. Good debut from that massive unit at 11.

How did LF go in his second go at 7? Improved?

@Chris said in Hurricanes vs Crusaders:

@Canes4life said in Hurricanes vs Crusaders:

@Chris said in Hurricanes vs Crusaders:

@sparky said in Hurricanes vs Crusaders:

Shame to lose Aumua. I hope it's not as bad first feared

Scoreline flattered the Crusaders. Not the best Hurricanes performance by any stretch, but the win was all that mattered.

Flattered I would say the score flattered the Hurricanes with 2 tries from forward passes.

Nice to see the rub of the green go our way for once.

I never felt like the Canes were going to lose that game though, the Saders did well to make it a dog fight but I’m sure the Canes will be happy to get through the block of four big games. They are now in a good position to control their own destiny.

Also, that Gardiner try was bullshit and shouldn’t have been allowed if we are being picky. The ref ran in between Gardiner and Flanders and prevented Flanders from getting up quicker.

Yeah I mentioned the Gardiner try further up, my reaction was to the score flattered the Crusaders which is BS.
Imagine if that was a Final and we had that performance by a referee that is just not good enough.
We are trying to promote SR and the Referee delivers that tripe, this for both sides I am talking about.

Oh yeah I agree, officiating definitely needs to be better.

@Frank said in Hurricanes vs Crusaders:

How did LF go in his second go at 7? Improved?

Probably about the same. Had a couple more good moments in the midfield on attack, but can't say the rest was anything to write home about.

@Bones really? I thought he was vastly better. A looong way from perfect, but a lot better.

@reprobate let's wipe the ridiculous turnovers he got, that leaves us with a couple of barnstorming runs, which isn't surprising.... and.... what else? Some clinical ruck supervision? Excellent display of skincare not getting grass burns when dragged along the ground trying to tackle someone? Beautiful gifting of the ball to the opposition with loose carrying?

The rest was a bit meh.

@Bones not saying he was great or anything, just thought positioning and tackling were a shitload improved from the previous week.

@Bones said in Hurricanes vs Crusaders:

@Frank said in Hurricanes vs Crusaders:

How did LF go in his second go at 7? Improved?

Probably about the same. Had a couple more good moments in the midfield on attack, but can't say the rest was anything to write home about.

To be fair to him, he got a line out take which i was surprised about. But i definitely think they should be giving that jersey to Kellow or Johnny Lee and putting him back in the midfield. Even with the late injury on the wing they still persisted with him in the loosies, its very odd.

@DurryMexted would've been extremely surprised to see him win a lineout last week with no strapping. Then again, seems Vaihu won as many lineouts as LF this weekend.

@DurryMexted said in Hurricanes vs Crusaders:

@Bones said in Hurricanes vs Crusaders:

@Frank said in Hurricanes vs Crusaders:

How did LF go in his second go at 7? Improved?

Probably about the same. Had a couple more good moments in the midfield on attack, but can't say the rest was anything to write home about.

To be fair to him, he got a line out take which i was surprised about. But i definitely think they should be giving that jersey to Kellow or Johnny Lee and putting him back in the midfield. Even with the late injury on the wing they still persisted with him in the loosies, its very odd.

Kellow has had a couple of opportunities this year (before Lecester got his chance at 7) and was fucking average

Lee is not a strong ball runner, and we are not flush with them in the forwards.... so if we play him we kinda need to start George Bell who's awful lineout throwing consistently costs us.

Lecester obviously isn't a starting all black 7, but he's solved a problem for us this year which has been a lack of ball running forwards.