Hurricanes 2019 Discussion
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Renata has been a big improver, as his scrummaging was poor. As @Daffy-Jaffy says, there would be room for him at the Blues ahead of Tamoaieta/Mafileo.
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When do the WTG get named?
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@bovidae I spoke to Renata's Dad a while ago and he said that this is only his fourth year playing prop. It is not then surprising that he is on a learning curve in scrummaging skills. All other parts of his game are top class I reckon.
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@canes4life They rarely get published. To think of it, I've never seen it published since they're no longer included in the main squad lists. They're not even on teams' websites.
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@canes4life aren't the WTG the ones named with an asterisk? E.g. Rayasi
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@kiwimurph Nope, they are rookies or first time Canes I believe. I know Flanders has been signed by the Canes so there must be a development squad ontop of this. Hopefully guys like Kereru-Symes, Fakatava & McClutchie are also in there.
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Devan Flanders told me the three-year contract was : first year as development (covering him in the Under 20's next year) and years two and three are full contracts.
It is eminently possible that others like Kereru-Symes, Fakatava and McClutchie have something similar. From a Hawke's Bay perspective I hope so.
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@number-10 Yeah those guys will be future Canes for sure. I expect Symes will take over Coles when he moves on after the W.C, McClutchie will probably push Garden Bachop out, Flanders will come into that loose forward mix and Fakatava will take Christie's spot.
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@canes4life I hope so, but the Canes don't have a good reputation in signing (and giving game time to) Hawke's Bay players.
Tim Farrell and Josiah Tavita-Metcalfe are two props who - hopefully - are in the picture, too; the Canes have three golden oldies players in their propping stocks with Smith, May and Eves that need to be replaced.
JGB has only one year on his contract left. Him being left out of the Maori ABs is possibly a sign they're finally discovering that he's not up to a higher level than M10 Cup.
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@stargazer 100% agree with you. Our props are journeyman and like it was last year our scrummaging will once again be our downfall again this year. Tim Farrell probably only misses out because he hasn't played all season, otherwise he would probably have been there instead of May.
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@stargazer Do we have any, I don't count May, he's a Cane who gets loaned to us for NPC. Ok, so Evans and Cridge. That's about our quota at the Canes.
My bad, I missed the fact Lowe is still there. Surprising.
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I suppose the selection of players like Bedwell Curtis, Prinsep, Henwood & Mitchell is that Plumtree is probably looking for an old-school, hardworking approach that reflects his coaching style. The only worry for me is that we may be a little undersized in our loosies and probably lack a bit of X-Factor if you take out Fifita & Savea. I think a guy like Teariki Ben Nicholas would have given the loosies more of a balance but after his public altercation a few years ago, I don't think our CEO is a fan.
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@stargazer He seems to be there to make up the numbers, mind you he has a super contract and that is more than any of Tuitama & Umaga Jensen so i'm sure you will be a little pleased.
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@canes4life He'd probably get more game time at Chiefs and esp. the Highlanders. He's a really good player, who just happens to be at the back of a reasonably random queue (he should be ahead of Goosen and probably even Lam).
