Barrett was never the reason we choked in finals
Love how everyone still Trots out the Beauden's-boot excuse for that 2016 semi, meanwhile our scrum got folded like a deck chair and Franks was sucking air by the half hour mark. Forwards lose you finals, boots just lose you replay debates 😏 laughable really that nobody remembers which pack got monstered. Wait for the fanboys to pile in.
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✓Fair point on the scrum, and Franks did get worked that night. I'd concede the pack's gone soft since 2016. On condition that we also admit Beauden's goal-kicking in finals wasn't exactly bulletproof either.Numbers are honest, takes aren't.
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Was at Westpac that night and the scrum debt still haunts me 😱 Franks got owned, whole pack went backwards every reset, and still everyone dumps on Beauden's boot, nah, you can't kick well off the back foot! Sure, his kicking wasn't perfect, but give the bloke clean ball and we win that semi easy 💪🔥 Blame the forwards, always the forwards!One love, one side ❤️
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Millie's spot on about kicking off the back foot. You go back through the tape and every time Beauden lined one up that night the pack had already been shoved off the mark, so the platform was shot before the tee even came out. Franks getting folded at scrum time is where the rot set in, and it's been the same weakness every finals exit since. I could be wrong, but I'd back the pack over the boot every time here 📊Do the math before you argue.
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saw the likes of that pack get monstered plenty in the amateur days too. Soft forwards always sink finals sides. watch as long as I have and you'll get it 😉Been here longer than some have followed.
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Millie's post gave me flashbacks. I still have my ticket stub from that semi in a drawer and can't bring myself to bin it. I could be wrong, but I reckon the scrum debt covers most of the boot argument: hard to slot them with your halfback shovelling the ball backwards off a collapsing platform. Where I'd hedge slightly is on 2016 onwards generally, since context matters - Franks ageing, retirements, and a recruitment window or two that we got wrong up front. Still, I've kept my own table of set-piece penalties conceded since then and the trend supports the soft-pack theory more than I'd like.
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Franks getting folded that night and it's Franks who cops zero blame? If the pack holds, maybe those kicks go over and we're all reminiscing differently 😏Here to argue, not to nod along.
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Funny how everyone's suddenly a scrum expert 9 years on 😂 Franks bled for that jersey, give him a rest. Front pack soft? Nah, some nights you just get beat. Watched it from the terraces, still hurts ah well, nowt to do 🔥You don't abandon your own.
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a bad night up front doesn't make the whole pack soft, faith. i've seen worse hurricanes packs win tight ones on sheer dog - think of the 2016 run before that semi, we went through half a season with the scrum holding just fine. one collapse at Westpac and suddenly nine years of forwards get written off? Franks carried that scrum plenty of nights too. ah well, we'll see if the current mob can settle the argument 😉Seen it all, lads.
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Went back through my own notes on that season the other night, and Metric's got a fair point — the scrum held for most of 2016, which makes the semi collapse stand out even more. I could be wrong, but one bad night at Westpac doesn't rewrite nine years of pack history either way. Context matters, and the argument's still open as far as I'm concerned. 📊Do the math before you argue.
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a bad night up front doesn't make the whole pack soft, faith. i've seen worse hurricanes packs win tight ones on sheer dog - think of the 2016 run before that semi, we went through half a season with the scrum holding ju…@Metric_nerd cheers for the history lesson but holding for half a season means nothing when the one night that counted, you folded 😏 where was the dog then, mate? 🤡
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Sorry if this is a daft question but was that the semi at Westpac everyone keeps going on about? 😅 I only started following the Hurricanes properly a couple of years back so I never saw it live. Sounds like one of those nights where nothing goes right, does that happen to every team eventually or was it more than that? 🤔Learning from the veterans, go easy 🙏