Otago v Tasman
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1 Benjamin Lopas, 2 Liam Coltman, 3 Saula Ma'u, 4 Sam Fischli, 5 Will Stodart, 6 Oliver Haig, 7 Harry Taylor, 8 Christian Lio-Willie (C), 9 James Arscott, 10 Cameron Millar, 11 Hudson Creighton, 12 Ajay Faleafaga, 13 Thomas Umaga-Jensen, 14 Josh Whaanga, 15 Finn Hurley
Reserves: 16 Henry Bell, 17 Rohan Wingham, 18 Moana Takataka, 19 Fabian Holland, 20 Lucas Casey, 21 Nathan Hastie, 22 Joe Cooke, 23 Waqa Nalaga
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1 Monu Moli, 2 Eli Oudenryn, 3 Isaac Salmon, 4 Hunter Leppien, 5 Tayne Hemopo, 6 Johnny Lee, 7 Braden Stewart, 8 East Timor Viliamu, 9 Louie Chapman (C), 10 Cooper Grant, 11 Jack Gray, 12 Tim O'Malley, 13 Nic Sauira, 14 Cooper Roberts, 15 Kyren Taumoefolau
Reserves: 16 Josh Te Hira, 17 Matt Graham-Williams, 18 Sione Mafi, 19 Matthew McCormick, 20 Tim Sail, 21 Mason Lund, 22 Timoci Sauira, 23 Maloni Kunawave
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A real B team this week - quite a bit of C team about it! Lots of kids from the development squad.
Not surprising given that we've got a Shield Challenge vs Auckland on Wednesday and another vs Taranaki on Sunday.
Interesting to see a glimpse of the future, but we're probably handing Wellington the top seeding for the play-offs. Be annoying if we lose our last three games and slide out of the play-offs - which could happen with a storm week like this!
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@frugby said in Otago v Ta$man:
East Timor is an incredible first name.
Obviously the parents didn't Dili-dally when it came to registering his name.
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If Otago don’t take this considering it’s pretty much a Ta$man C team, may as well replace them all with the Otago boys under 15 c team
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@Chris-B said in Otago v Ta$man:
A real B team this week - quite a bit of C team about it! Lots of kids from the development squad.
Not surprising given that we've got a Shield Challenge vs Auckland on Wednesday and another vs Taranaki on Sunday.
Interesting to see a glimpse of the future, but we're probably handing Wellington the top seeding for the play-offs. Be annoying if we lose our last three games and slide out of the play-offs - which could happen with a storm week like this!
Don't be certain of that, Wellington will probably cock it up somehow.
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I’ve seen this episode before… Wellington sent a B team down and still got the job done. Granted, that was a rotation squad from Otago and this one is a lot stronger on paper. If we can’t win this by a margin in the double digits that is incredibly concerning.
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@Duluth said in Otago v Ta$man:
I think this is Faleafaga's second start of the season. He's had a few games from the bench.
I haven't watched closely. Is he out of form?
Complicated. He has been poor in his couple of bench appearances and singular start, but equally I think he is a real confidence player who just needs a run in the side. He is definitely good enough to dominate at NPC level - I am pleased to finally see him at 12.
Don't think it was anticipated Millar would be so good that he basically has to play the full 80 to give us a chance. With Gilbert as captain at 12, it meant there was no gap there until he got injured, and Hurley has been a lock in at 15.
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The weirdest part about Faleafaga is he wasn’t part of the matchday 23 until week 4 or 5 if I remember correctly. He was playing 10 for the development side. He should have 100% been on the bench at least so unless something happened in the background that hasn’t surfaced, it’s pretty disappointing.
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@Landers92 but he hasn’t done anything in his appearances to warrant the coaches putting him on the bench? He’s a specialist 10 who can kinda play 12. That’s not exactly the ideal bench player
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@KiwiInLondon said in Otago v Ta$man:
@Landers92 but he hasn’t done anything in his appearances to warrant the coaches putting him on the bench? He’s a specialist 10 who can kinda play 12. That’s not exactly the ideal bench player
My comment was referring to him missing the first 4/5 weeks completely for an unknown reason. He should have 100% been on the bench during those weeks but was playing for the development side like I stated.
Upon his return though, I agree, he hasn’t done much to warrant a lot of game time. As for the part about a 10 who can play 12 isn’t an ideal bench player. I would argue a 10 who can play 12 is the ideal bench player with an outside back/centre in the 23 jersey. All bases covered.
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Kids looking OK - nicely drilled and running some phases - defence quite solid as well.
Getting out-muscled in the scrum and a few other places and lacking a bit of x-factor or power to break the line.
Like the look of Odereyn - and Cooper Grant looks like he's a player with a bit of extra time.
Taumoefolau and Gray look the most dangerous.
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Jeez that game flipped on its head. Last I saw it was 19-10 to Otago.
