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Damian McKenzie has withdrawn from the Chiefs' Super Rugby season-opener against the Blues on Friday (abductor muscle strain). Replaced by Shaun Stevenson.

By all accounts Akira is in good nick and played well in preseason. However Sotutu also played well in preseason and is some talent himself. MacDonald has made a point about how last year they over-played too many of the same players. Pleased to see a different approach this year with the...

I wouldn't get your hopes up. By all accounts Rieko is going to logging a lot of minutes at 13 this season.

Blues named Sotutu gets the nod at 8 over Akira - nice to see they are looking at other options at 8 this year instead of relying on Akira for every minute of every game. Halfback is still a big worry in my opinion. Huge opportunity for Eklund. BLUES: Matt Duffie, Mark Telea, Joe...

Trask is a young gun 10/15 who had an outstanding Mitre 10 Cup for Bay of Plenty. He got player of the tournament at the national U19 comp a year or so ago I think. Tupaea broke onto the domestic scene 18 months ago for Waikato but was deemed too young to play Super Rugby last season. Both...

Absolutely. He was on the AB radar last year until he got injured. There are certainly opportunities in the loose forwards in the ABs this year. His work rate is excellent - what he needs to work on is some of the nuance of playing blindside. Defence off the scrum was one area last year...

Sounds for the Blues round 1 that Otere and Parsons won't be available. The issue for me at the Blues is at 9. Christie hasn't been sighted during preseason but he hasn't been mentioned as not available for round 1 so it will be interesting to see if he features. Blues-Chiefs should be a...

Not the best game to throw a rookie 10 into though.

Especially when first up is Crusaders away

A big issue for me is there was never anyone rumoured to be in the Razor coaching set up with test coaching experience once Tony Brown stayed with Joseph. The names thrown around for Razor were: Jason Ryan (forwards coach), Jason Holland (Hurricanes), Leon MacDonald (Blues). If Foster's...

I think the mistake is in not genuinely going hard after other coaches (Rennie, Joseph, Schmidt, Gatland etc). I can see why they chose Foster over Robertson but the mistake is that the choice was only down to those 2. It's only a 2 year deal so the pressure will be on - especially with the...

Foster in the new All Black coach according to Scotty Stevenson https://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/rugby/all-blacks/118112502/ian-foster-a-done-deal-tvnz-sources-report

This new stadium will be able to host AB tests - perhaps not a Lions test but almost all other tests. FMG Stadium in Waikato holds 25k and it hosts AB tests Forsyth Barr can be expanded to 31k and it hosts AB tests (I'd imagine this new Christchurch stadium could add capacity with temporary...

Hopefully he has. They fucking need it. "This is what it takes to win a title you underachieving clowns"

Yeah he didn't have a great 2019. Injured and when he did play his form wasn't the best he has shown. Good player but hasn't really kicked on from his early promise a few years ago. Big season for him. Blues look a bit light at 7 given how often Gibson and Papalii get injured.

He's not with the team until April, he's on an extended break.

Blues leadership group for 2020 Patrick Tuipulotu (captain) Rieko Ioane Tom Robinson James Parsons so basically a swap of Robinson and Gibson from last year. I wonder if that means Robinson at 6 and Papalii at 7. Doug Howlett has been involved in the Blues preseason camps - interesting.

Congratulations England. Absolutely dominant. Scoreline flattered the ABs. ABs leadership and tactics found wanting big time. ABs forwards absolutely smashed. Benching Cane was moronic. England were simply brilliant, very well coached and have several sensational forwards in their prime...

Exactly. This is from a few days ago