Crusaders Halfback Starts for Maori
Maori coach McMillan makes five changes to his starting line-up against the Fiji Airways Flying Fijians.
They [Fiji] are a highly skilled and organised side. We will want to show more of our flair, but we have to nail our structure up front if we want to be competitive Clayton McMillan Maori All Blacks coach Fiji’s high-tempo, expansive game terrorised the Maori in Suva. The hosts made a whopping 27 clean breaks to the visitors’ six, beat 49 defenders to 15, and produced 19 offloads to 13, with the visitors forced to make double the amount of tackles of their opponents, and only managing a 63 per cent success rate.
The Maori All Blacks have brought in Crusaders halfback Bryn Hall to boost their chances against the Fiji Airways Flying Fijians tomorrow night. Hall was one of the stars of the Crusaders when they won the Super Rugby title for the third time in a row.
Maori All Blacks rugby coach Clayton McMillan has made five changes to his starting line-up for Saturday night’s revenge match against the Fijians in Rotorua.
The Maori lost 27-10 in the first leg of the two-game series in Suva last Saturday, which was their first defeat to Fiji since 1957, and just their second loss in the past 16 years. McMillan has given the same 23 players the chance to bounce back this weekend, but has made several tweaks to the run-on side, including the benching of All Blacks hopefuls Akira Ioane and Te Toiroa Tahuriorangi.
Ioane, who had little to no opportunities to shine in the first-up outing, is replaced at No 8 by Whetukamokamo Douglas, while there is one other change to the forward pack, with lock Pari Pari Parkinson also promoted from the bench, in place of Isaia Walker-Leawere. In the backline, Bryn Hall and Alex Nankivell earn starts following fine bench cameos in Suva, replacing Tahuriorangi at halfback and Teihorangi Walden at second five-eighth, respectively. Fletcher Smith drops from fullback to the bench, with Shaun Stevenson shifting from wing to the No 15 jersey, and Jordan Hyland coming onto the flank.
Fiji’s high-tempo, expansive game terrorised the Maori in Suva. The
hosts made a whopping 27 clean breaks to the visitors’ six, beat 49 defenders to 15, and produced 19 offloads to 13, with the visitors forced to make double the amount of tackles of their opponents, and only managing a 63 per cent success rate.
McMillan said they came away knowing they had a lot of work to do, but that there were positives they had clung to as well, as they try and produce a much better showing.
“The focus for us this week has been to sharpen our combinations and obviously we need to have a solid defence as well as an assertive attacking game if we are going to get the better of Fiji,” he said.
“They [Fiji] are a highly skilled and organised side. We will want to show more of our flair, but we have to nail our structure up front if we want to be competitive. “This is a special match for many of us who have never experienced the Maori All Blacks playing at home in front of our whanau and friends. We are very excited about having home crowd advantage and we really hope our supporters come out in force on Saturday.” Flying Fijians coach John McKee said they needed to be patient with the ball to build pressure on the Maori.
“Last week, although we made many line breaks, we turned over too much ball,” McKee revealed. “Ball retention and continuity to build pressure and create scoring opportunities when we are in possession along with our consistent work rate and discipline in our defensive system will be the two most important factors for us in this match.”