RugbyRebels

cashead wrote:Gerard Cowley-Tuioti is a North Harbour lock who did quite well last year in the Mitre 10 Cup. Josh Goodhue is Jack's twin brother. Decent lock, but still very young.

Meanwhile, Matt Vaega still hasn't been called in as midfield cover. Orbyn Leger? Who?

zer0 wrote:The Blues biggest problem is that they're, quite clearly, a big game team. Best South African side in Johannesburg? Bring on your biggest homer of a home town ref. Best Australian side in Sydney? Will do it with a collective hand tied behind their collective back, and one collective eye closed. Such a big game temperament results in the Blues winning 73% of their postseason matches . For comparisons sake, the Chiefs have an unmanly postseason record of 54%. The Hurricanes a contemptible 43% . The Crusaders a respectable 70% . The Highlanders an appalling 42%. Such a dominant -- intimidating, even -- postseason record has returned three titles, bettered only by one side in the entire southern half of the planet.

zer0 wrote:The Blues biggest problem is that they're, quite clearly, a big game team. Best South African side in Johannesburg? Bring on your biggest homer of a home town ref. Best Australian side in Sydney? Will do it with a collective hand tied behind their collective back, and one collective eye closed. Such a big game temperament results in the Blues winning 73% of their postseason matches. For comparisons sake, the Chiefs have an unmanly postseason record of 54%. The Hurricanes a contemptible 43%. The Crusaders a respectable 70%. The Highlanders an appalling 42%. Such a dominant -- intimidating, even -- postseason record has returned three titles, bettered only by one side in the entire southern half of the planet.

Of course, this big game temperament does have a downside, and there has been many a slight hiccup in matches of lesser importance. Such as the Rebels, for instance.

Lizard wrote:

zer0 wrote:The Blues biggest problem is that they're, quite clearly, a big game team. Best South African side in Johannesburg? Bring on your biggest homer of a home town ref. Best Australian side in Sydney? Will do it with a collective hand tied behind their collective back, and one collective eye closed. Such a big game temperament results in the Blues winning 73% of their postseason matches. For comparisons sake, the Chiefs have an unmanly postseason record of 54%. The Hurricanes a contemptible 43%. The Crusaders a respectable 70%. The Highlanders an appalling 42%. Such a dominant -- intimidating, even -- postseason record has returned three titles, bettered only by one side in the entire southern half of the planet.

Of course, this big game temperament does have a downside, and there has been many a slight hiccup in matches of lesser importance. Such as the Rebels, for instance.

Yes, the Blues post-season record against the likes of Natal and Northern Transvaal is very impressive!

zer0 wrote:The Blues biggest problem is that they're, quite clearly, a big game team. Best South African side in Johannesburg? Bring on your biggest homer of a home town ref. Best Australian side in Sydney? Will do it with a collective hand tied behind their collective back, and one collective eye closed. Such a big game temperament results in the Blues winning 73% of their postseason matches. For comparisons sake, the Chiefs have an unmanly postseason record of 54%. The Hurricanes a contemptible 43%. The Crusaders a respectable 70%. The Highlanders an appalling 42%. Such a dominant -- intimidating, even -- postseason record has returned three titles, bettered only by one side in the entire southern half of the planet.

Of course, this big game temperament does have a downside, and there has been many a slight hiccup in matches of lesser importance. Such as the Rebels, for instance.

cashead wrote:Honestly, they need to reduce Auckland's influence on the province. It's clear that they can't hack it any more, and that the talent in the region is north of the bridge.

Build the 2019 squad around North Harbour, with a decent addition of Northland and a smattering of Auckland boys. Northland punched above their weight, turning their patch in Whangarei into a fortress, and while they lost their share on the road, at least their opponents knew that they had to earn their wins.

North Harbour were the leading lights in the Auckland region, absolutely clowning Auckland at Eden Park, and making Canterbury earn their wins over them during the season. In fact, the only teams that were able to beat Harbour were the two finalists (Canterbury and Tasman), and the fact that the Naki ended their round robin with a 60-point beat down in a match where the Shield wasn't on the line does have a bit of a "what if?" about it.

Auckland, by contrast, were a fucking joke.