Harbour vs Auckland

[Duluth]

Trainor dropped & Seu back from injury

Surely Prattley has not recovered..

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15 Pryor Collier (Ponsonby, 10 Auckland caps)
14 Vince Aso (Ponsonby, 31)
13 George Moala (Grammar TEC, 48)
12 Malakai Fekitoa (Pakuranga, 25)
11 Caleb Clarke (Suburbs, 2)
10 Daniel Bowden (Ponsonby, 9)
9 Jono Hickey (Grammar TEC, 25)
8 Blake Gibson (Ponsonby, 14)
7 Sione Havili (College Rifles, 1)
6 Samuel Slade (Ponsonby, 3)
5 Ben Nee-Nee (Pakuranga, 8 )
4 Patrick Tuipulotu (Ponsonby, 17, c)
3 Marcel Renata (University, 14)
2 Greg Pleasants-Tate (Ponsonby, 18)
1 Sam Prattley (Pakuranga, 37)/Isi Tu’ungafasi (Suburbs, 14)

Reserves:
16 Kurt Eklund (University, 25)
17 Emersen Tamura-Paki (College Rifles, 2)
18 Isi Tu’ungafasi (Suburbs, 14)/Marco Fepuleai (Ponsonby, 0) +
19 Sam Ulufonua (Ponsonby, 1)
20 Taleni Seu (Grammar TEC, 15)
21 Lisati Milo-Harris (Grammar TEC, 2)
22 TJ Faiane (Pakuranga, 10)
23 Otumaka Mausia (College Rifles, 2)

+Potential Auckland debut

Injured/unavailable: Tom McHugh (season), Jamason Fa’anana-Shultz (season), Scott Scrafton (season), Leon Fukofuka, Dalton Papali’i, Michael Fatialofa, Melani Nanai, Sinclair Dominikovich-Murray

Auckland beef up team for Battle of Bridge

Some of the more seasoned campaigners have returned to the Auckland squad for Sunday s reprisal of the Battle of the...

[Tim]

[Tim]

LOL at Zinny's speech after the game: "From the team, we absolutely love Onewa Domain. One of the best grounds to play a final on."

[taniwharugby]

@Tim haha the sign in the background: Tegal North Harbour, the Chicken of Champions!

Gold!

[KiwiMurph]

Havili at 7 and Gibson at 8 - I would have thought the other way around.

Nanai can't be too far away I think they said he was 2 weeks away when the season kicked off.

I'm not fan of Pryor Collier but he can't be any worse than Trainor who has been garbage this season.

Harbour should be eyeing up a big win here.

[mimic]

Anyone know when Papali'i will be available to play? Was looking forward to see how he'd go alongside Gibson and Ioane..

[Duluth]

1 Chris Eves, 2 James Parsons, 3 Michael Tamoeaieta, 4 Gerard Cowley-Tuioti, 5 Jarrad Hoeata, 6 Glenn Preston, 7 Murphy Taramai, 8 Josh Tyrell, 9 Bryn Hall, 10 Bryn Gatland, 11 Tevita Li, 12 Harrison Groundwater, 13 Matt Vaega, 14 Matt Duffie, 15 Shaun Stevenson

Reserves: 16 Adrian Smith, 17 Karl Tuinukuage, 18 Sione Mafileo, 19 Brandon Nansen, 20 Hapakuki Moala-Liavaa, 21 Chris Smylie, 22 Daniel Hilton-Jones, 23 Ben Volavola

[Dice]

@KiwiMurph Havili doesn't have that much experience at 8, but he certainly ticks the boxes for the position, so he could play some there in the future. He played mostly at 6 in school and openside in club rugby.

If Akira becomes a regular AB, then one of Papali'i or Havili needs to be playing 8.

[KiwiMurph]

Auckland's senior team might be rubbish but at least their youngsters show some promise. Auckland U19s 57 Harbour U19s 12.

[mimic]

NH his the lead already

[Stargazer]

Geez, walk to the kitchen to get a drink; come back only a few minutes later and Harbour has already scored a try?!

[Dice]

Wasn't a good start by Fekitoa. Kicks out on the full, then next play, he comes out of the line and gives a massive overlap for Harbour, who make a break from it and score an easy early try.

[Dice]

Is Frank Bunce our defensive coach again?

[Dice]

Moala and Fekitoa are a mess on defense at the moment.

[Dice]

Our first time playing inside the Harbour half for the first time in 19 minutes.

8 - 0 to Harbour BTW.

[Stargazer]

Sumo about Auckland: "they look like they have just met on the bus today". Spot on.

[Dice]

We look uncoached. Can Feeney come back?

[Stargazer]

Geez, now in this game also sideline commentary/interviews during the game. They watched too many Aussie games during SR season. Not liking it.

[African Monkey]

@Stargazer We've looked like that since Nick White took over the side. North Harbour should be up by 30.

[Tim]

Harbour have deftly avoided Auckland's defensively strong forward pack. Playing just a bit wider with the forwards, good support for offloads, and fast flat passes through the backline.