Northland Club Rugby 2023
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Season kicks off this weekend, with some tasty encounters based on last years results.
Kamo away to KK, I am not sure about the latter, but Kamo have had some talented young blood turn up this year, and on paper look like they will be there at the business end.
Big game could be last years winners away to the Sharks who are have been tough in recent years.
OBM v Ngati Hine is another that could be a good one, with both sides more than capable of making the top 4, although Ngati Hine have a huge hole to fill in losing Kali Vaipulu at lock to College Rifles after rampaging around the dev games recently and impressing (hope Northland doesnt let him go)
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couple of huge upsets today, with both last years finalists going down.
I went to the OBM v Morewa - United Kawakawa game and when I checked scores at full time, the Sharks were trailing current champions, Mid Northern, so the Sharks have won it at the death, while last years losing finalists, Waipu were destroyed by Wellsford.
The OBM / M-UK game was pretty good, had messy patches but had some good ball running and typical agressive defence.
Best player on the park was M-UK lock, Reece Dephoff, not a big guy, but man he got around, carries, busting tackles, scored a couple of tries too, thier 8 Angus Murray was strong too, a bit of fitness and he could be a weapon.
Great to see veterens Warren Dunn and Justin Davies still running about too.
For OBM, they had thier moments, none more so for debutant Nathan 'Fish' Salmon at 13 picking up a nice try runnign a good angle, nice in and out and pace over 30m inside the first minute...he had a few other moments he wont remember so fondly though.
OBM have a couple of Japanese players playing, one on the wing scored a 90m try, while other playing 7, was very good, full of energy on both sides of the ball.
No one really stood out for OBM, plenty had good moments, but that was the problem, no real consistency.
Along with Salmon, was good to see several of the WBHS 1st 15 players from last year named in senior sides this weekend.
Not that they will see, but shout out to a bunch of the M-UK Prem reserves who came and sat where I had parked myself, they had some great banter, and bunch of GCs, even offered some cold beers!
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@taniwharugby former Counties Manukau and Highlanders winger Tevita Nabura kitted up for Kerikeri yesterday after being out of rugby for 3 seasons recovering from a serious leg injury
Be interesting to see how he goes although at 30 years old turning 31 in June his best days might be past him
Also turning for Kerikeri yesterday was former Ngati Porou East Coast halfback Sam Parkes ,very tidy footballer who has played for the NZ Heartland team -
@Pepe they have lost a few players from last season Deon Ma’u is playing over in Europe at the minute and Pisi Leilua has gone to Kamo
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@Steven-Harris McNamara wasn't on the teamsheet either, Jonah Ma'u was on the bench too assume MP have him on limited minutes, so well understrength.
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some very interesting results after round 2 today, last years Champs now 0/2 after dark Horse Wellsford rolled them out at Mid Northern.
Last years wooden spooners, Hikurangi rolled OBM at Hika, while the Sharks got up again over Morewa Kawakawa
I went along to Hora Hora v Kamo, which was a decent game, with some fiery moments too.
Kamo stole it at the death after a well executed maul following a high tackle penalty advantage they were held up over the line only moments earlier.
Was a game where both sides could have won, were 3 YCs, 1 against Kamo and 2 against HH, with one of the ones v HH (Dan Hawkins) was bloody harsh for kicking the ball away after ref had awarded Kamo a penaly.
Should have been a further YC against Kamo and a red against HH, as the Kamo 7 (I think) took out a HH player illegally off the ball, and while he was getting up one of the HH guys punched him, can only assume ref an AR missed it all as neither got a card.
The HH player who did that, was always looking for a fight, and skipped shaking hands with half the Kamo side after the match.
Plenty of new young faces in both sides to mix with some experience.
Scrum battle was odd, with Kamo destroying HH early on, then Kamo with an attacking scrum 5m out, HH destroyed them, twice. After that was a bit more stable.
Jayden Laupepe looks good at 10 for Kamo, although in the 2nd half with the wind at thier backs and playing 'downhill' he needed to kick it more, thier 9 Donald Boyd looks good too, big, strong and nice pass, just some less than ideal decisions at times. They have a big strong 12 too, Pat Elia, had some nice touches but needs to vary it from trying to run over his opposite all day.
Kamo tight 5 worked hard all day too, although Hohaia struggled at lineout on the final quarter, but nailed the final throw, so guess that is all good.
For HH, Melino Foto was busy and agressive on both sides, Doug Te PUni and Tama Anderson were always a threat with the ball, with Te Puni setting up a cracker of a try after fielding a kick deep in his half, beating several players and then popping to Anderson on his shoulder to finish it.
HH starting tight 5 put in a good shift too, although one of thier reserve props slapped somoeone right in front of the ref only moments after Hawkins had been YCd so he was binned too
last years finalists both sit at the foot of the table
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@taniwharugby great report
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Got out to watch OBM v HH today, in overcast, dry and blustery conditions.
Pretty good game all up, HH dominating the forward exchanges, allowing thier outside backs the space to score some cracking tries on thier way to a 34-14 win.
OBM have been one of the top sides far the past few years, and while this one has the makings of a good side, thier pack is a bit lite and thier 9-10 seems to be struggling.
HH has been bolstered by the move by Bruce Kauika-Peterson from Waipu, alongside Esile Fono and upcoming Tahi Subritzsky form a pretty strong front row.
BKP is a ball of energy, but for me, Melino Foto playing at 8 is a massive part of the success of thier pack, looks to have added some size to his frame, without losing his rapid pace to go with his workrate and aggression, would love to see him given a chance up a level.
HH scored 2 cracking long range tries from sheer pace, the 1st a 70m effort by Sione Lasike down the sideline and in the 2nd half a scorcher up the middle by Tama Anderson.
Dan Hawkins controlled the game well, using the wind when he needed to.
For OBM, a couple of thier younger guys stepped up, particularly Nathan Salmon who spent some time in the blues u20s camp playing at centre, for a young fella is good to see the physicality he is playing with, not afraid to mix it up. A nother young guy, Donovan Swart on the wing did well for a fella pretty new to rugby, on the other wing Taleilei Taleilei is a big lad with pace too as he had his own 80m try as well.
Both sides missed numerous scoring chances after good work getting there, but all in all, HH deserved the win, OBM could be in for a tough season, although will still push teams.
Not sure what is up with Waipu, they have lost a few players, notably a couple of thier top ones from last year (Pisi Leilua to Kamo, BKP to HH, think McNamara is still injured and Mau'u assume not released by Moana Pacifica) I believe they still have same coaching team, so not sure if there is more to it, but no doubt Kamo would have been disappointed to miss the chance for a BP win.
All other results went as expected, MN had Rush & Craig back to help them to thier 1st win of the year and is great to see Hikurangi being so competitive too.
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Good lineup of matches this weekend, am picking 2 away wins, from HH and the Sharks, and only game I think will be tough to pick is the MN/Kamo one, although think MN will take it.
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So all results today went as expected, although MN accounting for Kamo so comprehensively was a bit of a surprise, although pretty much back to full strength with Rush, Craig, Kalani Going and young Jade Stewart at 10 who has returned after being in the Canterbury/Crudaders system for 2 years.
In damp conditions I went to watch OBM host the Western Sharks, who took the lollies to remain unbeaten and sit atop the table.
As I mentioned last week, the OBM pack look a little lightweight, and today they came up against the Sharks 8 which will surely be the biggest in the comp.
Sharks took the game comfortably, and lead only 15-0 at the break, probably should have been more given thier complete dominance up front, particularly at scrumtime.
I thought they'd run away in the 2nd spell, but some less than ideal decisions by the Sharks and some courageous defence by OBM mean that things didnt get away as quick as I expected, also not helped when the Sharks subbed 2/3 of thier front row, pretty much removing the dominance to pretty much parity.
OBM's fullback Takuya Ssito, all 85kg or so of him was very good on defence, on numerous occasions stopping the Sharks 100kg+ Fijian wingers and on one occasion stopping thier rampaging lock, Kaufononga Tausinga who looks to be 125kg+ in full flight, stopping a sure try.
For the Sharks, thier large front row did thier job, young Zackary Willy looks to have a good turn of pace for a big man. As always, Matt Matich was to the fore, running the ball and defending, Tausinga carried the ball up all day, while right wing Jonetani Mateiwai was hard to bring down.
Was also impressed with the slight 10, Jack Bradley, ran things well, and even moved in to play 9 in the 2nd half.
For OBM, their pack tried hard, but were just outmuscled most of the afternoon, while outside Ssito was very good, as was mid-fielder Mitchell Reader who carried strongly, often into the large Sharks pack, his mid-field partner, Nathan Salmon had some good touches, but as a kid who was often then best player in his team, he needs to realise there are other capable players around him now.
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While the weather looks to be average, hopefully it wont affect the games too much as there are a couple that are set to be good clashes:
1 Sharks v 3 HH and 4 Kamo v 5 M/UKKI think despite the table positions, I reckon the toughest game to pic will be the Kamo v M/UKK one, which could go either way, Kamo needing to bounce back from their heavy loss to MN, while M/UKK will want to keep pressing on to get into the top 4.
Game 1 - expect MN will win this one comfortably against a struggling Waipu
Game 2 - home advantage for KK over a much improved Hikurangi
Game 3 - Wellsford to comfortably beat a struggling OBM
Game 4 - I think Sharks pack will have the upper hand giving their big backs plenty of ball and they'll win it in a tight one
Game 5 - Kamo to sneak it
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Only 3 out of picks 5 today...
Pretty concerning that Waipu played MN in the club final last year and had 81 unanswered points scored against them today!
I decided to go watch the unbeaten Sharks at Hora Hora, where I thought the Sharks size would get them over the line, especially in less than ideal conditions.
I was wrong, HH played very well and deserved winners and now sit atop the table.
Sharks almost scored inside the 1st minute after a big break by lock Tausinga, but several phases inside the 22 and HH forced an error, which would turn out to be an issue for the sharks on thier numerous visits to the 22 with a lack of accuracy.
That said, HH were excellent, thier work around the park, scramble d, good running and just general play made it hard for the Sharks to get anything going.
The HH pack stood upto the Sharks at every point, and while in the end the Sharks probably took the scrum battle in a points decision, HH just hit it up and tackled with more urgency and accuracy, and took almost all the chances when they had them.
I am a huge fan of HH #8 Melino Foto, huge work rate on both sides, and some serious gas, if he was to get to NPC, he'd probably be best suited to 7, Kauika-Peterson is also playing bloody well for HH.
I am really looking forward to watching HH FB Tama Anderson's career progress, this kid oozes class and has gas to boot....ran down Sharks 10 (usually wing/FB) Ace Vatuinaruku who is no slouch after he turned Tama in then out and looked like he was gonna go 80 to score.
Dan Hawkins directs so well at this level and as always, courageous on d, no matter who runs at him.
For the Sharks, Matich worked tirelessly as always, although was concerning when he came to thier trainer after seemingly suffering a heavy knock, but he battled on.
Tausinga carried well again, but really the Sharks just lacked accuracy after getting themselves in good spots but just couldnt finish them and couldnt really get thier backs into the game.
Also doesn't appear Marty Veale has yet clocked off as it looked like he was there watching with interest.
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An excellent report, thanks.
I may have a slight bias, but I can't think of a more deserving team to be perched at the top... -
Hope this shitty weather clears cos we have a couple of big games on the card again tomorrow, none moreso than the HH v MN one, while it is 1 v 5, MN have a strong side and after early hiccups look to be building now, the other good game is the sharks v Wellsford with the home side looking to bounce back after thier first loss last week, while Wellsford keen to hit back after a surprise draw against 9th place OBM.
My picks:
could go either way, but KK to squeak past OBM
Sharks to take it over wellsford
the big game, toss of a coin for me, but wonder if the HH pack can deliver again, have a feeling MN will take it
Kamo to take it over Hika, who seem vastly improved on the past 2 seasons
M/KK to comfortably take Waipu
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For the most part, weather was dry, but soggy underfoot, and expect most grounds to be the same.
I went along to watch HH host MN in a very tight tussle, that HH almost stole at the death with multiple phases on the MN line, but the MN defence was resolute and held on to take it 16-10.
Given MN were up 8-3 inside the first 5, I thought it was going to be a higher scoring match than this, but no, was a scrappy tussle.
HH were missing 4 starters, 2 who are influential players, so who knows how things would have gone had they been at full strength.
Jordan Olsen playing at hooker was to the fore, this guy just keeps on keeping on, carrying, tackling, throwing his body around and taking some punishment from the opposition, some borderline legal.
Rob Rush, was very busy, got through alot of work, also liked the look of wing Jack Colbourne who has a bit of pace but was a made some crucial tackles, he later moved to play 6.
Young Jade Stewart has the tools, but still a bit raw, missed a couple of makeable penalties, and had a kick charged, otherwise his kicking game was pretty good, and not afraid to make his tackles.
For HH, Kauika-Peterson was playing 8 (with no Melino Foto) and was his usual busy abrasive self, while 7 Tiaka Smith was into everything too, always running and hitting hard.
Dan Hawkins put in a good shift, particularly on d, with a brilliant read of play to find himself in the right spot several phases in to smash the MN player into touch, saving what was a certain try, add in several other hits, on forwards and backs, the guy has a huge heart on d.
HH had plenty of chances to win this game, a few wrong options, particularly at the back of rucks may have been crucial and no doubt they will be ruing the missed opportunity as they dropped from 1st to 3rd on the table, although only 8 points separate 1st to 6th.
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Some decent weather forecast this weekend for a change, but with whats fallen, expect a few grounds to still be heavy, particularly the likes of Mid Northern and Wellsford.
1 - Thinking Mid Northern will be too strong for M/KK
2 - While it's a clash of the 2 bottom teams, I think Hikurangi is a bit better than that, so think they might sneak home
3 - Kamo should be too strong for OBM, but expect some feeling in that one with a few OBM lads wearing Kamo colours this year
4 - Despite being at home, think the Sharks will be too strong for KK
5 - Wellsford v HH is probably the game of the round with 3 v 4, Wellsford do seem a bit up and down, and an understrength HH looked good last week v MN, so think they will take the lollies.
