2016 Northland Mitre 10 Cup Squad.

Chiefy

I like it. Only thing I would change is putting the two white strips on either side of the Toll logo rather than both underneath. I like the white trim again.
 
A flash new jersey isn't going to count for much if we play like last season...

taniwharugby

provided we don't get ravaged by injury, we wont play like last year, only way is up!
 
Tough start to the comp though, and that is always key, get down on confidence early makes it tougher to climb out!

taniwharugby

a rookie side was destroyed by NH in the pre-season game, which featured players fromoutside the squad, with those involved in the finals tomorrow being unavailable.
 
Starting team for Northland was Alaimalo,Taquea,Landsdowne,Tua,Hyland,Paraki,Subritsky,Matich,Robinson,Faleafa,Sweetman,,Neville,Talaese,Tou,Topou

Steven Harris

Popped along to North Harbour stadium today
Very much an understrength Northland team,with up to 18 x players unavailable because of club final tomorrow,and not to mention several super rugby players missing, 
very much a learning experience for many of the players that took the field in what looked like a thrown together team,whilst the scoreline was'nt flattering. 
Harbour had a decent sprinkling of their Mitre10 Cup players running around,whilst defensively,you could understand there were some issues,there were some individuals that really impressed, 
starting in the pack,Shane Neville put himself about defensively,and always carried hard,taking it to the Harbour pack,Matt Matich who ended up on the wing in the 2nd half,has a massive engine, 
and along with Tom Robinson was was always close to the action,in the backs,Jordon Hyland was superb,running at that line really hard,making a very good line break and offload which 
lead to Northlands only try. 
Hylands defensive work was also very good,several punishing shots,at fullback,Solomon Alaimalo looks player with a ton of potential,he made a very good fist of fullback,would have loved to see him with more space,as he has superb footwork and good strength. 
just a bit conerning we had a few injuries in the first 20 minutes,Sean Sweetman,Micheal Faleafa and Sesimani Topou all left the field early,hopefully all are not to serious, 
.Just wanted to also mention a couple of players from the far north,Dane Subritsky at halfback deserves a mention,having to deal with some messy ball with Harbour forwards pouring through the ruck, 
though he did very well and cleared the compatently,also my first look at Epineri Uluviti,was quite impressed with his ability with ball in hand,certainly got the size to progress into a very good 
player,and finally just a shame we could',nt get a bit more ball out to Isimeli Taqea,looked dangerous when he had the ball,finished off Northlands only try with superb run from 50 metres out 
after some excellent lead up work from Hyland,Tua and Alaimalo.
 Tamati Tua looked good at times,but will need to work on his defence,got a little caught out at times,one thing that did look promising in the first 20 minutes until players started leaving the field,was the scrum,although once all the changes started to ring,we were pushed around in the 2nd half.final score North Harbour 56 Northland 5,halftime 26-5.

kev

Thanks Steven - put a line through it and move on to the next one.

Chiefy

Thanks Steve, good to get a bit of a run down. When I saw the team it did look very much like a Northland B team. Definitely some handy players in reserve this year!

taniwharugby

Northland vs Bay of Plenty (Pre-Season Game)
Friday 5th August 2016
Whakatane â€“ Kick Off 3:00pm
 
Northland Squad to face Bay of Plenty
<ol><li>Chris Apoua</li>
<li>Jordan Olsen</li>
<li>Phil Kite</li>
<li>Josh Goodhue</li>
<li>Shane Neville</li>
<li>Josh Larsen</li>
<li>Jack Ram</li>
<li>Matt Matich</li>
<li>Malcolm MacLeod</li>
<li>Peter Breen</li>
<li>Monty Lama</li>
<li>Tamati Tua</li>
<li>Warren Dunn</li>
<li>Waisea Lawebuka</li>
<li>Solomon Alaimalo</li>
<li>Matt Moulds</li>
<li>Namatahi Waa</li>
<li>Epineri Uluiviti</li>
<li>Matt Talaese</li>
<li>Kara Pryor</li>
<li>Sam Nock</li>
<li>Matty Marwick</li>
<li>Jordan Hyland</li>
<li>Levi Clark</li>
<li>James Cherrington</li>
</ol>Unavailable for selection:
Aorangi Stokes 
Dan Hawkins 
Sesimani Tupou 
Sean Sweetman 
Dan Pryor 
Jone Macilai 
Troy Gilbert 
Howard Sililoto 
Tom Robinson 
Michael Faleafa 
Ross Wright

taniwharugby

another beating 49-26 (BOP may have even hit 40 by HT?)....I know it is just pre-season and 99% of the time, it means jack (one year we had 2/3 wins IIRC and then came dead last) but this aint good for getting players into a bit of form and confidence as we build to the season proper, and it wont endear fans to get out and support them either.
 
I dont wanna start pointing fingers so soon, but you gotta look at the guys running the show if we start so poorly again...last year I was forgiving because new coaching team in at short notice, new systems etc, but theyve had the whole last year, the off-season and able to select the players they want who they think will suit thier systems....
 
I hope I'm not getting De ja vu again from that period where we had a pretty long consecutive run of losses...

kev

Comments on Facebook say that the Bay finals are this weekend so the presumption is they didn't have their full squad - and yet the half time score was 42 - 12. So one presumes they gave their C team a run and we scored some points. 
So I think this result is a disaster. After last season we needed to have started firing in these games to build confidence. Something is wrong and now is the time to sort it....

taniwharugby

<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="kev" data-cid="603215" data-time="1470379289">
<div>
Comments on Facebook say that the Bay finals are this weekend so the presumption is they didn't have their full squad - and yet the half time score was 42 - 12. So one presumes they gave their C team a run and we scored some points. 
So I think this result is a disaster. After last season we needed to have started firing in these games to build confidence. Something is wrong and now is the time to sort it....
</div>
</blockquote>
 
conceding nigh on 100 points, me thinks defence :(

kev

Yes defence, attack and everything else by the look of it. Re your comments above, the pressure on these coaches is building to get the team playing like a team. Just not good enough. I am very worried now about the rest of the season.

taniwharugby

<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="kev" data-cid="603218" data-time="1470380177">
<div>
Yes defence, attack and everything else by the look of it. Re your comments above, the pressure on these coaches is building to get the team playing like a team. Just not good enough. I am very worried now about the rest of the season.
</div>
</blockquote>
 
yep, you hope that the injection of our full compliment of Super players will help hugely, but if the other half of the players out there cant play, it wont help much, more so when you take the line Harris said in that odd article a couple of weeks back saying they wont be relying on the super players....well, turns out now, we will be, or if not, well, I, like you am starting to dread the season before it has begun

kev

The good teams these days play a high tempo game with players working really hard off the ball on attack and in defence. Just wonder if we are working so hard on fitness and set pieces we haven't got "a game" going. They need to turn this around quickly. 
I note the Hurricanes started their season with a thrashing by the Brumbies and their coach started by Coaching Wellington down to the Championship. 
So maybe I am over reacting. Still not happy though.

Snollygoster

I actually went to the game and you guys shouldn't be to disheartened. You actually won the second half and this was a full strength Bay side with no Bay players from tomorrows club finals actually allowed to play in the those games.
 
These preseason games are something of a lottery at the best of times. I will admit though early on it looked like you were in for a hiding so well done for turning it around.

taniwharugby

Team to face CM and ABs
 
Where are the Pryors? Where is Breen? Hopefully not injured already? If fit, they should be starting surely in our last hit out before Manawatu next week! 
 
Outside of Pryor's it must be close to our 1st 15. 
 
No. POSITION SURNAME FIRST NAME
1 Loosehead Prop Waa Namatahi
2 Hooker Moulds Matt
3 Tighthead Prop Kite Phil
4 Left Lock Goodhue Josh
5 Right Lock Neville Shane
6 Blindside Flanker Faleafa Michael
7 Openside Flanker Ram Jack
8 Number Eight Matich Matt
9 Half Back Nock Sam
10 First Five Eight Lansdowne Tyler
11 Left Wing Lama Monty
12 Second Five Hyland Jordan
13 Centre Dunn Warren
14 Right Wing Macilai Jone
15 Full Back Alaimalo Solomona
 
REPLACEMENTS
 
2 Hooker Wright Ross
16 Hooker Olsen Jordan
18 Tighthead Prop Apoua Chris
1 Loosehead Prop Sililoto Howard
17 Tighthead Prop Tupou Sesimani
3 Tighthead Prop Talaese Matt
18 Lock Larsen Josh
19 Lock Uluiviti Epineri
7 Loose Forward Stokes Aorangi
6 Loose Forward Manu Taniela
9 Half back Markwick Matty
21 Half back MacLeod Malcolm
23 Midfield Tua Tamati 
22 Midfield Cherrington James
14 Wing Lawebuka Waisea
15 Wing Clark Levi

Gunner

<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="taniwharugby" data-cid="604955" data-time="1470884674">
<div>
Team to face CM and ABs
 
Where are the Pryors? Where is Breen?
</div>
</blockquote>
How long is the mandatory stand down after soup rugby?
You'd have to assume Breen is injured if he's not playing?

Gunner

Anyone get to the development game vs Manu Samoa b's last night?

taniwharugby

<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="Gunner" data-cid="604973" data-time="1470890544">
<div>
How long is the mandatory stand down after soup rugby?
You'd have to assume Breen is injured if he's not playing?
</div>
</blockquote>
You'd think Dan will be playing if fit given AB's from the Chiefs/Crusaders and Highlanders will all be playing tomorrow too, my guess is they are all injured ...not ideal build up in a campaign where we have to get off to a good start with a very tough early road trip!
 
Manawatu - H
Auckland - Away
Otago - Away
BOP - Away
 Ta$man - Away
 
The B/C team got pumped by Samoa B...Weather was shite, I decided to flag it.

Duluth

I don't think all the Super Rugby players are available for the NPC sides yet.
 
Aucklands latest pre-season side has some of the SR players back, but the rest join the squad next week. It seems to be on a case by case basis rather than a mandatory stand down?

taniwharugby

Kara Pryor was available last week, so that doesnt bode well, but maybe Dan is having a good break, I guess the Highlanders had a tough travel schedule the past month or so.
 
BUt I thnk Breen is of bigger concern, they signed an injured Hawkins (grrr) and playing Landsdowne who wasnt in the contracted squad they named.
 
Our pack looks handy enough, hopefully able to hold thier own this year, but strangely, our backs are a worry, unless Macilai regains some form and Solomona is as good as the reports say he is.

The Silver Fern

2016 Northland Mitre 10 Cup Squad.