Force demolished by Blues pack who 'love rolling up their sleeves'
The Blues are sitting pretty atop the Super Rugby Pacific standings thanks to superior points differential while the unbeaten Hurricanes enjoy a bye week.
The Auckland team added a whopping 50 points to that season tally on Friday night as they opened round seven with a 50-3 thumping of the Western Force.
The win was the team’s sixth of the season and sees the side to the midway point of the campaign comfortably on track for at least a home quarter-final.
The positive results are in large part thanks to a forward pack that has been getting down to business in all facets of the game.
“I think our game plan’s pretty simple,” flanker Akira Ioane told Sky Sport’s Taylah Johnson following the win. “We’ve got good ball runners and boys who like to play, so just getting in behind them makes the backs look good out wide.
“The forwards love rolling up their sleeves. We love confrontation, that’s what we pride ourselves on and I think we did that well tonight.
“We’ll go away, get rejuvenated and come back even stronger for the second half of this comp.”
Ioane’s back row partner and stand-in captain Dalton Papali’i said the team’s “consistency” was key in the win.
“We came out here, we didn’t want to have the bye week in the back of our mind, we didn’t want to put a performance out there that we weren’t happy with,” he said.
“So, we put a lot of emphasis on ourselves and accountability throughout the week and I think that showed on the field; the boys were disciplined, the boys were working hard for each other and the boys were nailing their roles.”
With plenty of injuries already in the season forcing changes to the forward pack and backline alike, Papali’i credited the veteran players for their influence in the environment and for helping the team through adversity.
“I think it’s just buy-in. We have a lot of senior players here who work hard on and off the field and I think it’s contagious for any young player coming through and we’re all here to get better and work hard.
“Injuries are a part of the game, sadly, but when it happens it’s the next man up and it’s awesome to see young players coming through and really stamping their mark.”
Papali’i didn’t hesitate when claiming he was more pleased with the defensive effort to hold the Force to three points than he was of his side’s half-century tally.
“(It shows we’re) just working hard for each other. We try to pride ourselves on how defence wins championships at the end of the day and that’s all about attitude.
“You can have all the talent in the world, make breaks, get the offloads right and stuff but what comes down to a good defence is attitude and wanting to work hard.”
Comments on RugbyPass
RIP big man 🙏
1 Go to commentsThe GB coach. “Just because we don’t get together as much as other teams we don’t use that as an excuse for performances when we don’t hit the mark”. Why mention it at all then?
1 Go to commentsNo mention of the yellow card for Harlequins which really cost them.
3 Go to commentsThought you’d left us Nick. Good to have you back writing for us. So hunter ikitau works? I reckon wright kellaway as two of the back 3. Tim Ryan and Toole looking good for strike winger but I still want the power of korobeiti and figure our forwards still need him to help them out. Million dollar question is who plays 10? I’m thinking Noah for his kicking and combo with wright. Reckon the pair adds up to an attack and kellaway will help. Can you comment on Zac Lucas in Japan? How is he going?
1 Go to commentsMack Hansen, Ethan Roots, Taine Plumbtree, Louis Lynagh, Emmanuel Meafou? Which country do you want to pick your Barbarians from?
3 Go to commentsInstead of apologising, try to act like an adult, fcknut.
3 Go to commentsLooks like the Force twisted his leg…ahem arm
5 Go to commentsScotland should change their name to the Barbarians
3 Go to commentsThe game was already over leave the bloke alone ….from a Welsh fan 😀👍
3 Go to commentsShamefully the Toulouse players acted like footballers, falling down feigning injury at the slightest knock. About time refs penalised this play acting.
8 Go to commentsAnother non Scot for the anti Scot Townsend. Soon there will be no Scottish born and bred players in the National team.
3 Go to commentsGreat comeback to the playing field by Richie Mo’unga after the loss of his father. A great performance by Richie . I know him well and he is a great guy. On and off the field one of the greatest for the Crusaders. Scott Robertson would have loved him in his All Black’s side. A very missed player and person.
3 Go to commentsYeah nah he comes across as a funny bloke, but that stopped abruptly after the Nutcracker Prince debacle✋
3 Go to commentsAt this point I can’t watch him without thinking he’s a dirty slimebag. He should have been banned for the same amount of time that Quinn was out. It took Tupaea near on a fricking year to get fit enough to play again and his leg will never be the same. The other crap thing is that he was at ABs level and now he has to claw his way back there when he could have had several games under his belt.
5 Go to commentsThe Black Ferns 7’s have been without Captain Sarah Hirini now since Dec 23 in Dubai where she suffered a bad ACL injury - hopefully she is on the road to recovery for Madrid and Paris. Now also have Tyler King and Shiray kaka on the Injured List but the Team still found a way to win in Singapore and claim the overall Title.
1 Go to commentsUtter grub, hope he gets his leg broken. Shocking he is still playing after intentionally breaking quinn tupaeas knee
5 Go to commentsGreat to see NZ 7s teams finally coming into form and playing at the level that is expected of them.
2 Go to commentsChief Cheapshot on the market again.
5 Go to commentsCrusaders went all in to buy Hotham and Kemara staight from Hamilton Boys. Then they picked up Reihana and Hohepa; all have been dropped for superstar Havili, who is a very good fullback, that’s it. Ennor and Goodhue were schoolboy stars too but went backwards at the Crusaders. Maybe they have finally decided to give another poach Levi Aumua the ball?
16 Go to commentsJoe S has some talent to pick from. The Reds loosies look the best in Super? Aus might just give Razor a headache this year. Int. experience v Cantab greenhorn:) Should be fun.
16 Go to comments