Magpies - 2019 Mitre 10 Cup
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The Bay had the northerly wind in the first half but it was Ta$man that had the initial ascendency with most of the possession after HB kicked the initial kick off back to them. The eventually scored a try that came from a back of the lineout willyaway that they eventually drove the scorer over about 13 metres in from the left hand corner. The kick missed
5 Mins HB 00-05 Ta$manHB struck back after winning a lineout inside ther Ta$man 25 from a penalty. A beautiful long cut out pass from Lincoln McClutchie to Ollie Sapsford on the right saw the winger makie good ground and after a couple of steps off his right foot he unloaded to nice pass to the fullback Saia Paese who ran the last twenty odd metres to score untouched about 15 metres in from the right hand corner. McClutchie missed the kick.
12 Min HB 05 - 05 Ta$manThe Bay were next to score as they were gaining the ascendency and it came from a scrum won on about the ten metre line where halfback Humphrey Shield finally got his passing right (after a very Chris Eaton like start where he flung out a couple of bounce passes and a few about knee height to stifle things too much for my liking). The pass was both long and reasonably fast and right close to the gainline where McClutchie ran beautifully onto the ball at speed before flicking out a pass to winger Sapsford in as the extra man from the blind side outside him. Sapsford took the ball up and made the crucial distance over the advantage line and with the go forward ball we had a couple of quick recycles all the while heading left before I think it was the openside flanker Iakopo Mapu (but it might not have been - the HB jerseys had almost unreadable numbers on them) came round the right hand side of the ruck and went in for the try ten metres to the left of the posts. McClutchie converted.
20 Mins HB 12 - 05 Ta$man27 Mins Pouri Rakete-Stones came on for Josiah Tevita-Metcalfe, the first of two changes in the first half but one of about 60 changes made during the entirety of the game.
The Bay were the next to add to the scoreline when a lineout about six or seven metres from the left hand corner was thrown to near the back for the first time where Josh Kaifa did the honours and got the ball very quickly into the hands of supporting players after his initial mini drive for what looked like the number 8 Hannon Brighouse (but it might have been someone else!) driving over about ten metres to the left of the posts. McClutchie converted.
33 Mins HB 19 - 05 Ta$manMystery Morrison was spotted at this point sitting in the grandstand not far from me. What he was doing intruding in a private HB affair was not known but at least he showed he was there for the enjoyment of the game of rugby. There are not many midweek afternoon matches of any significance these days so you have to take advantage of them when you can I suppose! Anyway if you are reading this Mystery, I hope you enjoyed the game.
35 Mins Mason Emerson retired after soldiering on for about the last five minutes suffering some sort of injury sustained during a nice thirty metre run he made down the left hand wing, twice stepping off his left foot before getting nailed. He was slow to get up and after initial consultation with the medical staff carried on until this point. Pretty sure that was the last we saw of him for the afternoon.
Halftime HB 19 - 05 Ta$man
The second half got underway with both sides making a couple of changes but from that point on they become too numerous and regular for me to keep up with so won't be able to give a break down about those. I would only be guessing about who the players were anyway as a lot of our bench guys did not appear to be wearing the jersey numbers declared in the press. Captain and, just for you Stockcar 86, NZ Superstock Champion, Jason Long was one that was subbed around this time and I can only assume it was Tim Farrell that came on for him. It was a guy wearing headgear anyway.
The Bay continued on where they left off in the first half and were in again after a penalty saw us advance the resulting lineout to inside the Ta$man 22. A number of strong drives saw us march to within 6 metres of the Ta$man line before a couple of pick and goes saw another unidentified player over about seven metres to the right of the posts. The try was converted .
46 Mins HB 26 - 05 Ta$man.From the restart came probably the best backline attack in the match where a surging run by possibly 2nd five Neria Fomai and a couple of other players and it looked like a try was about to be scored but from a tackle situation about fifteen metres out from the Ta$man goalline we conceded a penalty. It was at that point that I noted a replacement first five was on in the 22 jersey. Slightly taller than McClutchie and rather slim of build he was if anyone can put a name to him. He seemed to run a bit more than McClutchie anyway but that could have been under coaches instructions rather than any other reason.
Ta$man were next to score after the replacement HB right wing wearing bright orange boots (yuck anything resembling or reminding us of those awful days of orange jerseys should be completely and utterly banned) rushed up in a midfield position to try and snuff out a Ta$man thrust only to see them recycle the ball and hoof it back big time into the spot he should have been in. It was initially dealt to nicely by covering replacement left winger Michael Buckley but he was outnumbered at least two to one and the inevitable happened with a turnover and Ta$man resorting to one off runnings to eventually go over for the try twelve metres in from the left hand corner. The kick missed.
53 Mins HB 26 - 10 Ta$manThere was a heartwarming moment when a replacement prop was on for Rakete-Stones and we utterly destroyed the Ta$man scrum. Sadly replacement first five 22 missed touch and Ta$man attacked strongly from the error.
By this stage Ta$man had the majority of possession since half time and shortly after four replacement players had come on en masse for the Bay we somehow got hold of possession right on our goal line and attempted to run it out from there. The guy playing centre at that stage attempted to bat the ball on to his outside player in the same motion as he received it with not unexpected consequences. He stuffed it up badly and Ta$man strolled in for the converted try about five metres to the right of the posts. I had to restrain myself at that point remembering it was a preseason game but there was much gnashing of my teeth and under breath cursing going on believe me!
66 Mins HB 26 - 17 Ta$man.Another Ta$man try came about after Sapsford missed a tackle and number 22 scored a converted try ten metres to the right of the posts. Things were getting a bit nervous in my vicinity at that point but we always looked to be slightly the better team overall.
71 Mins HB 26 - 24 Ta$manHB regained control about this point and with McClutchie back on to close the game out he came good with an absolutely brilliant kick pass that previous villan wearing the orange boots took on the full at good pace and ran about 35 metres to score very close to touch in the right hand corner to great hooping and hollering from at least one spectator who had been somewhat restrained prior to that point!!!! McClutchie narrowly missed the conversion into and across the northerly wind
80 Mins HB 31 - 24 Ta$manIf someone posts a video of the match on YouTube I hope my description above is reasonably close to what happened. There was a lady sitting about ten yards to my right filming the math on her iPhone so it might eventual be Youtubed.
Will give a bit of thought to my impressions on how some of the players went and post those later on tonight. Suffice to say it did become rather difficult to keep track of the comings and goings, especially during the second half.
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@Nepia What?
I'm being summoned to the bloody Magpies forum? La gazza ladra!
I have only one contribution to make....
http://allblacks.com/Video/Viewer/31055/round-9-highlights-tasman-v-hawkes-bay-2018
All you need to listen to is Lose's final sentence. "Scoreline reads Ta$man twenty nine, Hawkes Bay nil"!
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Hawke's Bay Magpies 31 (Iakopo Mapu 2, Saia Paese, Solomone Funaki, Penikolo Latu tries; Lincoln McClutchie 3 cons), Ta$man Mako 24 (Mike Vaeno, Jamie Spowart, Timoci Tavatavanawai, Sam Briggs tries; Briggs 2 cons)
HT: 19-5.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/hawkes-bay-today/sport/news/article.cfm?c_id=1503460&objectid=12231304
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Great report of the match, @Higgins! Thank you!
Talked to a mate of mine who was at the match and he said there were a lot of scrum re-sets. Lots to work on, he said, but when the scrum worked, the Bay well and truly dominated the Mako.
He was impressed with Cridge's game, who - he thought - played the whole 80 minutes (unless he missed him being subbed off and then back on again). The other lock wasn't bad, either.
He also said that Sheild - apart from the beginning of the game - looked reasonably good and McClutchie was awesome.
He also wondered who was communicating so loudly? One of the coaches from the sideline?
About possible highlights on Youtube: my mate said there was a man with a video camera at the back of a ute parked behind the posts. He forgot to look whether there was a camera filming from the top of the stands (in one of the coaches' boxes), like last year.
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@Chris-B said in Magpies - 2019 Mitre 10 Cup:
@Nepia What?
I'm being summoned to the bloody Magpies forum? La gazza ladra!
I have only one contribution to make....
http://allblacks.com/Video/Viewer/31055/round-9-highlights-tasman-v-hawkes-bay-2018
All you need to listen to is Lose's final sentence. "Scoreline reads Ta$man twenty nine, Hawkes Bay nil"!
You're only as good as your latest game - plus, it's good to play Ta$man rather than the usual Ta$man Invitational XV made up of imports. :face_with_stuck-out_tongue_closed_eyes:
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@Nepia Ooh - if we could only get all our born and bred Ta$man players back we'd show you Hawkes Bay boys a thing or two.
Wyatt Crockett, Owen Franks, Luke Romano, Mitch Drummond, Ryan Crotty, Dave Havili - just to name a few recent ABs.
We'd even have Ian "Stockley" Smith doing biased commentary on our behalf!
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Right my overall impressions. The Bay were slightly slow out of the blocks and Ta$man had the upper hand early on with most of the possession. The tackling was fairly solid but Ta$man were not exactly creative with the ball in hand and most of their attack was through about the second man (forward) out from the maul where most of the tackling was attended to by Jason Long. Geoff Cridge also stationed himself in and around that area but it was predominantly Long that snuffed out the danger. Ta$man seldom chanced their arm out wide in the backs during the first half. They also has a serious case of the dropsies a la the Blues during the first half which helped out the Bay's defensive efforts no end. Most of those spilled balls happened when they were attacking. Though the scrums in the first half were pretty even with Ta$man having control of a few but when they did the Bay held them and did not go backward but were definitely looking a bit under pressure. When it was the Bays turn for dominance we did shunt them back slightly a couple times but not large distances overall. Lineouts in the first half were a bit scratchy with quite a few going to Elijah Martin. He secured them but not exactly in comfortable fashion with his lifters not always being in sync with the throw of Martin's jump. Still he at least won the throws. Can't really recall how Cridge did in the lineouts (maybe only a few, if any were called for him). The ones that were thrown to the loose forwards were successful. Can't recall any being won or lost against the throw. Maybe there was one in the second half that we stole?
The numerous props tried made it hard to keep track of them (as did the awful jersey numbers on the back which were virtually impossible to read from a distance. Whoever signed them off at the HBRFU needs to give themselves a big uppercut, especially if they did not get them for free. I mean white on white, it doesn't take a genius to know that is never going to be readable). I mostly concentrated on the two younger guys and they both had different styles of driving with the ball. Tevita-Metcalfe looked to be more upright and using upper body strength and Rakete-Stones much lower and using his pumping legs to add power to his forward thrusts. Long went off about halftime and Tevita-Metcalfe midway through the first half both later returned in the second half
although exactly when it was hard to work out as the coming and goings were almost NFL like. What I presume was Tim Farrell had about thirty minutes at loosehead and looked to be fairly competent, once giving his opponent an earful after a particularly dominant scrum. All the props got game time.Didn't really pay much attention to the hookers although there were a couple of wobbly throws early on but we recovered from them without too much difficulty. Looked like Jacob Devery had most of the game with the replacement getting on toward the end.
Elijah Martin showed plenty of hustle and bustle in his first appearance at this level but I got the impression that he was possible struggling with the physicality and speed of the game. Still give him more time in a "professional" environment and we may see him get more used to those aspects. He did not let himself down. Certainly looked to be lacking in height but that's easy when packing down with Geoffrey Cridge who is one of the taller locks going round. Cridge played all the game and despite what the HBToday article indicated I thought he was only adequate and nothing special. Like Long he seemed to concentrate more on the defensive side of things and did not feature all that prominently on attack.
Little hard to categorise the flankers as Kaifa wore the number 6 jersey and the new guy from Taradale the number 7. Kaifa certainly endeared himself to me today as he was more prominent with the ball in hand and tackled well. Iakopo Mapu went well but was not really a standout in open play but certainly has a good sniff for the tryline. Kaifa packed down on the blindside but to me anyway he seemed to be playing more of the opensides role. I might have been a bit mistaken as he is more familiar to me that Mapu and much easier to pick out from a distance. Hannon Brighouse I can't really give a rating to as I did not spend much time watching. Seems to be a little short for the current type of No. 8 (kind of like Dale Atkins for those of use old enough to remember back that far). Don't remember any bad defensive stuff-ups at the back of the scrum nor any noticeable breaks of our defense line close in so guess he must have played his part keeping things tight there.
The starting halfback did not get off to a good start with some unusually poor passes but seemed to pick himself up after that and settle into a more productive game. Can't recall him running or kicking much so can't comment on those aspects. The bench half back only got limited game time in the second half and did not notice him on the field until about the last ten or fifteen minutes. Didn't make any major clangers or I would have noticed them. It must be remembered that Ta$man did have the majority of second half ball so he did not really get much chance to show his attacking prowess.
Lincoln McClutchie was all that he has been cracked up to be with some good cleanups of some awful passes shoveled his way early on. Did not engage the opposition much physically in running with the ball preferring to time his passes to his outsides to perfection rather than taking the tackle. What was noticeable was that he looks to have added many metres to his punts from the last time I saw him play (HB under 20s v Wgtn Under 20s at Westpac last year when he did not gain much ground at all every time he kicked from hand). Well done to him for a good all round game out there today. The replacement in the umber 22 jersey did not get all that much game time and, as I have previously said looked to run a bit more than McClutchie but overall did not get much ball in attacking situations so cannot really give any rating as such. Pretty sure he did miss tough from one penalty which is always frowned upon if you are playing in my team's jersey.
The midfield starting paring of Neria Fomai and Timo Vaiusu went ok except one of them must take responsibility for the forgettable incident that resulted in the last Ta$man try. Pretty sure Fomai played most of the game, moving to centre when the replacement midfielder (they guy with long hair from Taradale) came on.
The wingers were all ok without any of them showing all that much that would stick in my memory. Mason Emerson still runs hard but you get the impression that he is simply too small of stature whilst Sapsford is bigger and more powerful and has got a nice swerve and hip swivel and a moderate step that can get him into space (as does Emerson) when needed. Mike Buckley had no chances on attack but did well on defense. Penikolo Latu likewise had very little chances on attack, apart from the spectacular try from the McClutchie kick pass but he needed to pull that off to make up for what I am sticking on him for the awful rush up out of line that resulted in a Ta$man try a minute later.
Don't recall if we had a replacement fullback on but the starter Saia Paese went ok considering it is not his usual position. It must be said that Ta$man did not put him under much pressure through any kicks sent his way so he did have a bit of a free ride there. The jury is still out on him.
Not sure who some of the replacement forwards were but some of them were big munters and a couple of them had at least one crunching run with the ball that earned themselves a tick against their name (if only I knew who they were.)
Overall we had the more powerfully scrum when we needed to usurp dominance which we did a couple of times that warmed my heart no end. Lineouts were OK without too much in the way of fancy stuff (understandable given the paucity of training sessions). The backline play was limited with pretty much then only rehearsed moves looking like calling the blindside wingers inside and outside the first five. The fullback was called into the line a couple of times as well. Again understandable given the limited preparation time.
On the other side of the coin Ta$man were pretty limited on attack in the first half playing pretty much into the wind type football and compounding things for them was poor handling. In the second half they did try to become a bit more adventurous but in most instances our defense was up to the task.
Oh just remembered I don't recall much turnover ball being lost or won. Pleasing in the first instance and not so pleasing in the second. All in all we look to have a number of players that will fill out our roster to be competitive once the Super players are added come Mitre10 Cup time. A preseason game so not too much to be read into it other than we looked good defensively and Lincoln McClutchie is as good as everyone keeps telling us he is.
HBRFU you don't get out of this scot free as apart from the jersey number problem please respect our traditions come time when official first class status is affixed to the match and make sure our team wears our official colours of black and white hooped jerseys, black shorts and black and white hooped socks. I do not want to see any sign of the faded black colour (ok lets be honest it was definitely grey that was too prevalent in the outfit worn today) anywhere near our sacred jersey in matches holding first class status.
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Hawke's Bay XV v Wairarapa Bush
Monday, 3 June 2019 (Queen's Birthday)
Kick-off 1.00pm
Hawke's Bay Regional Sports Park (Hastings)Who's going?
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Not sure I can make it with work, but will attempt to get there if things go OK the rest of this week.
Last time I saw us play against The Bush was in the 90's (I think) with Higgins at Masterton, where we were lucky to come away with a narrow win (or was it a loss? I can't remember other than it was an awful performance by us). Anyway, I still think of them as a hoodoo side.
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@Stockcar86 said in Magpies - 2019 Mitre 10 Cup:
Not sure I can make it with work, but will attempt to get there if things go OK the rest of this week.
Last time I saw us play against The Bush was in the 90's (I think) with Higgins at Masterton, where we were lucky to come away with a narrow win (or was it a loss? I can't remember other than it was an awful performance by us). Anyway, I still think of them as a hoodoo side.
I hope you weren't at Masterton in 1985 when first division Wairarapa Bush thrashed second division Hawke's Bay 53-6?
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@Number-10 I was not there that day but seem to recollect we played them on the way home from getting rolled midweek in Blenheim by Marlborough. Certainly not one of our finest weeks results and performance wise. Not sure which game 86 is referring to as I certainly attended an awful lot of games against the Bush both in Masterton and one particularly memorable one midweek in Pahiatua on a bitterly cold and wet day (maybe hints of snow?) the same day one of the banks in Woodville was subject to an armed robbery. Took quite a while to get through the police blocks and car searches to make it through to Pahiatua. Seem to recall John Bird came off a bit before full time that day. Mention was made that it may have been that he wanted to make sure he got what was left of the hot water in the showers!!! Don't recall the year or the result (pretty sure the Bay got home reasonably comfortably) but Norm Hewitt was definitely playing. Think it would probably have been in the very late 80 or maybe even as late as 1991 or 92. Over to you Stargazer to come up with the year of that match played in Pahiatua.
Perhaps the match Stockcar86 and I were present at may have been around about 1995 and almost certain we got robbed of victory that day. I do know 86 and I certainly enjoyed slaughtering puny Nelson Bays by about sixty points not long afterward and celebrated Roger Randell scoring three or four tries that day in good fashion. Might have been the year we got cleaned up somewhat big time by North Auckland twice in Whangarei in consecutive weeks (round robin and semi-final). Stargazer will again be able to put us right on that as well for sure. -
Going by the Rugby Almanack:
The one in Masterton after the match in Blenheim was 1987, Hawke's Bay losing 18-19.
The one in Pahiatua with John Bird and Norm Hewitt playing was 1992, Hawke's Bay winning 44-5.
That 1995 match in Masterton, Almanack tells me we lost 16-34, our only try being a penalty try.
I was at Masterton in 1998 when Hawke's Bay played there - it was Orcades Crawford's 100th match, Hawke's Bay lost 15-20. It was played the weekend the Central Vikings (remember them?) had a bye. To make it worse, the following week the Vikings thrashed Wairarapa Bush 79-12.
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It was so long ago that things must have got a bit confused in my aging memory. I can ceratinly recall learning of the smacking by fifty whilst doing something in Napier that Saturday, it still causes great anxiety to this day. At least the one point loss to them after the Marlborough game was not quite as bad. Come to think of it with it being a non championship game and home referees officiating we might have been struck with the Bob Francis curse where we never seemed to win with him reffing.
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@Number-10 said in Magpies - 2019 Mitre 10 Cup:
I was at Masterton in 1998 when Hawke's Bay played there - it was Orcades Crawford's 100th match, Hawke's Bay lost 15-20. It was played the weekend the Central Vikings (remember them?) had a bye. To make it worse, the following week the Vikings thrashed Wairarapa Bush 79-12.
At least in 1998 we managed to absolutely dismember Manawatu by a massive margin in Palm Nth one mid week night. I travelled up from Wellington for the occasion and was one of only about a hundred spectators present, one spectator for almost every point run up by the Bay. Think we got something aroound the mid 80s but Manawatu might have scrambled into double figures toward the end to spoil the experience somewhat. Not a single beer passed my lips in celebration afterward, mainly thanks to having to drive back to the Capital for work the following morning!
