Super Rugby: Highlanders vs Chiefs in Dunedin (29/06/2012)

[Darwin]

Can't say I'm overly confident of the Highlanders chances leading into this match. However it sounds like Cruden is still struggling with injury, having not trained all week, while Andrew Horrell hasn't trained all week with an injured ankle. Robbie Robinson has been training at 10 all week for the Chiefs, and if he has to play there (if Cruden and Horrell are ruled out) I'd say the Highlanders will have a very good chance in this match!

The Chiefs look to have a slight edge in the front row: I'd take Smith over MacKintosh, Tameifuna over Fia (though I quite like Fia), and Schwalger over Rutledge (though this would be very close). The locks matchup pretty well: all four are hard-working locks, but again I see the Chiefs having a slight edge. Messam vs Thomson at 6 will be a highlight of the match, as they could well be fighting for 1 spot in the next AB's squad. Manu needs to have a big match for the Highlanders - hopefully the 3 week break will have done him good, as his heavy work load appeared to be taking its toll in recent weeks.

Smith vs Kerr-Barlow is a good match-up at halfback, but the Chiefs look to have a big edge at 10 and 12 (assuming Cruden is fit). The only area the Highlanders may have an edge is numbers 13-15, with Ellison, Gear, Poki, and Smith having a clear edge over Willison, Tikirotimu, Nanai-Williams, and Robinson. Unfortunately having an edge out wide isn't necessarily going to help if we can't get them quality ball to work with!

Overall I'm picking the Chiefs to win by about 10.... unless Cruden and Horrell are ruled out, in which case I will pick the Highlanders by 5

 

[Kiwiwomble]

Can't say I'm overly confident of the Highlanders chances leading into this match. However it sounds like Cruden is still struggling with injury, having not trained all week, while Andrew Horrell hasn't trained all week with an injured ankle. Robbie Robinson has been training at 10 all week for the Chiefs, and if he has to play there (if Cruden and Horrell are ruled out) I'd say the Highlanders will have a very good chance in this match!

The Chiefs look to have a slight edge in the front row: I'd take Smith over MacKintosh, Tameifuna over Fia (though I quite like Fia), and Schwalger over Rutledge (though this would be very close). The locks matchup pretty well: all four are hard-working locks, but again I see the Chiefs having a slight edge. Messam vs Thomson at 6 will be a highlight of the match, as they could well be fighting for 1 spot in the next AB's squad. Manu needs to have a big match for the Highlanders - hopefully the 3 week break will have done him good, as his heavy work load appeared to be taking its toll in recent weeks.

Smith vs Kerr-Barlow is a good match-up at halfback, but the Chiefs look to have a big edge at 10 and 12 (assuming Cruden is fit). The only area the Highlanders may have an edge is numbers 13-15, with Ellison, Gear, Poki, and Smith having a clear edge over Willison, Tikirotimu, Nanai-Williams, and Robinson. Unfortunately having an edge out wide isn't necessarily going to help if we can't get them quality ball to work with!

Overall I'm picking the Chiefs to win by about 10.... unless Cruden and Horrell are ruled out, in which case I will pick the Highlanders by 5

all i will say is i dont disagree.

On an upside Otago Boy beat Kings 79 - 6!

 

[Larksea]

hard to put down vcash without knowing exactly what personal will show up tonight....

Would really like to see Tim Nanai williams come back and show some more of that early season pre-injury form. He was looking really dangerous.

 

[Darwin]

hard to put down vcash without knowing exactly what personal will show up tonight....

Would really like to see Tim Nanai williams come back and show some more of that early season pre-injury form. He was looking really dangerous.

I quite like Nanai-Willliams, but I'm hoping Hosea Gear makes him look like Keith Earls

all i will say is i dont disagree.

On an upside Otago Boy beat Kings 79 - 6!

Otago Boys must have a very impressive team this year - I've been casually following the Highlanders 1st XV competition this year, and it seems that winning by 50 is a bare minimum for them (the cracked the 100 a few times too!).

 

[Kiwiwomble]

the results are slight skewed from what i have read as we were one of the only teams who have been luck enough to have largly the same team as last yest. Think i read 13 of the starting 15 played last year but still good to see

 

[Darwin]

10 mins gone. Chiefs winning 10-3 after an early try to Nanai-Williams. Adam Thomson is on fire for the Highlanders though....

EDIT: 10-6 now. Cruden doesn't look 100% - he's made a number of basic kicking errors already. Hosea Gear is looking very dangerous....

EDIT: I repeat - Gear is on fire!

Halftime. Chiefs 18-9. Highlanders have dominated territory and possession, but the Chiefs have looked far more dangerous with the (limited) ball they have had. Kerr-Barlow has been outstanding for the Chiefs, while Aaron Smith as been poor for the Highlanders... this may be only time this season I will be happy to see Jimmy Cowan come on!

 

[Sneaki]

Gear has looked rejuvenated tonight. Chiefs up by 6 with one minute left, looks like game over now.

 

[Darwin]

Final score 27-21 to the Chiefs.

Gear was outstanding tonight (he would have been my man of the match) - massive work rate, dangerous on attack, and made some big hits on defense. Best performance I've seen from him this year.

Overall it was a bit of a scrappy game: both teams made quite a few basic errors, but the Chiefs defense won them the game. Toby Smith was very impressive at loose-head prop, while I thought Clarke looked good at lock too. Messam showed some good physicality, and Cane made a big impact when he came on. I thought Kerr-Barlow looked very good - he put a lot of pressure on Aaron Smith. Cruden was nowhere near his best (he was clearly not 100%), but he was good enough. The rest of the Chiefs backs didn't get that many chances, apart from Robbie Robinson, who was electric from fullback on the counter attack. I'm still not convinced Robinson is that good (though he has improved this season), but he certainly has some phenomenal acceleration.

I thought MackIntosh was pretty good around the field - he actually used his substantial bulk to good effect on defense on a couple of occasions. His consistent whinging to the ref got on my nerves though. Hore made a good impact when he came on, and his banter with the ref / opposition players is always entertaining. Thomson was outstanding at the kick-off, and was good around the field, but did give away a couple of stupid penalties. Smith has probably his worst game of the season at halfback, though the ball he was getting was very scrappy. Ellison looked powerful when he got the ball, and I was far more happy with Poki's performance this week - he had a big work-rate, forced a couple of turnovers at the breakdown, and looked dangerous on attack.

This loss takes the Highlanders chances of making the playoffs out of their hands.... oh well, there is always next year....

 

[Amobokoboko]

Happy with the result and already looking forward to the play offs

 

[TRF Mr Fish]

Pretty average refereeing I thought.

 

[Darwin]

Pretty average refereeing I thought.

I agree, I wasn't overly impressed with the refereeing. He missed a number of knock-ons and forward passes, but what was really annoying was his lack of enforcement of the offside rule, particularly around the base of the breakdown. It meant neither team was able to get much quality ball to work with, and when they did the oppositions backline was usually right on top of them, as they were normally offside! I was impressed with the way he talked to players though - in general he seemed to have a very good rapport with the players, and referred in a very controlled manner. Though I don't think he had the best match, at least he was consistent!

 

[Kiwiwomble]

Nothing else to be said, you've covered everything Darwin. I will just add A smith look frustrated from about 1 min into the game. Not calm and business like and I am completely hanging out for someone to put SBW in his place (read into that what you will)

 

[Sam Owen]

I am completely hanging out for someone to put SBW in his place (read into that what you will)

2 on to 1??...

Yeah Sonny might have done a shoulder charge, all he had to do though was lift his left arm up a little higher and he still would have smashed Crosswell. The thing is, Crosswell got thrown down by Sonny and then the other highlander who 'provoked' the whole thing came rushing in for Crosswell who was fine. If that dude that came in rushing cant handle rough rugby he needs to look at maybe Badminton.

 

[donmcdazzle]

2 on to 1??...

Yeah Sonny might have done a shoulder charge, all he had to do though was lift his left arm up a little higher and he still would have smashed Crosswell. The thing is, Crosswell got thrown down by Sonny and then the other highlander who 'provoked' the whole thing came rushing in for Crosswell who was fine. If that dude that came in rushing cant handle rough rugby he needs to look at maybe Badminton.

It wasn't the throwing to the ground that wound them up, he had put on a pretty stupid late shoulder just before that on Crosswell. And then he did it again (this time Crosswell actually had the ball) before throwing him onto the ground. Two shoulder charges on the same guy in a couple of minutes would be enough to p*ss most players off I would have though.

 

[Kiwiwomble]

2 on to 1??...

Yeah Sonny might have done a shoulder charge, all he had to do though was lift his left arm up a little higher and he still would have smashed Crosswell. The thing is, Crosswell got thrown down by Sonny and then the other highlander who 'provoked' the whole thing came rushing in for Crosswell who was fine. If that dude that came in rushing cant handle rough rugby he needs to look at maybe Badminton.

who was 2 on 1? crosswell didn't get involved, other than getting shoulder charged, until everyone else did

It's the no one can touch me attituted of the guy...the "i never punched him...i never punched him". he was the one when everyone else had calmed down shaking off this own captain to walk back into it and throw abuse, he was clearly trying to get someone else to smack him and get them sent off. you just know if someone did he would sue them for damaging him earning potential...he's just a doosh

every player gets caught up in a scap at some point but 99% calm down and are happy to have a beer at the end of the game. He wasn't caught up in it all, he was fighting and he knew what he was doing hence his first responce to the ref being "i didn't hit him"

its the same as Paulo nailing Donnelly in the north south game. Tom was pinned on the ground with no way to defend himself and no threat to anyone else at the time and Paulo lines him up and cracks him in the face. That is just someone who wanted to do some damage and deliberately went about doing it, not the handbags at ten paces that 99% of rugby fights are about

 

[Dizzy]

Sonny's been a dick like this all year. Whenever there is a scuffle for some reason it seems like he feels he HAS to be the top dog. There have been a few times where he has over reacted like this.

 

[TRF_Ezequiel]

What I dislike is that SBW is that he is acting like an aggressive ass and a lot of people are approving of it. He needs to have some respect for his opponents and referees. With the way he is behaving now, he would be more suited for football.

 

[Kiwiwomble]

I cant wait for someone to actually connect in one of these scuffles and for smithy to ask him after the game if that makes them the NZ heavy weight champ....

 

[Hairy Scot]

What I dislike is that SBW is that he is acting like an aggressive ass and a lot of people are approving of it. He needs to have some respect for his opponents and referees. With the way he is behaving now, he would be more suited for football.

Thank goodness SBW is going back to NRL.

NZ rugby is better off without him.

 

[admartian]

What I dislike is that SBW is that he is acting like an aggressive ass and a lot of people are approving of it. He needs to have some respect for his opponents and referees. With the way he is behaving now, he would be more suited for football.

For a self-confessed fighter; he is not very calm.

I know that's very counter-intuitive; but most fighters - whether they be boxers, MMA fighters, or other marital artists; they are pretty calm and laid back individuals (I personally think it comes down to them being mature enough to know that they are basically professional killers with their bare hands) - and thus have nothing to prove.

In SBW's case, I feel like he's wanting to prove something all the time and seems like the cocky guy you see on the streets on a night out, always looking for a fight...

Thank goodness SBW is going back to NRL.

NZ rugby is better off without him.

Wait where is this news confirmed?