To kick of week 3 we have one of the top contenders up against a team that I considered lucky to win their first game. Hopefully this is a free flowing and fun to watch game.
Blues: The Blues are going into this game as strong favorites. They have that very strong back row again and they will want to dominate and show that they are the team to beat in this competition. Other players that have also played well and have hit above their weight in the competition this far is Otere Black and Mark Telea. These two players in the backline have had a magnificent season and they have taken some of the attention away from Barrett at the back to make it easier for him to impact the game. Their most influential player for me this far is their captain. He has been the player to take the ball up and get over the advantage line every time his team seams to be going backwards with the ball. He is also very strong in defence and I have no seen him miss a tackle or even get dominated in the tackle he is always the player coming up trupms in the contact area.If the Blues comes out and plays with the same intensity that they have in the first two games they are going to be difficult to stop.
Highlander: The Highlanders are a good team, but I don’t think that they are good enough to challenge the Blues in this game. They do have some players that is able to make the life of the Blues difficult, but as a team they do not match up on paper. One their key men is Aaron Smith who will look to make an impact, and if he plays like he played against the Hurricanes his team might not loose that bad to this in form Blues team.
Teams:
Blues
Highlanders
| Starting XV | ||
|---|---|---|
| Alex Hodgman | 1 | Ayden Johnstone |
| James Parsons | 2 | Ash Dixon |
| Ofa Tu’ungafasi | 3 | Siate Tokolahi |
| Patrick Tuipulotu | 4 | Pari Pari Parkinson |
| Josh Goodhue | 5 | Josh Dickson |
| Akira Ioane | 6 | Shannon Frizell |
| Dalton Papali’i | 7 | Dillon Hunt |
| Hoskins Sotutu | 8 | Marino Tu’u |
| Sam Nock | 9 | Aaron Smith |
| Otere Black | 10 | Mitchell Hunt |
| Caleb Clarke | 11 | Jona Nareki |
| TJ Faiane | 12 | Sio Tomkinson |
| Rieko Ioane | 13 | Rob Thompson |
| Mark Telea | 14 | Sam Gilbert |
| Beauden Barrett | 15 | Scott Gregory |
| Bench | ||
| Kurt Eklund | 16 | Liam Coltman |
| Marcel Renata | 17 | Dan Lienert-Brown |
| Sione Mafileo | 18 | Jeff Thwaites |
| Gerard Cowley-Tuioti | 19 | Maanaki Selby-Rickit |
| Tony Lamborn | 20 | Teariki Ben-Nicholas |
| Finlay Christie | 21 | Kayne Hammington |
| Harry Plummer | 22 | Teihorangi Walden |
| Joe Marchant | 23 | Ngane Punivai |
My prediction:
I have the blues as favorites for this game and it is hard to make a case for the Highlanders. I will pick the blues by 10.
Rugby dissect 
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