[2015 Super Rugby] Blues vs. Bulls (Round 14) 15/05/2015

[TRF_heineken]

Eden Park, Auckland

09:35 CAT (SA, GMT+2)

Referee - Mike Fraser

AR1 - Nick Briant

AR2 - Aki Aso

TMO - Glenn Newman​

Teams

Blues: 1. Tony Woodcock, 2. James Parsons, 3. Charlie Faumuina, 4. Josh Bekhuis, 5. Culum Retallick, 6. Akira Ioane, 7. Brendon O'Connor, 8. Steven Luatua (c), 9. Jamison Gibson-Park, 10. Ihaia West, 11. Melani Nanai, 12. George Moala, 13. Francis Saili, 14. Ben Lam, 15. Lolagi Visinia

Substitutes: 16. Keven Mealamu, 17. Ofa Tu'ungafasi, 18. Sam Prattley, 19. Will Lloyd, 20. Blake Gibson, 21. Jimmy Cowan/Jamie Booth, 22. Simon Hickey, 23. Matt Vaega

Bulls: 15 Jesse Kriel, 14 Francois Hougaard, 13 JJ Engelbrecht, 12 Jan Serfontein, 11 Bjorn Basson, 10 Handré Pollard, 9 Rudy Paige, 8 Pierre Spies (captain), 7 Arno Botha, 6 Lappies Labuschagne, 5 Victor Matfield, 4 Flip van de Merwe, 3 Marcel van der Merwe, 2 Adriaan Strauss, 1 Trevor Nyakane

Substitutes: 16 Callie Visagie, 17 Dean Greyling, 18 Werner Kruger, 19 Jacques du Plessis, 20 Deon Stegmann, 21 Burger Odendaal, 22 Jacques-Louis Potgieter, 23 Travis Ismaiel

 

[TRF_heineken]

What a team to start the tour off with.

That is probably our strongest starting line-up for this year. I think the Bulls know that the first game on tour is a make or break one. and if they get good momentum, they have a chance at winning a few.

glad to see Stegmann and JLP back from injury. I'm also excited to see if Travis Ismaiel gets a run. He was the most impressive player for me during the warm-ups in the beginning of the year. He's a big strong and very mobile winger.

 

[Icemn]

Blues are taking this one! Blues remind me of the Hurricanes of OLD... blows hot or Cold, very dangerous and unpredictable, will beat the team they must lose against and beats the ones they are suppose to lose against

 

[SomeOke]

Blues have the talent to win, not to mention the home advantage but I really feel like this Bulls team will be too strong and organised for them. Bulls to win but a Blues win wouldn't surprise me. Important game for the Bulls and I hope they can do it! In order to secure a top 6 spot they will want to win 2 if not 3 on tour.
Edit: and ice I challenge you to find a single post where you thought the saffer team would win. Its quite obvious you just troll threads trying to bait your fellow saffers. While I enjoy a good trolling as much as the next guy... I just realized me responding to you means you won. Well played.

 

[MotherRucker1]

Don't the Blues have like 8 injuries? So many changes this week, I'm just not sure. Not having Bowden there is a huge loss for them straight away. He's made them less painful to watch at times this season. I know the Blues have tipped the Bulls up before in Auckland, but if I'm honest I can't see it this time. I'd be surprised if the Bulls didn't throttle them tbh.

 

[austingtir]

If the blues win this I'll actually be a bit shocked. The Bulls simply wont get a better opportunity to really smash the Blues at home...


LOL look at the crowd that will hardly cover the cost of running the lights.....


If Akira performs in this game he's the real deal thats a very good Bulls forward pack.

 

[Icemn]

nice try by the bulls that!

 

[Muzzy]

Gibson parks kicking game is good but his passing is too shaky they need to bring Cowan on

 

[TRF Mr Fish]

The Blues scrum is getting destroyed, that's pretty unusual given the pack they have.

 

[austingtir]

The Blues scrum is getting destroyed, that's pretty unusual given the pack they have.

Like iv been saying for a while now. Charlie Faumuina. Most overrated prop in NZ rugby.

 

[nickdnz]

For once I agree with you. Faumuina is simply a poor scrummager, no two ways about it.

Woodcock also looked like he picked up some injury this game, he was walking a hell of a lot and his scrummaging was also pretty average. Mealamu certainly seemed to sure up the scrum a bit when he came on though.

Akira had another strong game I thought. Looks like Luatua damaged his shoulder - may well have hurt his chances come the RWC. At this stage Vito you would think would be likely to take over.

 

[MotherRucker1]

Faumuina usually gets away with it I guess at All Blacks level because he comes of the bench when things have settled down a little. He's also got a pack combined with our best talent in the country under some handy coaches too. But his fitness and athleticism, once he finds form, certainly stands out. There are definitely issues there at scrum time though.

Clearly not the result I was picking but good on em!

 

[Icemn]

Edit: and ice I challenge you to find a single post where you thought the saffer team would win. Its quite obvious you just troll threads trying to bait your fellow saffers. While I enjoy a good trolling as much as the next guy... I just realized me responding to you means you won. Well played.

nope i go on instinct...

 

[SomeOke]

Late developing instinct? You got the last three wrong. Even a blind squirrel will find a nut occasionally.

 

[austingtir]

So Akira had another outstanding game. Man id hate to be Hansen when it comes to selecting the back up's and 6 at 8. There are just so many guys that are so good.

For next year its almost getting to the point where we dont even need Messam anymore....

Akira was like a Kaino clone out there in this game its almost unbelievable how good he is.