Darwin
AKA Dingo_Darwin
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Thoughts on the match :
- Coltman was good in loose but needs to work on lineout throwing as it was poor.
-Hoeata looks a changed man and looks hungry again, hope Thorn isn't out for too long.
- Back Row is very solid and hard working. Christie is a bugger at the break down and a nuisance, gives away a few too many penalties but is good.
- Smith looks so sharp and very hungry as well. Never stopped talking at all. Sopoaga was pretty good, I think he is the best 10 and will grow as year goes on.
- Ben Smith was Ben smith, no need to say any more
- 13 looks good as he is young and the rest are solid.
Gutted for the Blues but the second half gives hope
- Parsons line out wasn't great but I noticed that Luatuas calls weren't reaching the whole of the pack, meaning a bit of confusion. parsons can't be blamed for that.
- Props were ok but need to defend a bit tighter instead of being out wide.
- Donnelly was nowhere to be seen in the first half but played better in second. Tuipolotu impressed me when he came on and I think he should start next week.
- Braid is a warrior and a leader. Hopefully not out for too long. Luatua grew into the game and imposed himself a lot better.
- Piri looked fitter then ever and looked pretty good. Noakes was crap, Benji should start next week maybe. Is Kerr injured?
- Saili looked good and tried to spark something when he could but was getting bad ball from Noakes. Didn't see Willison to be honest.
- Piutau was a monster and was looking bigger than ever, I really like him. Halai was average and I think Moala was the better of the two.
Good summary - I agree with most of that. Personally I've never been a big fan of Halai, and feel Moala has the bigger potential of the two.
Kerr has a hand injury, but is expected back in two weeks time. I think he should be starting every week for the Blues at 10 - Benji Marshall made a nice impact for the Blues from the bench, but still has a huge amount to learn.
What I really enjoyed about the Highlanders was their directness in attack. Last year we spent the whole season going side-to-side without making any ground, but this year we had players running straight and hard at the opposition. There was some good driving in close (though I would like to see a bit more of this), while Treeby and Fekitoa ran straight and hard. You could see Tony Brown influence on the backline already too, with a couple of very clever backline moves. The Highlanders defense for the first 60 mins off the match was very good, but we did fade quite badly at the end - against a better side that could have cost us.
I was happy with the performance of the front-row. Coltman was a bit shaky at lineout time, but the rest of his play was good, while Ged Robinson continued on his good work once he came on. Hames had a solid debut on the LH side, with his work-rate on defense very impressive. King was reliable as always, but Fia missed a few tackles once he came on. Fia is probably our best scrummager, but lacks the mobility in an open game - for me he either needs to be starting or not in the 23. The locks were good, and I thought the loose-forward combination worked well. Evans was impressive on debut, Manu was a bit quieter with ball in hand than usual but did some good work at the breakdown, while Christie had a massive work-rate in defense (though got penalised a bit much). Christie is definitely a better defensive player than Hardie, but we do miss Hardie's open field running and support play when he is not there. Ioane was good when he came on too - I think he only ran with the ball once, but his work-rate at the breakdown stood-out.
The midfield did well, though I do worry a bit about their lack of creativity against quality teams. I'm not convinced about Sopoaga at 10. He had a solid game - his goal-kicking was good enough and he distributed well, but he didn't really run with the ball (which is usually a feature of his game). I do worry about his defense too - it was noticeable that he was hidden at fullback on defense with Ben Smith defending up in the line. Osbourne didn't get many chances, but took the chances he had well, while I thought Ben Smith was trying a bit hard, and made a couple of uncharacteristic errors (though did look very dangerous).