NPC Form Players
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@Mauss said in NPC Form Players:
I thought Fletcher Anderson was impressive against Canterbury. The game was a lot tighter and scrappier than Ta$man’s previous outing against Manawatu, which seems to better suit Anderson’s game of hard carries through the middle. He continuously presented himself as an option to carry and consistently made metres through the heart of Canterbury’s defence, both through power in contact as well as through using footwork before the defensive line.
Other facets of his game were influential as well: he tackled low, hard and often in defence, regularly stopping carriers dead in their tracks. At the 44 minute mark, with Canterbury close to the try line, Anderson basically picked up Ennor, who was running an aggressive line off of Heinz, and drove him back five meters. He pushed the limits of legality around the breakdown without being pinged by Doleman (he clearly got under the skin of several Canterbury players, as they lashed out at him a couple of times). And he was effective in the lineout drive, for example when drawing Jamie Hannah away when Ta$man scored their maul try at the 20th minute mark. He had a few noticeable errors (making a poor tackle attempt on Punivai in his own 22 and fumbling a relatively straightforward pass a minute later) but these were outliers in a consistently solid performance. According to RugbyPass, he had 15 carries for 59 metres, made 20 tackles with 3 misses, beat 5 defenders, won 2 lineouts and conceded 0 penalties.
He’s not a player that I feel is talked about very often – maybe an effect of not making a side like the NZ U20s? – but he is still very young and if he can consistently produce performances like this in a well-performing Mako side, he should and probably will receive more plaudits in the near future.
Fletcher has been in the Christchurch academy for a while and has been a train on player with the Crusaders for the last 3 years.
Moving to Ta$man from Canterbury is giving him some game time opportunities,He is certainly on the Crusaders Radar. -
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@Tu_rugby Rivez defence has impressed me most this season, plenty running down his channel and he keeps knocking them over, his kicking distance needs to improve though, well, during the game it needs to...watching him warm up he gets good distance.
Trainor has played well, great under the high ball, but has had 3 tries (2 last week and 1 last night) scored when he has been defending in too close and been outflanked.
Granted it is likely part of the plan, but a few steps wider may have prevented 2 of the tries given how tight they were going into the corner.
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@taniwharugby absolutely agree, plenty of things to improve on and some things need to be implemented under pressure.
I am hopeful for the tanis in the next 3 rounds
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@Darren said in NPC Form Players:
Not sure I even need to mention him but Lakai is just continuing his good form. Can't see why he wouldn't be battling to be an AB 7 next year.
One injury to Cane or Papali’i and I think he’ll be called up. He’s got the most all round game of any 7 in NZ because of his ability to attack from anywhere (a nice change to having just a tackler at 7). He just needs to keep developing but I’ve got no doubt he’ll have a long career in the black jersey.
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@Duluth said in NPC Form Players:
@bayimports said in NPC Form Players:
Cole Forbes - instrumental link in first 2 games and master of the 50/22
Vai is going well too. A very good back three at this level
Is that the same young Vai I saw playing 1st XV rugby a couple of years back, certainly looks like him if my memory is right. I like the look of him.
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@Dan54 said in NPC Form Players:
@Chris said in NPC Form Players:
James White in his debut season at First five and FB is performing well for Canterbury
He may get a Crusaders contract if he keeps improving.I thought he looked like a future super player too Chris, looks ok!
He looks pretty cool under pressure his main position is First Five,filling in well at FB as well Dan.
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Among the finds of this season, these players were the most prominent IMO :
Manson (Southland) : incredible pace
Maka (North Harbour) : Very quick and elusive
Saifolau (Waikato) : a big 6 with very good carrying qualities
Brash (Counties) : Exciting loose forward.
Anderson ( Ta$man) : not exactly a newcomer but has raised his game to levels I didn't know he was capable of. -
@Landers92 said in NPC Form Players:
@SouthernMann Hopefully they can rotate. I heard a whisper this was Lio-Willies last season down south .
Late to the party but I’ll find out for you.
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@cgrant Agree with most of your picks i would find a place in there for Ollie Mathis even though he limited game time in the NPC
He would be the perfect player for a 6/2 bench split , covers 7 and 2nd five out imo
What a talent ! -
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