- Joined
- Jun 18, 2010
- Messages
- 7,385
- Country Flag
- Club or Nation
Suncorp Stadium, Brisbane
Referee: Rohann Hoffmann
Assistant Referees: James Leckie & Ed Martin
TMO: Matt Goddard
I predict this will be a very close match. The Canes will be hoping Conrad Smith has recovered from his weekend concussion, though I suspect he will be unlikely to play. Hopefully the Canes will welcome back Toomaga-Allen this weekend, though Ben May was solid against the Blues.
It sounds like Anthony Fainaga'a will be back from injury for the Reds, which may actually not be a good thing for them! F-Sautia was great at centre versus the Waratahs as he really brings some spark into the Reds backline. The Reds certainly have plenty of options in their backline, with Luke Morahan looking sharp off the bench in the weekend. I'm sure they will be tempted to start Morahan at fullback, but I'm not sure if they will want to drop Harris to the bench as he is their regular goal-kicker (though hasn't really been kicking to his usual high standard so far this year).
Match day 22 will look something like this
1. Greg Holmes 2. James Hanson 3. James Slipper
4. Adam Wallace Harrison 5. Rob Simmons
6. Ed Quirk 7. Liam Gill 8. Jake Schatz
9. Nick Frisby 10. Quade Cooper
11. Digby Ioane 12. Ben Tapuai 13. Chris Feuai-Sautia 14. Dom Shipperley
15. Mike Harris
16. Saia Faingaa, 17 Albert Anae, 18. James Horwill (if Fit lets hope so because that Ed O'Donohugh guy is a joke) 19. Jarrad Butler 20. Ben Lucas 21. Anthony Faigaa 22. Luke Morahan/Jono Lance.
I'd say Hanson will be on to give the forwards some much needed muscle and Faingaa a rest to come on and do whatever it is he does during the second half against the Tiredcanes. Sautia and Tapuai were just too good of a combo on the weekend, McKenzie won't mess with that.
That is basically the side I would go for if I was coach. Frisby has looked much sharper than Lucas so deserves a shot in the starting XV. I'm not a big fan of Mike Harris at fullback, but would probably stick with him because of his goal-kicking (though he needs to get back to his previous high standards to keep his spot...).
Ben Lucas is adequate in all positions he plays, that's it. That said he is one of the most useless halfbacks I've seen for a long while, we would have been better off keeping Richard Kingi and cutting him loose.
Aidan Toua is overrated, Morahan is a better player overall....
The full Hurricanes side is:
1. Ben Franks,2. Dane Coles,3. Jeffery Toomaga-Allen,4. Jeremy Thrush,5. Jason Eaton,6. Victor Vito,7. Karl Lowe,8. Brad Shields,9. TJ Perenara,10. Beauden Barrett,11. Julian Savea,12. Tim Bateman,13. Conrad Smith (c),14. Alapati Leiua,15. Andre Taylor
Replacements :16. Motu Matu'u ,17. Reggie Goodes,18. James Broadhurst,19. Faifili Levave,20. Chris Smylie,21. James Marshall,22. Reynold Lee-Lo
As Dizzy has already mentioned Conrad Smith is fit, which is good news for the Canes. It is great to see Toomaga-Allen back to, as I expect him to have a big season. Ben May struggled a bit against the Blues, so hopefully Toomaga-Allen will be a cornerstone of the Canes scrum, as Ben Franks looked good on the LH side. It is good to see Broadhurst back in the reserves, though I'm surprised it took and injury to Reddish for this to happen (as I rate him much more highly than Reddish). I still think Vito and Shields should switch jerseys.....
No changes in the backline. I expect the Canes defense will be more effective this week, as they look much better equipped to mark the steppers in the Reds backline, rather than the giants in the Blues...
To be fair he hasn't had many real chances for the Reds. The organisation obviously has a lot of faith in him so let's see how he goes against the Canes. If he fails miserably, which I don't think he will, we have two more than adequate replacements in Morahan and Harris. The biggest worry for this match is QC's goal kicking, as I assume he will be taking up the reigns in Harris' absence.
With two less than impressive matches out of the way I'm picking the Reds to play their best rugby of the season.
Reds 23 : Hurricanes 10
I'm hoping to see a bit more from the Canes back-three this weekend as they were pretty quiet last weekend.
I think the real key is Barrett getting going. Then you'll see the back three in action. Granted I didn't watch the Canes Blues game with full concentration but Barret tseemed remarkable quite and the backline rather innacurate. I suspect the two are closely correlated and hope Barrett gets a rocket up him to pull finger this weekend. If he does the Canes win this Im sure!!