Club Footy

[Gunner]

@taniwharugby Tomarata now play Moerewa/UK, the winner plays Otamatea and the loser plays the Sharks.

That was the 2nd game in a row that Otamatea defaulted, and the Sharks also defaulted yesterday.

I understood the rules to be if a team defaults twice they have to go before the NRU to plead there case to be allowed to remain in the Premiers.

If my information is correct Tomarata have no interest in getting into the premiers but Moerewa/UK are very keen.

[Steven Harris]

@gunner it’s bloody sad to see the state of Otamatea,Dean Kenny coached them to a semi final 2 x seasons ago,but was then asked to reapply,this is a former All Black who was commuting from the North Shore of Auckland to Kaiwaka..
Along with his assistant Nathan Jacoby who called a spade a spade they both in my opinion were treated badly,
In other words the executive backed the players that were moaning their heads off about being spoken to sternly,well fuck me...!..
In my experience players come and go,good coaches are hard to come by,so you back them 100% of the time..
Bloody sad really as my 2 nephews played for Otamatea that year and there are some great people within the club,but I guess there are some that may need to step away..
Even the sponsors have pulled the plug and they are having trouble putting a team on the paddock..
Maybe some time down in the South Zone comp might be the best way to rebuild ..would be great to get some feedback from the current players

[J77]

What a fucking shambles. None of those Joe Morgan comp clubs should be defaulting. I’ve seen it a bit in Mangonui/BOI in the past, but this is our premier competition, they should all have suffice numbers for an A and B team.

Hell, I just spent some time down in Horowhenua-Kapiti where my daughters live. I got out and watched some club footy and all the teams were stacked full... and that’s a Heartland Union!

Get rid of Ota and chuck Moerewa-UK in there, at least they’re keen - plus they’re tearing some new assholes in the North Zone comp.

[Steven Harris]

@j77 totally agree Justin,this is not the first time they have been in this position and have relyed on the promotion relegation game..
Credit to Mid-Western,they may have been relegated but at least they are fronting up.

[taniwharugby]

I cannot understand how the players can do it though, any loyal club players want to be there, I understand injuries, but surely they could have a fit squad to travel and at least play just the a's?

I know it aint fun getting thrashed, but a bit of pride goes a long way.

I remember one time in the UK our 1st team had a Sunday Cup semi final, so the b's played on Saturday in the a's club game, got killed, but at least had a team (I Played in both games for 80 mins haha)

Also hear Waipu are having some 'legal' issues around fielding a non-registered player (although apparently had NRU permission, but still breached a rule or some rules?

[Gunner]

Most premier clubs struggle to get two teams on the field, some players have to front up and play two games.

I think it’s time they did away with the premier reserves, if a club has two teams their second team plays second division.

It will create a more level playing field, because as it is the system is set up for clubs in higher populated areas to dominate. Take Tomarata for instance. They can comfortably put together one good team but not two, so if they are good enough to win the promotion game, it’s only fair that they have a crack at playing premiers.

[Gunner]

@taniwharugby said in Club Footy:

I cannot understand how the players can do it though, any loyal club players want to be there, I understand injuries, but surely they could have a fit squad to travel and at least play just the a's?

Also hear Waipu are having some 'legal' issues around fielding a non-registered player (although apparently had NRU permission, but still breached a rule or some rules?

If they can’t field a reserves team, then both games are defaulted...
I think it’s done that way to prevent defaults, but it’s clearly not working.

The Waipu situation is, how shall I say this, an ‘interesting situation’

I could go on all night but the inconsistencies in rules and how they’re applied at Northland is unbelievable.

The MW situation that saw NRU take 7 points off us for playing an ‘unregistered player’ was an absolute joke.
Without going into it too much, the guy who it was over is a local guy who played some footy in Ireland about 5 years ago. He played for us 2 or 3 years ago, no issues but apparently it was a problem this year.
Waipu knowingly played a player in rounds 2 and 3 who was registered to a North Harbour club and somehow that was ok because there was some magical ‘3 week window’ to get all registrations done.
Funny because the game we lost points for was in the third game of the season. Where was our 3 week window?

It’s fucking bullshit to put it bluntly.
Let’s make the rules up as we go should we?

[taniwharugby]

@gunner ah I didnt know that about if they cant field a reserve team both are done, that is a ridiculous rule, it should be geared toward the Prem side.

[Northlandallday]

@gunner so you'd know just how Otamatea feel then.

[taniwharugby]

Both Kamo Prems and Reserves won in the finals today at Toll.

Final was a pretty tight affair for the most part, played in perfect conditions in front of a big crowd at Toll.

Kamo opened the scoring and were out to an 8-0 lead within about 10 mins and looked like a big win was on the cards.

BUt Waipu fought back and were up 11-8 with a minute to go to the break before a dangerous tackle saw them lose a man to the bin and Kamo took the points to head into halftime up 11-10.

Waipu looked the more composed through the first half and with a bit more patience may have picked up another score, although Kamo's decisions not to kick for territory (into a decent breeze) when camped in thier 22 added to Waipu's chances.

After the break, Kamo hit within minutes of the re-start to push out to 18-10 and were up to 21-10 before Waipu were back to 15.

With the score at 28-10 Kamo lost Reuben Wright to a red card (from where I was sitting looked to be retaliation and a number of punches were thrown both directions, but he has history with cards, although this may be his first of the year?)

The final score of 35-10 was a little flattering for Kamo with 2 late tries, but certainly not undeserved.

Thought a number of players looked good out there, and a few of our recent signings put in good performances too.

Sam MacNamara looks bigger up close than he does in his profile pic, and was very busy on both sides of the ball.
Mayanavanua was very busy and looked a threat, but never really got much of a shot.
Jacobsen was busy but IMO overshadowed by MacNamara.
Blake Hohaia is still looking sharp, strong running, good defence, but I think his biggest problem is his tendancy to hold the ball too often rather than spread it.
Saw glimpses of Throughgood today that showed alot of promise, showed a nice turn of pace to set up Kamo's first try as he went through a gap, beat another defender and off-loaded to Wells.
Sykes still in great form, had to defend alot today and got thrown off by some of the bigger guys, but certainly didnt back off.
Tua came on in the last 20, on the wing, and scored a nice try where he showed a very nice turn of pace to score.

Not sure of names, but the Waipu 13 and 14 had alot of pace, and looked dangerous on the occasions they saw the ball, 13 in particular, a tall rangy Fijian, looked like a 7s player the way he was playing, had a good game, bar when he tracked back from a Kamo kick, gathered the ball and as he ran across past his posts, ball in one big hand, he was hit, ball popped up into the arms of Hohaia to practically fall over the line for the final try.

Waipu half (PIttman?) was good too, fiesty AF, took a big knock (body, not head) late in the game and took a bit to recover.

Scrums were pretty even, although every now and then one side would demolish the other, lineouts were messy.

All in all, a game worthy of the final, and Kamo deserved winners after a great season!

[Steven Harris]

@taniwharugby Gee that’s a super crowd,and thanks ever so much for the report,if I was not oversees,I would have been there,the tall rangy centre for Waipu woud have been Tavite Gadeisuva,played for the Northland 7s team at the Nats.
Good to hear about Sam McNamara,he’s definitely promising and has a good workrate and attitude

[Duluth]

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/rugby/news/article.cfm?c_id=80&objectid=12093248

[Nath Jac]

@gunner when we were coaching the prems we always thought that playing the Prem game first would help to solve a few issues. it would allow for a full bench and the hearty prem players could then back up to make the numbers in the reserves.
we even went a step further and thought that if the reserve game was 2nd then if a prem club was fortunate to have NPC players then they would play one in the reserves each week to boost morale and give the younger players some experience. the other thing it would do is allow the scrums to be safer in the reserves as the prem props could back up and secure the scrums.
the other option that no one has talked about is because of the lack of numbers in reserve grade that could be turned into a 10's comp, 5 4wds and 5 backs, unlimited subs.