What the Blues must do to save their season
1. Stop worrying about the weather
All we heard about the Durban match was how freaking hot it was. This is nothing new for the city in February. It is summer, for God’s sake. The Blues trained through one of the hottest January months on record. Granted, last weekend’s defeat did see a slippery ball due to sweat, but last time I looked two sides contest a game of rugby. The temperature is due to hit 27 degrees in BA this weekend. Start hydrating now.
2. Tighten up the lineout
The Blues lost two on their own throw against the Sharks. So did the Sharks. But the Blues have no less than five lineout options, including Dalton Papalii and Akira Ioane, neither of whom were thrown up. Get it right.
3. Give Rieko Ioane the ball
Rieko Ioane was criminally under-utilised against the Sharks, while Melani Nanai saw little ball in the first spell before sparking up in the second. Leave the All Blacks protocols to one side for the Jaguares. Maybe play Ioane at centre and get him the pill.
4. Tell SBW to stop kicking the ball
He did it four times against the Sharks, can you believe? Only Otere Black kicked the ball more often (17 times). He did one cross-kick, where he should have used his left foot, which came off, but he looks like Frank Bunce when he puts boot to ball. Come to think of it, I cannot recall Bunce ever kicking the ball. Stick to your knitting, SBW.
5. Get all the forwards to play like Tom Robinson
They call him ‘Little Red’ and he plays with fearless, some might say reckless, abandon, clattering into rucks and charging around the field. Norm Maxwell, if you will. He was the best Blues forward in Durban and has now racked up two quality 80-minute displays.
6. Take your goal kicks on offer
The Blues turned down no less than six (penalty) shots at goal. They lost by 26-7. You do the maths. But they cannot afford to keep pressing for a try when their attack is stilted. I was going to write that it reminded me of the Xavier Rush days, when the former skipper would often seek a try before a tee, but they have played like that since 2004.
7. Otere Black must either take the line on or kick like a mule
The No 10 was a mixture against the Sharks. His long pass to Tanielu Tele’a for the try was a thing of beauty but he threw an intercept pass and made other errors. It is not his natural game to take the ball to the line, a la Stephen Perofeta, and he relies on a dominant pack. But either play right up on the line or sink back into the pocket and kick the stuffing out of the ball like Jonny Wilkinson or Owen Farrell.
8. Come up with a strategy to stop the lineout drive
I don’t have answers to this one, because I have no idea how to legally stop a well-executed rolling maul, but the Crusaders targeted them here and the Sharks scored via Akker van der Merwe.
9. Stop dropping the ball
Tele’a’s try was the 1000th by the franchise since 1996, just the fourth team to do so. But they have just four in two games in 2019 and are lacking patience and accuracy, not to mention just dropping the ball or throwing dusty passes. The backline looks out of sync on attack, and it does not help having three second-fives plus two halfbacks yet to click.
10. Just get the W
No matter how ugly it gets in BA, the Blues must find a way to win. Or the (Sun)wolves will gather.
Comments on RugbyPass
The Chiefs definitely didn’t win ugly. They had the superior scrum, a dominant lineout, and their defence was excellent once the Waratahs scored their two tries (thanks to some lucky refereeing calls mind you). They put pressure on the Waratahs lineout throughout the game, and the mind boggles as to why the referee did not award a yellow card or a penalty try against the Waratahs for repeated scrum infringements on their own try line before Narawa’s first try. And the Chiefs were slick with their passing and running angles on attack. It was a dominant performance all round, even with many questionable refereeing decisions.
1 Go to commentsWasnt late. Ref 2 assistants andTMO all saw it so who are you to say it was?
3 Go to commentsAre the Brumbies playing the Blues twice in a row?
3 Go to commentsBig difference from the Saders. Forwards really muscled up and laid a solid platform. Scooter brought some steel and I liked the loosie combination. Newell has been rather disappointing this season but stepped up big time - happy also to see Franks dot down. He should do that more often! Reihana had a good game and there seems to be more flair and invention with him in the saddle. McNicoll plays well from the back and is reliable plus inventive when he joins the line. Keep it up chaps!
3 Go to comments🤦♂️🤣 who cares who’s the best . All I know is the All Blacks have the star coach but have few star players now …
30 Go to commentsJe suis sûr que Farrell est impatient de jouer avec Lopez et Machenaud et d’être entraîné par Collazo… 🤭
1 Go to commentsAn on field red (aka a full red) in SRP must surely carry a bigger suspension than a red card given by the bunker as that carries a 20 minute team punishment. Had Damon Murphy abdicated his responsibility as a ref and issued both Drua players a yellow, which would have been upgraded to a 20 minute red by the bunker, that would have killed Australia and New Zealand’s push for the 20 minute red to be trialled globally from July this year.
11 Go to commentsEver so often you all post a Danny Care story that isn’t the announcement that he has finally re-signed for one more, victory tour season at Quins and I’m just like, “well you fooled me again!” My absolute favorite player ever, we need to make his final year at the Stoop (and Twickers) official already. I know he supposedly snubbed France but I won’t feel better until he signs.
1 Go to commentslate hit what late hit it wasn’t at all late and can clearly see he was committed before the tackle
3 Go to commentsChristian Lio -Willies 2 try perfomance was a standout. As was captain Scott Barrett. Up front was where the boys won it.They are a great team and players. Fantastic Crusaders , you can keep going.
3 Go to commentsI don't know how the locals feel about that? I guess if you call yourselves the Worcester Wasps that might be appease. But really we need more teams in the Premiership in my view so they are not padding it out as they are at the moment. It might curtail so many players going abroad as well
5 Go to commentsNZ 😭😭😭is certainly rivaling England for best whingers cup!😭😭😭 !!!
30 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
30 Go to commentsShould've done this years ago. Change Saturday kick off times to around 11am. Up and off and back home before 3pm, limit travel time too. Allows players to actually do something else with their Saturday that's family oriented or being rugby fans they could ‘watch’ pro rugby. Increases crowds etc. How can anyone that enjoys grassroots and pro rugby have to choose between the two on Saturdays?
9 Go to commentsI bet he inspired those supporters just as much.
1 Go to commentsBen Smith Springboks living rent free in his head 😊😂
67 Go to commentsGood to hear he would like to play the game at the highest level, I hadn’t been to sure how much of a motivator that was before now. Sadly he’s probably chosen the rugby club to go to. Try not to worry about all the input about how you should play rugby Joey and just try to emulate what you do on the league field and have fun. You’ll limit your game too much (well not really because he’s a standard athlete like SBW and he’ll still have enough) if you’re trying to make sure you can recycle the ball back etc. On the other hard, you can totally just try and recycle by looking to offload any and everywhere if you’re going to ground 😋
1 Go to commentsThis just proves that theres always a stat and a metric to use to justify your abilities and your success. Ben did it last week by creating an imaginary competition and now you did the same to counter his argument and espouse a new yardstick for success. Why not just use the current one and lets say the Boks have won 4 world cups making them the most successful world cup team. Outside of the world cup the All Blacks are the most successful team winning countless rugby championships and dominating the rankings with high win percentages. Over the last 4 years statistically the Irish are the best having the highest win rate and also having positive records against every tier 1 side. The most successful Northern team in the game has been England with a world cup title and the most six nations titles in history. The AB’s are the most dominant team in history with the highest win rate and 3 world cups. Lets not try to reinvent the wheel. Just be honest about the actual stats and what each team has been good at doing and that will be enough to define their level of success.
30 Go to commentsHow is 7’s played there? I’m surprised 10 or 11 man rugby hasn’t taken off. 7 just doesn’t fit the 15s dynamics (rules n field etc) but these other versions do.
9 Go to commentsPick Swinton at your peril A liability just like JWH from the Roosters Skelton ??? went missing at RWC
14 Go to comments