Auckland v Harbour
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righto, very brief match report.
Weather was rubbish, can't underestimate how wet it was in teh week leading up. All soccer and rugby cancelled basically ... although today is yet another glorious blue sky in the City of Sails and Crappy Super Franchises.
Auckland played really well to start, and could/should ahve been ahead by more. Were getting mulched in teh scrum until (I think) Li went off for Harbour. Backs looked better; the reserve 9 pass was good; flat and to the line. Looked good to me.
5 stood out for his lineout work. Got a hand to a number of Harbour balls, but couldn't quite steal many. Looked light though aroudn the field. Not terrible, but not particularly physical.
The handling was outstanding from both sides. Very little dropped pill, particularly from unforced errors. The game was good to watch generally, plenty of intensity from the attacking side.
Auckland just went to sleep for 30 odd minutes in teh second half. Passive defence, standing flat footed and letting NH runa t them. Very very frustrating. Conceded tries, and deserved to.
Plummer kicked well until he missed the sitter from in front. Frustrating - he works hard I understand, but that has to be a mental thing now.
15 for Harbour has a massive massive boot on him. Stood out for kickign further than anyone else on the park, just a monster.
Ref was not bad; the TMO saved Auckland by finding the knock on, but otherwise was reasonable. Glad that Harbour missed their shot to win the game - a draw was probably a fair result given the effort put in by both sides.
All in all, 3 points is 3 pionts. Both sides won't be disappointed, but I don't get booing at the end ... if you're banking three points, why boo? Just take it, flush the dunny, and move one.
Also, that's two games in a row at EP that are tied in regulation. Haven't seen that before
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@Tim said in Auckland v Harbour:
@JK I always feel guilty admitting it, but my old man was a huge Auckland fan, and I went to almost every home game.
Yeah. My old man had season tickets to Eden park and a member of ARU supporters club under the old stand in the corner. Lived at the park on a Saturday, met heaps of great players so was too hard to warm to the Johnny come lately Harbour (1985 / 86? was just yesterday in rugby terms) in spite of living in the Harbour area for quite a while.
I'm now right on the border for Harbour and Northland but still an Auckland supporter, not sure what timezone I'm in though.
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@nzzp I feel that Auckland went away from what was working in the first half. They used their fast nimble men such as Clarke and Rayasi but in the second half it was much more 1 out rugby.
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@DrivingMaul yep fair call.
Also, when Apisai came on it was Leni vs Karl in teh front rows
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Pretty good watch. We looked the goods in the first half, but Harbour did well to come back. Didn't think that missed kick at the beginning of the 2nd half would come back to bite us.
Sotutu had quite a good game in only his second start. He showed that he's good enough to give Akira breaks during the season. Nice little moment when Rayasi set him up for a try as Rayasi has been living with the Sotutus for the last few years.
Tusitala did a really good job considering the circumstances. Maybe we give him another start to reward him and to see if he can do it again.
Hopefully Plummer's injury isn't too serious.
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@DrivingMaul said in Auckland v Harbour:
@nzzp I feel that Auckland went away from what was working in the first half. They used their fast nimble men such as Clarke and Rayasi but in the second half it was much more 1 out rugby.
Don't think we had enough possession to really work into things in the 2nd half. We must've only had several minutes of possession in that whole 2nd half, and when we did have the ball, it was usually deep in our own half.
Besides the beginning of the 2nd half where we had a little mini attack to get into their 22, we didn't really get back in their half for the rest of the game. Harbour did a good job of keeping possession and keeping us trapped in our own half in that 2nd half.
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@Dice said in Auckland v Harbour:
Don't think we had enough possession to really work into things in the 2nd half. We must've only had several minutes of possession in that whole 2nd half, and when we did have the ball, it was usually deep in our own half.
Besides the beginning of the 2nd half where we had a little mini attack to get into their 22, we didn't really get back in their half for the rest of the game. Harbour did a good job of keeping possession and keeping us trapped in our own half in that 2nd half.
Yeah they had a lot of possession in that 2nd spell
Our main turnover threat was Abel.. but he subbed off
In the 2nd half Harbour's error rate was low and we didn't earn turnovers/penalties. Our pack got tired as a result
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@Tim said in Auckland v Harbour:
I take it that it's been wet.
Strange they made that call so early. North harbour rugby was all still on and Massey ground was excellent this morning and Shore great this arvo.
Such a shame to cancel the junior stuff when there’s no premier club games to protect the grounds for anyway.
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@Dice said in Auckland v Harbour:
Sotutu had quite a good game in only his second start. He showed that he's good enough to give Akira breaks during the season.
Tusitala did a really good job considering the circumstances.
Tusitala got the players player award (3pts), TJ (2) and Hoskins - 1.
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@Kirwan Rayasi, TJ and Hodgman were doubtful starters apparently right up until kickoff with the same illness that laid Ruru low. Hence Matt Storm and Paul Roache getting the late callups. Faiane and Hodgman spewing their guts before the game and at halftime.
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@Nogusta said in Auckland v Harbour:
@Kirwan Rayasi, TJ and Hodgman were doubtful starters apparently right up until kickoff with the same illness that laid Ruru low. Hence Matt Storm and Paul Roache getting the late callups. Faiane and Hodgman spewing their guts before the game and at halftime.
Gee, you wouldn’t have known it, impressed they played through that.
3 pts under those circumstances is great.
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@Nogusta said in Auckland v Harbour:
@Kirwan Rayasi, TJ and Hodgman were doubtful starters apparently right up until kickoff with the same illness that laid Ruru low. Hence Matt Storm and Paul Roache getting the late callups. Faiane and Hodgman spewing their guts before the game and at halftime.
good nudge fella. Puts a different complexion on the game for sure, and maybe explains why we were so passive in defence at times.
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Papali’i for Cane would be an improvement I reckon.
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