2014 Super Rugby: Blues v Cheetahs (Round 6)

[TRF Mr Fish]

Round 6 - Auckland
Eden Park
Saturday 22/03/14 at 7:35PM

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Referee: Francisco Pastrana

Blues: Charles Piutau, Frank Halai, George Moala, Jackson Willison, Tevita Li, Simon Hickey, Piri Weepu, Peter Saili, Luke Braid, Steven Luatua, Tom Donnelly, Liaki Moli, Charlie Faumuina, James Parsons, Tony Woodcock. Reserves: Tom McCartney, Angus Ta'avao, Ofa Tu'ungafasi, Jerome Kaino, Hayden Triggs, Bryn Hall, Ma'a Nonu, Benji Marshall.

Cheetahs: Willie le Roux, Cornal Hendricks, Johann Sadie, Rayno Benjamin, Hennie Daniller, Johan Goosen, Sarel Pretorious, Philip van der Walt, Jean Cook, Boom Prinsloo, Francois Uys, Lodewyk de Jager, Maks van Dyk, Adriaan Strauss, Caylib Oosthuizen. Reserves: Ryno Barnes, Trevor Nyakane, Rossouw de Klerk, Andries Ferreira, Lappies Labuschagné, Shaun Venter, Elgar Watts, Howard Mnisi

 

[FlukeArtist]

Sorry, but nothing less than a +13 pont win will be acceptable from the Blues.

Lose, and you can put the season on the scrap heap

 

[Sam Owen]

Sorry, but nothing less than a +13 pont win will be acceptable from the Blues.

Lose, and you can put the season on the scrap heap

Im hoping for a good win too. Im sure we'll win but its how we win that matters.

 

[Gena_ZA]

Loosing both matches in SA and traveling back east - never going to be easy for the Blues
Cheetahs not close to where they were last year but they will click at some stage

 

[TRF Mr Fish]

JK has revealed that Nonu and Kaino will be on the bench this weekend and he's hoping he'll get a good thirty minutes out of both of them.

 

[Bull]

Bite the pillow Cheetahs the Blues are going in dry! Naka has truly lost his mind

Cheetahs:

15 Willie le Roux, 14 Cornal Hendricks, 13 Johann Sadie, 12 Rayno Benjamin, 11 Hennie Daniller, 10 Johan Goosen, 9 Sarel Pretorius, 8 Philip van der Walt, 7 Jean Cook, 6 Boom Prinsloo, 5 Francois Uys, 4 Lodewyk de Jager, 3 Maks van Dyk, 2 Adriaan Strauss, 1 Caylib Oosthuizen

Substitutes: 16 Ryno Barnes, 17 Trevor Nyakane, 18 Rossouw de Klerk, 19 Andries Ferreira, 20 Lappies Labuschagné, 21 Shaun Venter, 22 Elgar Watts, 23 Howard Mnisi

 

[Gena_ZA]

agreed, they are now ripe for picking

 

[TRF_stormer2010]

Wow. Naka looks to be a gambling man. Suddenly I wish I had the transfers to stack my fantsasy team with Blues backline players.

 

[Gena_ZA]

I am so glad I hold back to a Thursday before managing my Fantasy teams

 

[Shaggy]

Blues named ... Benji back on the bench (as per Stuff article)

http://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/rugby/...nji-Marshall-on-bench-Hickey-starts-for-Blues

BLUES: Charles Piutau, Frank Halai, George Moala, Jackson Willison, Tevita Li, Simon Hickey, Piri Weepu, Peter Saili, Luke Braid (c), Steven Luatua, Tom Donnelly, Liaki Moli, Charlie Faumuina, James Parsons, Tony Woodcock. Reserves: Tom McCartney, Angus Ta'avao, Ofa Tu'ungafasi, Jerome Kaino, Hayden Triggs, Bryn Hall, Ma'a Nonu, Benji Marshall

 

[jessta]

I couldn't be more dissapointed that weepu is starting.

 

[nzlizard]

Will be hard for the Blues, 2 games on the road and then fly back and play the Cheetahs who should hit form soon.

Blues to win though.

 

[ABs2011]

I guess Benji's benching says it all huh? TO me that says 1) he didn't do well enough to warrant a starting spot again, and 2) I would speculate that they don't want to put too great a work load on the young Tevita Li or for that matter Benji himself (small steps and all that).

Personally I think this is the Blues best outside combination (i.e the starters) but I also think Benji off the bench is best for the Blues as well.

Agree with a previous poster about Weepu, I sure hope Hall gets a few opportunities to start this year (even if it is a rotation type policy).

Looking at the Blues line up now, with Nonu and Kaino back in the frame, they suddenly look pretty good (on paper). In saying that they must be ruing the fact that they missed out on Barrett, their main weakness, outside of their locks, is the 9 - 10 combo (particularly 10). The Blues "should" win this one in a similar fashion to the Canes last week. Cheetahs will be a bit better than last week I suspect, but the Blues on paper should be a better team than the Canes. You'd have to think the Blues will win this by 20+ but you'd be a brave man to take that bet given the Blues current form + the trip back from SA to take into consideration!

 

[steblin]

I couldn't be more dissapointed that weepu is starting.

Agree, especially if we're ever looking to cut loose in a game we need pace from the breakdown, and Piri was slooooow last week

 

[Chikwa]

Can the Blues give an 80 minutes measured and consistent performance ? As opposed to flashes of brilliance from their talented back line . Time to deliver Mr Kirwan.

 

[Darwin]

This ref is a pedantic fellow isn't he....

 

[steblin]

This ref is a pedantic fellow isn't he....

Yep, going to be a snooze fest if this keeps up

 

[steblin]

I would love to see a stat on Moli handling errors...

 

[Darwin]

Blues are making basic handling errors too.....

EDIT: Try Luatua. Simple pick and driving pays off.

 

[steblin]

Whistle ... Whistle ... Whistle

That about sums the game up right?