Blues Vs Chiefs

[sambãd5]

yea it is a pitty of devines injury. imo moas only going to be a 3rd option though. incase someone gets injured.

 

[Caledfwlch]

Methinks this is going to be one hell of an opening game. Filled with alot of confusing calls and linebreaks (becos of the freekicks). Probably going to be very frustrating for me. Swearing at whoever is ref-ing for making the 'wrong' calls

 

[billiejoefanclub]

chiefs are gonna take it... they've been the blues bogey team for a few years now winning 3 of their last 4 encounters (let's not forget lauaki's match winning try at eden park 4 years ago) and winning their last 2 encounters at eden park. chiefs were also the form team for the 2nd half of last year and will take it into this year, start well and finish well..... this is the year of the chiefs

 

[darwin_23]

whos going to start though at halfback? methinks danny lee would be good starting and then smylie coming on in the 2nd half making good breaks around tired fowards... [/b]

Chris Smylie is not even in the main Blues squad - he is only part of the extended training squad and will only be included if either Moa or Devine get injured, so the halfback battle is Moa versus Lee. Moa is certainly a player to watch - he's a young bloke whose very powerful, but has an eye for the gap, and a surprising turn of pace - he'd be my choice to start at 9 for the Blues..

 

[sambãd5]

i thought that devine has retired due to neck injury?

 

[darwin_23]

i thought that devine has retired due to neck injury? [/b]

You are right he has - the halfbacks in the squad are Lee and Moa - I put Devine's name in their by accident...my bad

 

[darwin_23]

Blues team for the Chiefs announced:

BLUES: 15 Isa Nacewa, 14 Anthony Tuitavake, 13 Isaia Toeava, 12 Benson Stanley, 11 Joe Rokocoko, 10 Nick Evans, 9 Danny Lee; 8 Nick Williams, 7 Justin Collins, 6 Jerome Kaino, 5 Troy Flavell (capt), 4 Kurtis Haiu, 3 John Afoa, 2 Keven Mealamu, 1 Tony Woodcock. Reserves: 16 Tom McCartney, 17 Nick White, 18 Anthony Boric, 19 Onosa'i Tololima-Auva'a, 20 Taniela Moa, 21 Ben Atiga, 22 Rudi Wulf.

Points of interest:
Stanley at 12, rather than Toeava at 12, Tuitavake at 13 and Wulf/Smith at 14
Lee starts at halfback
Collins at 7 ahead of Tololima-Auva'a (Braid still injured)

A pretty predictable team really - the only surprise to me is Collins starting at 7.

 

[mimic]

Thought Mils went to Kelston?

Blues should roll with this - especially if Toeava steps off from where he left the last Super 14. Tuitavakie is finally back in his proper position, and the David Smith breakout tour begin's here. I'll be surprised if he hasn't crashed down the door for All Black selection by week 8 personally.

I also reckon we could have gotten a steal in Chris Smylie, he was unlucky not to be an All Black a couple of year's ago, but was stunted when he had to sit behind Cowan on the bench for the Highlanders. If he can recapture that form again, especially with his running game and that Blues backline. [/b]

Mils did go to Kelston, but he came from Southland. He played centre for Southland if my memory serves me correct, and then got poached to Kelston lol!

David Smith will find it hard to crack the team, especially since David has a hard on for Rudi Wulf.

Smylie is a good player, but he's far from his form in the past. He's a good runner with the ball, but his passing game is just as bad if not worse than Nelas.

 

[fiji rugger]

the blues are full of experience and should take this one.. unless the chiefs backline run riot

 

[darwin_23]

Chiefs team named:

15 Mils Muliaina, 14 Sosene Anesi, 13 Richard Kahui, 12 Callum Bruce, 11 Sitiveni Sivivatu, 10 Stephen Donald, 9 Jamie Nutbrown, 8 Sione Lauaki, 7 Tanerau Latimer, 6 Liam Messam, 5 Kevin O'Neill, 4 Jono Gibbes, 3 Ben Castle, 2 Tom Willis, 1 Simms Davison. Reserves: Aled de Malmanche, 17 Ben May, 18 Kristian Ormsby, 19 Hayden Hopgood, 20 Brendon Leonard/David Bason, 21 Dwayne Sweeney, 22 Lelia Masaga.

Leonard injured so playing from the bench or not at all. An exciting looking backline (though i would have preferred Masaga over Anesi) - should be a very entertaining game

 

[ChiefsFan]

Other than Nutbrown at halfback, that looks like the Chiefs best team. This is going to be a great game!

 

[mimic]

The Cheifs have an awesome team.

Pity their coach is worse than Nuci LOL!

The Chiefs backline can easily match that of the Blues.
The loosies look to be a tight contest as well.. Pretty weird not seeing Braid or Holah playing.. But with Collins at 7, I'd have to go the way of the Chiefs..
Chiefs have an advantage at lineout time..
Only place where the Blues have it is at the front row..

Brain tells me that the Chiefs will win, but my heart tells me the Blues will win!

GO THE BLUES!

 

[esoj]

expect to see plenty of tries if the weather is good. two backlines stacked with guys that just like to run and score tries. nick evans an awesome pick up for the blues and i think he do really well with the backline at his disposal. chiefs often give the blues a good game and this proabbly won't be any different.

I think overall the blues have the better backline and forward pack and will come out on top in a high scoring game by 12+

 

[sambãd5]

up until now ive thought of this match to be real close. but then, i thought nick evans. as long as the fowards at least equal the cheifs, i cant see anything apart from a blues win. evans will run riot. look to see line breaks from him and nacewa. also the loosies making gaps with evans close. will be a great game, and all going well, hoping for the sun could be game of the round.

 

[billiejoefanclub]

how could you match siti, sos and mils? GO THE CHIEFS!

 

[Dozzy_X]

cant wait for Chiefs season to start, should be a special season and definately have the strength to challenge. just hope Kahui stays fit throughout. looking forward to an open and running game, no doubt i'll be disapointed. lol.

 

[riders of the storm]

11-8 to the Chiefs at halftime.

Chiefs 11 (Mils Muliaina try; Stephen Donald 2 penalties)

Blues 8 (Danny Lee try; Nick Evans penalty)

 

[nam97]

32 - 14 full time to the Blues. Rokocoko had a blinder, Chiefs didn't look as fit as the Blues and whenever they got the ball they lost it due to stupid mistakes.

Blues look very dangerous, let's hope the Chiefs get things back on track quickly or they could have another horror opening run like last year.

Good to see the English cricket team made it out to Eden Park also

 

[candybum]

Agreed! lol The Blues scrum was excellent imo, those two tries were niiiiice. Their defence was fierce and Troy is a much better player when he's captain aye imo.

Im really starting to like these ELV's. I must say Rokocoko is the MANTIS lol

It was great seeing Lauaki being 'FECTIVE' lol

 

[sambãd5]

how did those stats of lauaki - williams end up? i remember them looking like, lauaki with 14 takes with 25m gained, with 0 line breaks, and williams was 10 takes with 30m, 4 line breaks.

the one thing i dont understand about the new rules are the rucks. i thought there would be heaps of free kicks, but there still seemed to be a few penalties around the ruck...