2014 Super Rugby: Brumbies vs Blues (Round 8)

[Jaguares]

1. JP Smith
2. Siliva Siliva
3. Ben Alexander
4. Scott Fardy
5. Sam Carter
6. Jordan Smiler
7. Jarrad Butler
8. Ben Mowen (c)
9. Nic White
10. Matt Toomua
11. Robbie Coleman
12. Pat McCabe
13. Tevita Kuridrani
14. Joe Tomane
15. Jesse Mogg

15 Charles Piutau
14 Frank Halai
13 George Moala
12 Ma'a Nonu
11 Tevita Li
10 Simon Hickey
9 Bryn Hall
8 Steven Luatua
7 Brendon O'Connor
6 Jerome Kaino (c)
5 Hayden Triggs
4 Liaki Moli
3 Charlie Faumuina
2 Tom McCartney
1 Tony Woodcock

 

[steblin]

Blues Lineup
Blues: Charles Piutau, Frank Halai, George Moala, Ma'a Nonu, Tevita Li, Simon Hickey, Bryn Hall, Steven Luatua, Brendon O'Connor, Jerome Kaino (c), Hayden Triggs, Liaki Moli, Charlie Faumuina, Tom McCartney, Tony Woodcock. Reserves: James Parsons, Sam Prattley, Angus Ta'avao, Jordan Manihera, Luke Braid, Sonatane Takulua, Francis Saili, Benji Marshall.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/rugby/super-rugby/9895462/Francis-Saili-ready-to-be-centre-of-attention

Think I saw on The Crowd Goes Wild last night JK saying the Blues have about 12 injuries at the minute ... adding up! Good to see Saili going to get some game time, looking forward to a partnership of him and Nonu.

 

[Jaguares]

Brumbies lineup: 1. JP Smith, 2. Siliva Siliva, 3. Ben Alexander, 4. Scott Fardy, 5. Sam Carter, 6. Jordan Smiler, 7. Jarrad Butler, 8. Ben Mowen (c), 9. Nic White, 10. Matt Toomua, 11. Robbie Coleman, 12. Pat McCabe, 13. Tevita Kuridrani, 14. Joe Tomane, 15. Jesse Mogg

 

[Darwin]

Brumbies in control at the moment. The ref is clueless at scrum-time though....

The Blues need to realise they aren't going to win a kicking contest - they need to start running the ball....

 

[steblin]

Kick ... Kick ... Kick ... Zzzzzzzzzzz

Come on Blues!

 

[Darwin]

Kick ... Kick ... Kick ... Zzzzzzzzzzz

Come on Blues!

Sums up the game well. The Blues kicking/chasing has been horrible though.

 

[nzlizard]

Man the ref is pretty **** at scrum time, hopefully this monkey gets a week off next week.

Blues getting slaughtered by the Brumbies kicking game, surely after the 1st 10 takes by Mogg they would learn not to kick it to him.

It's just too easy for the Brumbies, they commit 1-2 players and get quick ball, the Blues commit half a forward pack and it takes forever to get back and then not get over the advantage line.

 

[austingtir]

Man the ref is pretty **** at scrum time, hopefully this monkey gets a week off next week.

Blues getting slaughtered by the Brumbies kicking game, surely after the 1st 10 takes by Mogg they would learn not to kick it to him.

It's just too easy for the Brumbies, they commit 1-2 players and get quick ball, the Blues commit half a forward pack and it takes forever to get back and then not get over the advantage line.

Yep blues getting thrashed at the 58 minute mark. They've got an opportunity now though. Grubbers and chipping through is working well atm.. But the brumbies are just a to well organised outfit and its showing.

 

[tenpm]

I was recording the match and started about an hour behind, fast forwarded all the boring parts and I've already caught up.

The two key differences between the Brumbies and the Blues IMO are that a) Brumbies are scoring every time they get in the Blues 22, whereas the Blues keep turning the ball over and b) the Blues took far too long to realise they were never going to win the aerial battle.

edit: though to be honest I'm not entirely sure that the first part is entirely the Blues' fault, the Brumbies are doing everything they can do (and then some) to slow the ball down so the Blues can't play the fast paced game. Which, of course, is what you're supposed to do - play to your opposition's strengths and weaknesses, not try to beat them at their own game!

 

[Darwin]

Full time. Brumbies win 26-9. Probably a fair reflection of the game. Given the conditions it was probably no surprise the Brumbies won so convincingly, as they have a far better kicking game. The also completely dominated the breakdown too - the Blues forwards seemed to be too busy standing out wide to clean out breakdowns. Probably the only good point for the Blues was the scrum, but due to an incompetent ref their advantage in this area wasn't much of an advantage at all....

A couple of other randoms thoughts:
- Hickey stands far too deep on attack - the Blues backs are 10-20m behind the advantage line before the get the ball.
- Tevita Li looked a bit out of his depth (not surprising given his age!)
- The Blues really missed Braid in the starting lineup - he made a big impact when he came on (though his knock-on cost them a try...)
- Benji Marshall still looks completely lost

 

[austingtir]

I still think Benji should be given a bit of time at ten especially at the end of this match. The game was lost well before halftime though. NZ sides are getting shafted by these Aussies at the breakdown.

The penalties at scrum time were again just a waste of time. Either we go with the team thats dominating the scrum or we let the halfs feed the ball crooked. Personally id rather see a contest for the ball and let the best scrum win.