George Bower is out for the rest of the year, including missing the RWC due to injury. That's a tough blow for the Crusaders, but a bigger blow for the AB's.

Hurricanes join Blues and Crusaders in needing new head coaches as Robertson confirms Leon MacDonald, Jason Holland, and Scott Hansen will join Jason Ryan as assistant coaches in 2024.

The Chiefs are 9 on the trot, that's very impressive. Sadly, last night, at the expense of a Crusaders team who despite still pretty disjointed, looked considerably better than the last few matches they have played. It honestly, could have gone either way, but Chiefs confidence is riding pretty high right now reasonably enough. Nice to see Leister playing strongly, and Ennor has almost all of his speed back, and is growing in confidence. I think if Goodhue can stay fit, and continue his last couple of weeks, he should be seriously considered for the RWC, he played some filthy rugby last night. 

The Crusaders allowed the Chiefs to slow ball and Drummond just wasn't quick enough. With lots of phases, I am pretty confident we would have scored off both of those opportunities, but we are allowed the Chiefs to reform their defensive line, which was very impressive (and has been the difference between the two teams in the last few outings).

The Highlanders are in real trouble. 2013 was a pretty bad year, but I'd argue they are close again to that bad. It's not that they are miles off where they need to be, but they are a little off in many areas, and you really pay the price when you are under constant pressure. I hope they can turn it around.

In Drummond’s defence, he was the only halfback due to Hines being injured in the warmup. As such he needed to pace himself to last the whole 80 minutes.

The Crusaders strategy targeted MacKenzie, reducing his time to play the ball and it paid dividends initially. That got fixed in the second half, and it showed. DMac certainly had a greater influence on the game than Mo’unga did. Richie just seems a bit ‘flat’ at the moment. I believe he thrives when given time by his dominant forward pack. But the packs were evenly matched last night.

A lot of the Crusaders attack seemed to be built around Mo’unga foisting the ball high for Fainga’anuku to recover and burst through the defence. Something he is exceptionally good at. But once that is defused they seem to only be left with set piece rolling mauls. They are certainly missing the X factor without Will Jordan or Sevu Reece in the backs.

With two thirds of the possession and territory, the Crusaders should have won that game. And in previous seasons, they would have. One of the commentators put it best. The Chiefs “did a Crusaders, on the Crusaders” in the final 10 minutes.

I reckon Whitelock and Retallick will be chosen for the RWC on reputation and experience. Both have the heart and rugby nous, but are clearly a pace or two slower than their younger counterparts.

Dingbatt:

 

In Drummond’s defence, he was the only halfback due to Hines being injured in the warmup. As such he needed to pace himself to last the whole 80 minutes.

 

The Crusaders strategy targeted MacKenzie, reducing his time to play the ball and it paid dividends initially. That got fixed in the second half, and it showed. DMac certainly had a greater influence on the game than Mo’unga did. Richie just seems a bit ‘flat’ at the moment. I believe he thrives when given time by his dominant forward pack. But the packs were evenly matched last night.

 

A lot of the Crusaders attack seemed to be built around Mo’unga foisting the ball high for Fainga’anuku to recover and burst through the defence. Something he is exceptionally good at. But once that is defused they seem to only be left with set piece rolling mauls. They are certainly missing the X factor without Will Jordan or Sevu Reece in the backs.

 

With two thirds of the possession and territory, the Crusaders should have won that game. And in previous seasons, they would have. One of the commentators put it best. The Chiefs “did a Crusaders, on the Crusaders” in the final 10 minutes.

 

I reckon Whitelock and Retallick will be chosen for the RWC on reputation and experience. Both have the heart and rugby nous, but are clearly a pace or two slower than their younger counterparts.

 

Yeah, you are right about Drummond, but it did kill our momentum twice, it's just a shame we have been hit by so many injuries. I know all teams go through it, and to be fair the Chiefs seem to thrive on pulling players out of the air and having them step up, but it's quite a tough watch. 

Agree on Mo'unga. 

The Crusaders seem to have a great habit of coming 'right' around finals time, I can only hope they do again, but with their injury toll, I think it's a tough ask to take the title this year.  Missing Sevu in particular is hard going. Was tough watching in form Dallas McCleod go off, likely with a longer term injury, but Ennor isn't bad on the wing and Goodhue looked awesome in center. 

Ruby Tui re-signs for 2 more years with Black Ferns!

networkn:

 

Ruby Tui re-signs for 2 more years with Black Ferns!

 

https://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/rugby/black-ferns/131904900/ruby-tui-resigns-with-the-black-ferns-for-two-more-years

Also

https://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/rugby/super-rugby/131905170/damian-mckenzie-signs-new-twoyear-deal-with-chiefs-and-all-blacks

DM never really fired for the AB's at 10. He needs more space than he gets there to do his thing, further evidenced by the fact he played the second half of the match against the Crusaders at 15 and did a lot better.

The problem is, he is too small as the final defense at test level, brave as he is, and almost certainly isn't first or second choice at 15. He may play 10 for AB's in 2024 out of necessity since we don't have anyone else who is 'proven' at test level at 10. He has been in good form this year, but he is still fairly prone to average decision-making. Because he was so successful for the Chiefs, Rennie pretty much ran him into the ground, he played more minutes for the Chiefs for 3 years running than any other player, and so combined with his injury, it's not surprising his form dropped. 

It's going to be interesting to see what approach Robertson takes with the team next year. 

Right now though, he needs to zip his lips. Nothing he is saying is helping anyone. He will have his chances to put his mark on things, but between then and now, he needs to stop feeding the press with his opinions and let Foster and co, play out the rest of the year as they are contracted to do. 

His response to every media question should be.. 'I am not the  AB's coach, I'll be happy to discuss my plans with you, after the RWC, right now it's about supporting the current coaching and playing team'

https://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/rugby/international/300870364/steve-hansen-names-israel-folau-in-world-xv-to-face-eddie-jones-barbarians

That's an interesting move :) 

Here was me thinking “Wow, a whole game by the Chiefs without a yellow card!” and then Ollie Norris went and ruined it in the 79th minute with a leg trip. I am surprised with the number of penalties in the red zone that Ben O’Keefe didn’t give one earlier though.

I’m not sure why the Highlanders aren’t firing. Certainly their set play is there, but kick it to the back three of the Chiefs at your peril I guess. Ethan DeGroot was the standout for the Highlanders for me.

The Chiefs were allowed to play the style they like, and it showed.

RIP Bruce Robertson - one of the best AB  centres ever.

I recall seeing him play on TV a few times - what a silky runner. Alas gone too early.

BeGee says it the best

https://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/rugby/all-blacks/300878110/bryan-williams-remembers-all-blacks-teammate-prince-of-centres-bruce-robertson

Nice to see the black armbands on the Blues players. Hard to tell if the Crusaders did though, but I didnt spot any on them.

Firstly, I will say I am writing this post with my Chiefs eyepatch firmly in place.

The Chiefs management shouldn’t have disrespected the Reds by playing their “C” team against them. A result of the ABs rest policy that besets all NZ teams I guess. A lack of cohesion and marquee players. Dour match number 1.

The Chiefs had an attacking lineout on the 5m line ruled “not straight”. The ball went to the outside shoulder of the jumper, so fair enough. Except for the exact same thing happening to the Reds (in the same part of the field) where the jumper received the ball on his outside shoulder and a try was subsequently scored. So, not consistent.

In the sequence of play after the final siren, the there were three penalty advantages announced. I heard one of them (the first one for a high tackle) get called “over”. The other two, both of which were in the “red zone”, I listened to the audio very carefully but couldn’t hear the “over” call. Then there was a “held up” decision, with no reference to the TMO (unless he did a background check). You could tell by the look on the faces of the Chiefs players, they were expecting to go back for the penalty.

I assume as long as the lifters in the lineout remain parallel with the jumper and hold him in the air, they can move forward and the defenders can’t stop them? (Because no one is offside). In the first penalised lineout (that eventually led to a Reds try) the lifters held the jumper up, their second row pushed, and when the Chiefs forwards formed up to defend the push, the jumper was dropped on their shoulders. When the penalty was awarded the Chief’s forwards were still behind the advantage line formed by the lineout (I watched it multiple times). I’m sure the ref ruled as the law is written, but in that case “the law is an ass”. But then, the whole “kick to the corner and score a rolling maul try” is a bag of a-holes, that is ruining the game (Wayne Smith agrees).

Then there is the Blues/Crusaders match. The saying goes that “defence wins matches”. Well not if you you don’t score any points it doesn’t! Both defences were fierce, but the Crusaders converted the chances they were given. Dour match number 2.

The Hurricanes/Moana Pacifica game was entertaining despite being a blow out. Lots of running rugby. MP seem to be a team that leaves you wondering which team is going to turn up (a bit like the Warriors).

Aaaand, once again the Highlanders were right in the fight, until they weren’t.

They had me thinking this was their moment, until they leaked 2 tries while the Brumbies had one player in the bin.

Once again they were guilty in the first half of giving away points straight after scoring. Really need to sort out an exit strategy.

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/sport/super-rugby-pacific-the-contenders-to-coach-the-blues-crusaders-and-hurricanes-in-2024/OXTVLZBYZZE6JKDVFJM7AMOT7M/

Behind a paywall. A couple of interesting things in there: 

1) Looks like Matt Todd might be joining the Crusaders as a defence coach. (I rate that appointment as MT was a very good defensive open side and has a pretty decent rugby brain).

2) I wasn't aware Brad Moar and Scott Robertson had a falling out. Does anyone have any insight on that?

3) I wasn't aware that Schmidt and NZR weren't on good terms. Does anyone have any insight on that?

4) With the Reds looking for Kiwi Coaches to replace Thorn, and the Blues, Crusaders and Hurricanes all looking for 1+ coaches, our coaching stocks are looking a little thin. I guess there are going to be some big step-ups for some green(ish) coaches. It will be interesting to see how the next 18 months of Super Rugby looks like for NZ Teams.