Super 15 Play Off QF: Blues - Waratahs @ Eden Park (24-06-2011)

Seaton · Jun 24, 2011

You gotta love the fireworks as the try was scored

Gavin · Jun 24, 2011

Game, Set, MATCH!!!

TRF_Ezequiel · Jun 24, 2011

Almost Jared Payne breaking through the defence, offloads to Ali Williams, try. 23-8. Man, the Tahs are nowhere to be seen

TRF_RC · Jun 24, 2011

What's happened to the Tahs tonight?
This game feels like it's been wrapped up for a while.

TRF_RC · Jun 24, 2011

But, boy oh boy have the blues looked sloppy at places during the game tonight!
That's exactly why Brett won't get looked at for no.10, he can't give the team any real direction and when it the game gets sloppy like that he doesn't look to tidy it up and maybe put in a territorial kick, he just throws loose passes like the rest of the team.
Awful.

Gavin · Jun 24, 2011

Must admit it is obvious that the Waratahs are missing a load of 1st XV players. But fair play to the Blues, they have shut out NSW in the second half.

TRF_Olyy · Jun 24, 2011

TRF_Ezequiel said:
I predicted Tom Carter as a try scorer in the prediction game! Wow, that's 10 points already

I had Lachie Munro

I'm hoping Beale gets an intercept try sometime soon :lol:

TRF_Ezequiel · Jun 24, 2011

Looks like we are on a roll Olyy!!!

Amobokoboko · Jun 24, 2011

Good win. Why did i change Ali into roks ( the wing that hardly scores a try)

TRF_Ezequiel · Jun 24, 2011

Haha, that's probably the worst decision of the season

Amobokoboko · Jun 24, 2011

Will not deny that, but I do think that the rocket man will score a try in the following game and help the blues to a ***le.

Seaton · Jun 25, 2011

I don't know if the Sharks will fancy a trip to Cape Town, or Auckland

On the one hand, they could have a couple of days in Durbs, and avoid the notorius third week of tour that SA sides suffer from
Whilst on the other, the Stormers are a tougher proposition, the travelling back to SA derisory and the Blues will have to come home.

Ah, fantasizing (sp.) About triumph 2 games away, when their most likely to lose the next one.

Good times, good times B)

Darwin · Jun 26, 2011

<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:WordDocument> <w:View>Normal</w:View> <w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:TrackMoves/> <w:TrackFormatting/> <w

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oNotPromoteQF/> <w:LidThemeOther>EN-US</w:LidThemeOther> <w:LidThemeAsian>X-NONE</w:LidThemeAsian> <w:LidThemeComplexScript>X-NONE</w:LidThemeComplexScript> <w:Compatibility> <w:BreakWrappedTables/> <w:SnapToGridInCell/> <w:WrapTextWithPunct/> <w:UseAsianBreakRules/> <w

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ontVertAlignInTxbx/> <w:Word11KerningPairs/> <w:CachedColBalance/> </w:Compatibility> <m:mathPr> <m:mathFont m:val="Cambria Math"/> <m:brkBin m:val="before"/> <m:brkBinSub m:val="--"/> <m:smallFrac m:val="off"/> <m:dispDef/> <m:lMargin m:val="0"/> <m:rMargin m:val="0"/> <m:defJc m:val="centerGroup"/> <m:wrapIndent m:val="1440"/> <m:intLim m:val="subSup"/> <m:naryLim m:val="undOvr"/> </m:mathPr></w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--> Good win for the Blues. The Waratahs dominated the first 20-odd minutes, but the Blues really came back in the latter part of the first half, and largely dominated the second half. The Waratahs certainly weren't helped by their massive injury toll; not only were they depleted before the match started, they lost a number of players throughout the game to injury (Douglas, Timani) while others seemed to be playing through injury (Waugh, Beale).

Despite missing a number of key front row players the Waratahs competed well at scrum-time, but as predicted struggled at lineout time. The Blues stole a couple of throws, and they were called for 3 'not straights' and were lucky to get away with a couple more that didn't look straight either. I thought Timani was strong before he came off injured, and Dean Mumm had a solid game at 6 (though I found it funny when he had a tantrum when Stephen Brett stole the ball off him!). Phil Waugh did some good things, but slowed down once he was injured, and got penalised a few times. I thought Josh Holmes did some good things, but he was very slow at delivering to the backline. It was noticeable how much the Tahs attack improved when Brendan McKibbin replaced him, with McKibbin also looking very dangerous around the base of the rucks. Beale tried hard all game; he made a number of half-breaks (usually through Brett), but the Waratahs weren't able to capitalize. I thought Tom Carter had a strong game at 12. His game is very simple - run hard and straight on attack, and tackle hard on defense - but it was very effective in the conditions. Pakalani made a couple of basic errors, but did look good with the ball in hand, and was solid on defense, while Lachie Turner had a pretty good game at fullback.

I felt all of the Blues tight-five had strong matches. Afoa, Mealamu, and Faumuina were solid at scrum time and got through lots of work around the field, while Boric was a standout at lineout time. Ali Williams was definitely one of the stars of the match. He broke the line a couple of times with the ball in hand, and was solid in defence. Kaino too had a strong match, pulling off a number of big hits on defense. Man of the match for me though was Luke Braid. He just seemed to be everywhere, both in attack and defense. He is not very big, but he broke numerous tackles with the ball in hand, made a couple of steals at ruck time, and his defense was good: 3-4 times the Waratahs appeared to have broken through Brett only for Braid to made a great covering tackle. It was interesting that the only tackle that I think he missed eventually resulted in Tom Carters try.

I thought Mathewson had probably the strongest game of the year at halfback. His kicking was very accurate, and he did brilliantly to cover a couple of times when the Waratahs chipped behind the Blues defense. He didn't train much last week, and got limited time off the bench against the Highlanders; this rest seemed to have really helped him get his spark back. Brett was horrible as usual. Whenever he does something good he then feels has to do 3 bad things to make up for it.... Stanley had one of his strongest games of the season, and Payne was solid as centre. I thought MacAlister had a pretty good game at fullback too (though his tackle attempt on Tom Carter was very poor). I'm not convinced fullback is where he is best suited for the Blues, but his powerful kicking game certainly helped the Blues in this game.

Larksea · Jun 26, 2011

good result for the blues, I think spearheaded from by some great work from Boric & Williams who were both brilliant and Luke Braid who is doing a great job. He does miss the odd tackle but the huge workload he gets through and amount of ball he carries forward and secures more than makes up for that.

Blues Front Row aslo had a good showing, Real shame Afoa is going overseas next year. I think a big problem in NZ is that guys like Afoa see a 23 year old Owen Franks and his big brother Ben having a stranglehold on 2 of the 3 all black prop positions for a long time and they would rather go overseas for big $$$ than stand in line. Afoa's not the first to go and won't be the last. Prop stocks in NZ are going to be pushed over the next couple of years.

earlier in the year when braid got injured I (half jokingly) said I'd rather have Luke Braid playing than his older Brother anyway. And now there is no doubt. infact Dan came on for a while at the end and kinda fumbled his way through it. Would rather have Sean Polwart on.

Weak points for the blues are their defense. 9 - 12 mathewson, Brett and McAlister have been a real mixed bag on defense, in the line anyway (at least mathewson & McAlister did well behind the line in cover and fielding kicks). Though they do good things on attack when the blues dont have the ball they give a lot away in this area and that needs to be fixed big time. Brett in particular was horid at times though he came up with a couple of Brilliant tackles as well.

Lachie Munro had a good showing and his goal kicking has been an asset since brett has only ever been a 55% kicker and McAlister has lost some of his early season kicking form.

I also thought Benson Stanley had one of his best games this season. He has been really bashed around at times and I had the feeling he was going to drop off but he was very impressive.

Super 15 Play Off QF: Blues - Waratahs @ Eden Park (24-06-2011)

Seaton

First XV

Gavin

First XV

TRF_Ezequiel

Kanko Krazy!!!

TRF_RC

Bench Player

TRF_RC

Bench Player

Gavin

First XV

TRF_Olyy

English Arrogance

TRF_Ezequiel

Kanko Krazy!!!

Amobokoboko

Waikato Junglist

TRF_Ezequiel

Kanko Krazy!!!

Amobokoboko

Waikato Junglist

Seaton

First XV

Darwin

AKA Dingo_Darwin

Larksea

First XV

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