Manawatu v Wellington
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@stargazer It is quite a strong wind he has to contend with, so cut him a little slack, something I don't normally do for Wellington players.
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Higgins said:
@stargazer It is quite a strong wind he has to contend with, so cut him a little slack, something I don't normally do for Wellington players.
Wellington players should be used to quite a bit of wind though.
6 missed kicks now. -
It's not as if he will be getting much game time for the Hurricanes anyway. At best he would be ranked number four behind B Barrett, J Marshall, and T Va'a and they have probably got some other wonder kid or two they are paying money to (mostly not to play!)floating round in schoolboy rugby somewhere like Scots College. Maybe even J Barrett might be rated at number four 1st five ahead of JGB. There is also a position they have to find to justify continuing employing J Blackwell so he might even slot in there at first five number five at a pinch.
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Stargazer said:
Manawatu:
15 Te Rangatira Waitokia, 14 Rob Thompson 13 Lifeimi Mafi, 12 Hamish Northcott, 11 James Tofa, 10 Otere Black, 9 Kayne Hammington, 8 Brad Tucker, 7 Adrian Wyrill, 6 Liam Mitchell, 5 Liam Hallam-Eames, 4 Nick Crosswell (c), 3 Sean Paranihi, 2 Sam Stewart, 1 Faalelei Sione.
Reserves: 16 Gene Syminton, 17 Fraser Armstrong, 18 Michael Alaalatoa, 19 Samuel Slade, 20 Brice Henderson, *** 21 Kayne Hammington *** 22 Sam Malcolm, 23 Ben Werthmuller.
BUsy arvo for Hammington...
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I have been very impressed by Isaia Walker-Leawere. He has been everywhere tonight and has shown immense strength in negating almost anything the Manawatu forward pack has thrown at us.
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But Va'a still has as Hurricanes contract from memory. Even if he doesn't they will almost certainly find a way of squirming him in there somewhere. Think the last time I saw him play was when he came on as a replacement for Fa'atonu Fili in the Wellington Samoans game against HB B out at the Hutt Rec a a week or so ago.
Incidentally Matt Peni also played that game. Not sure why he has fallen so far off the radar since his NZ Under 20 days (possibly injury related as he has not had a huge amount of club rugby under his belt these last few years either) but he was the standout Samoan forward that day so looks to still have something to offer, albeit at a considerably lower level even than Mitre10 Cup at this stage.
EDIT: Just checked and Va'a was not listed in the team. The guy I was thinking about was Carlos Price who started at halfback for the Samoans. Easy error as I was fully concentrating on supporting the Bay who won very well, even allowing for buttoning off in the second half letting the locals sore most of their points in the last 15 minutes. -
He had a two year contract and finished that up last year. I can't see him being signed again without playing any ITM Cup.
One player the Canes need to sign is loosehead prop Xavier Numia. He has shown exactly why he was ranked the no1 school boy a couple of years ago with his cameo appearances off the bench this year. Very strong at scrum time and very mobile around the park.
In Tim Farrell and Xavier, the Canes could have the makings of two very good long term prop options.
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@canes4life Is that the guy who plays at Ories? Watched Marcel Renata get comfortably held by the HOBM front row early on in the club season (he got subbed off not long after half time). Whetu Henry was the other Ories prop that day so Numia must have been on the bench at best that day. Maybe he was injured as I don't recall him playing much early in the season.
Who's spot are you thinking Numia should take? Renata and Ben May must be gone but think they have signed up a prop from Manawatu (Fraser Armstrong?) and not sure about Chris Eves. No doubt Stargazer will be able to give us a heads up on who is in and who is out, front row wise, at this stage. -
@higgins If the Canes are serious about winning another title soon, a guy like May shouldn't be anywhere near the picture. It might be a little too soon for Xavier to get a contract but they need to start building a long term tight five that can do the business year in and year out. Imo they should have thrown a bit more dosh at Loni Uhila to keep him in NZ. What is the point in having a Beaudy if he is always going backwards. Goodes has been a bigger loss to us than I first thought he would be.
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Canes4life said:
He had a two year contract and finished that up last year. I can't see him being signed again without playing any ITM Cup.
One player the Canes need to sign is loosehead prop Xavier Numia. He has shown exactly why he was ranked the no1 school boy a couple of years ago with his cameo appearances off the bench this year. Very strong at scrum time and very mobile around the park.
In Tim Farrell and Xavier, the Canes could have the makings of two very good long term prop options.
Numia started for Wellington the last 2 weeks. But he's still only 19 so sign him but let him learn the ropes during 2019
Xavier Numia
29th Nov 1998 1.89m/111kg Loosehead PropThe Wellington Lions squad to meet Counties Manukau is:
8 Teariki Ben-Nicholas (Old Boys University)
7 Mateaki Kafatolu (Petone)
6 Vaea Fifita (Wellington)
5 Isaia Walker-Leawere (Poneke)
4 James Blackwell (Petone)
3 Jeff To'omaga-Allen (Marist St Pats)
2 Asafo Aumua (Avalon)
1 Xavier Numia (Oriental-Rongotai) -
Canes4life said:
@higgins If the Canes are serious about winning another title soon, a guy like May shouldn't be anywhere near the picture. It might be a little too soon for Xavier to get a contract but they need to start building a long term tight five that can do the business year in and year out. Imo they should have thrown a bit more dosh at Loni Uhila to keep him in NZ. What is the point in having a Beaudy if he is always going backwards. Goodes has been a bigger loss to us than I first thought he would be.
Uhila was a bit injury prone though. But agree when fit he was great. He made a big diff to the pack when he was fully fit. And agree Canes now need two good props. But maybe Fidow will make the grade exp as an impact prop next year.
The issue with the Canes this year is they lost all of their dynamic forwards to injury. 2 hookers (Coles and Aumua). One prop (Fidow). One lock (Isaia Walker-Leawere). And Savea. So they were left with good players but more workhorse type players. It was an unbalanced pack and no punch from impact players. And along with a poorly coached back line. Unsure what Spencer can do but Holland is overrated as an attack coach. The Canes attack has slowly but surely gone to the pack with him in charge.
I hoping with Plumtree as boss they might right the ship next year. I have doubts about Spencer though. And Holland and Watt.
But will watch with interest to how the attack is with Wellington. It needs a lot of work so will see what Jane can do.
Re May. He's an Ok player to have as backup.
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Higgins said:
But Va'a still has as Hurricanes contract from memory. Even if he doesn't they will almost certainly find a way of squirming him in there somewhere.
Va'a came on as a replacement in one game for Wellington. About 15 minutes. He did one cross field kick and it went backwards. But otherwise looked ordinary. (Although 15 minutes is not enough time)
He also started one pre-season game. He had a shocking injury run and it might take him time to return to form. If he ever does
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All very well signing up young props but you can only have a certain number of players in your squad. Signing 19 year old props who almost certainly will not play for a year or two only adds pressure on elsewhere where you will obviously go in with less than a full quota in some positions. All very well bringing in injury replacements if overworked players succumb to injury but playing injury replacements ahead of full contract holders stinks. If a player is awarded to contract then surely they must be compelled to play when required and before injury replacements are allowed to be included in match day 23s. Hiding them away as they are "not ready" simply is not acceptable. If you are paid a mans wage you must do a mans job.
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Higgins said:
All very well signing up young props but you can only have a certain number of players in your squad. Signing 19 year old props who almost certainly will not play for a year or two only adds pressure on elsewhere where you will obviously go in with less than a full quota in some positions. All very well bringing in injury replacements if overworked players succumb to injury but playing injury replacements ahead of full contract holders stinks. If a player is awarded to contract then surely they must be compelled to play when required and before injury replacements are allowed to be included in match day 23s. Hiding them away as they are "not ready" simply is not acceptable. If you are paid a mans wage you must do a mans job.
The way things are now if the Canes don't sign promising players another team well. They issue is they have taken a punt on players who haven't done much. But Aumua for example they had to sign. Proctor looks like another punt worth taking. And I would take a punt on Numia. He's 19 and has already done OK at NPC level
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If other franchises do that then they will run into the problem of also making sure they have sufficient players to cover all positions and eventualities. I object strongly to "project" players being hidden away and not earning the money they are being paid, especially so in situations where the franchise brings in and plays an injury replacement player ahead of someone already being paid to play. If franchises try that the NZRFU should insist all fully contracted players must play before any injury replacements drafted in be permitted to take the field.
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Higgins said:
If franchises try that the NZRFU should insist all fully contracted players must play before any injury replacements drafted in be permitted to take the field.
You can't do this. It would mean playing an out of form for whatever reason player as opposed to someone who is in better form
Teams can (rightly) replace injured players. The replacement must have the same status as the player they replace. (And these young players signed are not paid huge money. Its to get them in the system and to make sure they focus on rugby and training etc.)
