Northland v Waikato
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well I'll be damned!!
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@J77 if we play smart and reduce errors we can compete. Most games we hand the ball over, kick poorly and end up playing no rugby. Still lots of work to do. Example was Rene who in the first half was disciplined and did not throw 50 50 offloads was great. In the second he started to free up a bit but generally was so effective.
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Great game from Johnny Cooper. Pulled from last game and dropped before injuries game him a second chance. On after 5 minutes. The 1st cross kick was ballsy but the second when we had a man up was a low % play. His only misstep really. His kicking from hand (getting us around the field) and for points was good.
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@Yeetyaah although the YC was based on poor tmo advice to ref...no big screen
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soooo...
After 5 or so I thought we were in for a hiding like last year.
But the boys fought back, sparked by our mid-field!
Our big boys got through some work particularly Olsen and Caird, Nock on form as usual, he must get the ball up higher than anyone else off the boot.
Ranger was very good, looked like he played more the kind of way I'd been hoping he would, with a bit more control, Tua looking very strong this year, he and Gregory will form a formidable mid-field in years to come.
Good to see we used HYland more too, Matty Wright injected himself and Macilai also looked sharper.
Cooper, well I say he just gave a great big
to our coaches!Yanked last week, dropped form the 23, then called in the last minute and stepped up and played a very handy 70 or so...although I will say I Hawkins kicked probably the biggest ever touch finder I have seen him do too!
Great value off our bench, although Kearns on at halftime, then yanked after 20? Assume that was the plan after naming Wright at hooker and we know Olsen can go 80.
Oh, not a huge fan of the number of kicks we are doing, or attempting in the 22 either, but glad one came off!!
All in all, was a more controlled game, we made less errors, didnt force as many passes, main issue I saw was when Waikato went through a few phases, we started to struggle defensively.
Massive boost for us before we face whoever we do next week, ideally HB smoke 'naki, meaning we get a shot at Otago who I think look more beatable than HB, especially given how poor we were against them (Otago)
MOTM Voting
https://www.forum.thesilverfern.com/topic/4313/northland-motm-v-waikato -
