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Auckland Blues To Infinity and Beyond

R

RemainingInTheGame

Peter Burge (5)
zer0 said:
I saw the highlights on YouTube - complete with Japanese commentary - and the few instances of phase attack looked good. Much more like a modern Ireland with Perofeta in control than sleepy Beauden kicking it away because he cbf. Jason O'Halloran came with good wraps as an attack coach, so hopefully it all translates over.

Losing Tuipulotu is not ideal, however. Hopefully just means extended game time for Suafoa.
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I watched the whole game and was really surprised about Patty - nothing seems untowards during the game.

Also, the Japanese commentators seem to love Corey Evans (who I thought had a brilliant run).
 
waiopehu oldboy

waiopehu oldboy

Stirling Mortlock (74)
Eden Park finally made a small profit last year so of course the Trust Board want to spend $2Bn of other people's money to redevelop it, complete with a retractable roof. Eden Park 2.0 they're calling it.

Not to be outdone another pack of dreamers have come up with a design that looks like an Avatar 5 set.

5ULN7UUMDRGLTIUZOFJTOOWF2Q.jpg


No budget but, of course...
 
LevitatingSocks

LevitatingSocks

Chris McKivat (8)
waiopehu oldboy said:
Eden Park finally made a small profit last year so of course the Trust Board want to spend $2Bn of other people's money to redevelop it, complete with a retractable roof. Eden Park 2.0 they're calling it.

Not to be outdone another pack of dreamers have come up with a design that looks like an Avatar 5 set.

View attachment 18187

No budget but, of course...
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blue people, blue jerseys, same thing right?
 
Dismal Pillock

Dismal Pillock

Simon Poidevin (60)
attn @zer0 after months of ceaseless searching I have finally found it.

The Holy Grail of GIFS.

You know what I'm talking about.

That legendary moment, captured on film, when the Ioane Brothers, presumably steamed at yet another loss to the stupid Cantabs, departed Eden Park directly from the catacombs in The Blues Brothersmobile.....

jailbreak_zps2a2few9v_(1).GIF
 
zer0

zer0

Jim Lenehan (48)
Jason O’Halloran has had to take indefinite medical leave :(

Tony Brown is his replacement :)

The Blues have been forced to make a coaching switch on the eve of Super Rugby Pacific kickoff, with attack coach Jason O’Halloran granted indefinite medical leave to deal with a health issue.

But the Auckland franchise have hit the jackpot with their choice of a replacement, with highly regarded former Highlanders head coach and Japan assistant Tony Brown snapped up to fill the void on a “short-term” basis.

With O’Halloran’s return time-frame uncertain while he deals with a problem related to his diabetes (he is an insulin-dependent diabetic), the addition of Brown as a “coaching consultant” is a master-stroke by the Blues as they bed in a new-look group heeded by first-year chief Vern Cotter.

Brown is rated globally one of the finest attacking minds in the game, and the All Blacks-laden Blues backline is sure to benefit from his out-of-the-box thinking and strategic genius.
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Stuff

www.stuff.co.nz www.stuff.co.nz
 
Dismal Pillock

Dismal Pillock

Simon Poidevin (60)
KiwiM said:
3 key areas. Poor coaching, poor culture, poor leadership.

Coaching can be seen in poor game plans and poor selections. Blues refusal to move on from Beauden at 10 in big games is laughable - he refuses to take on line which stuffs the whole attack. Game plan wise the Blues attacking shape sucks - it's either Beauden standing still shovelling, Beauden cross kicking or some big forward hitting it up one out. Predictable and weak.

Dalton even admitted as much: "That first half, we just tried to get too fancy with the tips and back passes. We just didn't do our basics and that's the carry and clean. That's what we put our hat on all season and when we've played well we've done that well. We sort of took a backstep in that first half."

The culture and leadership go together - they talk a good game but fold when it counts. They don't build into a season - they just roll out the same game all year and wonder why it doesn't work vs top teams (Blues were 0 and 5 vs the other semi finalists this year).

Leadership wise there's no pivoting on the field when things start going badly - they just get pumped. Papalii tries and Tuipulotu I think was missed but otherwise there is nothing.

Rieko claims he's a leader but he shits the bed in big games for the Blues constantly. How about you learn how to catch the fucking ball - I'm not sure I can remember an AB midfielder with worse hands - Tana had poor hands at times but Rieko's are worse. It's infuriating because he has such ability but parts of his game just have not developed. I get the sense he walks on water and doesn't get challenged enough. Hopefully Razor can sort him out for ABs next year.

They also had constant discipline issues all year (and Leon laughably said recently he thought the discipline was mostly good this year). I sat and watched them get pinged off the park vs Brumbies which had them down to 13 men at one stage.

You take out the best coach (Schmidt) and the best leader (Romano) from last season and this is the result.

I'm glad Leon is moving on - I have some hope he's a better assistant coach but Blues badly need a new voice as head coach.

That semi final was right up there with the most pathetic display I've seen from a Blues team - losing is one thing but that display as the final product of Leon's 5 years in charge was utter shit.
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As I reread this post the red mist is starting to descend again.

8 months later and I'm still trying to come to terms with the utter, utter brain degradation of that semifinal capitulation versus The Cantabs and I just can not mother fucking do it.

I cannot fucking BELIEVE the cotton-wooling kickbot has the unmitigated gall to actually COME BACK and pop on a Blues jersey again after his spineless shitshow last time. Another sweet, sweet Blues sabbatical to keep the bod fresh for the parks and rec centre paydays in Japan.

JUST FUCKIGN STAY THERE CNUT.

DONT COME BACK.

He'll probably just rock up to Razor's 1st test in charge and say "you want me to start at 10 or just move into the 10 position after kickoff?"
 
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