Tasman v Northland
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@taniwharugby Embrace the professional era!
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Much better position for Havili to focus on, hopefully that continues for the Crusaders as well.
A kicking second five would be very useful to the AB backline makeup.
Much less of a logjam in front of him too compared to fullback (Dmac, Jordie, BB, Jordan, just to name a few).
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@KiwiMurph said in Ta$man v Northland:
@Kirwan would also allow Goodhue to shift back to 13 for Crusaders too.
Yep. Another bonus.
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not yet official, but i believe this is our team to face Ta$man
Li, Olsen, Kearns
Goodhue, Caird
Robinson, McNamara, Pryor
Nock, Faiane
Tua, Ranger
Hyland, Gregory, LeiluaAtkins, Pou, Te Whata-Colley, Mayanavanua, Matich, Levien, Cooper, Hohaia
Faiane and Tua into the starting 15 with Goodhue & Hawkins out, Cooper and Hohaia in to replace the 2 promoted.
Unsure why they'd go to Hohaia as an impact player, leaving out Macilai (havent heard he is injured) who is a player who can provide some impact!
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https://www.nzherald.co.nz/rugby/news/article.cfm?c_id=80&objectid=12365792
Hopefully Cooper gets a good run in this game. He could be an option at fullback which would also take some of the pressure off of Wiseguy
If Cooper and Tua go well then they don't need to start Gregory
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@Duluth I just hope regardless of how Wiseguy or Cooper go at 10, we persevere with them, going back to Hawkins isn't going to get us where we need to be.
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They should stick with Wiseguy all year. I've seen a bit of Cooper at club level and he's comfortable at fullback too. If he adjusts well to NPC rugby he could be the starting fullback and cover 10. Hawkins out of the 23.
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seriously wiseguy has to be the best name in the NPC, will feel like watching Goodfellas when he plays
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@bayimports said in Ta$man v Northland:
seriously wiseguy has to be the best name in the NPC, will feel like watching Goodfellas when he plays
He’s named after this guy
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Bit of an interesting match this one.
While Northland will take a bit of confidence from the mixed bag, but largely solid outing in Round 1, they will also know they are in for a rude awakening tonight against a formidable Ta$man outfit!
The return of Havili just puts an exclamation mark on the quality of this team, particularly as they get an AB back, Northland lose thiers.
Rene Ranger will need to be in top form if he is to help guide this young backline tonight, after a very poor opening round from him with numerous errors to his game, particularly around his handling and decision making.
Sam Nock was very good in the season opener, but will be key in building a combo with Faiane as he himself tries to build on an excellent opening match where he took the field much earlier than anticipated after Hawkins took a head knock.
Some might say that turned out to be blessing in disguise as it gave Wiseguy more gametime than he would have expected and now a start!
Like always, it is all on the guys up front to set the platform that allows the backs to do thier thing, and this week will be no different against a largely super rugby pack.
Although to be fair the Northland pack should put up a decent showing, I will be keen to see if Pryor can back up from what is probably one of his best performances for us.
With an extended AB squad likely to head to Aus, I expect Tom Robinson will be in the selectors sights too, particularly as he squares up with Frizell.
The real heat will be on the front row, who performed solidly against Manawatu, but will need to go up several notches when they face a full super rugby front row form the South Islanders!
So for me, what does success look like tonight?
Well, it goes without saying a win is success, but realistically, I think a score of say 32-25, with us nabbing a BP is success tonight, it is about the performance more than the result, as that is all but a foregone conclusion, particularly if you look at recent history and what the TAB have to say...
Head to head
Ta$man $1.01
Northland $16.00
Ta$man 1-12 $6.00
Ta$man 13+ $1.12
Northland 1-12 $21.00
Northland 13+ $151Ta$man -30.5 $1.87
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@Duluth said in Ta$man v Northland:
@bayimports said in Ta$man v Northland:
seriously wiseguy has to be the best name in the NPC, will feel like watching Goodfellas when he plays
He’s named after this guy
Awesome, awesome show.
