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Super Rugby: Blues - Western Force in Auckland (7/7/2012)
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<blockquote data-quote="Darwin" data-source="post: 515808" data-attributes="member: 24910"><p>The game certainly livened up a bit in the second half, with the Blues running away with it in the end.</p><p></p><p>The scrums were a complete mess, and the lineouts weren't a lot better - I think this contributed to the games lack of structure. Steve Luatua again looked impressive for the Blues - he should be locked into the Blues 6 jersey for next season. He works hard around the field, has a good running game, is reliable in defense, and is a great lineout option. Luke Braid was again superb, as he had been almost every match over the second half of the season. He made a pile of tackles, disrupted a lot of Force ball, but probably the most impressive aspect of his game is his ball-running. He broke a lot of tackles again this match close to the breakdown (and got a well-earned try for his efforts), and even broke the line while running the ball in open play. Sam Cane has had a very impressive AB's debut, but Luke Braid has easily been the form New Zealand openside in Super rugby this season (I know he started at 8 this week...) - I wouldn't mind seeing him in Black this season (though that would probably only happen if McCaw or Cane were to get injured). I was very impressed with the impact of Blues bench forwards when they came on, with McCartney, Lowrey, and Saili all making several powerful bursts..</p><p></p><p>Weepu was pretty quiet at halfback (I thought Mathewson looked sharper when he came on) and Hobbs again struggled at 10. The standout backline player was undoubtedly Nonu, which is great news for the AB's. He was very aggressive on defense (as he has been overly the later half of the Blues season), and he looked dangerous whenever he took the line on. What impressed me most was his passing game - numerous times he identified the space out wide and delivered an accurate skip pass to get the ball out quickly. Francis Saili was a lot quieter this week, as was Ranger on the wing. Munro again showed that he is out of his depth on the wing at this level - he made a number of basic errors, and missed several tackles (as usual...). He remains a top quality goal-kicker though. Piutau showed his elusive running skills from fullback with a couple of very good linebreaks, though I still think he is far more suited to the wing than fullback.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Darwin, post: 515808, member: 24910"] The game certainly livened up a bit in the second half, with the Blues running away with it in the end. The scrums were a complete mess, and the lineouts weren't a lot better - I think this contributed to the games lack of structure. Steve Luatua again looked impressive for the Blues - he should be locked into the Blues 6 jersey for next season. He works hard around the field, has a good running game, is reliable in defense, and is a great lineout option. Luke Braid was again superb, as he had been almost every match over the second half of the season. He made a pile of tackles, disrupted a lot of Force ball, but probably the most impressive aspect of his game is his ball-running. He broke a lot of tackles again this match close to the breakdown (and got a well-earned try for his efforts), and even broke the line while running the ball in open play. Sam Cane has had a very impressive AB's debut, but Luke Braid has easily been the form New Zealand openside in Super rugby this season (I know he started at 8 this week...) - I wouldn't mind seeing him in Black this season (though that would probably only happen if McCaw or Cane were to get injured). I was very impressed with the impact of Blues bench forwards when they came on, with McCartney, Lowrey, and Saili all making several powerful bursts.. Weepu was pretty quiet at halfback (I thought Mathewson looked sharper when he came on) and Hobbs again struggled at 10. The standout backline player was undoubtedly Nonu, which is great news for the AB's. He was very aggressive on defense (as he has been overly the later half of the Blues season), and he looked dangerous whenever he took the line on. What impressed me most was his passing game - numerous times he identified the space out wide and delivered an accurate skip pass to get the ball out quickly. Francis Saili was a lot quieter this week, as was Ranger on the wing. Munro again showed that he is out of his depth on the wing at this level - he made a number of basic errors, and missed several tackles (as usual...). He remains a top quality goal-kicker though. Piutau showed his elusive running skills from fullback with a couple of very good linebreaks, though I still think he is far more suited to the wing than fullback. [/QUOTE]
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Super Rugby: Blues - Western Force in Auckland (7/7/2012)
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