Hurricanes v Chiefs

[187]

For a long time now he has jogged it to the line, it has always annoyed me about him. Sometimes it works if a winger has a brillaint step like Jason Robinson, however Sivivatu is more of an all out sprinter, which is why it has always been so frustrating. I think we'll see him do better in the later stages of the comp, but I can't honestly say he is in the top 3 wingers in NZ at the moment.

The guy has lost his mojo & that annoys me as well how he jogs. But yeah, he definitely wouldn't be in the top 5 wingers in NZ currently.

 

[Larksea]

1. Donald's try didn't take much vision. He's physically bigger and stronger than Cruden, and wasn't far out from the line. Any forward in the world could have scored that try, so as I said, it didn't take much vision.

2. I've met Andre Taylor, he's not a big guy, and he literally made Stephen Donald fly. I only mention it because of this erpic and one sided picture you seem to have of Stephen Donald. You make out like Donald destroyed Cruden in their last encounter, but you're the only one who seems to think so, and just because you say it, it doesn't make it true, in face more often than not, the opposite.

3. The New Zealand public hasn't turned against Stephen Donald with out a reason. He was judged in the same way as any other player has been judged, and he has consistantly been found by a majority, to have come up short. It's true that he is backing up the greatest fly half of all time, but he's also made enough mistakes for people to make up thier mind that he just isn't up to test standard. It's not one mistake, it's fourty, and for every game he does something right, he'll do four things wrong in the next. The fact that you're a Chiefs fan seems to leave you so amazing bias, that you cannot see what everyone else can. I've watched almost every Chiefs game and Waikato game in the last four years, so it's not a lack of exposure that people judge him poorly, it because he is poor.

4. In terms of Andre Taylor's profile, he was listed as 85kgs in the 2009 Manuwatu profile, 88kgs in the current Hurricanes profile ://www.hurricanes.co.nz/team/players/andre-taylor. I can promise you he's not any bigger than that. Regardless, it's Donald's poor defense that made him get bumped, not Taylor's obvious raw abundance of power.

1, Not much Vision? See you look at that try and instead of saying don did well and showed good speed power, determination and skill to ground the one handed you say it "didn't take much vision"? This is what I'm talking about. If it was that easy to score through cruden he simply shouldn't be playing super rugby.

2, So now he's 88kg? any more bets? I saw a video last week with Jane, Taylor and Levave and taylor easily looked bigger than Cory who is around that weight. Not that it matters. I didn't see it but when a player gets bumped it's usally because they are caught off balance rather than "over powered" heck I've seen halfbacks bump props in super rugby.

3, NZ public have always been against Donald and yet he's made 3-4 all black squads now? Seems like the people whos opinions actually matter still think he's a worthy player and selected him despite of what a lot of the public think.

4, See 2, but interesting how you see donald bump off one tackle and judge him as having "poor defence" Donald's not a perfect player I never said he was but his defence is actually very good and even some of his harshest critics will agree that he is a solid defender.

 

[Larksea]

^^ Andre Taylor is no bigger than 88kg that's for sure.

Larksea we all get that you think Donald is a great player and all that, but you must realise everyone watches the same games you do and have come to the conclusion he is just not that good. It's great you like him, good for you, but you continually try to force feed us this "everything Donald does is great" mantra that just just isn't going to wash. Did he not prove to you he wasn't up to it on the last tour? He was in the form of his life leading up to the tour (I despise his play but can admit he was good in ITM cup) so if he was ever going to produce it was then but he once again fluffed his lines on the big stage. He hasn't played that well so far, neither have any other 1st fives besides Carter though. I actually think you have quite good things to say in general; except when talking about Donald, and to a lesser extent Leonard. Then you become a protective soccer-mum who keeps trying to convince everyone he is good by raving about his average performances.

I challenge anyone who comes up with rubish like this to go and find quote of me actually saying "everything Donald does is great" because I don't. I also point out when he makes mistakes but in the same way I judge all players I will put it into context. Like last years EOY tour I was gutted Donald Missed that kick at goal and his kick that did not go out should also go down as a mistake. But at the same time Carter missed his first two shots at goal in that game and Donald's kick looked good but curved the wrong way (against what would have been his natural curve) which sugests conditions weren't easy.

As for the kick for touch, there is no telling the result would be different if it did go into touch. There was still loads of time on the clock for a lineout and to avoid a quick throw in it would have had to have been put out inside or near the "red zone" and it should also be noted that if Toeava have had made his chasing tackle it would have ended up beign a pretty/very good kick for the all blacks. It should also be noted that Donald wasn't the only one to make mistakes in that last 20min that could have changed the outcome of that game.

Honestly I think if you lot were right the best Donald would do is ride the bench in ITM cup but he's actually been in the AB's 3 years in a row now? And he's keeping another very good AB 10 on the bench at the chiefs? You guys ever wonder that maybe the people who judge and select players for a living see/know something you dont?

 

[donmcdazzle]

I challenge anyone who comes up with rubish like this to go and find quote of me actually saying "everything Donald does is great" because I don't. I also point out when he makes mistakes but in the same way I judge all players I will put it into context. Like last years EOY tour I was gutted Donald Missed that kick at goal and his kick that did not go out should also go down as a mistake. But at the same time Carter missed his first two shots at goal in that game and Donald's kick looked good but curved the wrong way (against what would have been his natural curve) which sugests conditions weren't easy.

As for the kick for touch, there is no telling the result would be different if it did go into touch. There was still loads of time on the clock for a lineout and to avoid a quick throw in it would have had to have been put out inside or near the "red zone" and it should also be noted that if Toeava have had made his chasing tackle it would have ended up beign a pretty/very good kick for the all blacks. It should also be noted that Donald wasn't the only one to make mistakes in that last 20min that could have changed the outcome of that game.

Honestly I think if you lot were right the best Donald would do is ride the bench in ITM cup but he's actually been in the AB's 3 years in a row now? And he's keeping another very good AB 10 on the bench at the chiefs? You guys ever wonder that maybe the people who judge and select players for a living see/know something you dont?

I never said that was direct quote I'm just talking about the way you do tend to overstate his good moments and underplay his cock ups. For example pointing out Carter missed two earlier kicks or whatever, that doesn't really matter cause it came down to him making a kick at a certain moment and he failed. Twice if you count missing touch. Regardless of subsequent missed tackles, you just have to kick that ball out, you have to. He freaked out twice in about 10 minutes in pressure moments. Hell getting tackled would've been better than hoofing it down the middle at least we would've had the scrum.

He has been a beneficiary of other people leaving. Nick Evans would've been in the squad had he hung round, as would have Luke McAlister (who has battled ever since he left but at the time was definitely ahead of Donald). He is decent at provincial level like most can admit, but he has been in the All Blacks by default cause there hasn't been many other challengers. He won't ever make the All Blacks again, and he shouldn't.

Also hasn't he been rotated with Delaney thus far?

 

[ranger]

1, Not much Vision? See you look at that try and instead of saying don did well and showed good speed power, determination and skill to ground the one handed you say it "didn't take much vision"? This is what I'm talking about. If it was that easy to score through cruden he simply shouldn't be playing super rugby.

2, So now he's 88kg? any more bets? I saw a video last week with Jane, Taylor and Levave and taylor easily looked bigger than Cory who is around that weight. Not that it matters. I didn't see it but when a player gets bumped it's usally because they are caught off balance rather than "over powered" heck I've seen halfbacks bump props in super rugby.

3, NZ public have always been against Donald and yet he's made 3-4 all black squads now? Seems like the people whos opinions actually matter still think he's a worthy player and selected him despite of what a lot of the public think.

4, See 2, but interesting how you see donald bump off one tackle and judge him as having "poor defence" Donald's not a perfect player I never said he was but his defence is actually very good and even some of his harshest critics will agree that he is a solid defender.

-Donald has speed (not acceleration) and power (note: there isn't a whole lot of vision involved in tucking the ball away and running fast in a line). No one argues against that point. The problem is that those qualities alone are effectively useless for a test first five. To succeed at test level Donald needs to think quicker, make decisions faster and actually start developing as a playmaker (He can run set moves but his instincts as a playmaking 10 are shocking). Im not a Donald hater, i just don't objectively think that he has what it takes be a passable AB 10. The fact that you are blind to his obvious flaws grates on me.

-Cruden got himself into a compromising position where he was drawn into drifting out to take the shortball runner, and then had to double take and tackle back on his inside shoulder when he realized the man inside him (Eaton) wasn't quick enough to cover over. His positioning was off and although he brought his man down, he had lost the momentum to drive him back.
Later in the game Donald got his positioning all wrong and got bunted to ****-ery by one of the lightest guys on the field. If its that easy to annihilate Donald he simply shouldn't be playing super rugby. (A bit ridiculous that isnt it?)


-Aaron Taylor has never been near hitting 90kg in his life. 88kgs looks like an optimistic guess.
Go look at that video again.. Taylor is taller than Jane, but he is also a skinny *******. The weight Jane gives away in height is made up in muscle mass. Trust me here, Taylor is skin and bone, 85 is closer to the mark.

-Donald has made these teams and been largely **** poor. I can understand the reasoning of the coaches in trying to get a hard working physical specimen and trying to mould him into something usefull, but its simply not working.

I challenge anyone who comes up with rubish like this to go and find quote of me actually saying "everything Donald does is great" because I don't. I also point out when he makes mistakes but in the same way I judge all players I will put it into context. Like last years EOY tour I was gutted Donald Missed that kick at goal and his kick that did not go out should also go down as a mistake. But at the same time Carter missed his first two shots at goal in that game and Donald's kick looked good but curved the wrong way (against what would have been his natural curve) which sugests conditions weren't easy.

Honestly I think if you lot were right the best Donald would do is ride the bench in ITM cup but he's actually been in the AB's 3 years in a row now? And he's keeping another very good AB 10 on the bench at the chiefs? You guys ever wonder that maybe the people who judge and select players for a living see/know something you dont?

-You pump up any good thing Donald does and skip over or make excuses for any mistakes. I struggle to believe that you aren't doing that on purpose.
Even in your first post you specified that all Crudens kicks looked easy, would you really have mentioned that if it were Donald?
Honestly, if you presented what Donald did without spinning it so wildly it wouldn't be so annoying.

 

[187]

I challenge anyone who comes up with rubish like this to go and find quote of me actually saying "everything Donald does is great" because I don't. I also point out when he makes mistakes but in the same way I judge all players I will put it into context. Like last years EOY tour I was gutted Donald Missed that kick at goal and his kick that did not go out should also go down as a mistake. But at the same time Carter missed his first two shots at goal in that game and Donald's kick looked good but curved the wrong way (against what would have been his natural curve) which sugests conditions weren't easy.

As for the kick for touch, there is no telling the result would be different if it did go into touch. There was still loads of time on the clock for a lineout and to avoid a quick throw in it would have had to have been put out inside or near the "red zone" and it should also be noted that if Toeava have had made his chasing tackle it would have ended up beign a pretty/very good kick for the all blacks. It should also be noted that Donald wasn't the only one to make mistakes in that last 20min that could have changed the outcome of that game.

Honestly I think if you lot were right the best Donald would do is ride the bench in ITM cup but he's actually been in the AB's 3 years in a row now? And he's keeping another very good AB 10 on the bench at the chiefs? You guys ever wonder that maybe the people who judge and select players for a living see/know something you dont?

I challenge you to a duel! Lol Wada man.

Nah, respect brother for standing up for the man.