NPC 2023
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@SouthernMann Why the fall from grace for these Otago/Highlanders outside backs? Freedom Vahakolo is playing rugby league in Auckland for Pt Chev and now Koroi at North Otago.
I find it baffling that they have both fallen into no mans land. Surely they could find better gigs somewhere else.
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@African-Monkey said in NPC 2023:
@SouthernMann Why the fall from grace for these Otago/Highlanders outside backs? Freedom Vahakolo is playing rugby league in Auckland for Pt Chev and now Koroi at North Otago.
I find it baffling that they have both fallen into no mans land. Surely they could find better gigs somewhere else.
Koroi is a sevens player who hasn't nailed a position in 15s. There was high hopes he could be a 10. He simply isn't. In terms of outside backs just doesn't offer enough.
With Freedom, sounds like he had some outside of footy issues.
Just both weren't good enough really.
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@SouthernMann Fair enough, having said that, I'd have thought that they'd be good enough for a gig somewhere else, be that for another NPC team, or even MLR.
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The first game kicks off in 2 days so i thought I'd check the official site
Latest news? Zero on the NPC. All their time seems to be taken up with the Woman's competition, the last story on male rugby was on the 21st of June. Squad lists are of course still 2022
What about the large media sites?
Stuff in their provincial rugby section basically has no stories about the NPC (An AB story mentions players in warmup games, there is a Ranfurly Shield story and a couple of RTS articles in the last month)
NZH? No real coverage, just a RTS story a while ago
Rugbypass - I couldn't find anything about the NPC
Newshub? Couldn't see anything
1News - a story on Brad Shields. Within the last month a story on RTS and another on Crotty
This sucks, pathetic from so called sports journalists. The Fern would have to be the best coverage in NZ for the NPC, which is ridiculous.
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I remember as a youngster cutting out clippings from the Dom Post of anything Lions related in the build up to games.
Obviously no one is getting papers anymore, but I do wonder if any kids have the same affinity a lot of us had for NPC back in the day.
Me and my 30 something sport loving mates are still heavily in to it.
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Media guides are still from 2022.
No coverage at all from the NZ Herald. One article from Stuff.
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@Kirwan totally agree NZR no better and you are right the Fern has the best coverage .
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Auckland still has last year's squad up:
Auckland Rugby Union
Official site of Auckland Rugby Union. Delivering amateur and professional rugby in Auckland City.
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Tight Five: Don't rule out ABs throwing World Cup curveball
OPINION: Elliott Smith analyses the biggest talking points from the world of rugby.
A suggestion...
Rugby’s National Provincial Championship (NPC) - beginning this weekend - needs someone to stand up and reshape it.
The competition’s first division expansion to 14 teams in the 2000s had merit at the time - a different time, when there was some delineation between the Super Rugby, test and provincial seasons, and before the time-poor digital entertainment age that provides a constant distraction in the household.
The top tier is too unwieldy and while the format is less messy than it was, it could use some panelbeating to bring it into 2023. A 10-team first division with two divisions of eight below it feels about right, with promotion and relegation automatic between divisions. You could even institute a playoff between the second-placed team in each division with the second from bottom to add more meaningful games for viewers.
An observation...
A lot of the NPC unions - especially in the top flight - have their heads in the sand about their place in the pecking order in rugby in New Zealand. This isn’t your father or grandfather’s NPC.
It’s a delicate balance given this is the height of the game for many unions. However, the financial losses that some of the provincial unions suffer seem to have no end in sight - and they simply cannot continue to wear these when the books are balanced at the end of the financial year.
It’s pleasing to see some larger unions capitalise on - anecdotally at least - a renaissance in club rugby over the last couple of years, by taking games to smaller venues this season. That may start to lessen the financial load.
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@Bovidae That's a pity. Those media guides were useful and those media releases don't include players that have been added to squads after the initial team namings, but before the season starts. It wouldn't be a problem if each PU had decent player profiles on their websites, but that's not the case.
Several PU's, including my own, still have the 2022 squads on their site.
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North Harbour's website doesn't even have a squad announcement, let alone a profile page.
Auckland still has last year's squad up:
Auckland Rugby Union
Official site of Auckland Rugby Union. Delivering amateur and professional rugby in Auckland City.
Media guides are still from 2022.
No coverage at all from the NZ Herald. One article from Stuff.
jeez that is all super amateurish....hell, all this stuff would make a good damning article for some journo...if they cared
happy to say otago seems to have a 2023 squad up, all but a couple with new photos and everything
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Bunnings Warehouse NPC
