Western Force v Auckland Blues 02/05/2025

[chiraag]

Friday May 2 5:05 pm AEST – Blues v Western Force at Eden Park, Auckland, ad-free, live and on demand on Stan Sport
BLUES (1-15): Joshua Fusitu'a, Ricky Riccitelli, Marcel Renata, Patrick Tuipulotu (c), Laghlan McWhannell, Anton Segner, Dalton Papali'i, Hoskins Sotutu, Taufa Funaki, Beauden Barrett, AJ Lam, Xavi Taele, Rieko Ioane, Cole Forbes, Stephen Perofeta

Replacements: Kurt Eklund, Mason Tupaea, Angus Ta'avao, Josh Beehre, Cam Christie, Adrian Choat, Sam Nock, Corey Evans

FORCE (1-15): Ryan Coxon, Nic Dolly, Tom Robertson, Jeremy Williams (c), Darcy Swain, Nick Champion de Crespigny, Carlo Tizzano, Reed Prinsep; Henry Robertson, Ben Donaldson, Mac Grealy, Hamish Stewart, Bayley Kuenzle, Harry Potter, Kurtley Beale

Replacements: Albert Alcock, Atu Moli, Josh Smith, Josh Thompson, Will Harris, Nic White, Max Burey, George Poolman

Referee: Ben O'Keeffe

Assistant Referees: Stu Curran, Jackson Henshaw

TMO: Richard Kelly

Great to have Williams back and interesting to see KB straight into 15. I wonder why Tomkinson has been left out altogether, as he's not listed as injured. Surely a better option than Poolman on the bench. Second half scrum is again going to be problematic.

Unfortauntely the Blues are getting back a bit of firepower with BB, Papaili & Perofeta back. However their backline looks far less dangerous without Clarke & Tele'a at least.

[wallabydarnd]

https://www.theroar.com.au/2025/05/0...rtleys-career/
KB INTERVIEW

[shasta]

Has shown true grit to fight back from a devastating injury @ 36yo. The coaches 100% would not have selected him for such a pivotal match if not ready. So we can hope he plays as well as last time around and provides a real threat from the back.

[palitu]

Has shown true grit to fight back from a devastating injury @ 36yo. The coaches 100% would not have selected him for such a pivotal match if not ready. So we can hope he plays as well as last time around and provides a real threat from the back.

i dunno - we are pretty skint for players at the moment....

EDIT

but yes, he has worked hard to get here, and if he was taken on tour he must be ready, not just a maybe. looking forward to him directing the play from the back, and opening up some big holes in their defence.

[shasta]

i dunno - we are pretty skint for players at the moment....

True. Yet Beale starts and Max is the bench utility.

[andrewM]

I'm planning on watching the game at the Globe on Wellington St (across from train station/horseshoe bridge) if anyone cares to join me.

[shasta]

Really need to sort the outside D. Can't seem to decide whether to rush or drift and end up leaving themselves open to an easy inside step. But definitely in the fight.

[Kiap]

Nice for KB

[SNOB]

To many handling errors.

[WFDom]

Watched it again.... doesn't get better.

If we converted half of our opportunities to points we'd be top 4

[palitu]

I thought they struggled to adapt to the really slippery conditions.

But same issues, caught out out wide and then some easy tries off scrum set pieces.

New hooker went ok, though gave up an important lineout to remove their bonus point.

Scrum was not a disaster, so thankful for that, but still under pressure

[Valz]

Endless, pointless kicking away the ball does my head in. Is there a specific reason for it? Doesn’t seem to achieve any territory gain at all and not chasing kicks any more. And still no support on ball carriers who make a break!

[shasta]

On the plus side the Ponies are towelling up the Powder Blue and there's the chance of an ambush next week. Win at least 2 of the last 3 or all of them and we're not out of it. At least till the last round bye.

[Jules]

Brumbies looked pretty good though so won’t be easy next week 🙁

[SNOB]

New hooker went ok, though gave up an important lineout to remove their bonus point.

Scrum was not a disaster, so thankful for that, but still under pressure

All season our front row has struggled. I seams that we always lose the first scrum of the match and from there on we sure on the back foot as the ref decides that we are at fault in all scrums after that. We seem to be able to hold a few of our own scrums but never put any pressure on the opposition scrum. With no confidence in the scrum we now have to rely on the line out to get any set pieces into play.
I know I said front row but the only other thing could it be a weight issue? We seem to regularly be 40+ kgs lighter than the opposition. I don’t think that’s the problem but maybe.