Blues vs Hurricanes

[munross]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div>

Teams

Blues : Rudi Wulf, Rene Ranger, Isaia Toeava, Benson Stanley, Joe Rokocoko, Stephen Brett, Alby Mathewson, Viliami Ma'afu, Serge Lilo, Jerome Kaino, Anthony Boric, Kurtis Haiu, John Afoa, Keven Mealamu (captain), Tony Woodcock.

Reserves - Tom McCartney, Charlie Faumuina, Filo Paulo, Peter Saili, Chris Smylie, Daniel Kirkpatrick, Paul Williams.

Hurricanes : 1. John Schwalger,2. Andrew Hore (captain) ,3. Neemia Tialata,4. Michael Paterson,5. Jason Eaton,6. Nick Crosswell,7. Scott Waldrom,8. Victor Vito,9. Piri Weepu,10. Willie Ripia,11. Hosea Gear,12. Ma'a Nonu,13 Conrad Smith,14. Tamati Ellison,15. Cory Jane,

Reserves 16. Dane Coles,17. Jacob Ellison,18. Bryn Evans,19. Karl Lowe,20. Tyson Keats,21. Aaron Cruden,22. David Smith

Match Officials
Referee: Stuart Dickinson (Aus)
Ass. Refs: Bryce Lawrence (NZ), Garratt Williamson (NZ)
TMO: Ben Skeen (NZ)[/b]

Both sides packed with All Blacks so it should be a helluva game, although the Blues don't have a great record over the Hurricanes, home ground advantage might just play a part in the result of this encounter.

My prediction: Blues by 6

 

[Flux]

Should be an exciting game, but looking at the teams I think the Hurricanes might have more leaders than the Blues, especially in the backline. If the Blues win I think Stephen Brett will have to keeping the chatter up and really direct his team around the pitch, which all good first fives should do. He's capable of it, but he can be quite erratic. The forward packs look pretty even to me, but I think the Blues just might edge it, especially in the front row. The battle in the loose should be interesting.

 

[riders of the storm]

17-6 to the Blues with about 20 minutes gone.
Bit of a loose sort of game with both sides trying to run it

 

[riders of the storm]

Ripia knocks over his third penalty to close the gap.
17-9; 3/4 shots at goal for Willie Ripia.

 

[riders of the storm]

Lilo gets penalised just out from his 22. Ripia drags his kick to the right though.

 

[riders of the storm]

Ripia nails his 4th penalty over. 17-12 to the Blues now.

 

[riders of the storm]

Off-side against the Hurricanes inside their 22. Brett lines up his kick and knocks it right through.
20-12 to the Blues.

 

[riders of the storm]

Brett gets the chance to put his team ahead by 11 at the break but misses.
20-12 at half-time to the Blues. Brett and Afoa got the only tries of the half
for the Blues. All of the Hurricanes points came from 4 penalties scored
by Ripia.

 

[riders of the storm]

Complete shut-out in the second-half by the Hurricanes with 22 points.
Hosea Gear got the only try of the second-half off an intercept.
9 penalties were kicked by the Hurricanes giving them the record for most
successful penalty goal attempts in a Super rugby match.
34-20 at full-time to the Hurricanes.

 

[Flux]

I'd have to say as a Hurricanes supporter that while we looked rubbish, I'm still impressed that we managed to take this game anyway (+13 even). I think it's a sign of a good team that they kept the scoreboard ticking over, even when on the back foot in the first half. Also, Brett looked great in the first then fell apart in the second, I think this helped turn things a bit as well.

 

[stormer2010]

I think the forward packs were pretty evenly matched and the difference was that most of the rugby was played in the Blues' half of the field where the Blues can only blame themselves for trying to sidestep and run everything with Brett in particular guilty of not dictating play as he did in the first half; went from sublime to shocking. Not that the Canes looked particularly impressive (Hosea Gear excepted). I think these two teams will be lucky to make top 4.

 

[Nickdnz]

Several things. The new breakdown rules, while I love the open play, seem to punish teams for being competitive at the breakdowns, it seems like it's kind of gone too far in the other direction, still early days though. Hurricanes looked unorganised, and the time Cruden had on the field, he seemed fairly unconvincing, however that was a short period of time, and as I said, still early days. One thing I am pushing...Hosea Gear better be in the All Blacks come 2011. He looked unstopable everytime he got the ball, and despite his try being an intercept, he pushed tacklers away like they were nothing.
Steven Brett I still believe he's utter rubbish. He has 2-3 really good moments in a game, and then for most of the game he remains a complete incompotant ******. Glad the Blues have him, doubt he'll do them any favours. I'd even pick Kirkpatrick over him, and he's nothing special himself.
Alby Mathewson looked dangerous.

 

[wjd23104]

I've gotta say Gear was impressive but why was the Hurricanes backline such a mess? Cruden was a little disappointing but then again he didn't get a lot of ball.

Both Teams have a lot to work on but its a hell of a lot better to win ugly than lose pretty.

Go the Canes!

 

[William18]

Gear was brilliant. Rokocoko was very good too. I thought Ripia outplayed out Cruden but neither were very good. Cruden did recover quite well after getting smashed. Important win for us really, you have to get off to a really good start in this competition.

 

[Flux]

Was it just me who thought the commentators went out of their way to big up everything Cruden did? They were going on about how great he'd done to shut down a Brett chip in the build up to a Hurricanes penalty, but then forget to mention that he'd blew the chance of a try by knocking on a ball that he should have taken with his eyes closed.

Not that I'm writing him off, I just think he's got a long way to go, and all the hype he gets is over the top. Then again, what's new?

 

[jawmalawm24]

Yeah they hyped up Dan Kirkpatrick too but he never really lived up to it. Hopefully they just shut their mouths about Cruden so he can just get on and do his thing without having to try to live up to expectations.

For me the ruck situation is crazy, you get pinged for being competitive. The scrums were good because there was only a handful of resets and we didn't have to watch one after another like we did in previous seasons. The amount of penaltys given away from both sides is annoying because if the tackler lets go that the player might just jump up back onto his feet than start running again. I hope they clear it up because it's just another rule change that all us Rugby fans just have to put up with.

Good game thou Hurricanes especially Gear. His first run was awesome twisting around 1 player getting hit from Toeava just to throw him off than bumping off former team mate Alby Mathewson with a few other players trying to get him down too. That run down the sideline too he killed Roks in the first 10m than fended off another 2 players and I think there would have been no stopping him from there.

Awesome start to the season go the Hurricanes!!!!

 

[Nickdnz]

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if the tackler lets go that the player might just jump up back onto his feet than start running again.[/b]

That's exactly what I was thinking. The rules say you have to let go of the player after the tackle is made, however they also say a tackler must be held in order for him not to continue running. Very confusing. Penalties came less into the two other matches though, so maybe it'll be all sorted in a few weeks.

 

[Flux]

Stu Dickinson has always been rather whistle happy, hasn't he?

 

[bates]

First game of the new season, some really nice rugby from both sides. Pity the Blues lost it during the second half.
As most analysts said it was really import for the Blues to win their first games to stay on play to aim at the top 4, really curious about how things will evolve