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Super Rugby Final: Chiefs v Brumbies (03/08/13)
- Thread starter Jaguares
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Many lost for the team, it will be difficult to maintain the level without many important players. SBW return at least?
Regards
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Ha - why am I not surprised!
Not really the kind of player the Chiefs need, they already have Tameifuna to concede dumb penalties...Toby Smith, Brendon Leonard, Richard Kahui, Craig Clarke, Masaga leaving
All are going to be very hard to replace, of them Leonard had kind of fallen out of favor as Renee obviously looking to develop Pulu for the future and Kahui's role in the squad has had very limited game time due to injury but they both played important roles. I still think Leonard is one of the top 5 halfbacks in NZ and is probably the best kicking 9
really annoyed because earlier in the season Leonard got a chance to play and scored a very good individual try that would have won the chiefs a game that they lost but the try was incorrectly disallowed by the referee. If he had been awarded that I think he would have had a bigger role this year. All moot though as Pulu is developing well and has become the ideal bench 9 but so far he has not had the same impact starting - and Leonard was the better option starting when TKB was injured.
With Leonard and Kahui gone that means the only member of the chiefs squad for next year that was a part of the Epic Waikato side of 2006 will be Liam Messam kinda sad
Romana Graham gone too but he has not really had an on field role this year. I know he was doing a lot of the lineout analysts and game plans relating to line outs and was hailed as doing a very good job in that area - last year in particular.
Graham can be a very good player, brilliant at times but he has a bout of Jarred Hoeata syndrome where he pushes the physical game a bit too far too often.
Some big shoes to fill.
With Jamie Mackintosh already signed as the obvious replacement for Toby Smith the Priority has to be attracting another top Shelf Lock, painful to see that Craig Clark/Retalick combination dissolve. I mean how epic has that been for the last two years? The discovery of Retalick and the Rise of Craig Clarke above the journeyman status he had for so long has been a massive factor in the BTB ***les. The biggest hurdle ian Foster had in getting the chiefs a ***le was that he never really attracted or developed a top class locking pair (other was he always had crappy 2nd 5/8ths)
Renee seems convinced that SBW is coming back next year. If he does it will be a massive boost. Ngatai and Aki are also developing really well. and Horrell is pure class IMO so midfield is looking really sharp. Really just need someone to step into Masaga's spot. Osborn showed promise but wasn't quite ready. maybe Robinson will have more of a role on the wing with Anscombe taking more of the fullback role...
Chiefs kinda stumbled and battled their way to this ***le on pure grit and heart, some movements of brilliance early and mid season when Kahui was playing and Anscombe was on fire early season and before Horrell was injured. But for most of the latter half of the season it was ugly lucky rugby and they just seemed to win then needed. Crusaders probably finished the season the best team, chefs really had some luck beating them 20-19 but they got lucky with an epic defense. The two tries the conceded in the finals one was an intercept and the other was a totally epic piece of Israel Dagg individual brilliance. The rest of the time the chiefs defense was impenetrable. I'd like to see some stats on Messams defense, he doesn't make a huge amount of tackles like Cane but his accuracy is insane he hardly ever misses and most of the time he stops the ball carrier in their tracks.
I recon the chiefs will have co-captians again next year. Messam and Cruden
All are going to be very hard to replace, of them Leonard had kind of fallen out of favor as Renee obviously looking to develop Pulu for the future and Kahui's role in the squad has had very limited game time due to injury but they both played important roles. I still think Leonard is one of the top 5 halfbacks in NZ and is probably the best kicking 9
really annoyed because earlier in the season Leonard got a chance to play and scored a very good individual try that would have won the chiefs a game that they lost but the try was incorrectly disallowed by the referee. If he had been awarded that I think he would have had a bigger role this year. All moot though as Pulu is developing well and has become the ideal bench 9 but so far he has not had the same impact starting - and Leonard was the better option starting when TKB was injured.
With Leonard and Kahui gone that means the only member of the chiefs squad for next year that was a part of the Epic Waikato side of 2006 will be Liam Messam kinda sad
Romana Graham gone too but he has not really had an on field role this year. I know he was doing a lot of the lineout analysts and game plans relating to line outs and was hailed as doing a very good job in that area - last year in particular.
Graham can be a very good player, brilliant at times but he has a bout of Jarred Hoeata syndrome where he pushes the physical game a bit too far too often.
Some big shoes to fill.
With Jamie Mackintosh already signed as the obvious replacement for Toby Smith the Priority has to be attracting another top Shelf Lock, painful to see that Craig Clark/Retalick combination dissolve. I mean how epic has that been for the last two years? The discovery of Retalick and the Rise of Craig Clarke above the journeyman status he had for so long has been a massive factor in the BTB ***les. The biggest hurdle ian Foster had in getting the chiefs a ***le was that he never really attracted or developed a top class locking pair (other was he always had crappy 2nd 5/8ths)
Renee seems convinced that SBW is coming back next year. If he does it will be a massive boost. Ngatai and Aki are also developing really well. and Horrell is pure class IMO so midfield is looking really sharp. Really just need someone to step into Masaga's spot. Osborn showed promise but wasn't quite ready. maybe Robinson will have more of a role on the wing with Anscombe taking more of the fullback role...
Chiefs kinda stumbled and battled their way to this ***le on pure grit and heart, some movements of brilliance early and mid season when Kahui was playing and Anscombe was on fire early season and before Horrell was injured. But for most of the latter half of the season it was ugly lucky rugby and they just seemed to win then needed. Crusaders probably finished the season the best team, chefs really had some luck beating them 20-19 but they got lucky with an epic defense. The two tries the conceded in the finals one was an intercept and the other was a totally epic piece of Israel Dagg individual brilliance. The rest of the time the chiefs defense was impenetrable. I'd like to see some stats on Messams defense, he doesn't make a huge amount of tackles like Cane but his accuracy is insane he hardly ever misses and most of the time he stops the ball carrier in their tracks.
I recon the chiefs will have co-captians again next year. Messam and Cruden
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I'm hoping Nick Ross plays well for Waikato this season, he's only a young bloke, an U20 rep in 2012, and could be a good long term player to get a bit of game time off the bench for the Chiefs. Otherwise, another experienced hand is needed to back up the (assumed) starting combination of Retalick and Fitzgerald.
