v Southland
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@Steven-Harris just noticed, Id start Breen over Hawkins, feel he offers more on attack and off the boot.
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Some concerns there, especially in the front row if big Howard is crook.
Having said that, that's still a powerful lineup and should put Southland to sleep. They will attack us hard for a while, but we should wear them down.
I won't settle for anything less than 5 points from this game. We are a much better team and need to go out there and show them that. A bit of good old arrogance.
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A bit of rotation and injuries and some positional changes.
Still think that is a strong side, should be able to account for Southland...
Wright, Moulds, Kite
Goodhue, Bond
Douglas, Ram, Matich
Nock, Hawkins
Goodhue, Ranger
Macilai, Alaimalo, HylandOlsen, Sililoto, Apoua, Matiu, Pryor, Markwick, Breen, Hohaia
Only thing I don't like is the change at 10, the 9-10 axis is a key part of any successful team, these guys need to play together, so if they are pinning Hawkins as their 10, then he needs to start all the time.
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This doesn't say Dan Pryor is injured, so lets us assume the reason, although doesn't really say much about any of the changes, being enforced or not.
Matt Matich will make his first start of the season from the base of the scrum, replacing Dan Pryor who is out of the 23 altogether.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/northern-advocate/sport/news/article.cfm?c_id=1503448&objectid=11914607
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Southland
1 Joesph Walsh, 2 Brayden Mitchell, 3 Guy Millar, 4 Mike McKee, 5 Bill Fukofuka, 6 Phil Haler, 7 Tim Boys, 8 Elliot Dixon,
9 Liam Howley, 10 Scott Eade, 11 Aleki Morris, 12 James Schrader, 13 Matthew Johnson, 14 Ryan Tongia, 15 Lewis OrmondReserves:
16 Flynn Thomas, 17 Shaun Stodart, 18 Morgan Mitchell, 19 Tepasu Thomas, 20 Tupou Sopaga, 21 Jahvis Wallace, 22 Mike Molloy, 23 Greg Dyer -
@taniwharugby have to assume Dan is injured because he has been fantastic.
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just be nice to hear a bit more about injuries and the like.
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What a performance. Just totally dominant and a pleasure to watch.
Backs ran riot all day, hard to single anyone out in such a great team effort but Ranger was outstanding, back to his best form.
It could have easily been a bigger win if we had shown a little more patience in the first half when we made plenty of breaks but threw passes that didn't need throwing or carried loosely and turned the ball over. The pleasing thing was that they learnt from that and showed a lot more patience in the second 40.
We have to enjoy wins like this as they tend not come around too often for us Northland fans.
Whoop whoop
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Good to see a couple of new caps with Blundell and Hohaia. Hope Breen isn't out for long, Hawkins had one of his better days so he can keep that up all season.
Moulds nailed the end of game interview and said it all really. -
Hope josh goodhue is ok...we running out of locks.
Shit yea savour that moment, some tough games ahead with welly and tago looking strong.
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@kev wasn't trying to be negative, as I said very pleased with the big win.
Meant it in a positive way - score could have been sooo much more, that's how dominant we were. What was pleasing is it was obviously talked about at half time and they adjusted their play accordingly.
A few more thoughts from me:
•Macalai was in beast mode, throwing defenders off at will.
•Jack Goodhue is class (just in case you didn't already know)
•Alaimalo has clearly gone up another level after a season at the Chiefs.
•Hawkins had his best game in Cambridge Blue.
•Ross Wright is one of the best ball playing props going around.
•I am concerned at how deep we play on attack, it's working at the moment but when we come up against a better/rush defence, have we got a plan b? -
@taniwharugby two head knocks in 3 weeks. Faleafa is an option...
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plenty of players stood up tonight, great to see, and probably the thing that I liked most was the comms saying when Ram went off, we bought Pryor on!
We have some serious quality across the park at the moment, although only a few injuries away from that being gone...
LIke the Goodhue-Ranger mid-field, but then I think Goodhue is one of those players that will allow those around him to play better.
Macilai getting back to his best, Alaimalo, Nock one o fhis better games, Hawkins, I'm not a fan, but credit where its due!
Matich is a machine, hope he is ok too, liking Douglas, Bond, in fact, pretty happy across the board today.
@Gunner that turn of pace by Wright was superb, and I liked he didnt throw the off load too, was the right decision IMO.
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@kev said in v Southland:
@taniwharugby two head knocks in 3 weeks. Faleafa is an option...
Douglas to lock. We still have Pryor x2, Ram, Matich and Matiu who are all very good loose forwards...
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Can't disagree with much that has been said regarding this very good victory over Southland,one really pleasing aspect is that fact we had,Matt Wright,Tamati Tua,Namatahi Waa,Dan Pryor,Ropate Rinakama,Malcolm MacLeod,Troy Gilbert & Peter Breen unavailable for this game,and finally we have some depth to cover these injuries..
Although on saying that,we would'nt want to many more,especially at lock.
Just a footnote,popped along to watch the Nothland under19s play Auckland Under 19 Development squad.
They had a lot of injuries during the game,and did well to hold Auckland to 14 All with half an hour to go,but eventually because of all the changes,they fell away to concede another 5 x tries..A couple of players who really impressed me were Sam McNamara the captain from Waipu,stands about 6'3,only 18,has a huge engine,played the whole 80 minutes and made so many tackles,I lost count.
The other player making his comeback from injury was Scott Gregory, was only on the field for 25 minutes,rolled his ankle,hopefully he will be right for the National Under 19 tournament,looked very classy in the time he was on the field,very physical in contact wether carrying or tackling,but it's his organisational skills which I got a bit size sample of,looked bloody good.
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So glad we went down there and did the business. Stoked with how ruthless we were. The foot never came off the throat despite a reasonably high error count. Can only imagine what the score would have been if we'd cut those errors. 60-70 maybe??
Pretty hard to pick men of the match, but to me Ranger and Jack Goodhue were outstanding. In fact that whole backline really stood up. How much has Jordan Hyland taken strides since he's been part of our set-up?? He's not the quickest dude, but he's a clever footy player and uses his size well... It's odd to think he sometimes can't even make the match day 23.
Phil Kite and Ross Wright seamlessly slotted into the front row as well. Loving this depth!!
Gotta feel a bit for the old banjo pickers down south, it seems as though it'll be a long season for them, but hey, we've been there, so time to have a bit of sun on our backs for once.
On to Waikato now, we'll be brimming with confidence. Hope the injuries are minimal however. More ruthless attitudes next week fellas!!! We got this.
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a rather sad, but also encouraging comment in one of the news articles about our win yesterday:
With the win, Northland have more wins after three games (two) this season than the entire last two seasons combined (one).
