[2017 Super Rugby] Round 11: Chiefs vs. Reds (06/05/2017)

[Ground We Won]

The Chiefs have pushed on after a patchy start. But a lot has it down to the fact the Reds have no bottle are aren't really playing for any purpose.

 

[mania]

Leinster have got themselves some signing in Lowe.

I'll say. Whatever they're paying is a bargain. Lowe is ABs material. Shame to lose such a gifted creative never say die player.
Still he's young and will have time to come back in immediate future.

 

[mania]

Leinster have got themselves some signing in Lowe.

I'll say. Whatever they're paying is a bargain. Lowe is ABs material. Shame to lose such a gifted creative never say die player.
Still he's young and will have time to come back in immediate future.

 

[Caitlyn Jenner]

Good to see the Chiefs playing more like the quality side they are.
It was great to see the Beaver going well, he's a legend... James Lowe was, again, awesome and will be a massive loss to NZ rugby, such a shame that he never got the chances he deserved... The locks were both immense and were a real point of difference imo...
But the best thing to come from this game, for me, was Charlie Ngatai! After such a cruel lay-off it was great to just see him out there again, and on top of that he looked every bit the player he was prior to that injury! I really hope that he has a clean injury run, because if he keeps playing well he's a genuine contender for that ABs 12 jersey.

 

[nero]

Good to see the Chiefs playing more like the quality side they are.
It was great to see the Beaver going well, he's a legend... James Lowe was, again, awesome and will be a massive loss to NZ rugby, such a shame that he never got the chances he deserved... The locks were both immense and were a real point of difference imo...
But the best thing to come from this game, for me, was Charlie Ngatai! After such a cruel lay-off it was great to just see him out there again, and on top of that he looked every bit the player he was prior to that injury! I really hope that he has a clean injury run, because if he keeps playing well he's a genuine contender for that ABs 12 jersey.

Yup, so pleased to see Charlie back. He's got the genuine x-factor and makes breaks as a centre should. Crotty is a hard-working journeyman, but unfortunately he just lacks that something something. It would be nice to see SBW lift his game, not at the level at the moment.

 

[Ground We Won]

Hopefully Charlie remains fit and has healed properly, great to have such depth at centre again and healthy competition for the All Blacks.

 

[Penne Rara]

Yup, so pleased to see Charlie back. He's got the genuine x-factor and makes breaks as a centre should. Crotty is a hard-working journeyman, but unfortunately he just lacks that something something. It would be nice to see SBW lift his game, not at the level at the moment.

Crotty is such a safe option. He may not be all razzle dazzle, but he's super efficient and brings all the physicality you'd expect from him, works hard and rarely misses a tackle or gives away possession.

SBW has been non existent since his Blues debut, he didn't contribute too much in all the matches he's been playing so far, and just got concussed. I'd choose Ngatai or Crotty over him any day of the week.

 

[Larksea]

SBW has been non existent since his Blues debut, he didn't contribute too much in all the matches he's been playing so far, and just got concussed. I'd choose Ngatai or Crotty over him any day of the week.

I thought SBW loked very good before his head knock this weekend. Made some telling tackles a few good hit ups and one of his trademark offloads that was pretty damn good. Much better than his first couple of games.

 

[mania]

Crotty is such a safe option.

crotty is the kind of player that makes everyone around him look good. he's smart and considering his work load makes f'all errors. has an amazing rugby brain on him and almost always makes the right decision in split second situations.
crotty is the given. now a question of whether ALB or ngatai to partner him. at this stage its ALB but ngatai after one game is knocking on the door. bench option should be laumape as he's a better bruiser than moala. but i imagine sbw would get that spot.

 

[Larksea]

Great Chiefs game to watch, it was a better effort but still room to improve. A few points of interest for me.

Stephen Donald was excellent, his defense this season has been absolutely on point. its always been a strong area for him but it does make a big difference. Made some very important tackles in the first 20min in particular and it seemed like every time a team mate missed a tackle he was right there to clean up. Then he had a hand in 4 of the trys I think? Who he scored, a brilliant kick to setup another and then the trademark charge at the line to produce fast ball for Ngatai to score. In his prime he created and scored a ton of trys with that sort of run.

Sam Cane had a very big game, was very accurate and effective. Very good sign going into this time of year.

Mitchell Brown had a great game

but in contrast Michael Leitch had a shocker, by far the worst game I have seen him play. he's had a suspension and then an injury so hasn't played a lot. He needs to pick up his game. Messam was much better when he came on some big games coming up we cant afford for Michael to keep playing like that. With Brown playing so well Messam can start at 8 and make room for Sanders or Boshier on the bench. [URL='http://www.chiefs.co.nz/team/team/player-list/player/4-Investec+Super+Rugby+2017/65-Lachlan+Boshier']Lachlan Boshier has been very good off the bench I'm really surprised we have not seem more of him.
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Retalick was phenomenal. nuf said.
Bird made a big effort on the gain line defending, pretty solid all round effort but did look like he ran out of steam a bit.

McKenzie was excellent again, arguably the most consistent top performer in super rugby. Amazing considering he hasn't really had a game off this season or last. Goal kicking on song too.

Lowe was very good too, I thought he and Ngatai showed how important balance is in both their breaks they stayed balanced and looked to offload, that kept defenders around him focused on players near him which could receive an offload and allowed them to break the tackle and advance up field.

Ngatai is an obvious talking point. He looked nervous and a bit unsettled early, missed an early tackle that Donald clean up for him. Looked a bit tentative with the ball in hand and then kicked a grubber into an opposition player. But after a while he got better, made a good kick then that huge line break which was followed up by a brilliant Donald kick and I believe eventuated in a try. Then he scored a nice try himself. I think overall it was a good return, as good as you could hope for really.

Good to see harris back too, not really enough time to make much impact but he will get better.

Reds, well some good performers here too.

Smith was great. I thought he was lucky not to get red carded. Nutbrown looked like he really didn't want to card the Aussie legend firstly by only giving him a penalty when that simply had to be a card. And then after the TMO called the check Nutbrown did his best to take red off the table. I dont think anyone would have wanted to see Smith get a red but I like less seeing Sam cane take shoulder charges to the chin. I think technically that was a red card. Can was running very high but it still made direct contact to his chin and he dropped like a rock. All the while it was a no arms tackle too. I think I can safely say lesser tackles have been given Red cards this year.

Higginbotham was very good. Sure to be back playing a central role for the Wallabies.

Quade Cooper was a turn-style in midfield let Lowe through and Ngatai straight through he probably shouldn't be defending at 10, I think he slipped more tackles himself than the entire chiefs team misses some games. His goal kicking stank too. A couple of good touches on attack.

 

[Larksea]

so its finally come out that Cruden had to pull out of this game because he developed Concussion symptoms after training. Not expected to be serious but concussion issues seem to be open ended, cant just say he will be right in a week or two.

 

[TRF Mr Fish]

so its finally come out that Cruden had to pull out of this game because he developed Concussion symptoms after training. Not expected to be serious but concussion issues seem to be open ended, cant just say he will be right in a week or two.

This was actually revealed on Saturday.

 

[Radsy]

@Larksea

Your prayers for a better 8 man have been answered (for next season anyways)

Canada's captain has signed on, and he's an excellent talent.

Good size, and very mobile. He turned down what would have been more lucrative contracts to come to the Chiefs.

I'm a very happy fan today.

http://www.tsn.ca/canadian-forward-ardron-headed-to-new-zealand-in-super-rugby-1.748017