Northland v Taranaki
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@Dice yeah we commented at the game he was oddly very quiet.
Our kick chase needs work, Leilua seems to lead the defence line, but so often on the kick through he was leading it, but by fuck if he wasnt holding them back as they were moving up far too slow all the time.
I like what he brings, he does alot of talking, is usually in good positions, although way out of position for the raking kick naki put in that lead to one of thier tries.
Scrum looked very shaky in the first half, but shored up in the second, lineout is a worry, cos we had our best aerial players out there today and we really struggled with a couple of not straights and poor timing.
Gotta love what Macilai brings to the game, still has a bit of x factor about him, make ground with ball in hand, and put in a big hit at the end.
Our loosies were ahead too pretty much in all facets, Matich letting Pryor & Robinson roam wide while he got stuck in the tight and worked tirelessly as always.
Thought Ranger was up and down, did some good stuff or was quiet
Hawkins had one of his better games I have seen him play, just played the role of a pivot and steered us around the park, although his line kicking still leaves alot to be desired!
As above, messy 50 or 60 mins, at times looked like we would run away, and then like we would throw it away, but I reckon that was probably about right in terms of scoreline.
Hopefully with that little bit of luck and a meat pie, Gregory is finding his way back to form.
Reckon Tuiloma might be pushing for a start too
Congrats to Ross Wright, the hundy club, Kara, Sam and Matt with the half, well deserved.
Was that disallowed try call fair? At the game I thought they were gonna call it knocked on with the bobble from Ranger, but no, was earlier.
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@taniwharugby disallowed try was a fair call in my view.
Good win by the Taniwha.
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@ACT-Crusader yeah my view of the big screen was obscured...
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@taniwharugby one eye distorts perspective eh
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@nzzp thought you had been up here
was more lack of a big screen that prevented me seeing the replay... -
@taniwharugby said in Northland v Taranaki:
@nzzp thought you had been up here
was more lack of a big screen that prevented me seeing the replay...in fairness, it's been a while...
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Stupid embedding thing...team haka for Ross
14K views · 295 reactions | Congratulations Ross Wright on 100 games...
Congratulations Ross Wright on 100 games for the Taniwha #upthetanis
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Excellent performance from the Tani's to beat a pretty good Taranaki side.
It's a game we'd have lost in years gone by after slipping behind going into the last quarter.
Thought the forwards really stood up, and gee Big Red is either mad or just tough as f**k lining up Sowakula like he did, how good???!!!
A guy who has improved since last season, (I didn't really think much of him last year) is Te Whata-Colley, I love his physicality around the rucks.
Nock has got to have one of the best box kicks in the business. Those kicks of his looked effortless and had serious height on them, which you don't really see watching on TV. Noticed a serious step down in the slickness of the passing when he was subbed too.
Macilai - still got it!! He's a class act and quality finisher at this level. He has to play.
We SHOULD be able to put Southland away reasonably comfortably at home next Sunday. As improved a side as they are, they are limited and they'll be out of their comfort zone playing on a fast dry track with the sun beating down on them.
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@taniwharugby Nock has the ball kicked out of his hands so knock on was at base of scrum prior to Ranger.
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@kev cheers, havent seen full replay to see what had happened, live I just thought it woulda come back to Ranger bobbling it.
Gotta say, the local DJ at
Okara ParkLowe WalkerTollSemenoff Stadium needs kick up the arse too!!1 - music was too loud (plus those pesky kids were playing rugby on my lawn)
2 - went on far too long, several times it only faded out as the team receiving a kick was catching it -
@taniwharugby said in Northland v Taranaki:
@kev cheers, havent seen full replay to see what had happened, live I just thought it woulda come back to Ranger bobbling it.
Gotta say, the local DJ at
Okara ParkLowe WalkerTollSemenoff Stadium needs kick up the arse too!!1 - music was too loud (plus those pesky kids were playing rugby on my lawn)
2 - went on far too long, several times it only faded out as the team receiving a kick was catching itMan a stadium named after that dodgy fluffybunny, very embarrassing
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@Machpants all about the money money money
Guess he is trying to redeem himself by putting out the cash...
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@taniwharugby A fitting haka for Ross. Great to see that commitment on the field as well. We have always had the ability to hit hard but now we some to be making more tackles and the defensive line is working better.
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@kev yeah our defence is largely pretty good so far, but we still defend too narrow, we seem to get flanked too often. I do wonder if that last try naki got was because I think it was Rush still walking across in the in-goal area with Leilua I think, thinking he had someone outside him.
Also on watching the replay, what was his card for, I hear the ref say repeated infringements against us, but he looked just onside, and more so than the 2 guys immediately inside him at any rate and I think Atkins and Hohaia were off side on the other side of the ruck, and ref blew up before he could be pinged for a ruck infrongment, so assume he was just the player the ref decided was off side?
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Everything bar that wide defence is coming on nicely this year. Loving the ability to fight for 80 minutes as well.
Really pleased with the fact that we can still look like we’re in second gear but still push on and put teams to bed. Shows that the fitness levels have increased in the off season. Was evident looking at the shape Ross Wright is in, and Te Whata-Colley to a lesser degree.
As Gunner said we should take Southland down this weekend, but definitely shouldn’t be banking any points before the game has started. Southland have shown their defence is very solid, but haven’t shown much on attack. If we unlock the D we should rip them to shreads.
As for individuals, I’m still not overly sold on Hohaia at 12 and would like to eventually see Gregory there with Leilua and Macilai on the wings. Would like to see Johnny Cooper get a crack at the back, he looked good there in a shit performance against Ta$man.
The rest of the team look quite balanced, and even though I haven’t been a fan of Hawkins in the past, he hasn’t done much wrong the last two weeks.
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@taniwharugby I thought the ref blew everything too quickly. Everyone struggled to adjust.
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@taniwharugby said in Northland v Taranaki:
@kev cheers, havent seen full replay to see what had happened, live I just thought it woulda come back to Ranger bobbling it.
Gotta say, the local DJ at
Okara ParkLowe WalkerTollSemenoff Stadium needs kick up the arse too!!1 - music was too loud (plus those pesky kids were playing rugby on my lawn)
2 - went on far too long, several times it only faded out as the team receiving a kick was catching itAbsolutely this. It was awful music and awful timing.
The worst part wasn’t even the music, it was the time he was advertising something, went on a good 10 seconds after the game had re-started.
Also, this is nothing to do with the ground announcer but there were a group of about 3 or 4 absolute tools sitting front of us, constantly yelling out rediculous insults to the Taranaki players and team in general. They thought they were being funny, but they were a total bloody embarrassment! I felt like telling them to put a sock in it!
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