Are the Blues up for it?
5By The Spotter
The Blues will be up shit street 2018 without a Super Rugby play-off shovel if they can’t motivate themselves to turn around their fortunes against a team that they should definitely beat tonight, the Jaguares.
Barring their sorry injury list, everything else will be in their favour. The conditions (they will be mildly awful to terrible), the draining time difference and flight hours between Auckland and Buenos Aires, and the player-to-player match ups- The Blues definitely shade that. Although the disclaimer being they play to their (that cursed word) potential.
Watch the first twenty minutes closely. That period is sure to tell us if the Blues are up for the fight or not. If the Jaguares look like they are getting over the advantage line just a bit too easily in that first quarter, get ready for another dire night and the sight of poor old James Parsons trying to put a positive spin on it all at the end in the onfield interview.
Fans will be looking for a barnstormer from Akira Ioane. We shouldn’t be having to debate the merits of who will replace Read against the French, because the Blues 8 should have been good enough to have rendered that discussion null and void. He could be something amazing, but where is the consistent drive and ambition? I haven’t seen it. He could be a young Buck Shelford, but with wheels and far superior ball skills. To even mention him in the same breath almost feels like a kind of sacrilege though. Come on Akira, be that special player and pull finger.
Another surprise is that the Jaguares haven’t had a better overall record in their Super Rugby history- particularly at home. Especially when you consider the very good record of Argentina at recent World Cup editions. Perhaps it is something about the highest competition possible that really stokes the fires of the Argentine bellies. Because the fact is, Los Pumas are usually a bit of rabble between Rugby World Cups. More like ‘Lost Pumas’. Is it no coincidence that this happening more or less mirrors the same habit of their national football team?
Tonight’s clash could well be a draw. It’s that hard to choose. But it shouldn’t really be.
Talltree@xtra.co.nz (Paul M)
Tana Umaga: “We didn’t execute tonight.” Yikes, now that would have been just a little too severe a punishment, even accepting your guys let that lead slip..
And btw, last night: TJ Perenara collecting outside Westpac stadium- a real man of his word and a hero for many. And a Canes legend. Good on you TJ..
Good grief, the hand-wringing over the Jaguares defeat has been immense. The Jaguares really aren’t that awful, they have a wealth of internationals but they often lack focus for the whole eighty. And they get pinged for silly penalties where they almost seem not to know about properly, or just disregard, the rules.
A bit lame of me not to fully check the team line-ups (diluted Herald sports section, thanks for not much re team line-ups and info these days- in fact bloody hopeless and often non-existent. What gives??), The Blues were even more inexperienced on the night than I had thought. I’m prepared to cut them some slack in light of that. I feel sorry for them now (Is that unhealthy? Probably).
What kind of surprised me was a comment from a journo who I quite like saying that the team have lost the will to win. I get the sentiment, but isn’t that a bit harsh and demeaning on some of those players?
Blues vs Waratahs. Now that was a gutsy win by the Blues. Surely they’ll get a bit of praise. Or will reports generally focus on how bad the Australians continue to be in Super Rugby?..
Hurricanes social media mafia- Cheers for your best wishes and sympathy… (but what we need are WINS, not pity, aaargh)
1. John Campbell on Twitter:
Yes, yes, yes and yes. NMS cutting back in, towards the traffic, to give himself room to push back for the corner. Superb. TJ charging the team up, setting it alight. Yes. Bloody good. Sad for the Blues, because I wish them well, but what a very good win to have.
Sports Freak:
Replying to @JohnJCampbell @julianwilcox and 3 others
And a Bonus Point
Like you I have soft soft for Blues. Maybe they’ll nail it, say, v the Crusaders or Chiefs
3:34 AM – 11 May 2018
What was staggering about last night was how dominant the Hurricanes were in the forwards. The same team who were beaten up front last week by the Lions