Semi v Wellington
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team named:
Wright, Moulds, Rinakama
Douglas, Josh G
Pryor, Matich, Pryor
Nock, Hawkins
Jack G, Ranger
Macilai, Alaimalo, Hyland
Olsen, Kite, Apoua, Faleafa, Ram, Pittman, Breen, TuaOnly surprise there for me is Kara starting, lets hope he pulls out a huge one!
Aside from losing our starting props early on (although an argument that these 2 have done better than they would have...) we have had a pretty settled team with only minor disruptions along the way, time for some of those passes to stick and a bit of luck to fall our way!
Gonna be a HUGE ask to beat this Wellington team, but if we play well, we can win!
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@taniwharugby very surprised Kara and Dan H starting. Maybe I've been seeing different to others but think that when Ram has started he has been awesome and thought Breem would control the cutter better with his boot in the initial stages of the game but either way Hawkins and Breen need to play flatter to the line. I know hyland has had his best year but his lack of pace was evident last week and could be exposed this weekend. I cannot see the back 3 for wellington playing as poorly as they did 2 weeks in a row, their enthusiasm and urgency was lacking big time but great for Northland if they do.
for those who are travelling to the game safe travels and good luck to the Taniwha. -
@njacoby yeah they have chopped and changed Breen & Hawkins all season, while I think Breen has a much higher ceiling, I don't think he has been near his best this year.
Yeah Ram has been one of our best this season, while Kara has been far form his best, so he needs a huge one to repay the faith in him.
As to our depth, yep, a number of games it was evident when we had passed it 2-3 times we were 10m behind the gainline and their defence in our backline.
Looking at the stats, we need to get the ball in the hands of Macilai, Alaimalo & Ranger:
Carries - Alaimalo is 4th, Ranger 10th
Clean Breaks - Macilai is 8th
Defenders Beaten - Alaimalo 2nd, Macilai 7th
Running Metres - Alaimalo 4th, Macilai 9th
Offloads - Ranger 4th, Alaimalo 5th -
Having Ram on the bench isn’t all bad.
We’ve been pretty poor in the back end of games, which would indicate the subs have largely missed the mark. Having Ram come on in the second half might be the coaches way of adding some much needed experience late in the game.
Only got to look as far as the ABs, they don’t always select the best or higher ranked player to start - Hames is the 3rd ranked LHP, but he starts ahead of Crockett who is ranked 2nd.Or I could be talking crap the coaches just rate K Pryor over Ram.
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@taniwharugby suggests a running game maybe...
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Wellington:
15 Trent Renata, 14 Julian Savea, 13 Wes Goosen, 12 Thomas Umaga-Jensen, 11 Ben Lam (Tawa), 10 Jackson Garden-Bachop, 9 Sheridan Rangihuna;
8 Galu Taufale, 7 Mateaki Kafatolu, 6 Brad Shields (c), 5 James Blackwell, 4 Sam Lousi, 3 Alex Fidow, 2 Asafo Aumua, 1 Tolu Fahamokioa (Tawa)Reserves:
16 Sitiveni Paongo, 17 Vince Sakaria, 18 Joe Apikotoa, 19 Will Mangos, 20 Du’Plessis Kirifi, 21 Kemara Hauiti-Parapara, 22 Regan Verney, 23 Malo Tuitama (Oriental-Rongotai)http://www.wellingtonlions.co.nz/news/settled-lions-team-named-for-semi-finalo/
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From what I've read Wellington are expecting a similar plan as to what we had last week. Here's hoping we've got a few extra tricks up our sleeve to surprise them with.
They are fully expecting the usual rigour at scrums and breakdowns, so they'll be a bit sharper in that department I'm guessing. I'm hoping we move the ball quickly from set piece and rucks and employ a smart kicking game to keep them turning around.. That way we can apply some real pressure..
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@j77 hopefully we don't have the same lineout meltdown as last week, as that was very costly in field position and confidence at an important period of the game.
Our lineout has been wobbly, been very good but also very bad.
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Errors early on
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Surprised they let Alaimalo away with giving Savea a push.
TMO...out?
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Haha , Hyland with another dodgy try v Wellington
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Good start by Kara
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Nice try there.
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Bad read by Renata to make that try for Northland.
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Not wrapping he fell over didn't he?
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Haha not really
