Super 15:Chiefs vs Brumbies. Bay Park Stadium (16/3/2012 06:35GMT)

[Amobokoboko]

Bay Park Stadium, Tauranga (16/3/2012, 06:35 GMT)

Referee: Ian Smith
AR1: Vinny Munro
AR2 : Nick Bryant
TMO : Shane McDermott
​

Team is announced, some light injuries ( Elliot) in the team but it looks solid. Cane to start at 7, Messam moving up to 8.

1. Arizona Taumalolo, 2 Mahonri Schwalger, 3 Ben Tameifuna, 4 Craig Clarke, 5 Brodie Retallick, 6 Tanerau Latimer, 7 Sam Cane, 8 Liam Messam, 9 Tawera Kerr-Barlow, 10 Aaron Cruden , 11Tim Nanai-Williams 12 Sonny Bill Williams, 13 Jackson Willison, 14 Richard Kahui, 15 Robbie Robinson, 16 Marcel Cummings-Toone, 17 Josh Hohneck, 18 Kane Thompson, 19 Scott Waldrom, 20 Augustine Pulu, 21 Andrew Horrell, 22 Maritino Nemani

Curious to see Cane play a full game.

Go Chiefs.

 

[Larksea]

Cane is full of suprises eh. Doesn't look big but he hit Kaino in a tackle and stopped him in his tracks and drove him backwards in the blues game. I've never seen anyone do that before.

Strange seeing Kahui in the wing, maybe they dont trust O'Donnell enough yet? Maybe Kahui wants to maximise his All Blacks selection chances but I doubt that, from his performances so far he's an automatic selection when fit.

Good to see the loosies get rotated, Scott Waldrom should finally get some game time he will want to impress every chance he gets if he wants any game time. He's obviously down the pecking order and all the Loosies bar Fritz Lee are in very good form.

 

[Amobokoboko]

Strange they didn't put SBW on the wing. He didn't perform that bad there while playing for the AB's

 

[Leonormous Boozer]

Could someone please P.M me a link to a site where I could stream tomorrow mornings matches. Thanks for any help.

 

[SomeOke]

Decent effort from the Brumbies against a very strong side. The South African influence in their coaching is starting to show.

edit: Before anyone gets uptight, I don't mean they are doing well because they are coached by a South African I just mean in their style of play .

 

[TRF Mr Fish]

Chiefs reverted back to type a bit in that game... Would've been a very gloomy two weeks had they lost that match going into the bye.

Dunno what the Brumbies were complaining about with that last try? Forward pass?

Also, scrums are such a gamble. Some referees penalise players who put their hands on the ground, some don't. Everything else seems like guesswork...

 

[nickdnz]

Haven't watched this game yet but how many tries has Taumololo scored so far? Is there anyone better at a pick and drive over the line? Like in world rugby. People don't seem to rate him but his scrummaging against the Crusaders was very impressive (albeit with an amazingly big tighthead), and he is unstoppable getting over the line.

 

[Shaggy]

I've got to admit, I totally underestimated the Brumbies going into this match ... glad to see the Chiefs come away with the win though.

Someoke - I agree, you can see Jake White's influence on the side, with the driving mauls etc

Nick - Taumololo is just about unstoppable close to the line ... I think all of the Chiefs forwards are benefiting from each other ... the actually have a good pack that works together, rather than a few talented individuals, that they've had in previous years

 

[big ginger 8]

Taumololo has 3 tries in 3.

Hows Murphy getting on at the Brumbies? Australia's not exactly the place to go to improve as a prop.

 

[Amobokoboko]

Good to see the boys secure another win. Pity it took them 70 minutes before starting to play rugby. All those woefull handling errors.

 

[Shaggy]

Good to see the boys secure another win. Pity it took them 70 minutes before starting to play rugby. All those woefull handling errors.

Yeah, they look like they need a rest ... probably good that they had a team take it to them with a different style of rugby too

 

[Larksea]

tough game, pretty high pace at times and very close. Chiefs were heavy favorites but it was always going to be close I think. Chiefs looked a bit down on intensity as you would expect after back to back games against the Blues and Crusaders and heck round 1 against the highlanders. Bye has come at a good time for them, because of injuries some players have had a big workload.

Taumalolo seems to be shining right now, I think Tameifuna really complements him. I dont think Taumalolo is a great scrummager but he's getting a big boost from Taumalolo who seems to be able to use his size really well in the scrum. I've been critical of Taumalolo in the past, at times for the chiefs he gets white line fever and for a period he lost the ball within 5m of the line, I think costing the chiefs some games they should have won.

For the chiefs scrum a lot of credit should be given to Craig Clark and Brodie Retalick. After 4 games I think Brodie is the best NZ lock in the comp and Clarke isn't far off.

Good result and the squad's about to get stronger with players returning from injury. Chiefs will be in a good place, been important that they have not had any more major injuries since that disaster round 1 game.