Auckland vs Waikato
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Not a great game skillwise, but I'll take the 5 pts.
Waikato's lineout was woeful so something wasn't right there. No Faima, Skeen and Jacobson probably.
Some Reece magic was the only real highlight.
I've liked the look of Lansdown everytime I've seen him play for Waikato, still very young too. Christie tried his best to lose that game.
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Have there been many younger teams fielded in an NPC match? By my count there were 11under 21's playing for Waikato out of 22 used. Only half a dozen players with much experience. I thought Lansdown might have been man of the match, and hope we see more of him
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@Tim said in Auckland vs Waikato:
Probability of an article in the Herald taking Auckland Rugby to task for their woefully coached team? Zero.
That's because it doesn't fit their long running narrative that the problems at the Blues are all down to whoever the incumbent coach is. The foundation of rugby in the Blues area is weak. NH are slowly turning things around, Northland will always have resource issues but Auckland have no excuses other than poor planning/selection/coaching/administration
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@KiwiMurph said in Auckland vs Waikato:
@Crucial Before last season Auckland were good the previous seasons under Feeney and Pivac - both of whom made a final.
But somehow they have now managed to identify the wrong coach and the wrong players or have let club rugby get so poor that selections are a stab in the dark.
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White probably needs to stay as a technical coach than Head coach.
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This Waikato side is not a good side. That is a shocker from Auckland.
Bizzare to see a completely empty stand on one side of the field. (WTW took a photo of it)
Remember when NPC used to mean something?
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@Hooroo said in Auckland vs Waikato:
Bizzare to see a completely empty stand on one side of the field. (WTW took a photo of it)
They have empty stands on three sides. Usually only open the north stand, which of course is in the shade during the day.
A strong argument for a boutique stadium
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@nzzp yeah I expect the cost to open EP for a match must make them look at other options.
As I have said before, Wednesday/Thursday night games must start at 1800 if they want to get a half decent crowd along.
I don't take TR Jnr to Wed/Thurs Northland games, otherwise we don't get home until near 10pm which is too late on a school night.
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Do we have the crowd numbers available? Can't have been 500 hundred there?
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@Tim said in Auckland vs Waikato:
Probability of an article in the Herald taking Auckland Rugby to task for their woefully coached team? Zero.
That would require the Herald (and the rest of the media, for that matter) to give a shit about the Mitre 10 Cup. At the rate things are going, I wouldn't be surprised if it isn't even on TV in another 10 years.
I'm happy Waikato came away with the five points but what a sloppy game. I guess that's what you get from the stupid mid-week game shitshow.
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@ARHS said in Auckland vs Waikato:
Have there been many younger teams fielded in an NPC match? By my count there were 11under 21's playing for Waikato out of 22 used. Only half a dozen players with much experience. I thought Lansdown might have been man of the match, and hope we see more of him
Good question. The starting props were in the NZ U20s last year and the hooker has just turned 20. Lansdown trialled for the U20s this year but wasn't selected.
The Waikato U19s have been very strong in recent years so the development programme is obviously working, and they have promoted players to the senior side. Young, inexperienced players is now the norm for the NPC.
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Who won this game again?
Check the table on the official website:
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@Bovidae said in Auckland vs Waikato:
Who won this game again?
Check the table on the official website:
Gee that's poor.
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Ball movement was a lot better in this game than any other game, but just too many mental errors and handling errors.
I hope we persist with Milo-Harris as the starter ahead of Hickey. He should only get better with more rugby, as this is basically his first year of rugby in 3 years.
Wiseguy had a rough debut game, but the things he did wrong are correctable. I was surprised they put him as the starter, as he's missed quite a bit of rugby this year and was partially with the U19s. It was strange decision by White to not let Wiseguy ease into it off the bench, and let Mausia start, because he's been with the team the whole time.
Line-out was surprisingly good despite no Scrafton and Eklund throwing.
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@Bovidae said in Auckland vs Waikato:
Who won this game again?
Check the table on the official website:
Looks like it's fixed now.
I love how they've still got "Official home of the Investec Super Rugby competition" in the page title an entire year (and major sponsor change) after I first noticed it. An even sloppier effort than last night's game.
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