v Hawkes Bay
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@Higgins nice evening...I just left the ground after watching the Northland U14 club final between Mid Northern and Keri Keri.
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@taniwharugby You not staying for the big game? I'm struggling here too with a people mover load of my Tongan mates arriving to watch the 'Ikale Tahi game so will have to do it the old fashionmd way via Radio Sport until the Tonga v Fiji match is finished!
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@Nepia the Taniwha were actually much better than I expected this evening given there was up 10 players unavailable or out through injury..but at 28-29 I think they missed a trick and credit to the magpies they know their strengths..there line out and drive is as good as any team in the country ..I had a chat to Gareth Evans at the end of the game, apparently they don’t put a hell of a lot of practice into the driving maul but all the players are technically versed in were to be and what to do..tells me they have some intelligent forwards running around in the black and white hoops..
I was really impressed with the crowd that turned up despite the way the Taniwha have been traveling, must have been around 6,000 in attendance..
Congratulations to Jack Debreczini and Isi Tuangafasi who played their blazers games this evening.. -
Was much improved this week, but still way short of the mark.
Our defence out wide was pretty horrendous. I thought the forwards muscled up to Hawke’s Bays rated pack ok. It was the continuity of Hawkes Bays plays that reamed us in the ass though. They had the ability to string multiple phases, and in doing so wore us thin out wide where they did most of their scoring.
Wasn’t helped with a ref who only seemed to have one arm for at least 70 mins of the game, and he also missed an obvious knock on from Fakatava in the lead up to one of their tries. Happened right in front of me. But oh well, that’s just our luck, typically Northland really. Same shit, different week.
My standouts were Matiu, the two locks and Gregory.
Good to see Tua back, although he looked a bit rusty which is understandable, he’s definitely a step up from Hohaia.
Hoping like hell some of our injured guys are good to roll against Manawatu next week. We bloody need them, especially the big Ginga!
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@J77 there were just little moments that let us down, and some really dumb discipline things .I was really concerned going into this game given the way the Magpies were travelling and also the number of defections we had..
Needed many to stand up, and several did..the 2 locks Temo Mayanavanua looks to have finally found his feet at this level and Sam Caird is just a work horse ,great lineout option and the man has some serious pace..took the quickest man Mason Emerson in the Bay side to drag him down ..
Jacob Matiu continues to go from strength to strength..that’s a novel thing , a number 8 with workrate and putting consistent games together ,hopefully the NZ Maori selectors and a Super Rugby franchise are watching this kid.Sam McNanamara will only get better and I am predicting is probably a player who will end up playing a 100 games for the province..really liked how they used him as a receiver ,good catch and passing skills
I thought it was probably Jack Strakers best ever game in a Taniwha jersey, really busy around the paddock when he was on.I thought Aorangi Stokes made a great fist of the number 7 jersey ,and it was his best game in the Cambridge blue jersey ..
One guy I really enjoyed watching was Paddy Joe Atkins, gee he’s a physical guy,made some huge tackles and in the main did all his core roles well..really happy for him, really decent chap..
Agree with Justin, it was great to see Tamati Tua back..and a much more improved performance from Johnson ,That defensive hit on on either Ili or Toala was memorable...Scott Gregory was great value as well ,such strong bugger, standing down at ground level next to him..he’s a sizeable chap..
Ultimately not the result we wanted, but plenty to get excited about given the numbers we had missingShould have a few back next week including Tom Robinson..?,Ranger may be available for the last 2 x Weeks
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@J77 said in v Hawkes Bay:
Was much improved this week, but still way short of the mark.
Our defence out wide was pretty horrendous.
Wasn’t helped with a ref who only seemed to have one arm for at least 70 mins of the game
My standouts were Matiu, the two locks and Gregory.
Hoping like hell some of our injured guys are good to roll against Manawatu next week. We bloody need them, especially the big
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Being at the game it was obvious that Leiua was out of of position, made poor decisions and ended up tackling no one on 3 of the HB tries.
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Ref was horrible. Reffing in general of the offside line is a problem at the moment. Spoke with one of the TJs after the game and pointed this out and he came up with some bullshit reason about teams not committing numbers to rucks so the offside line is the tackle, not last foot..... whatever, fuck that off right now!
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Matiu and Gregory easily our 2 best on the park.
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My sauce tells me Big Red is still 2-3 weeks away.
At least we were in that game and showed some ticker, I was expecting a bigger hiding than that.
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@Steven-Harris said in v Hawkes Bay:
@Gunner those little things in and around discipline let us down..what we’re your thoughts on Paddy Joe Atkins..?
Was impressed, good work rate and threw himself into everything.
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I guess another positive is that we have Olsen, Goodhue, Robinson, Matich, Jacobson, Ranger, Hyland missing, all who are probable starters.
Shame the season is all but gone before we are likely to get any of them back.
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@Nepia said in v Hawkes Bay:
@J77 said in v Hawkes Bay:
Only has one arm like him too.
There's a lot of discussion about his one arm in the HB's thread on the match ... I expect looking at it from a different view to yours.
Watching it live at the ground it’s hard to see the little intricacies that he’s blowing penalties for and it comes across as a shit showing by the ref, but I guess the TV replay will show exactly why he seemed to have one arm.
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@J77 I think the YC was harsh, 8 mins in the 2nd spell, and he gives him a card for something done in the 1st half, refs never remember that far back, more so most often the break 'resets' things anyway.
I wish Nock would back himself, he is too ponderous, he is bloody quick, but rarely does he test the defence with his running game, and then there is his positioning, one ruck in particular, hard on our line, and he is set behind our forwards (about a metre or so behind the actual lone) as if he is expecting a ball he needs to clear...unsure if he wasnt aware of where on the field he was or he thought we were going to win the turnover (which it looked clear we weren't)
