QF - Wellington v Waikato
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@foobaNZ I mean we should be more confident than this after winning 19 games in a row but I just worry how much that loss on Saturday will dent out confidence. Hopefully they have a good training week and we get back to winning ways.
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The round-robin game was closer than the final scoreline when you take into account the two intercept tries.
That said, Wellington should be strong favourites as the home team, and their winning streak over the last year. I'd be surprised if Cruden is playing so probably Cook-Savage will be back at 1st 5.
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@Canes4life said in QF - Wellington v Waikato:
@foobaNZ I mean we should be more confident than this after winning 19 games in a row but I just worry how much that loss on Saturday will dent out confidence. Hopefully they have a good training week and we get back to winning ways.
The loss might have the contrary effect, giving the Lions the kick in the pants they need to go for the title again
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@canefan said in QF - Wellington v Waikato:
@Canes4life said in QF - Wellington v Waikato:
@foobaNZ I mean we should be more confident than this after winning 19 games in a row but I just worry how much that loss on Saturday will dent out confidence. Hopefully they have a good training week and we get back to winning ways.
The loss might have the contrary effect, giving the Lions the kick in the pants they need to go for the title again
It is often the way (is it cliche or true?, who knows)... in many ways, I'd have been more confident in sticking my neck out to say Waikato would win had Wellington won last week.
In truth, Wellington would probably rather play every other team in the comp (is that a stretch)?
On form, Waikato are arguably looking like the comp's 2nd best side.
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@frugby said in QF - Wellington v Waikato:
@canefan said in QF - Wellington v Waikato:
@Canes4life said in QF - Wellington v Waikato:
@foobaNZ I mean we should be more confident than this after winning 19 games in a row but I just worry how much that loss on Saturday will dent out confidence. Hopefully they have a good training week and we get back to winning ways.
The loss might have the contrary effect, giving the Lions the kick in the pants they need to go for the title again
It is often the way (is it cliche or true?, who knows)... in many ways, I'd have been more confident in sticking my neck out to say Waikato would win had Wellington won last week.
In truth, Wellington would probably rather play every other team in the comp (is that a stretch)?
On form, Waikato are arguably looking like the comp's 2nd best side.
I haven't watched much NPC. But the Lions have always had problems beating the Mooloos, who traditionally send out excellent well organised forward packs
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@Canes4life I'm sure like me as a life long Lions and Canes fan we could win 50 on the trot and I'd be nervous for a knock out game.
Still - this team seems to have something different about them. Losing the Shield clearly hurt so they'll be up for it.
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@foobaNZ yeah but to be fair making the final hasn't been the issue for most of those years, winning the final though was a different story. Now that we've won one again I just hope we don't have to wait another 20 years for the next one. Let's hope we can get back to form and go all the way in 2023.
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1 Xavier Numia – Oriental-Rongotai
2 James O’Reilly – Hutt Old Boys’ Marist
3 Siale Lauaki – Tawa
4 Dominic Bird – Upper Hutt Rams
5 Teofilo Paulo – Hutt Old Boys’ Marist
6 Caleb Delany – Old Boys University
7 Du’Plessis Kirifi – Northern United (Captain)
8 Brad Shields – Petone
9 Kemara Hauiti-Parapara – Tawa
10 Aidan Morgan – Marist St Pats
11 Riley Higgins – Petone
12 Peter Umaga-Jensen – Wainuiomata
13 Billy Proctor – Marist St Pats
14 Julian Savea – Oriental-Rongotai
15 Ruben Love – Wainuiomata16 Penieli Poasa – Oriental-Rongotai
17 Cameron Orr – Western Suburbs
18 Josiah Tevita-Metcalfe – Northern United
19 Hugo Plummer – Tawa
20 Keelan Whitman – Marist St Pats
21 Kyle Preston – Old Boys University
22 Sam Clarke – Paremata-Plimmerton
23 Connor Garden-Bachop – Northern United -
@Duluth very weird side tbh. Lakai and Filipo are unavailable, Sheck is injured, Higgins is on the wing... wtf, Paulo is starting at lock, Ropeti looks to be injured. Not sure why Paulo starts ahead of Plummer lol.
I'm really not confident now, team looks very disjointed. I won't mind winning ugly this week.
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fingers crossed welly have some complacency based on round robin result.. when waikato were struggling to field 15 fit players!
cruds won't be there - old man calf muscles take more than a week to come right -
@Duluth said in QF - Wellington v Waikato:
1 Xavier Numia – Oriental-Rongotai
2 James O’Reilly – Hutt Old Boys’ Marist
3 Siale Lauaki – Tawa
4 Dominic Bird – Upper Hutt Rams
5 Teofilo Paulo – Hutt Old Boys’ Marist
6 Caleb Delany – Old Boys University
7 Du’Plessis Kirifi – Northern United (Captain)
8 Brad Shields – Petone
9 Kemara Hauiti-Parapara – Tawa
10 Aidan Morgan – Marist St Pats
11 Riley Higgins – Petone
12 Peter Umaga-Jensen – Wainuiomata
13 Billy Proctor – Marist St Pats
14 Julian Savea – Oriental-Rongotai
15 Ruben Love – Wainuiomata16 Penieli Poasa – Oriental-Rongotai
17 Cameron Orr – Western Suburbs
18 Josiah Tevita-Metcalfe – Northern United
19 Hugo Plummer – Tawa
20 Keelan Whitman – Marist St Pats
21 Kyle Preston – Old Boys University
22 Sam Clarke – Paremata-Plimmerton
23 Connor Garden-Bachop – Northern UnitedInteresting side
Some winger changes. CGB I thought was disappointing last week so has been dropped to the reserves. It will be interesting to see how Higgins goes on the wing.
Weakness is still our HB 1st combination. Morgan just isn't up to even NPC level in tough matches. Shame that Clarke wasn't given more game time to see if he has the goods. Likewise with Preston
But the forwards need to front up this week. Plummer will be disappointed
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@Winger Plummer has been solid all year so the fact Paulo is starting makes me think Plummer has a niggle and might not feature much.
You’re right, I feel like our bench halves combo is better than the starters. Shame we didn’t see more of them this year. Morgan cost us the Shield and still gets picked, there seems to be always one teachers pet in the team.
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@Canes4life said in QF - Wellington v Waikato:
@Winger Plummer has been solid all year so the fact Paulo is starting makes me think Plummer has a niggle and might not feature much.
You’re right, I feel like our bench halves combo is better than the starters. Shame we didn’t see more of them this year. Morgan cost us the Shield and still gets picked, there seems to be always one teachers pet in the team.
True. We had Blackwell. Now Morgan. Maybe they both have 'leadership' skills. -
Waikato finished regular season the strongest in my mind of all qualifiers. More than a banana skin, I give the mooloos a real shout in this.
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@bayimports yeah I feel you're right. However, if Cruden and Roe aren't playing I'd definitely give advantage to Welly at home.
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@Canes4life said in QF - Wellington v Waikato:
@bayimports yeah I feel you're right. However, if Cruden and Roe aren't playing I'd definitely give advantage to Welly at home.
Absolutely Wellington best team all season, Waikato finished stronger. Cruden and Roe also core to achieving that, so if they’re out advantage Wellington
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@bayimports it will just be interesting to see how Wellington react after that loss on Saturday. They'll either come out with plenty of venom or the team might have lost all their confidence, and as a result our season might come to an abrupt hault. I really hope it doesn't though obviously.
