SuperRugby: Hurricanes v Melbourne Rebels. 26/05/2012

[Draggs]

Westpac Stadium, Wellington - 05:30 GMT, 16/05/2012

​

 

[TRF_Ezequiel]

vBookie Hurricanes-Rebels

vBookie for Canes-Rebels added!

 

[Dizzy]

Canes need this win. And they need the bonus point with it if they're wanting to be in that top 6... They need to forget about resting players and focus on winning convincingly.

 

[Cave Dweller]

Canes
Team: 15. Andre Taylor, 14. Alapati Leiua, 14. Alapati Leiua, 13. Conrad Smith (Captain), 12. Tim Bateman, 11. Julian Savea, 10. Beauden Barrett, 9. TJ Preener, 8. Victor Vito, 7. Jack Lam, 6. Faifili Leave, 5. Jason Eaton, 4. Jeremy Thrush, 3. Jeffery Toomaga-Allen, 2. Dane Coles, 1. Ben May
Replacements: 16. Motu Matu'u, 17. Reg Goodes, 18. James Broadhurst, 19. Brad Shields, 20. Chris Eaton, 21. Tusi Pisi, 22. Jayden Hayward

 

[Sker]

I wonder if Melbourne Rebels will be able to win this one, I mean they've gotten a few upsets already.

 

[jermano]

I wonder if Melbourne Rebels will be able to win this one, I mean they've gotten a few upsets already.

it would consolidate their standings above the Tah's also.

 

[TRF Mr Fish]

Hurricanes giving the Rebels a flogging. 38 - 17 at halftime.

 

[big ginger 8]

66-17 Savea hattrick still 5 minutes left . Not bad.

EDIT: 66-24 full time. Bit dickish to play the Hallelujah chorus when the Rebels scored.

 

[smartcooky]

As Martin Devlin used to say on his "Sporting Breakfast" show on Radio Sport.....

"Thwhack, Thwhack, Botty-smack"

This is truly a dicking!!

 

[nickdnz]

Tehehehe. Well happy with that.

 

[Hairy Scot]

Was good to see the 'Canes player showing concern for the poor bugger he flattened.

 

[big ginger 8]

Why are Canes by 7 and Rebels by 7 both a win.

 

[TRF_Ezequiel]

Probably just a mistake with settling the bets

Sent from my HTC Sensation Z710e using Tapatalk

 

[Larksea]

Crazy game, I've never seen a game where like 90 points were scored but it was so boring for the last ~25min

barrett is superb, week in week out he is taking the ball into the defence, passing in traffic and tries are being scored around him. I know Cruden has some more polised aspects to his game but I think Barrett is twise the player Cuden is with Ball in hand.

I think as time passes it's becoming more and more a reality that Barrett is going to overtake Cruden and Slade in the pecking order

 

[Darwin]

Crazy game, I've never seen a game where like 90 points were scored but it was so boring for the last ~25min

barrett is superb, week in week out he is taking the ball into the defence, passing in traffic and tries are being scored around him. I know Cruden has some more polised aspects to his game but I think Barrett is twise the player Cuden is with Ball in hand.

I think as time passes it's becoming more and more a reality that Barrett is going to overtake Cruden and Slade in the pecking order

Can't say I agree with that. Though I can't help but be impressed with Barrett's ability with ball in hand, I still think Cruden is better with ball in hand than him (as well as having a far superior all-round game). Some stats (from the foxsports.com.au fantasy rugby game):

Runs: Cruden 45 : 42 Barrett
Tackles Bust: Cruden 27 : 18 Barrett
Offloads: Cruden 12 : 8 Barrett
Linebreaks: Cruden 7 : 4 Barrett
Linebreaks created: Cruden 9 : 5 Barrett

Though stats certainly don't tell a complete story, I would find it difficult to suggest that Barrett is twice the player Cruden is with ball in hand based on those stats (in fact the opposite is probably true!). There is no doubt that Barrett is a player of immense talent, and one day may even be as good as (or even better than) Cruden, but it really amazes me how Crudens exceptional season has gone completely under the radar this year. For years people have been looking for a genuine quality backup for Carter - one has arrived in the form of Aaron Cruden, yet he gets largely ignored by the media in favour of the 'next big thing' (Barrett). While Barrett has had a great first season (far better than Cruden's debut season in my opinion), he still has a huge amount of work to do to be ready for test rugby.

 

[nickdnz]

Can't say I agree with that. Though I can't help but be impressed with Barrett's ability with ball in hand, I still think Cruden is better with ball in hand than him (as well as having a far superior all-round game). Some stats (from the foxsports.com.au fantasy rugby game):

Runs: Cruden 45 : 42 Barrett
Tackles Bust: Cruden 27 : 18 Barrett
Offloads: Cruden 12 : 8 Barrett
Linebreaks: Cruden 7 : 4 Barrett
Linebreaks created: Cruden 9 : 5 Barrett

Though stats certainly don't tell a complete story, I would find it difficult to suggest that Barrett is twice the player Cruden is with ball in hand based on those stats (in fact the opposite is probably true!). There is no doubt that Barrett is a player of immense talent, and one day may even be as good as (or even better than) Cruden, but it really amazes me how Crudens exceptional season has gone completely under the radar this year. For years people have been looking for a genuine quality backup for Carter - one has arrived in the form of Aaron Cruden, yet he gets largely ignored by the media in favour of the 'next big thing' (Barrett). While Barrett has had a great first season (far better than Cruden's debut season in my opinion), he still has a huge amount of work to do to be ready for test rugby.

Agree once again. I think Barrett has got very good vision, and watching him I genuinely think his ability to pick the right player to pass to, is as close as I've seen to Dan Carter. With that being said, Aaron Cruden has been the best New Zealand 10 this season. People attribute so much of the success of the Chiefs to SBW, but I think Aaron Cruden has been the realy star. Either way, Cruden certainly should be the backup 10 for Carter for THIS season. Barrett still needs to work on his defense, if he sorts that out I think he'd be more in the running.

 

[donmcdazzle]

Crazy game, I've never seen a game where like 90 points were scored but it was so boring for the last ~25min

barrett is superb, week in week out he is taking the ball into the defence, passing in traffic and tries are being scored around him. I know Cruden has some more polised aspects to his game but I think Barrett is twise the player Cuden is with Ball in hand.

I think as time passes it's becoming more and more a reality that Barrett is going to overtake Cruden and Slade in the pecking order

Well Cruden is the best running 10 in the country (including Carter) so that is a pretty random statement. Cruden has been the form 10 in the whole comp this year, struggling to think how you've concluded Barrett is better based on how things have gone this season? Cruden has a better running game, has a better kicking percentage, and has less missed tackles so added with Darwin's stats above that is pretty much all the tanglible aspects of the game in his favour.

Crude has led your team to the top of the table and has broken the single season points record for a chief already, you should be rejoicing up in chiefs country!

Who will be better in future is speculation, Cruden still is going to get better he is pretty young too so neither are where they'll end up as players.

 

[Larksea]

Impressive stats but they dont explain how Cruden also has the best chiefs pack in the last decade in front of him which is currently also one of the best in the comp this season and the best 12 in NZ maybe the world outside him and because of that he's had a whole lot more posession. Cruden is playing very well, it is interesting how he's being used. He's running more than most/any other 10 yet he's passing less? he has some genuine polish to his game as I said.

But the way barrett has run the ball into traffic and attracted 2-3 defenders and got a pass away and eventually resulted in a hurricanes try time and time again in the last couple of months I honestly dont think Cruden can touch that. And I can pick out 3-4 of barretts runs that have impressed me more than any single run Cruden has made. maybe when I look at the work cruden does I see great team play and when I look at what Barrett is doing I see genuine individuel brilliance.

To be honest all the hype about Crudens running game is a bit over stated. The stats obviously done show it but I personally dont think he's been the same since that knee injury he got in the world cup final. he simply has not had the same speed, acceleration and agility he had before that injury and it's clearly still an issue because he has a fricken truckload of tape on it each game.

note, I never said Barrett was better than Cruden all round or overall. Just Barrett's running game and his passing in traffic at the line.

 

[donmcdazzle]

^what about being MVP of ITM cup behind the turbos pack with one super rugby starter in it? And with Frankie Bryant outside him?

Id love to see some of these runs of his that are better than anything cruden has ever produced too if you could highlight them?
i don't see too much individual brilliance with Barrett at all, certainly not on Cruden's level. To me he seems to have good nous and makes good decisions , and is seemingly pretty composed under pressure. Other than the odd nice offload I don't recall Barrett carving a team up.

 

[Darwin]

Impressive stats but they dont explain how Cruden also has the best chiefs pack in the last decade in front of him which is currently also one of the best in the comp this season and the best 12 in NZ maybe the world outside him and because of that he's had a whole lot more posession. Cruden is playing very well, it is interesting how he's being used. He's running more than most/any other 10 yet he's passing less? he has some genuine polish to his game as I said.

But the way barrett has run the ball into traffic and attracted 2-3 defenders and got a pass away and eventually resulted in a hurricanes try time and time again in the last couple of months I honestly dont think Cruden can touch that. And I can pick out 3-4 of barretts runs that have impressed me more than any single run Cruden has made. maybe when I look at the work cruden does I see great team play and when I look at what Barrett is doing I see genuine individuel brilliance.

To be honest all the hype about Crudens running game is a bit over stated. The stats obviously done show it but I personally dont think he's been the same since that knee injury he got in the world cup final. he simply has not had the same speed, acceleration and agility he had before that injury and it's clearly still an issue because he has a fricken truckload of tape on it each game.

note, I never said Barrett was better than Cruden all round or overall. Just Barrett's running game and his passing in traffic at the line.

Having a better pack does not necessarily mean Cruden has received more ball - in fact the opposite is true. Because the Chiefs have a better forward pack they have used their forwards far more often. Collated stats from www.verusco.com show that Cruden has passed the ball 140 times (to go with his 45 runs) - Barrett has passed the ball 236 times (to go with his 42 runs). Though this doesn't include the number of times either player has kicked the ball, it is pretty clear that Barrett has had a lot more ball than Cruden, but despite this he has made only half as many linebreaks, and created only half as many linebreaks for others. There is no doubt that Barrett has moments of brilliance, but Cruden is a far more consistent threat with ball in hand.