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'It was't all doom and gloom for us': Blues happy with result after Drua surprise

(Photo by Kelly Defina/Getty Images)

Blues first five Beauden Barrett likened the Fijian Drua to the Fijian national side after his side’s 35-18 win in Melbourne.

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Barrett copped a visible black eye when the All Blacks played Fiji in Dunedin last year and expected his side to come under heat as the Drua brought a new level of physicality.

The 30-year-old said that the Blues almost underestimated how much the Drua would be able to disrupt their flow.

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Abbie Ward on beating the Black Ferns

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Abbie Ward on beating the Black Ferns

“It reminded me of the international games against Fiji last year. They’re typically a tough side to play, a Fijian side,” Barrett said.

“They’re physical, and we expected that. Perhaps we underestimated how much they can fluster you because of the lack of momentum that we got and we weren’t allowed to play our game at times.

“So that’s where we probably saw the frustration shown and ill-discipline, allowing them to get free rides.”

The Fijian Drua found success early by using the grubber kicks from anywhere on the field to get in behind the Blues defence. The strategy paid off when hooker Mesulame Dolokoto scored their first try backing up on the inside after a recovery of one of those kicks.

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Barrett described them as ‘freakish’ as the Drua showed a continued ability to recover many of their well placed grubbers.

“We certainly expected that part of it, as well as those little freakish grubber kicks in behind the defensive line from loose forwards,” he said.

“We just had to be ‘on’ all the time and at times they caught us out but that’s just how they play. It was always going to be a test for us mentally and as a system collectively.”

The Blues found it hard to crack the Drua defence relying on two intercept tries to AJ Lam and Rieko Ioane to keep a large buffer between the two sides. Lam scored his second try from a set piece play close to the line to effectively seal the result in the 64th minute.

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Blues head coach Leon MacDonald didn’t want to make excuses for their inability to put the game away comprehensively, as penalties gave the Drua plenty of attacking opportunities.

“I don’t want to make excuses for the inaccuracies. Especially our discipline, it’s something we try to be very disciplined but we gave away too many soft penalties. We
talked all week around what they want – they want to have penalties, they want to be able to play,” he said.

“If we fall asleep on defence, they’re gonna take quick taps et cetera and we really wanted to deliver there and I think by and large we did. I thought were created a
lot of pressure with our defence and we looked good but then we’d give a penalty away.

“That was probably the most frustrating thing. I thought our intensity on defence got better as the game went on in terms of coming off the line and I thought in the first half
we had some good line speed and created some pressure there and we were able to finish off some good tries.

“It was’t all doom and gloom for us – five points in this competition are like gold and we’ll regroup again. We’re playing in Perth and another tough battle.”

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O
Oh no, not him again? 2 hours ago
England internationals disagree on final play execution vs All Blacks

Okay, so we blew it big time on Saturday. So rather than repeating what most people have all ready said, what do I want to see from Borthwick going forward?


Let's keep Marcus Smith on the pitch if he's fit and playing well. I was really pleased with his goal kicking. It used to be his weakness. I feel sympathy for George Ford who hadn't kicked all match and then had a kick to win the game. You hear pundits and commentators commend kickers who have come off the bench and pulled that off. Its not easy. If Steve B continues to substitute players with no clear reason then he is going to get criticised.


On paper I thought England would beat NZ if they played to their potential and didn't show NZ too much respect. Okay, the off the ball tackles certainly stopped England scoring tries, but I would have liked to see more smashing over gainlines and less kicking for position. Yes, I also know it's the Springbok endorsed world cup double winning formula but the Kiwi defence isn't the Bok defence, is it. If you have the power to put Smith on the front foot then why muzzle him? I guess what I'm saying is back, yourself. Why give the momentum to a team like NZ? Why feed the beast? Don't give the ball to NZ. Well d'uh.


Our scrum is a long term weakness. If you are going to play Itoje then he needs an ogre next door and a decent front row. Where is our third world class lock? Where are are realible front row bench replacements? The England scrum has been flakey for a while now. It blows hot and cold. Our front five bench is not world class.


On the positive side I love our starting backrow right now. I'd like to see them stick together through to the next world cup.


Anyway, there is always another Saturday.

7 Go to comments
C
CO 2 hours ago
Scott Robertson responds to criticism over All Blacks' handling errors

Robertson is more a manager of coaches than a coach so it comes down to intent of outcomes at a high level. I like his intent, I like the fact his Allblacks are really driving the outcomes however as he's pointed out the high error rates are not test level and their control of the game is driving both wins and losses. England didn't have to play a lot of rugby, they made far fewer mistakes and were extremely unlucky not to win.


In fact the English team were very early in their season and should've been comfortably beaten by an Allblacks team that had played multiple tests together.


Razor has himself recognised that to be the best they'll have to sort out the crisis levels of mistakes that have really increased since the first two tests against England.


Early tackles were a classic example of hyper enthusiasm to not give an inch, that passion that Razor has achieved is going to be formidable once the unforced errors are eliminated.


That's his secret, he's already rebuilt the passion and that's the most important aspect, its inevitable that he'll now eradicate the unforced errors. When that happens a fellow tier one nation is going to get thrashed. I don't think it will be until 2025 though.


The Allblacks will lose both tests against Ireland and France if they play high error rates rugby like they did against England.


To get the unforced errors under control he's going to be needing to handover the number eight role to Sititi and reset expectations of what loose forwards do. Establish a clear distinction with a large, swarthy lineout jumper at six that is a feared runner and dominant tackler and a turnover specialist at seven that is abrasive in contact. He'll then need to build depth behind the three starters and ruthlessly select for that group to be peaking in 2027 in hit Australian conditions on firm, dry grounds.


It's going to help him that Savea is shifting to the worst super rugby franchise where he's going to struggle behind a beaten pack every week.


The under performing loose forward trio is the key driver of the high error rates and unacceptable turn overs due to awol link work. Sititi is looking like he's superman compared to his openside and eight.


At this late stage in the season they shouldn't be operating with just the one outstanding loose forward out of four selected for the English test. That's an abject failure but I think Robertson's sacrificing link quality on purpose to build passion amongst the junior Allblacks as they see the reverential treatment the old warhorses are receiving for their long term hard graft.


It's unfortunately losing test matches and making what should be comfortable wins into nail biters but it's early in the world cup cycle so perhaps it's a sacrifice worth making.


However if this was F1 then Sam Cane would be Riccardo and Ardie would be heading into Perez territory so the loose forwards desperately need revitalisation through a rebuild over the next season to complement the formidable tight five.

28 Go to comments
LONG READ
LONG READ England need to face a few home truths if they are to relearn that winning habit England need to face a few home truths if they are to relearn that winning habit
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