SuperRugby: Melbourne Rebels v Blues. 05/04/2012

[Larksea]

all due respect to the rebels, they were ok but not great, the three amigo's had a good games and so did their loose forwards. Only reason they won the game was from points the Blues handed them on a platter against the run of play.

But that is the worse blues performance I think I've ever seen. Their gameplan is crap, their basic skills are rubish, theirs no cohesion, the forwards aren't securing the ball and their option taking was a disgrace.

Apart from the scrum where woodcock seemed to have enough power to blow over the whole rebels pack himself and anscombe who looked impressive and kicked well. the whole team was a shambles

0 points from the game and surely the blues season is well and truely over and the carriers of some of their players and coaches will surely be on the line.

Lachie Munro - if he isn't needed for goal kicking then he shouldn't be on the field, his goal kicking is superb but the rest of his game is well behind other options like parks, raikuna, stowers
Kevin Mealamu - I hate to say it but he's hardly leading by example, lineout throwing has been poor.
Brad Mika - IMO the fact he' a good mate of Pat Lam is the main reason he's getting gametime.
Ranger - he's been ok but to me he kinda doesn't look that interested. Honestly to me he doesn't look very well coached.
Mathewson - very average, looks lost at times.
Piri weepu - Looked like he'd come straight from a buffet, I kinda imagined him tearing off a bib before running onto the field. He simply doesn't seem to be looking any fitter or more interested from one week to the next.

Pat Lam - surely the ride is over for Lam, how can he possably come up with an excuse and recover from this. It's not acceptable for a NZ team with a squad packed with All Blacks to be nailed to the bottom of the table when having any NZ team in the bottom 4 is a very rare thing anyway having our strongest union there is unacceptable - surely it's the end of the line.

So many of the blues problems I think come down to coaching. the players look like hey lack pourpose, the gameplans are rubish. The basic skills and ball security techniques are non-existant. Honestly I think a well coached top 5 NPC side would beat this blues outfit

I think the worst problem that the blues have is that the guy who should be coaching them - mark anscombe, is contracted overseas..

What's John Kerwin up too?

Something drastic needs to be done. Such a large %age of NZ's tallent is going to waste and the young NZ rugby stars of the future in acukland are being brought out by NRL teams at an alarming rate

 

[sonnench]

I thought even at the Blues worst, they should of been able to beat the worst team in the comp. This loss should solidify them as serious wooden spoon contenders, which with the players Lam has at his disposal is quite embarrassing.

Seriously, how can their only win be at freaking Loftus??

 

[sonnench]

Well that "worst team in the comp" is currently lying second the the Aussie Conference. This should be telling me something, I just can't quite figure what!

That the Australian conference is a tight one, because they are all quite average.

Also, there is not a team in the Super 15 I see worse than the Rebels, and if the Blues were to play them again I would once again pick the Blues.

 

[Blueandwhite]

Worst coach ever. Maybe pat lam should restart his coaching career at u 10s and maybe in 30 years he mite be good enough for Tim cup. Do all the blues fans and players a huge favour and leave now before u do more damage.

 

[TRF Mr Fish]

Peter Russell is a contender, I suppose...

 

[Sam Owen]

Worst coach ever. Maybe pat lam should restart his coaching career at u 10s and maybe in 30 years he mite be good enough for Tim cup. Do all the blues fans and players a huge favour and leave now before u do more damage.

I feel for any coach thats got the sharpest knives to work with and yet cant cut it. Take 10+ world champion players and make a winning team out of them for a job. You have to come up with winsSS, especially under the spotlight that doesnt leave you but shines brighter with each shock loss. Pat right now is starring in the 'silence of the lam', he just doesnt know it.

 

[Dizzy]

Sam my brutha! That post should be up for post of the year....

I feel for the senior players in the team, how frustrated they must be especially Mealamu, Williams, Nonu and Weepu. I would hate to feel how they're feeling now.

 

[William18]

Why would you feel for Weepu? He's too lazy to even get fit enough to play - the basic requirement of a professional footballer. Williams hasn't looked good either. Melamu has been good and Nonu has had limited opportunities.

 

[welshglory]

Agree about Weepu. He really is a lazy ******* isn't he

 

[Gena_ZA]

Very sad to me that a team of this potential quality misfiring massively.
Coaching team or player commitment, not sure but something need to change here

and lol for Weepu, he is turning into the Ricky January of Super rugby lately.

 

[TRF_heineken]

Very sad to me that a team of this potential quality misfiring massively.
Coaching team or player commitment, not sure but something need to change here

and lol for Weepu, he is turning into the Ricky January of Super rugby lately.

Weepu ate Ricky January!!

 

[Dizzy]

Why would you feel for Weepu? He's too lazy to even get fit enough to play - the basic requirement of a professional footballer. Williams hasn't looked good either. Melamu has been good and Nonu has had limited opportunities.

Despite his poor fitness, the man still has a heart.
Hating on a man because of his fitness is entirely up to you. He's not the only one to blame mate, it starts at the top. There is a reason why you have coaches/managers and obviously they felt Weepu WAS fit enough to play. If they didn't think so, then why pick him. Not only that, but the man is being f***ed around being passed between halfback and first five. We all know Weepu isn't First Five material, Pat Lam should take the grunt for that. I feel if he had just been focussed at halfback so far, he would be playing fine because that's what he knows.

Now my point was that these guys have a ton of experience and are brilliant rugby players, you could say they are the key men to this side and they're the ones that the less experienced will be looking at for guidance. And at the moment, I'm not sure there is much more they can do to help the less experienced out of the dumps other than winning games.

 

[TRF_Olyy]

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/rugby/news/article.cfm?c_id=80&objectid=10798047

Mealamu's unimpressed with Weepu.

 

[Sam Owen]

There is a reason why you have coaches/managers and obviously they felt Weepu WAS fit enough to play. If they didn't think so, then why pick him.

I know what you're saying Dizz. Before the first game, the Blues knew Piri was out of shape and they still fielded him in the second half. From that game till their last game, no one from the Blues had said nothing about Piris weight. After a few losses, spotlight on the coach, they are now bringing up something that was obvious from the first game, and that is that Piri looks like a prop. It's like, 'hello'...

Piri does need to bring his weight down. Im not saying he'll start playing better and soon as his weight drops. His form is out as well. Yes he can do the basics but its those extra big plays that he'd do for the Canes thats missing and to me that deems him out of form. He needs one good game to spark some momentum in form.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/rugby/news/article.cfm?c_id=80&objectid=10798047

Mealamu's unimpressed with Weepu.

I could understand if the media raised the issue to Kevin about Piri, but some of the details is a bit too much. Some of it shouldve been kept between Kevin and his team mate. I wouldnt go to the media to talk about one of my team mates in the way he did.

 

[austingtir]

Weepu is not as great as people think he is the fact is he's never been that "in shape" and imo as much as everyone hates cowan at his best he was a much better test match half back than weepu will ever be. Weepu off the bench on the other hand wasnt bad at all thats the only good use for him under certain situations.

The guys that left the hurricanes last year really are looking like a bunch of knobs right now. Hammett basically said outright they were a bunch of lazy asshats at the caines which is why they had beef and now arent there anymore....

 

[Sam Owen]

Weepu is not as great as people think he is the fact is he's never been that "in shape" and imo as much as everyone hates cowan at his best he was a much better test match half back than weepu will ever be. Weepu off the bench on the other hand wasnt bad at all thats the only good use for him under certain situations.

The guys that left the hurricanes last year really are looking like a bunch of knobs right now. Hammett basically said outright they were a bunch of lazy asshats at the caines which is why they had beef and now arent there anymore....

It wasnt so long ago Piri was hailed as one of the worlds best halfbacks. He even carried the All Blacks to a few victories with huge contributions. Piri does blow up every now and then. Yeah hes always been a biggish halfback.

 

[austingtir]

He's had a couple of really good games in particular the trinations last year (against a poooor aussie outfit) that about it. In the WC final he was a complete no show. With the AB's you have to look at whos around him... was he carrying them or were they carrying him.....
Never been world class.
He's nowhere near the consistency of gregan, kelleher, marshall, Joost, du preez, genia or even cowan until his decline.

 

[Sam Owen]

He's had a couple of really good games in particular the trinations last year (against a poooor aussie outfit) that about it. In the WC final he was a complete no show. With the AB's you have to look at whos around him... was he carrying them or were they carrying him.....

I think it was the season before last year where he was playing very well for the All Blacks. He was putting over crucial goals and playing some good attacking football for the All Blacks. He did fall a bit behind his usual self in the RWC, he was one of a few. I was thinking a bit more behind in time, when he was playing well and IMO carried the blacks home in a few games.

Never been world class.
He's nowhere near the consistency of gregan, kelleher, marshall, Joost, du preez, genia or even cowan until his decline.

Those are really good halfbacks. If we look at the basics of a halfback, like passing, tactical kicking etc... Piri is quite consistent at any level, hes reasonably reliable. Gregan played a very basic game, good swift passes, tenacious defence but he wasnt much of a line-breaker or a spark plug for attack. All those guys have different styles but good at the basics. They've also had their small time to shine, when they were in form but then it passed. Some of those current ones you mentioned are fairly quite at the moment but Im sure they'll show their class soon, just like Piri

 

[FlukeArtist]

The reporting in that Herald article, and the one on stuff.co.nz article of what Mealamu said is nothing short of disgraceful.

I heard that radio interview, and the stuff they have printed is totally out of context.

He was never blaming Weepu for their performances.
All Mealamu said was that it isn't professional to turn up to pre-season in that sort of shape that Weepu did.
And Mealamu is 100% correct!!
Weepu is paid well, and to show up to a new team in that sort of condition shows an alarming lack or respect and professionalism.

For The Herald, and for stuff.co.nz to go and print excerpts out of context is lazy, shameful, tabloid gutter journalism.

 

[admartian]

The reporting in that Herald article, and the one on stuff.co.nz article of what Mealamu said is nothing short of disgraceful.

I heard that radio interview, and the stuff they have printed is totally out of context.

He was never blaming Weepu for their performances.
All Mealamu said was that it isn't professional to turn up to pre-season in that sort of shape that Weepu did.
And Mealamu is 100% correct!!
Weepu is paid well, and to show up to a new team in that sort of condition shows an alarming lack or respect and professionalism.

For The Herald, and for stuff.co.nz to go and print excerpts out of context is lazy, shameful, tabloid gutter journalism.

And THIS is why I hate ANY kind of media or "journalism". Whether it be tech, gaming, or sport; they're always, aways skewing things.

If you're in high school or uni studying to become one of these scum; then I feel sorry for you.

I have more respect for rubbish men or road workers, which are actual hard-working, HONEST jobs.