Tasman v Northland
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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$man v Northland:
seriously wiseguy has to be the best name in the NPC, will feel like watching Goodfellas when he plays
He’s named after this guy
Awesome, awesome show.
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already looking like a rout
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big net gain there...not sure kicking it to Ta$man will be a good idea
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couple very 'flat' passes there
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didnt really look like he made a high contact?
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gonna be a long night if we struggle at set peices
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yeah not sure Nock shoulda put that in
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not sure how they could have won that on the ground without diving over it
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Schoolboy level passing on display tonight.
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our defence not too bad, although too narrow, but will run out of steam if we only defend, need to get some ball and build a phase or 2
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men vs boys stuff.
possession stats gonna be sobering
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surely that was forward pass anyway?
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@taniwharugby it’s the thing when you are so dominant...50/50s go your way
