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Blues

2025 Super Rugby Season Qualifying Final: Blues snatch last-minute win v Chiefs who will also stay on as the lucky loser but not so much by Hurricanes to ACT Brumbies

by Sports Benches June 7, 2025

Can you believe it from the Blues? They’re somehow still in it thanks to their last-gasp win over the Chiefs on the Chiefs home front at FMG Stadium in Hamilton.

Hats off to reserve second row Josh Beehre on his staunch defensive and attacking efforts at the centre of tackle that turned into a game-scoring TRY with Beauden Barrett continues to put in some crucial performances including a mix of creative & conversions at the starting 10.

Unlucky from Chiefs who got away with winning penalties but just couldn’t hold on sometimes – more about a physical game than just trying to score big. Look out for quick Daniel Rona on the outside 13 making excellent runs and threats too and Blues didn’t see that coming with Rona causing damage and he’s got another one coming up for next Saturday’s semi-final.

Off to Canberra and the returning tighthead Brumbies 3 Allan Alaalatoa churns in those performances from defense to attack and yet he’s stood tall.

Meanwhile, Andy Muirhead runs rockets on the wide right 14 that the Hurricanes weren’t able to do and what more can you say about him? Just unbelievable from someone who still continues to be ignored by the Wallabies & hopefully him taking on the Lions would surely convince Joe Schmidt to put Andy on the green & gold.

And looking on the Hurricanes when they no longer able to go any further? Their attack looks one-dimensional & don’t forget they defended poorly too with the long game. Gotta say Ruben Love knows how to pull off magic from the back with his hands, running legs and the boot of the tee – it’s a shame things didn’t work out with lost balls & errors here and there.

Now the 2 x semi-final match-up will be a bit like two years ago with the Crusaders v Blues first on Friday and then Chiefs v Brumbies next Saturday in Hamilton.

Nothing much will change and the same will go with Brumbies who will be front and centre once again for fourth straight year.

However, for the Brumbies to try and go one better assuming they advance to the Grand Final, they better dominate those ball retentions by taking advantage of the points that Chiefs would struggle to grasp like we saw earlier tonight v Blues.

They are the only side hang in there hoping to win back a championship that Australian Rugby has long wanted since way back when.

June 7, 2025 0 comment

Rugby

2025 Super Rugby Season Week 13 of 16: Blues too good for the Fijian Drua in Suva and Reds delivered Waratahs a crushing blow once again at Moore Park’s Allianz Stadium

by Sports Benches May 9, 2025

Blues were absolutely too good for the Fijian Drua even when they were playing away in front of the Drua’s passionate home fortress in Suva by 0-34. On the same night going south at Sydney’s Allianz Stadium, we did see a much tighter contest following another state v state clash between Waratahs and Reds.

But again, Reds’ attacking backline were key to outshine the Waratahs in one particular area to close out the game, and they did so too in fine fashion by 21-28.

While Blues stay on track inside 5th alongside Reds holding on clear 4th just ahead by a single point, it’s looking tough and tougher by the week from the Waratahs unfortunately as of late.

Having seen Joseph Suaalii hauled off due to injury along with a lack of ideas to stop the Reds from walking out 1st towards full-time, those next three games – the last three to finish off 2025 – by the Waratahs will be the toughest one yet again if they want to end up being Top 6 by the end of this month.

Don’t know what to say other than being clueless based on their recent form with their away results not a good pill to swallow.

And yes, Drua’s 2025 ain’t the same when Mick Byrne took the Fijian National team job post-season last year. They are unlikely taste Finals compared to 2023 and 2024 but they will do whatever it can to finish on a high.

There’s two games to come tomorrow night across the Trans-Tasman with the Crusaders v Chiefs and Western Force v Brumbies.

Top 3 players of the night

Drua v Blues

Corey Evans is right on the money every time he clears out those decks being the Blues’ resident speed demon that also shows excellent team-work at 15.

Taufa Funaki doesn’t disappoint as the Blues’ starting 9 lately that is vital to stay Top 6 who continues to put these fine performances so he knows they’re ahead like last week v Western Force.

Drua could’ve used a trick or two especially when they had less ball but their young 4 Mesake Vocevoce was the Drua’s hit song tonight – like how he outmuscled the Blues defense including one that almost led to a TRY.

Waratahs v Reds

From Suva to the Sydney Allianz, Tim Ryan on the left 11 provided his junkyard dog push that turned into a number of rewarding tries. Filipo Daugunu, unbelievably creative on the outside 13 – take note of that Joe, seems we’ve got a surprise right here this July v the Lions.

And unlucky from Waratahs with Joseph knocked out in the head and their attack just difficult to match that spark, Langi Gleeson took no prisoners at the heart of their back row & he won’t give up with the last three games tough inc. last two away to see out 2025.

May 9, 2025 0 comment

Rugby

2025 Super Rugby Season, Round 12 of 16: Blues sign off full-time as clear victors plus the bonus point over Western Force

by Sports Benches May 2, 2025

Yes, Force had a painfully difficult night against the Auckland Blues at Eden Park even though their first half wasn’t bad (12-7) + the early 10-20 mins of the 2nd part.

Unfortunately, Force were simply blown away by the Blues stronghold bench where the margin gets bigger and bigger over time and there was no stopping Blues towards the end – not even winning a losing bonus point would add a bit more suffering when it comes to the Top 6 Finals race. The final score was 40-19.

Going into the weekend with four games still to play including the rare Sunday afternoon outing, Force now sit 7th and Blues back in the zone just one place ahead in 6th as of Round 12 out of 16.

Here are the games that are coming up between tomorrow and Sunday:

Fijian Drua v Reds in Suva tomorrow at 12pm AEST
Hurricanes v Chiefs in Wellington tomorrow at 5pm AEST
Brumbies v Waratahs in Canberra tomorrow at 7.30pm
Highlanders v Moana Pasifika in Dunedin at 1.30pm Sunday

For Force, they have the last three being difficult with the Brumbies first next Saturday night, Drua away in Fiji and the Waratahs later this month for Round 15.

All they could to is bring that home crowd noise and who knows? They could bring up a surprise and have an extended shot in the Finals come next month for Force.

Plus, Blues got back-to-back Pasifika opponents in Drua next Friday and Moana Saturday week. Then they will take the week off on the second last round before they finish the regular run off v Waratahs.

Top 3 players of the night

AJ Lam – what a difference he’s made as the Blues reserve 15 in the 2nd half who can also play in other positions within the backline. He deserves a deeper run so Blues could make Finals once again & if he can do that, then Scott Robertson should consider him as his back-ups for the ABs.

There’s Cole Forbes has International suitors following his two-try haul on the outside back right. Cole had success in the past in Scotland likewise with coach Vern Cotter whose tactics got the better of his running rugby and now he’s ready to put his International standing on the map.

Bummer for Force whose good start with Carlo Tizzano still scoring were slipped away later where Blues got the better bench than them. But one player who’s still got it was Kurtley Beale following his long lay-off from Achilles injury.

He knows where to funnel around & cash in whose contribution in the remaining rounds would hopefully give Joe Schmidt food for thought v the Lions – probably as back-up in the green and gold again.

May 2, 2025 0 comment

Other Sports Motorsport Rugby

Top 5 sports items this week 24/4/25: Rodney Childers’ shock departure at Spire, Scott Parker’s links with Tottenham after PL promotion with Burnley, Super Rugby Round 11/16, Max Verstappen and Western Bears in NRL

by Sports Benches April 24, 2025

Bummer Rodney Childers won’t be back in the No.7 pit box but Spire ain’t backing down nonetheless with all three cars in & out of Top 16 to 20 drivers’ points.

There’s always time with the win and Playoffs still a possibility as long as it’s before September where Spire has the full backing of three talented and experienced drivers in McDowell, Haley and Hocevar.

Parker back to Tottenham?

While Burnley now back to the PL, Scott Parker might not be there because of Tottenham who could get rid of Aussie Ange even if he wins the Europa final.

Maybe it’s best if Scott helps Burnley win it all and see Leeds bottle it at the same time, then he can go considering he hasn’t been successful so far at this top level.

There’s even talk about Leeds wanting to sack Farke in order to avoid his curse record at PL level – looks like it will be advantage Parker for the title then.

Super Rugby: another golden week from the Aussie sides v NZ?

Super Rugby back for another week going the Australian teams away we hope after a few brilliant games including one that ended in a draw, although not so much for the Waratahs unfortunately v Fijian Drua away in Suva.

Yet, things could get even better if Reds, Brumbies and Force all beat their respective NZ teams in Blues, Hurricanes and Chiefs this weekend.

Perfect timing (mark that down) and as of Week 11 out of 16, still no NZ side win recorded yet at least on Australian soil.

Max Verstappen wants out of Red Bull?

Also, Max frustrated behind the scenes being the cut lone figure at Red Bull when McLaren in a Mercedes customer engine are leading the way via Oscar and Lando.

Would love to see him end up at Aston Martin with Honda engines + Adrian Newey again & Franco C. be the ideal one when RB have no other choice post-Max.

NRL finally has a Perth team with assistance of the North Sydney Bears

And last but not least, Perth will finally get a NRL team in a long time with credit to the North Sydney Bears.

That means, the Bears will be expected to play top-level Rugby League once again but looks like half of the games will be played at in Perth with other still going to be at the spiritual North Sydney Oval.

National footprint is important for all of our Aussie sports including rugby despite losing a team in Melbourne but gotta accept it’s the best fight right now in the bid for championships and series trophies.

The big weekend other than the off-weekend of F1 starts tomorrow on ANZAC day Friday before the second last round’s matches is on a bright Saturday night at 9pm and we round it off with the shuffling decks of Talladega come Monday AM.

April 24, 2025 0 comment

Rugby

2025 Super Rugby Week 10 of 16: Crusaders finds a way in the end to still hold on top spot of the ladder v Blues

by Sports Benches April 18, 2025

Scenes? What scenes? I’d say amazing scenes on what has been a current champs v seasoned past champs contest in Christchurch with the Crusaders broke the hearts of the Blues at the last minute courtesy of a successful James O’Connor penalty goal (who came on reserve back for Teha Kemara at No.10) by 25-22.

You just can’t believe how close the Blues wanted this so badly when they had a poor start to the year but then they’re no match at the moment when it comes to going up against either two of the best NZ teams including the Crusaders. All they have to do now is just stay positive when Blues go to Brisbane v Reds next Friday.

Meanwhile, what a story and remarkable signs of progress this year on the Crusaders rebuilding phase under Rob Penney even though last year wasn’t the best we thought. But hey, it’s important to have the experience ones helping these homegrown youngsters they’ve got and look they are now – they’re back in business on top of the Super Rugby ladder.

As long as they keep on winning including including two Australian games coming up soon (one involving Waratahs and looking to go there myself in Moore Park), we could be sure that the Crusaders would return winning championships once again.

Super Rugby continues with four games to finish off Round 10 tomorrow:

Fijian Drua v Waratahs, 12pm
Moana Pasifika v Brumbies, 2.35pm
Chiefs v Highlanders, 5.05pm
Western Force v Hurricanes, 7.35pm

Top players spotlight

Fletcher Newell is the man you need to know, mow and break down on the tighthead front row whenever the Crusaders need it most especially on wet weather conditions like this & sure his good performances this season will want him up front for the ABs later this year – just ask Tamaiti WillIams.

Noah Hotham making the out of the Crusaders half-back options even though he only has been playing the last few games after some time out due to an ankle injury but he likes to make things quick and his tough all-round ability reflects on that v the champs Blues.

Shoutout to James O’Connor also with that winning penalty kicking post and they’re still flying high on top of the ladder.

And Hoskins Sotutu’s performance tonight was tough as nails where the Blues so close if it wasn’t for that unlucky 1st half plus there’s hit and misses with endless push and shoves while funnelling passes out of nothing – Scott Robertson better save him now or he might as well wear the Red Rose instead.

April 18, 2025 0 comment

Rugby

Rugby today’s result: ACT Brumbies finally became the latest Australian Super Rugby team to win at Eden Park in a long time following a one-point ball game by 20-21 over the Auckland Blues

by Sports Benches March 7, 2025

Hats off to coach Stephen Larkham and the ACT Brumbies including Ryan Lonergan in particular (love his 2nd half performance btw) on what has been a close eyed thriller that saw an Australian Super Rugby team stand up tall on the grounds of Eden Park v the defending champs Blues from Auckland by 20-21.

It’s been a long time coming even though Brumbies may have lost recently against the Western Force at home & Chiefs last weekend in Hamilton when there’s a few out there in the treatment room like Rob Valetini. But they’re back in business now with lots more to tick off like climbing back towards Top 3-6 and staying there then a Grand Final appearance at last for a shot at the championship coming from an Australian Super Rugby team – watch this space!

Who knows what surprises will come out next between now and June but this is good for the Super Rugby competition and most certainly for Joe Schmidt’s Wallabies squad as well.

March 7, 2025 0 comment

Other Sports

Tennis x Sports Crossover at the 2025 Australian Open: Super Rugby, All Blacks & Wallabies preview along with Netball in New Zealand and Jack Doohan under pressure for only the first six races in Formula 1 at Alpine-Renault

by Sports Benches January 19, 2025

And last but not least, how about we give a shoutout to two Wallabies stars Harry Wilson (Queensland Reds) and Max Jorgensen (NSW Waratahs), who were both in attendance at Melbourne Park this weekend to cheer on Alex De Minaur.

Yet, the Demon did win after all to play in the 4th round for the 4th straight year of his AO men’s singles career.

It was also nice seeing Harry and Max lend over that Wallabies green and gold jersey to Alex and look at him go! – How good!

Rugby Union

We first have a jam-pack year of Rugby ahead of us with the 11-team Super Rugby competition set to start in a month’s time before the British and Irish Lions arrive at our own backyard during winter. Plus, there’s Club Rugby at the same, the Rugby Championship & Bledisloe Cup in August-September, and we finish off the year in Europe v the North’s best sides on earth.

First of all, it’s been a bitter blow not seeing Melbourne field a Rugby team anymore in the Rebels when they are a big sporting city due to financial problems. But with lots of people playing AFL (Aussie Rules) and even NRL (Rugby League), it seems there’s no room for Rugby to succeed in that place unfortunately.

Now we are down to four teams with the Western Force still around & as we all know the ACT Brumbies would love to finally play in a Grand Final. However, we would need the Tahs, Reds or even Force to be playing in the semis either way in order for the Wallabies to succeed & that includes the Brumbies. It’s never been a better time to try taking that advantage now, especially with Joseph Suaalii onboard from the Sydney Roosters (NRL) to the Waratahs.

Other than that, the NZ teams will still be dominating for the most part along with a new-look Crusaders, even though the All Blacks had their bad times last season when it comes to the Springboks and France.

Netball

If Rugby isn’t big enough for NZ, why not Netball when they also have a huge year ahead?

The Silver Ferns will be stopping by in Sydney soon to spend nine days there as part of their training camp including a Practice Match v the NSW Swifts featuring the Ferns former star shooter (for now) Grace Nweke on Sunday, February 2.

They will also have a slightly different ANZ Premiership season amongst half of the six teams having brand new coaches (Mainland Tactix, Southern Steel and Northern Stars) between May-July including Finals with a two-round home-and-away format across 10-12 weeks rather than playing three times last year.

Yes, the Ferns haven’t organised any matches lined-up yet for the second half season but we are still expected to see the Taini Jamison Trophy series back regardless of opponent. Although England have won it last year but the good news is that they will be able to defend the Constellation Cup v the Aussie Diamonds following their 3-1 series win back in late October.

And shoutout to former Silver Fern and current GWS Giants (Western Sydney) player Gina Crampton who plays at Wing Attack and was also in attendance from the stands for Alex De Minaur’s game yesterday – sure she still has plenty to offer at age 33, especially playing against the best in Super Netball.

Formula 1

What else? Rugby & Netball isn’t the only sport who mix and matches well with Tennis.

I also wish Alpine-Renault’s Jack Doohan from Formula 1 was there to see Alex also because they do look like each other with both of them having a smiley face personality. Surely, Jack can get some tips on defying those odds from Alex when there’s a bunch of reverse drivers waiting in his wings under pressure including Franco Colapinto. Alex did beat another Argentine actually yesterday too in Francisco Cerundolo; hopefully, this will cheer Jack up in a bid to keep his seat over the first six odd races of the season.

Although I can understand Jack is more aligned with Ayrna Sabalenka because she visited his team’s garage in his unexpected F1 debut last month at Abu Dhabi & Jack came back in return for Ayrna when she played a match a few weeks ago at the Brisbane International.

Post-Notes

Can’t believe there’s a whole lot of other athletes watching for fun there rather than looking to go toe-to-toe with the pro Tennis players & see who’s better?

Time will tell.

January 19, 2025 0 comment

Rugby

Thoughts on the 11-team 2025 Super Rugby Season structure with 16 rounds, two byes, no Super Round for now & one Quarter-Final lifeline out of six-team Finals

by Sports Benches September 12, 2024

The 11-team 2025 Super Rugby Season structure including its Finals system has just made its first steps today, although the full 16-round fixtures draw will be released later in the next coming days.

Here’s what we know so far

Still an uneven fixture list but the annual rugby calendar during the first-half year is already tight anyway. At it stands, one will play twice v four teams and once v six other teams, with seven home and away games plus two week-long byes.
A bit more Sunday afternoon games where we got three on offer throughout the 2025 season with the option of expanding more Sundays when it comes to future seasons.
Season to start a bit earlier like mid-February with an extra round rather than the 3rd week of February like it was over the last few years.
No Super Round where all teams get to play at the one venue during the three-day weekend – at least for now, especially when Melbourne no longer has a Professional Rugby team in the Rebels. Although they could be back in 2026 as part of the Bledisloe Cup ANZAC Day weekend via A Festival of Rugby that is expected to take place at Optus Stadium in Perth.
Finals to look a bit different for three weeks in June with six rather than eight while the bottom five can no longer take further part once the regular season is over. Three Quarter-Final winners to go to the semi-finals before one each winning semi-finalist will go on to battle in the Grand Final, with the 3rd winning Quarter-Finalist being the lucky loser as the highest ranked losing team – so a bit like what we saw with the NSW Shute Shield (Club Rugby) during the 2023 season. Yes, some fans still don’t like it and I do personally like to see just a simple four-team Finals format (just two semi-finals and Grand Final) but this is where it’s going in the way we see in other Footy codes like AFL and NRL.

All in all, good to see some changes that will spice up the competition from a format perspective. We’ll see what happens, especially going into 2026. As much as I liked Super Rugby being a Trans-Tasman and the Pasifika competition over these last few years when South Africa moved over to Europe, we’d like to see the Jaguares come back from Argentina to make up 12 teams like it was before (2022-2024) but be logistically based in Melbourne for the most part with Finals on home turf.

With the idea of having more Super Rugby on Sundays, why not begin the day on the couch when the Jaguares sometimes play at home (if they do really want to play some of their home games truly in Argentina) before finishing off the afternoon either side of the Tasman? This would also be the perfect springboard when it comes to future expansion like North America & Hawaii at some point where we could have more Sunday games here/Saturday games there, but both USA and Canada are a long way off from where we are at least in the Top 10 competitively right now.

Although I’d also like to see Andrew Forrest’s Western Force side to team up with Japan by making one super revival team of the Sunwolves together featuring max involving the best of our players and also these Japanese Internationals from the Top League, with most games in Perth and some in Japan. That would be a great replacement to cover up the lost South African quality talent & income there.

If the Western Force do wish to continue playing Rugby, it would be through the idea of a new third-tier National Club Competition or a series of exhibition matches like the Cheetahs do from Bloemfontein in South Africa while being a feeder club to the Sunwolves, as well as junior level in the Super Rugby U16 & U19 competitions – also run similarly to the one Rugby Victoria is set to operate now the Rebels are gone with some Melbourne games still a possibility by the ACT Brumbies next season.

But I guess we will wait and see between now and at least the home 2027 Rugby World Cup depending on the Wallabies performance. If not, I could see Twiggy going elsewhere to another comp – doesn’t mean the Force is going to be dead since he’s the owner. In the meantime, all we could hope for the best of Australian Rugby right now is to have at least two decent teams battling up front alongside the dominant NZers next season – even though it’s going to be a bit more difficult from here.

That way, we could finally see our usual Brumbies or any other Australian team like the Reds or Waratahs to finally play in a Grand Final in a long time when simply advancing into a Quarter-Final & then getting eliminated right on the spot isn’t good enough.

Not even getting kicked outside the last 4 isn’t a good excuse either, especially for the Brumbies when we haven’t been winning for 10 years now since the Tahs last won it v Crusaders & over 20 if you count the Bledisloe Cup & even Rugby Championship for the Wallabies.

September 12, 2024 0 comment

Rugby

2024 Super Rugby Final: Blues too good left, right & centre over the Chiefs en route to their 4th championship win at Eden Park

by Sports Benches June 22, 2024

What a Final it was to finish the 2024 Super Rugby Season at Eden Park where the Blues finally got their moment with the Championship 41-10 after being simply too good to beat The Chiefs from Waikato for the first time in a long, long time that goes way back to 2003. Although don’t forget they did win the Super Rugby Trans-Tasman v the Highlanders also at the same place a few years ago when COVID restricted much of the norm at that time. Not only the Blues were clearly in front during the first half (20-3) off the back of two tries and two penalty goals, but they also continued to extend their lead with more tries including a Caleb Clarke double to finish his hat-trick. It was more than enough to pull off on the run home (41-10) with the easy Blues final victory whereas Chiefs only grasped whenever they can after they threw away for the majority while they were nowhere near the Blues danger zone including one first-half penalty goal & one late TRY thanks to a few fresh faces.

Now that the 2024 Super Rugby season is over, we will turn our attention to International Rugby next month beginning with the two game series v Wales followed by Georgia for the one-off occasion for Joe Schmidt’s first slate of matches as the Wallabies new Head Coach. We will also have some Club Rugby in between with the NSW Shute Shield & QLD’s Hospital Cup as well as a bit of Rugby 7s at the Summer Olympics in Paris, France a little over next month. Then it’s Rugby Championship & Bledisloe Cup time to finish off across August and September before we finish off 2024 with the November Tests in Europe.

Hat-trick championship winner Caleb Clarke tops the Grand Final list on the Blues left wing after his A + performance tonight at Eden Park. You cannot believe what he does with the ball every time he’s moments away from the in-goal before Caleb blows the opposition players away off his explosive pace. Gotta say the Chiefs have been clearly warned about their ill-discipline over and over again & thanks to the dominant possession and winning penalties, Caleb waited at the right time to gift the Blues their big trophy. There’s another sensational moment that warmed the Blues hearts tonight and it’s Harry Plummer whose conversion kicks looks 100% spotless through all angles at the starting 10 role tonight. Yes, this was a huge role to fill to drive the Blues attacking engine when Beauden Barrett sat out for the year in Japan. But he threw himself into the deep end with unfinished business and Harry proved to the world that he’s done it in a championship-winning team at The Blues – time will tell if Scott Robertson (also new Head Coach) gives him a go soon enough later this year for the All Blacks.

Congratulations to the Blues on an unbelievable all-round display that can wow any team after finishing 2nd including the Hurricanes & the Chiefs en route to their 4th Super Rugby title since 2003 as well as the Trans-Tasman trophy back in 2021.

And Anton Lienert-Brown did the best he can to break down the Blues areas all along in the Chiefs outside centre backline at 13. He’s got the power and physical grit that gave his side a couple of chances with the ball where Anton can not only turn things over, apply pressure and win a couple of penalties defensively; But he also can find himself with a bit of space going forward including the one and only TRY assist to Simon Parker later in the 2nd half. It’s heart breaking to see him & the Chiefs fell short once again following another brilliant season. But Chiefs weren’t simply up to their game unfortunately such as the poor discipline forced the Blues hand so many times while they just couldn’t find the breakthrough in their counter-attack.

June 22, 2024 0 comment

Rugby

2024 Super Rugby Grand Final Preview: The Blues v The Chiefs at Eden Park in Auckland

by Sports Benches June 19, 2024

89 games done, one to go to finish off the 2024 Super Rugby Season with a sold out crowd ahead of Saturday’s Final between two of the last two year’s runner-ups where one of them will be going one better for the Championship – It’s The Blues from Auckland (2022 runner-up) v The Chiefs from Waikato (last year’s runner up) at Eden Park. The last time the Blues won a trophy in the actual Super Rugby competition was back in 2003 v Crusaders as well as the short-lived Trans-Tasman trophy due to COVID three years ago v the Highlanders while the Chiefs last won back in 2013 in a home final v the ACT Brumbies.

Chiefs

It will be mostly be an unchanged line-up apart from their hookers with Samisoni Taukeiaho out due to an leg injury from last Saturday’s semi-final win v Hurricanes as well as Manaaki Selby-Rikit for Naitoa Ah Kuoi in one of the team’s reserve locks, so Tyrone Thompson will be thrown into the deep end for Taukeiaho who hasn’t started since last year’s regular season finale v the Western Force. You would think Bradley Slater would get that chance instead of Thompson but he would still be the team’s useful finisher when coming off the bench later on as the reserve hooker. Despite some injury cloud, the Chiefs are set to toughen up their defense to try and stop the Blues from scoring from the start while looking to exploit on the counter-attack by having the speedy full-back Shaun Stevenson back to lead the line that pushes Daniel Rona back on the team’s bench line.

Blues

The same would go with the Blues other than the return of Patrick Tuipulotu on their starting second row for Josh Beehre (demoted to the bench) at No.4. We thought the skipper would be originally out until the start of the International season next month for the All Blacks but he’s worked so hard to push way back into selection lately since that Quarter-Final MCL knee tear v the Drua three weeks ago on what is going to be a very big 80 minutes for him to hopefully steer the Blues with the Championship win they really deserved. A strong forwards pack should do the job to stop the quick Chiefs attack defensively in its tracks while giving their backline a run of their money. Hopefully, that would the key when it comes to making that support play work through the gate or the Chiefs’ wall in order to get the big points they accrue off a full 80 run in attack.

Final Thoughts & Predictions

You can say that the Chiefs had their lows at times in the last couple of regular season games a few weeks ago, particularly when they were away from home. However, they’ve been excellent all along throughout the Finals across New Zealand so far & other than the big blow of Taukeiaho, they still got enough attacking fire and the physical steel to bring this championship all the way back to Waikato. Blues, on the other hand, knows how to get the ball rolling right from the word go with early tries on the board. Yes, they might have their own weaknesses at times but the Blues will not down their tools that early in order to keep that winning lead away from the opposition as the game goes on before they can hopefully finally see that winning light at the end of the day with their long-awaited championship the Blues have been chasing for so long that goes back to 2003.

It’s going to be a cracking match to finish off the 2024 Super Rugby Season on a high after we witnessed the highs and lows over the last 18 weeks – such as no Crusaders in the Playoffs for the first time in a long time off the back of key personnel moving on, ACT Brumbies falling short in the semis yet again, The Hurricanes’ top barren run also shockingly ended outside the Grand Final by the Chiefs last Saturday and the Melbourne Rebels’ rare magical season towards their one and only Quarter-Finals was being eventually cut off by their huge financial difficulties that became too difficult for them to survive.

Who will going to win the Grand Final? It’s going to be a very close finish but The Blues will get their moment with the win over the Chiefs by 15 points. Make sure you tune in this Saturday afternoon at 4.30pm AEST ahead of kick-off (5.05pm) where it will be shown on both Stan Sport (streaming subscription required without ads) & 9Gem (Nine’s free-to-air multi-channel).

June 19, 2024 0 comment