Former Munster No.8 to captain Bulls with Vermeulen rested

Hurricanes scored first so got to chose to kick off right? They had position but the Force were great at recycling and the Canes D was no longer pressuring, choosing to play it safe or to conserve energy, which I don’t know but the Force slowly ate into that territory and were at the 22 after about 5 minutes with the ball. That’s when the D started feeling the need to up the tempo. They turned it over and looked like they might make a break that would go all the way. Instead they also only got to the 22 before it became a grind again, this time getting all the way to the line only to blow it.

That is basically how a more refined system would have played out anyway. If the Force had of scored then the Canes would have had that attempt. 10 minutes is certainly enough, was in this game. It’s hard to imagine a slow stogy team, who try to play tactically and kick the ball away and benefit from two 10 halfs, actually even get that far. The team that was going for it to score the golden point would generally win. 10 minutes looks good, it means we get the rugby were after by having a golden point. Remember it’s not to finding a winner, it’s entertainment, no playing it safe and wanting 20 minutes to do it. Having a second chance, if not a pure tit for tat system, would hopefully be in for the finals.

You had 80 minutes to sort out a win, it didn’t happen, take your chances better next time and move on.

Here’s an idea, how about even established All Blacks are subject to form and being dropped. Let’s be honest, Razor and co will probably select them anyway because ‘experience’.

If you look at team changes week on week, the fringe or non-ABs pay the price for poor team performance, but established All Blacks remain in the side week-in/week-out even if they’re the ones underperforming. Seems there’s one rule for some players, which doesn’t apply to others.

Makes you wonder how many other potential international quality players are twiddling their thumbs in fringe lower squads because they don’t tick some metric on a graph.