Forget the silverware talk
Five tries in Christchurch and I had mates down here who'd lumped the Crusaders on the TAB still crying into their multis by the 50th minute π Silverware talk can wait - this backline has had the line beaten sideways since round one and anyone saying otherwise is just clinging to 2016 nostalgia. Sure thing, mate, keep rolling out the '16 footage while this lot write their own chapter.
10 posts
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βOne good afternoon in Christchurch and suddenly it's 2016 again? Show me that backline doing it away to the Chiefs and Blues before I buy in. Might be right, on condition we get a wet June test as well.Numbers are honest, takes aren't.
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Nyah, RobbedAgain mate, the "wait till they play away" card is dead already. Five tries IN Christchurch, that's as away as it gets π±π₯ I was at a mate's place in Gisborne watching that one and the room went silent every time we spun it wide, even the Crusaders bloke on the couch just gave up yarning midway through the second half. Haven't seen backs move like that since the '16 semi, no joke. And Gary's right tbh, this isn't nostalgia talking - the hands, the depth of the running lines, the way they beat the line sideways before the forwards even arrive. Silverware would be nice but I'm enjoying the ride first ah well, nowt to do πͺπYou don't abandon your own.
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RobbedAgain, there's a nuance here you're glossing over: Christchurch is as away as it gets, and they still put five on the Crusaders. Depends how you count it, but I'd rather have this backline beating the best defence on the road than piling points on a leaky home crowd. Small sample though, fair - the June away trips will tell us if it's 2016 real or just a hot afternoon.Numbers > vibes.
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Christchurch in '98, we got nilled there, so five tries in their own pit still feels like a fever dream to me π watch long enough and you'll treasure nights like that.Been here longer than some have followed.
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UnderdogNightmare, I was in the grandstand for that '98 nil too, so I feel you π Only caveat I'd add: one wet June night against the Chiefs and I'm fully sold.
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NickDiehard wanting a wet June night vs the Chiefs before committing π€‘ mate, five in Christchurch wasn't enough for ya? Backline's already won, wait for the fanboys to pile in πHere to argue, not to nod along.
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GoTheDistanceOrNothing ease up mate π NickDiehard wanting a wet june night before crowning them is fair actually, that's the one box still unticked. christchurch was unreal though, five tries in their own pit and the cantabs gone QUIET in their own backyard... i was off the couch screaming π₯ and yeah i'm one of the fanboys piling in, sue me but i've watched hot starts die here before, soon as the ball turns into a bar of soap the flash stuff has a habit of drying up. chiefs in the slop is the real exam tbh. our lot NEVER make it easy, never have. heart says best since '16, head says show me a greHeart with the team, head on pause.
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fair enough, the wet June night's a reasonable box, but back in my day we never waited for perfect conditions to crown a backline. seen worse sides than this win through mud πRemember when the grass was greener π±
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Watching that Christchurch tape again last night and the third try still makes me grin - the ball went through more pairs of hands than a pub scene at theWorks on a Friday. Five tries down there, against that defence, is the sort of result I'd normally double-check my spreadsheet for errors over. Caveat from me as always: five games is a thin sample, and NickDiehard's wet June night point isn't a silly one. The '16 mob proved it over the full run, not in one glow. That said, the shape of the attack, the depth of the running lines, the way the forwards are releasing them early. Looks structurally better than anything we've fielded since then. I'm just not writing the verdict into the table until I've seen it hold in mud and against a side that kicks the leather off it. Ask me again after the next three rounds, when my sample's got some weight to it. πNumbers > vibes.