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Written by The much riled Fan in the Stand
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Thursday, 18 September 2008 |
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This week the Fan has been pondering half-time and why we look a million dollars before the break and well and truly credit crunched afterwards. What is going on?
Does Coach Schuler prefer easy listening music to hard rock? Does he quote from Helen Clark rather than Winston Churchill? Is the dressing room Feng Shui out of kilter? Why are the players yawning as they run back out of the sheds? There are more questions than answers.
There’s nothing worse than losing to Auckland (except of course losing to the Cowbell Club) and being beaten by this mediocre Auckland team was particularly galling. We had a lead, we looked in control, and the injury count was piling up for them.
It was almost enough to make this Fan weep when we blew it in the second half. We should have been holding onto possession or kicking for territory at the end of the game. Instead we go for the cute chip kick, a tactic that makes me tear my hair out, and concede a soft try. Bitter? You bet.
The Fan likes the look of both McGougan and Savage as Chiefs props for the coming season. They have been into everything and the scrum has been solid for the most part. When given the ball, they run straight and hard. Waikato has struggled for props for a few years now and these two should both feature. As usual with Super 14 selections, the Bay needs to finish stronger than Waikato otherwise all the good work of the early rounds will be forgotten.
We looked very weak out wide on Friday night and to be honest, wing has been a problem position for us in 2008. With the ELVs has come a big increase in midfield bombs and wings who are solid under the high ball are a necessity. Ants Tahana is missed for his ability to do the right thing at the right time and also for his bone-crunching defence.
Defence will be vital when we take on a young but efficient Canterbury side who will have been working hard all week after struggling to get past Northland. The Taniwha showed they could live with the Cantabs by competing for everything.
Canterbury is the only province we haven’t beaten since our return to the top level and should we win, a place in the top four is a real chance. This would give us a home quarter-final, so I hope tentative plans are in place to find an available venue. Lose this game and we have Southland and Hawke’s Bay to play, the other teams battling with us for a top four finish. What a great climax to the season especially after spending this part of the 2007 season wondering if we could avoid the wooden spoon.
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