@Canes4life yup fair point. Not a bad group to pick from!

@cgrant alt text

What useless ending to a poor season. Completely and utterly outplayed by Welly and I hope they haven't played their final. I'm rooting for them this week that they get up against Canterbury.

Are we rid of Ieremia for 2023?

@Bones said in QF - Wellington vs Hawkes Bay:

@mikey07 said in QF - Wellington vs Hawkes Bay:

@foobaNZ Starting Morgan is a must for a start yeah I totally agree with you about the pack looking toast which is weird considering most of them were rested last week

I only saw the highlights but JGB looked to have a strong hand in many of the lions points. Was the rest that bad?

I thought he had a good game. But kicked too much. But after being rubbish during super rugby and until CM he's been so much better

editor  /  Oct 5, 2022 Game-worn tribute jerseys available on TradeMe - Counties Sports Hub Game-worn tribute jerseys available on TradeMe - Counties Sports Hub

Fans are being offered a chance to buy their own piece of Counties Manukau Rugby history with game-worn, one-off throwback jerseys available for purchase on TradeMe. On Sunday, October 2, 2022, the PIC Steelers wore a one-off heritage jersey against Wellington in the Bunnings Warehouse NPC in...

@foobaNZ said in Wellington v Waikato (RS):

Higgins was great. You'd have to hope him and Lakai are around for years to come in Canes jerseys.

Really happy we keep the Shield over the summer.

After that Northland performance I thought we'd be struggling to make the 4, but been a real turnaround since.

Congrats on the little one canes4life. Nothing better than watching them grow 🙂

Cheers bro, she’s grown a little already in two weeks haha.

The fact we are unbeaten with Aiden Morgan running the cutter shows how important he is to our run for a title. He definitely has a few work ons as he’s still developing but the way he conducts the team has been brilliant. We look like a different team when he’s playing.

@booboo said in Hawkes Bay v Wellington (RS):

@Machpants said in Hawkes Bay v Wellington (RS):

@booboo said in Hawkes Bay v Wellington (RS):

Haven't read the thread, and only kept a passing eye on the highlights on Stan, but ...

... thought TJ did his best to lose that at the end.

Firstly, play the advantage out, it will always come back to the penalty.

Secondly, don't get yourself, as skipper, sin binned with time up.

It was a bollocks call, he was airborne when he hit the guys arm, and came from behind the ruck - perfectly legal. Other times that would be a great turn over

Just to clarify, my first point was not playing out the advantage on attack for the kick that missed. Why not play it out?

I agree with that, dumb. But his card was incorrect - so he didn't get himself sin binned, the ref fucked up IMO.

A late watch. As a neutral, I have found Mr Williams' refereeing very harsh for the Southern men, particularly at scrum time.

@Crazy-Horse said in Tasman v Wellington:

It's crazy that the decision wasn't/couldn't be changed once the TMO allegedly realised his mistake. It was before the restart so it wouldn't have changed anything.

I am absolutely baffled by that whole situation. Amateur hour all round.

Entertaining game.

@Chris Yep, he was cited after the Highlanders v Hurricanes game, this year, and got a 3 week suspension for smashing his shoulder into Gareth Evans' face.

Watch the highlights how absolutely garbage was JGB the guy had soap for hands. How bad have we looked when he is at 10 Morgan can’t get back sooner.

@African-Monkey I think we need to do that same and get rid of some of the dead wood in this team.

@bayimports said in Wellington v BOP:

fun game, lots of errors but points from both teams made it entertaining. The BoP team were slow to get into this one. The starting forward pack looks good though although TTT's service was so laboured it made TJP look quick. Trask looked ok at 10 and when he got decent ball was a threat, hopefully we don't see him in the fullback jersey again though.

Think both teams can take a few positives out of that one, not polished by any means but enough to keep each set of supporters interested.

Have to say just watching game now as I was at Naki game in Sunday. Bloody entertaining game and have to say I like the look of this young No8 for Wellington.
Lions are going to struggle a bit with their front row, and BOP look to have a reasonably well balanced team.

@Canes4life said in Wellington 2022:

Props: with Lauaki coming through the system (who also came off the bench on Saturday) I think Sheck will start for us next year and Lauaki will develop off the bench.

Lauaki looked VG. And still only 19. One to watch maybe. And thanks. I've added his name to my assessment.

@chris-b sorry I was being sarcastic with that comment I’m saying we are absolute choke artists.

@southernmann I’m also impressed with Fischli

@bones was more a dig at Clarke, it was a legit tackle haha

@act-crusader I agree though Canterbury got away with continually holding on to players after cleaning them out at the ruck so wasn’t all Wellington’s way.

@stargazer said in BOP v Wellington:

@dice Kirifi called himself a speed bump in one of his posts on instagram.

probably thinking about organising parties instead of playing rugby.

@higgins Sorry, I couldn't find it either. He was named in the Wellington XV squad in 2003, and the Wellington Lions in 2003 and 2004.

Edit: I found this article:

Centre Willie Lafaele stole Christian Cullen's thunder as a Wellington XV beat Hawkes Bay 38-11 in a representative rugby match on a soggy Maidstone Park in Upper Hutt yesterday.

All Blacks selector Mark Shaw and most of the 1000-plus crowd had come to see All Blacks discard Cullen make New Zealand coach John Mitchell eat humble pie, but left none the wiser after the fullback produced an unconvincing display.

It wasn't that Cullen played badly. He scored a good individual try, sparked several counter-attacks, including engineering a 60-metre effort to wing Sireli Bobo.

But he kicked aimlessly at times and generally appeared to lack the urgency of a player who should be on the brink of World Cup selection.

In contrast, former NZ Colt Lafaele was a ball of energy, outstanding in all aspects of the game.

Looking at the finalc score, it wasn't a close game.

@canes4life Yep, and despite Riccitelli leaving.

@kiwimurph said in Waikato vs Wellington:

Super teams should be eyeing up Ratima.

He's got a Kelleher thing going. If he's lucky that will lead to a pornstar wife at least.

@j77 spot the guy who only likes blue and white...

@mikey07 Yeah, but several provinces have players in the squad who have a season-ending injury. For example, Folau Fakatava has been named in the Magpies squad but won't play a game.

@Winger his shoulder I think he was grabbing it if we had made the semis we might have won the whole thing with some actual leadership.

@mikey07 I feel your pain, we've got the players but they just seem like they don't give two shites. They are a rabble and their attitude stinks. I mean half the team were just sitting back and watching on Sunday. Disgraceful.

@Higgins said in Wellington v Tasman:

All in all Tasman looked well coached, Wellington did not.

This may be an area look at after the season finishes. New head coach and all. The team should be doing better with the players they have

@Canes4life I totally agree with this statement he offers flair without too much of it if that makes any sense something we need with our forwards, i mean Fidow, Numia Coles Aumua all have it and it’s definitely better then boring hopeless at everything vanilla Prinseep and Blackwell

@mikey07 said in Wellington v North Harbour:

@Nepia the defender intentionally shepparded in front of the player with the ball so fair try

The defender doesn't change his line and Fatty Savea pushes him (at 3:15 in the highlights) which he didn't need to do anyway as he would have collided with the Harbour player without the push.

@Winger said in Wellington v North Harbour:

@mikey07 said in Wellington v North Harbour:

@Nepia the defender intentionally shepparded in front of the player with the ball so fair try

Just watched the highlights. It looked OK to me.

Well colour me surprised.

@Higgins Yeah I know was merely highlighting how much he’s fallen from what he was.

@African-Monkey said in Canterbury v Wellington:

@Chris Really? Looks can be deceiving I guess, he doesn't look that big at all and I have seen him play club rugby up close so that does surprise me weight wise.

Yeah he is quite a big unit

@pukunui yeah that's the bizarre thing for me - he also lifted and drove. Seems like he's way more at fault - only mitigating factor being he had his head down and couldn't see what Fuatai was doing?

@mikey07 said in Auckland v Wellington:

@nzzp I’ll gladly swap you can have our coaches if you want.

it's too late. They've got the board behind them ... this conspiracy goes All.The.Way.

@Hooroo said in Waikato v Wellington:

@Snowy said in Waikato v Wellington:

@Yeetyaah I'm not a boomer and you don't have my staff or my nieces. They spell like that.

The odd thing about it is that it works.

My mum is late to the texting show. Only been doing it for about 3-4 years. Her older sister (my Aunty) is really good and quick at is and uses abbreviations all the time.

This weekend before our horse was racing, Mum sent, "Gluck"

I think your Mum has just invented a word, and I like it.

All of the years we have been wasting letters it seems.

Anyway the Wellington half back's parents decided to do it years ago too.

@Donsteppa said in Ultimate NPC: Round 1 Auckland v Wellington:

I saw Jones missing from the team sheet and for a split second thought everyone must have been drunk in the Auckland selection thread.

Thought I'd have some fun.
Just wait until the injury report after round one

@taniwharugby said in Ultimate NPC: - Wellington:

@nzzp and then the cliff he fell off after being driven into the ground by Cooper

I don't think I've ever seen a forward decline so fast without major injuries. Amazing

@Stargazer He’s been solid but not spectacular for the lions and I know I’ll cop flak for this but I’m half of the time he spent here.

@Bovidae Nice try, Ron.

Probably had Richard Pearse playing first five! 🙂