Comments on: ‘Tahs vs ‘Canes preview

By: James

James — Sun, 15 Feb 2009 08:32:21 +0000

did anyone think the beale pass looked forward?

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By: Gagger

Gagger — Sat, 14 Feb 2009 14:47:43 +0000

Greetings from Egypt my friends! Get this - S14 coverage is better here than Pomlandia. You get all games live, even though I'm sitting on the Sinai desert with my feet in the Red Sea. May have to emigrate again. Thought Tahs showed a strong game as well. To me it looked remarkably similar to what they took into the finals last year, where they're happy to boot it to the oppo and trust their defence to create opportunities. That the canes were gonna play this brainless footy never seemed in doubt to me, I don't know where their hype has come from. Remind me who the brains trust there is.....? Unfortunately being in Eqypt doesn't shield you from fuckwit kiwi commentators. Is it my imagination or were they rubbishing the Tahs' "supposedly" Wallaby front row in the first half, to see them bulldoze the Canes and mangle Tealata in the second?

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By: Juan Cote

Juan Cote — Sat, 14 Feb 2009 12:46:05 +0000

Quite a lucid piece Lance, agreed about the kicking aspect of the game. Disagree with comment about Mex, in my opinion his is a drone who is feed his lines by Nisbo, who is a knob-end of the highest order. Hard for Mex to be entirely objective as he is a Wellington old boy.

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By: Lance Free

Lance Free — Sat, 14 Feb 2009 12:05:26 +0000

This game was a little bit like the England v Australia matches over the past few years where England dominate the territory but fail to score the necessary tries.....and Australia score a couple of pearlers with minimal possession. I think the Tahs deserved to win but went to sleep in the middle to late stages of the match, where they could have been overcome if they'd taken their eyes off the ball. The defence was exceptional and some excellent options were taken in attack. The Tahs scrum dominated the set piece with the tight five all contributing to the win. I'm getting pissed off with the mindless kicking (by all sides) in the games I've watched under the ELV sanctions and a little concerned about the 'touch football' nature of it. Not quite as good as the Brumbies/Highlanders game but a pretty solid start for the Tahs. Rob Horne is undoubtedly a star of the future. Although the kiwi commentators (isn't Mexted a fuckwit) offered the usual criticism of the referee I thought Dickinson didn't do too badly with his 50/50 calls.

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By: Juan Cote

Juan Cote — Sat, 14 Feb 2009 09:28:44 +0000

Final score 26-22 Tahs

Tahs looked to have the game well in hand until the last 10 mins when mistakes gave the Canes a sniff.

All three Aussie teams thus far have jumped out to leads and let them slip – a worrying sign.

Tahs lost a bit of direction in the second half as Portley, who generally had a fine game, seemed to fade in and out of play.

Wellington have a fair bit of work to do, Nonu dragged after 60 mins and So’oialo lashed out with the slipper in frustration on Capt Claret’s head late in the game – he will be in the shit for this and could miss a couple of weeks.

If you backed the Canes to win the tournament you may well be already thinking abour next year – they are no chance.

The bookies will be desperately winding in the Tahs odds as they displayed a game that is more capable of scoring points rather than Link’s saftey first mantra of last year.

Big up to Ben Mowen – El Dommo, you were right

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By: Juan Cote

Juan Cote — Sat, 14 Feb 2009 07:29:32 +0000

Half-time 19-5 tahs. Canes look awful, Nonu all of a sudden thinks he has perfumed hands and can throw a pass - he can't. No thrust from the Canes centres as Nonu has decided to become a ball player rather than an up the jumper runner, difficult to see where their points will come from. Canes try came from a Tahs balls-up. 3 well worked tries from the Tahs - dominating the breakdown and disrupting everything the Canes are trying to do. The whole team is looking farily comfortable. Portley has been a bit hot and cold but did fire a lovely pass to Horne for Two-Dads try early on. Tahs scrum looks pretty good and line-out is working well. They need to get the ball to Lote more as he is in my Fantasy XV!!!

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By: Lance Free

Lance Free — Sat, 14 Feb 2009 03:33:49 +0000

I guess the NZ teams have a bit of an advantage over us.....and that's depth. They are able to recruit from the second tier Air NZ Cup, which we don't have an equivalent of. For example, Karl Lowe, Zac Guildford and Bryn Evans were signed from 2008 semi-finalist Hawkes Bay (where Ben Batger was playing). A number of other players including Willie Ripia (Taranaki), Api Naikatini (Counties Manukau), Jason Kawau (Southland) and Andre Taylor (Manawatu) were running around in the same competition last year. Sure the loss of Masoe, Collins, Thomas Waldron etc will obviously have an impact, but that's balanced by the Tahs international departures and their injury roster. Mowen, Fitzpatrick, Tilse, Thomson, Palmer etc are essentially club players and don't provide the same degree of depth as a seasoned Air NZ Cup rep. I think the Canes at the Cake Tin are going to provide very stern opposition and I'd be a little bit surprised if they lost. Canes by 9....

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By: juan cote

juan cote — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 21:29:35 +0000

Piri Weepu is a late scratching as well, things just keep getting better for the Tahs

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By: Patrick

Patrick — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 23:52:25 +0000

Friggin Hore, I had him in my fantasy team. This is my double-pointer match for the tips, only team under the odds (tahs) that I felt sure of

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By: Newb

Newb — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 23:02:51 +0000

notice that Hore the hooker is out with an injury too. i don't know much about the 'canes replacements, but this must give the tahs pack a boost. i think this is a more accurate 'canes line up than that shown. scroll down until you find it.

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