Wellington vs Auckland

[Bovidae]

@akan004 said in Wellington vs Auckland:

Still no Coles. Wasn't he expected to be available for one or two RC games?

The original comeback date was late Sep or early Oct but Hansen said recently there was no set date. That's code for a setback in his rehab.

[Dice]

Good to have a few guys back. Fatialofa comes back at just the right time.

Without Gibson, Papali'i seriously needs to stay healthy until the end, because there's a massive drop in quality between him and the next openside option.

[African Monkey]

@dice Or we just get Sione Havili back.

[Tim]

@african-monkey Looks like he'll be out injured for some time.

[African Monkey]

@tim I take that back then haha. Anyone know how Aleks Dabek went in theclub season? He was a star at schoolboy level for St Peter's.

[Daffy Jaffy]

@african-monkey Dabek captained the champion Ponsonby team and was outstanding. He played pre-season trials with Auckland but missed out on the squad to Adrian Choat (NZ u20 this year). He's still very young and probably needs a years bulking up for first class rugby.

[Winger]

@canes4life said in Wellington vs Auckland:

Awesome to see Lousi back, hopefully have him starting at lock and Blackwell to 6 for the playoffs.

Agree. Without both Lousi and Fifita our lineout wasn't great. Its a shame that Fidow is out for the full year. But at least Lousi returning should rectify one weakness. Blackwell at 1.90 is just too short

[Squirrel]

Good game from Wellington so far. Retained the ball against a sturdy Auckland defence and eventually crash over from close range. 7-0 8.29 gone

[KiwiMurph]

Only one team in it so far.

[Squirrel]

20 minutes gone. 10-0 wellington. Auckland not much chop so far

[Tim]

Auckland seem to be asleep. Bizarre.

[Dice]

Sweet ball by Faiane. Manu with a nice run to score. Their chemistry has been so good this season.

[Squirrel]

Tumua Manu scores under the post after a great run by Melani Nanai
10-7 26 minutes gone

That's what the game needed. Hopefully that sparks Auckland into life

[KiwiMurph]

Brilliant ruck turnover win by Plummer. That lad plays with some guts.

[Dice]

Some poor passes by us in this game.

[KiwiMurph]

@dice trying to do too much - should be kicking more.

[Squirrel]

How do you not score there!

[Dice]

That was some run by Rayasi.

[Dice]

Some decent defense by us in the last 15 minutes. Keeping us in it.

[KiwiMurph]

some very weird scrum rules (both ways) in this game.