Crusaders vs Hurricanes

[FrankLind]

Crusaders in front but look unconvincing without Carter and Read. They won't win the tournament without them.

Crusaders scrum destroying the Hurricanes. Conrad Smith keeping the Canes in the game.

 

[FrankLind]

Canes' scum and lineout woeful.

 

[Bardon]

Yes, Crusaders have been very strong in the scrum and at the break down. But the Canes have been able to stay with them so far, although if Taylor was a bit more accurate with the boot them might be clear by now.

Can't believe Smith's 1st try wasn't a pen to the Saders as Savea clearly obstructed 2 tacklers on the try line. Smith's 2nd try was pure class though.

 

[Bardon]

Canes' scum and lineout woeful.

Coles throwing in at the lineout made Matthew Rees' efforts against the Wallabies look like pin point accuracy. At one point in the first half, after he'd thrown a particularly crooked one, the commentator said something along the lines "if that one had kept going it would have ended up at the 2nd five-eighth"

 

[FrankLind]

Hurricanes in front 3 minutes to go.

 

[Bardon]

Great finish to this one, Canes ahead by 1 with 3 minutes left. Taylor just missed a difficult kick out wide for the Saders. If it stays like this it's bad news for the Reds and Brumbies.

 

[Ash]

Taylor's kicking, or lack thereof, the difference.

Bryce has been frustrating at times as usual.

Good game though.

 

[Bardon]

Saders won a pen in the last minute from probably the most important scrum in S15 so far this year.

 

[FrankLind]

Hurricanes beat Cru' away from home. Well done!

Chiefs are NZ's best hope.

 

[Bardon]

Pen is short and Canes win. Chiefs just need a losing bonus point next week to tie up the NZ conference. Reds & Brumbies are back to battling for 1 spot in the finals, but that could change again next week.

 

[cyclopath]

Great game to watch.
Bryce is pants, though. And not a flash pair.

 

[Gagger]

How dumb was going for that pen goal?

 

[Tordah]

How dumb was going for that pen goal?

You could see McCaw and Bleyendaal discussing and in the end Bleyendaal was confident he could make it, and to be fair, he was just short by a metre or two. It was a good kick, but a very good one was needed. Have seen dumber decisions on a rugby field.

 

[cyclopath]

How dumb was going for that pen goal?

I actually thought the previous penalty right near the sideline was a chance to either kick for line or scrum it and work for a closer penalty. It was a pretty tough kick. They were right on the front foot. But hindsight is wonderful.
Massive cat thrown amongst the pigeons for the Aus conference now.

 

[Gagger]

50m out on the sideline on a cold night. Rucking good stats had it's probability of success down at 25%

No hindsight needed. Dumb

 

[AngrySeahorse]

Well deserved win by the Canes - congrats to them. I saw most of the game at the pub after club rugby. Taylors missed penalties really hurt us but I'd pay more credit to the Canes. To me they looked very good on the attack & did some very cleaver territorial kicks for touch which kept us pegged down in our own half. Although I didn't see the whole game I'd refuse to ping Bryce for anything given what I saw of the game.

I def agree the Chiefs look to be the front runners from NZ but I still believe the Saders can get it together.

 

[crangs81]

Cheers Canes. That's the NZ conference wrapped up for the Chiefs. Now all you need to do is roll over when we turn up to play you guys

 

[Dan54]

Gagger,they took kick because they didn't have time for lineout. Anyway ,boy is that a turn up, even as a Canes man they keep surprising me this year, not only some good attack but bloody good defence probably won them that game. Quite pleased for young 9 that came on, stuffed everything for his first 5-10minutes, then came right, he could of disappeared without a trace.

Oh and Hail Conrad Smith, the prince of centres certainly seems to be a pretty good captain.

 

[Tordah]

Oh and Hail Conrad Smith, the prince of centres certainly seems to be a pretty good captain.

What's a prince got to do to be crowned king? O'Driscoll is living on past reputation and I don't see anyone remotely close to Conrad in the 13 jersey, really. Probably the most important AB backline player.

 

[ACR]

What's a prince got to do to be crowned king? O'Driscoll is living on past reputation and I don't see anyone remotely close to Conrad in the 13 jersey, really. Probably the most important AB backline player.

Agreed. x3. He's almost the perfect team player. Tackle, pass (decision making), line running, supporting, communicating, work ethic.

Well done Canes on the performance last night.