v North Harbour
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Still feels this game could go either way.
Penalties could decide it, so I would get Hoeata off if I was Harbour coach
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Shit refereering with not stopping play for the injured Northland player
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Yep one of those games where either team coulda won, we probably looked more likely for most of the match but lost alot of shape and direction in the last 10.
That intercepted pass was unlucky, if the pass had gone to hand coulda been a try down the other end...to be so close and then get no bp is cruel.
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@taniwharugby Yes re last 10 minutes.
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Grrr. How the heck did we lose that? To not even get a bonus point is cruel after having the upper hand for pretty much the whole match. Gutted!!
One thing that match showed though, was that these two teams are the real deal this year, and will feature highly at the business end of the comp. Not bad for two sides that were cellar dwellars in the not to distant past. Forget the Battle of the bridge, the new hot rivalry is the Battle of the Dome Valley! 👍
Looked to me as if a few of our guys were getting banged up. Bond and Douglas looked to be struggling with injuries. I'm glad we have an 8 day break before Manawatu now, a chance to lick the wounds and crack on.
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Yea beaten by a good team, bar that one scrum the scrum were very even, our lineout probably edged them ever so slightly.
Again our ruck ball was a bit messy at times but otherwise can't be too unhappy, just disappointed
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It was definitely there for the taking,did a few interviews at games end,could tell talking both Ranger & Moulds,it was a case of one that got away..
The first 60 minutes was a real arm wrestle,just some of our kick options may have let us down,too many down the throat of Shaun Stephenson.
Big ups to Jacob Matiu,the man is not the biggest number 8,but he is a beast with he has ball in hand or not.
Special mention to Jordon Hyland,probably the most improved player in the Taniwha. -
Big shame Northland couldn't hold on for the win, with 5 minutes to go I thought we had it.
North Harbour are definitely a good side these days, think we did well but obviously one that got away. Breen was good while he was on but think he will be gutted about his effort on Volavola.
I reckon Sam Nock has been a big improver this season - todays game he was really good. If he maintains that form he will be putting a lot of pressure on for the Blues 9 jumper. Matiu and Faleafa both offered some good aggression - think it's good having Faleafa on the bench with his hard running. We missed Matich (all game) and Bonds tackling in the 2nd half.
Jordan Hyland has definitely stepped up this season, obviously got the try today but also his defence and physicality is a big plus.
Not sure if we will get any extra Super Rugby players despite our form. Still think Jack Ram would be great at that level but I reckon Witcombe will be having franchises keen on him in a coaching role soon - we were good before he left, rubbish while he was gone and he's come back and got us humming. It helps having Goodhue and Ranger come back but other than that the squad is relatively similar to the last 2 seasons.
Also how good was Ross Wrights one handed catch and off load?!? - can't believe he got ruled out for that!
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Yeah I think all our super players bar Macilai are still on contract for 2018 which can only bode well for us going forward.
Hopefully he can pick something up, he is certainly looking good again, also looks to have taken up the Rupeni diet
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@taniwharugby said in v North Harbour:
Hopefully he can pick something up, he is certainly looking good again, also looks to have taken up the Rupeni diet
He seems to have evolved into more of a power winger these days than the quick elusive type that he was when he first came on the scene.
He certainly uses his extra weight well, he is carrying pretty hard into contact, and more often that not beats or half beats the first tackle.
