Auckland 2018
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Ieremia and Prattley were on the Breakdown last night.
Ieremia confirmed that Henry is the defence coach. I think most of us were assuming Tai Lavea was in charge of attack but it is actually Ieremia
Most of the conversation was filled with coaching cliches (culture, enjoying themselves, it's a sprint, early days etc etc).
Lot's of talk about mixing the pro SR players with the semi pro players. There was no direct attack on the Blues but the inference was that the senior SR players were allowed to get away with shit and that the overall culture was poor (anyone surprised?)
So the Auckland coaching staff needed to reset expectations and raise standardsGood to hear Ieremia talking about working with the clubs and the importance of club form being able to earn selection. Again basic stuff.. but there has been a lot of friction about certain clubs getting preferential treatment.
The coach being and outsider might be an advantage here.Prattley didn't have much to say (like most player interviews). He did make a good point about the last two years being an anomaly. In his time the team has gone ok and then something went badly wrong in the White years
(I think there has been two bad coaches this century: Pivac, Lam, Pivac, Feeney were largely successful. Anscombe and White were not) -
Interesting.
Even Anscombe was a better coach than White - one of Anscombe's Auckland teams can within a whisker of making the final one year didn't they? (losing a semi final to Waikato by a whisker and then having an embarrassing blow up/whinge to the media after the game?)
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@kiwimurph said in Auckland 2018:
Even Anscombe was a better coach than White - one of Anscombe's Auckland teams can within a whisker of making the final one year didn't they? (losing a semi final to Waikato by a whisker and then having an embarrassing blow up/whinge to the media after the game?)
Maybe I'm being harsh on him. I think he was responsible for the stagnation of those years though
One thing I'll say in his favour is that he had to deal with the contracting disaster of 2007. Because of stupidity from the ARU and the NZRFU Auckland lost 17 players at the end of 2007. It's crazy that so many players were off contract from one province.
But his selections had a real lack of ambition. Importing Morland, Berquist, bringing back an old Ward. Dropping Faumuina from the match day squad and almost prematurely ending his career (people were upset when Lam still gave him a Blues contract)
It seemed like wasted seasons and no progress until Pivac returned
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@duluth I think Anscombe is a good coach, I just think he struggles with the other aspects usually associated with the coaches role (identifying talent, selections etc)
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He used to claim that Strawbridge was in charge of selecting the backs. Maybe he should only be an assistant coach?
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@duluth Interesting that Ieremia is in charge of the attack as the attack doesn't really resemble a lot of his previous work.
I do think Lavea has a bit of a say in the attack though because when we signed Lavea, Ieremia said this, ''We are aligned with key strategies, especially in the backline''.
A lot of the traits of our backline play is quintessential St Kents under Lavea to me. I'm guessing Lavea is either our backline coach or our skills coach?
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@dice said in Auckland 2018:
A lot of the traits of our backline play is quintessential St Kents under Lavea to me. I'm guessing Lavea is either our backline coach or our skills coach?
Sounds right. It's hard to find any official job titles. They were definitely talking up his work with the backs when he was appointed
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@kiwimurph where's he at now? I thought he picked up a gig elsewhere?
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@taniwharugby Nick White is the Chiefs' scrum coach, a job he seems to be very good at. Some people are better as assistants I guess. There were comments that White was a very good forwards coach too.
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@tim ah I thought he had gone there but wasnt on the staff list?
Yeah when at the Blues I always thought the Blues scrum was solid, so he is better as an assistant or more technical role.
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@taniwharugby said in Auckland 2018:
ah I thought he had gone there but wasnt on the staff list?
He was there for a few weeks before it became official
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Just a bit of fun.
An Auckland XV playing for other Mitre 10 Cup teams.
1 Angus Ta'avao
2 Andrew Makalio
3 Kalolo Tuiloma
4.Sam Lousi
5 Vaea Fifita
6 Kara Pryor
7 Mitchell Karpik
8 Sione Havili
9 Tayler Adams
10 Josh Ioane
11 Ben Lam
12 Braydon Ennor
13 Seta Tamanivalu
14 Matt Duffie
15 Etene NanaiI included a couple of guys like Fifita and Tamanivalu who came to Auckland via the islands. I avoided selecting anyone who schooled here but are from other provinces though.
A bit weak at loosehead, so just threw Ta'avao there. Maybe someone can think of a better option.
Weak at halfback as well. Enari might've been an option as he was born in Auckland and schooled here for a bit, but I think he was mostly raised in Gisborne. He is the nephew of two Auckland legends(Iceman and Eroni), so maybe he should automatically qualify
A bit on the small side in the backrow, but they should be able to manage against most backrows at NPC level.
I might've missed some other options that could be in there.
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At lock you could have Gerard Cowley-Tuioti (Kelston, but started at Massey), Pari Pari Parkinson (St Kents, Whakatane originally), Ben Nee Nee, or Jacob Pierce (did he go to school in Harbour, came through the Auckland system).
Sione Mafileo at tight head.
Few other props around, though they are mostly injured this season?
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@dice said in Auckland 2018:
@nepia Team didn't look as cool without them
The Poo would be decent, but would they have enough players to fill out a XV?
You'd have to fill it out with current Poo players. But a few years back they could have rolled out a team that started with three Whitelocks, Smith, Cruden, Squire and Hadleigh Parkes.
