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'It was't all doom and gloom for us': Blues happy with result after Drua surprise
Blues first five Beauden Barrett likened the Fijian Drua to the Fijian national side after his side’s 35-18 win in Melbourne.
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Barrett copped a visible black eye when the All Blacks played Fiji in Dunedin last year and expected his side to come under heat as the Drua brought a new level of physicality.
The 30-year-old said that the Blues almost underestimated how much the Drua would be able to disrupt their flow.
“It reminded me of the international games against Fiji last year. They’re typically a tough side to play, a Fijian side,” Barrett said.
“They’re physical, and we expected that. Perhaps we underestimated how much they can fluster you because of the lack of momentum that we got and we weren’t allowed to play our game at times.
“So that’s where we probably saw the frustration shown and ill-discipline, allowing them to get free rides.”
The Fijian Drua found success early by using the grubber kicks from anywhere on the field to get in behind the Blues defence. The strategy paid off when hooker Mesulame Dolokoto scored their first try backing up on the inside after a recovery of one of those kicks.
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Barrett described them as ‘freakish’ as the Drua showed a continued ability to recover many of their well placed grubbers.
“We certainly expected that part of it, as well as those little freakish grubber kicks in behind the defensive line from loose forwards,” he said.
“We just had to be ‘on’ all the time and at times they caught us out but that’s just how they play. It was always going to be a test for us mentally and as a system collectively.”
The Blues found it hard to crack the Drua defence relying on two intercept tries to AJ Lam and Rieko Ioane to keep a large buffer between the two sides. Lam scored his second try from a set piece play close to the line to effectively seal the result in the 64th minute.
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Blues head coach Leon MacDonald didn’t want to make excuses for their inability to put the game away comprehensively, as penalties gave the Drua plenty of attacking opportunities.
“I don’t want to make excuses for the inaccuracies. Especially our discipline, it’s something we try to be very disciplined but we gave away too many soft penalties. We
talked all week around what they want – they want to have penalties, they want to be able to play,” he said.
“If we fall asleep on defence, they’re gonna take quick taps et cetera and we really wanted to deliver there and I think by and large we did. I thought were created a
lot of pressure with our defence and we looked good but then we’d give a penalty away.
“That was probably the most frustrating thing. I thought our intensity on defence got better as the game went on in terms of coming off the line and I thought in the first half
we had some good line speed and created some pressure there and we were able to finish off some good tries.
“It was’t all doom and gloom for us – five points in this competition are like gold and we’ll regroup again. We’re playing in Perth and another tough battle.”
Comments on RugbyPass
South Africa rarely play Ireland and France on these tours. Mostly, England, Scotland and Wales. I wonder why
1 Go to commentsIt was a let’s-see-what-you're-made-of type of a game. The Bulls do look good when the opposition allows them to, but Munster shut them down, and they could not find a way through. Jake should be very worried about their chances in the competition.
2 Go to commentsHats off to Fabian for a very impressive journey to date. Is it as ‘uniquely unlikely’ as Rugby Pass suggests, given Anton Segner’s journey at the Blues?
1 Go to commentsSad that this was not confirmed. When administrators talk about expanding the game they evidently don’t include pathways to the top tier of rugby for teams outside of the old boys club. Rugby deserves better, and certainly Georgia does.
1 Go to commentsLions might take him on if they move on Van Rooyen but I doubt he will want to go back, might consider it a step backwards for himself. Sharks would take him on but if Plumtree goes on to win the challenge cup they will keep him on. Also sharks showing some promising signs recently. Stormers and Bulls are stable and Springboks are already filled up. Quality coach though, interesting to see where he ends up
1 Go to commentsAnd the person responsible for creating a culture of accountability is?
2 Go to commentsMore useless words from Ben Smith -Please get another team to write about. SA really dont need your input, it suck anyway.
264 Go to commentsThis disgraceful episode must result in management and coach team sackings. A new manager with worse results than previous and the coaching staff need to coached. Awful massacre led by donkeys.
1 Go to commentsInteresting article with one glaring mistake. This sentence: “And between the top four nations right now, Ireland, France, South Africa, and New Zealand…” should read: And between the top four nations right now, South Africa, Ireland, New Zealand and France…”. Get it right wistful thinkers, its not that hard.
23 Go to commentsHow did Penny get the gig anyway?
2 Go to commentsNice write up Nick and I would have agreed a week ago. However as you would know Cale & co got absolutely monstered by the Blues back row of Sotutu, Ioane and Papaliti and not all of these 3 are guaranteed a start in the Black jumper. He may need to put some kgs before stepping up, Spring tour? After the week end Joe will be a bit more restless. Will need to pick a mobile tough pack for Wales and hope England does the right thing and bashes the ABs. I like your last paragraph but I would bring Swinton, Hannigan into the 6 role and Bobby V to 8
21 Go to commentsThe Crusaders can still get in to the Play Off’s. The imminent return of outstanding captain Scott Barrett and his All Black team mate Codie Taylor will be a big boost.There are others like Tamaiti Williams too. Two home games coming up. Fellow Crusader fans get there and support these guys. I will be.
1 Go to commentsCant get more Wellington than Proctor.
2 Go to commentsWhy not let the media decide. Like how they choose the head coach. Like most of us we entrust the rugby system to choose. A rugby team includes the coaches. It's collective.
13 Go to commentsHi NIck, I have been very impressed with him and he seems a smart player who can see opportunities which Bobby V _(who must be an international 6_) doesn’t see or have the speed to take advantage of. If he continues to improve and puts on 5kgs then he could be a great 8. He is a bit taller than Keiran Reid at 1.93m and 111 kgs, so his skill set fits his body size and who knows where it will lead. I hope the spate of Achilles tendon issues have been dealt with by the S&C people. It’s been a very long time since Mark Loane and Kefu stood out at 8. The question is will we be able to hold onto him, if he does make it he will be pretty hot property. I disagree with the idea of letting them go to the Northern Hemisphere and then bring them back.
21 Go to commentsBilly Fulton 🤣🤣🤣🤣 garrrmon not even close
13 Go to commentsDoes the AI take into account refs? hahaha Seriously why not have two on field refs to avoid bias?
23 Go to commentsVern challenging this Blues side might be the edge they need to fulfill their potential. Convincing results from strong D and strong carries are hard to argue against.
1 Go to commentsLove seems to add a strong back field defense with speed to close the gap and tackle to his ability to attack, kick and pass (an accurate long pass). This sets him an edge over some of the other names - JRK in particular. Has to be said that Jordan and Stevenson have also been exposed defensively while Love has yet to face test match intensity. Spoilt for choice.
1 Go to commentsHe’s strung together a few strong seasons, I’d like to see him in the ABs and build some depth along with Reiko and ALB. Levi Aumua hasn’t taken the step we hoped to see but time yet.
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