SuperRugby: Chiefs v Lions. 05/05/2012

[Draggs]

Growers Stadium, Pukekohe - 07:35 GMT, 05/05/2012

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[Gena_ZA]

My thoughts and prayers are with the Lions, may you not be scared for life

 

[Amobokoboko]

Chiefs shoudl take this one as well. They have the home advantage, plenty of dept and are on a roll.

 

[Draggs]

You watch the Lions win 5-6.
Nah, they'll get steamrollered. Cruden to destroy Janjties once and for all.

 

[TRF_stormer2010]

I am actually all for the Southern kings to join at the Lions' expense at this stage...

To be fair, the Lions have been absolutely ravaged by injuries this season but jeesh, one can only take so much for so long. Their 'campaign' to date has been nothing but embarrassing to be honest.

 

[Larksea]

chiefs should surely win and they will be trying to find balance between resting as many of their overworked players and making sure they have enough firepower to get the 4 try bonus point.

 

[TRF_heineken]

Taumalolo to score a hat-trick!!

 

[Gena_ZA]

from the bench nogals

 

[TRF Mr Fish]

Chiefs team: Toby Smith, Hika Elliot, Ben Tameifuna, Craig Clarke (c), Michael Fitzgerald, Tanerau Latimer, Sam Cane, Kane Thompson, Brendon Leonard, Aaron Cruden, Asaeli Tikoirotuma, Sonny Bill Williams, Richard Kahui, Lelia Masaga, Andrew Horrell. Reserves: Mahonri Schwalger, Arizona Taumalolo, Alex Bradley, Scott Waldrom, Tawera Kerr- Barlow, Jackson Willison, Maritino Nemani.

Taumalolo, Retalick and Bradley get rests (with Retalick dropping out of the 22). Thompson comes in at 8, and will cover lock, should Clarke or Fitzgerald (getting his first start) come off. Cane takes over at openside with Latimer swapping to the blindside. Messam and Nanai-Williams are out injured, so Tikoirotuma comes onto the left wing as TNW's replacement, with Nemani coming onto the bench. Kerr-Barlow is over his injury and takes over from Pulu in the 20 jersey.

 

[Nicolaas]

Chiefs team: Toby Smith, Hika Elliot, Ben Tameifuna, Craig Clarke (c), Michael Fitzgerald, Tanerau Latimer, Sam Cane, Kane Thompson, Brendon Leonard, Aaron Cruden, Asaeli Tikoirotuma, Sonny Bill Williams, Richard Kahui, Lelia Masaga, Andrew Horrell. Reserves: Mahonri Schwalger, Arizona Taumalolo, Alex Bradley, Scott Waldrom, Tawera Kerr- Barlow, Jackson Willison, Maritino Nemani.

Taumalolo, Retalick and Bradley get rests (with Retalick dropping out of the 22). Thompson comes in at 8, and will cover lock, should Clarke or Fitzgerald (getting his first start) come off. Cane takes over at openside with Latimer swapping to the blindside. Messam and Nanai-Williams are out injured, so Tikoirotuma comes onto the left wing as TNW's replacement, with Nemani coming onto the bench. Kerr-Barlow is over his injury and takes over from Pulu in the 20 jersey.

how long is messam expected to be out?

 

[cyRil]

I am actually all for the Southern kings to join at the Lions' expense at this stage...

To be fair, the Lions have been absolutely ravaged by injuries this season but jeesh, one can only take so much for so long. Their 'campaign' to date has been nothing but embarrassing to be honest.

Says something that the Blues are below them!!
What the hell has happened to Fritz Lee??

 

[TRF_stormer2010]

Says something that the Blues are below them!!
What the hell has happened to Fritz Lee??

LOL, that's because they've had both their byes already. Only chance they have of another win this season is against the Blues themselves and the Rebels at home. I'll wait till after the Blues vs Lions game to go on another rant concerning the Lions.

 

[Amobokoboko]

Curious if we ever see Thompson as a second rower this season?

 

[Larksea]

Yeah, I like the changes to the chiefs side, they needed to rest some of their work horses. Will need to give Craig Clarke a rest at some point too when Messam is back.

 

[TRF Mr Fish]

Messam will probably only be out for this week, though he may get rested again. It's some rib cartilage damage, so you can't be too careful. He wanted to play, by the sounds of it.

Fritz Lee was dropped after the first game where he tried to push passes etc. instead of holding onto the ball. He hasn't been sighted since.

Cane, Latimer, Messam, Bradley, Thompson and Lee have all been used this season in the loose forwards. Waldrom moves into the 22 for the first time, and is a fantastic player (probably one of the Chiefs' top three players from last season). The fact that he's been kept out shows just how well the other players have been performing. Bar Lee, the others have all been outstanding. The only other player I can think of that's been disappointing for the Chiefs is probably Shane Cleaver, who has only been on the field for ~20 minutes as a substitute prop. The other props have performed well, the locks have been great, Kerr-Barlow and Pulu have been pretty decent, though Kerr-Barlow's been under the weather for the last couple of weeks, Cruden's been fantastic, SBW and Kahui have looked solid in the midfield (with Willison performing well enough when he's played there), and TNW, Robinson, Horrell, Masaga and Tikoirotuma have all played well in the back three. Declan O'Donnell and Nemani haven't had much game time. DOD was reasonable when he played a match or two at the start of the season though.

 

[donmcdazzle]

Says something that the Blues are below them!!
What the hell has happened to Fritz Lee??

Not Rennie's preferred style of forward at all. He goes for the non-flashy guys with huge workrates. If you are going to be a frequent ball running loosie under Rennie then you need to be doing your fair share of clearing rucks and tackling (e.g. Messam). I said before the squads were being picked that Colin Bourke wouldn't make it because of this, which he didn't. Lee is in the same mold as Lauaki, capable of devastating teams one week and then being a non-event the next. Barring injuries I don't think he'll be sighted again this year.

 

[Larksea]

I'm pretty sure Waldrum has made one appearance for the chiefs this year off the bench, shame we haven't seen him more but something like this was always going to happen with Three class open side flankers in the squad. it was always a log jam waiting to happen - maybe Waldrum should never have been at the chiefs but he had to go somewhere because he was never going to work with Hammett after they fell out at the crusaders. If Latimer wasn't in the form of his life maybe we would have seen more of Waldrum. Infact as latimer has just signed to stay with the chiefs for the next 2 years surely Waldrum will be forced out of the squad for next season - he's too good to basically be injury cover outside the gameday 22 - he didn't even make the away leg tour party.

that's a bit hard on Fritz Lee, he did his work around the field his problem was his accuracy and discipline. he was just prone to making a few too many errors and importantly he would give away too many penalties. Shame we've not seen more of him because if he can fix those two areas he would be a fantastic asset for the chiefs going forward as he's only 23. But as it is Kane and Alex have been superb and their game which is all about high workrate and accuracy and discipline is obviously what the coaches are looking for. Alex I think being a bit better creating go forward ball and kane maybe a bit better at the breakdown.

Was interesting that out of all the teams no chiefs player is on the top 20 list for most missed tackles, and also the chiefs are the only team in the comp who have not had a player carded. very impressive.

 

[TRF Mr Fish]

I think they'd be right up there for penalties conceded though!

 

[Amobokoboko]

Great try Cruden, second try by Clarke.
Lions fight back and score their first try ( Grobbelaar)

 

[donmcdazzle]

SBW is on fire so far.