Bay of Plenty v Wellington
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@Stargazer defence wins matches. Wellington have been great in that aspect over the last few weeks. Take away our scrum and we’ve been strong in most other aspects.
JGB showing that he just isn’t upto it.
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Got to give the Lions their dues , hammered in the main at scrum time..spent a good 10 minutes in their own 22..,got a skitzo first five who’s either hot or cold , but found a way through their defence..!..TBN at number 8 outstanding
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@Steven-Harris does TBN have a Super contract?
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@Canes4life he should have, he’s got some engine..!
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@Canes4life To be fair, I think Wellington should have lost a player to the bin with all those scrum penalties. If that had happened, they probably wouldn't have won.
Nevertheless, good defence, holding BOP out. Result suits me fine for the Championship table.
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@Stargazer Yeah they should of, most other refs would have given a card alot earlier.
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@Canes4life said in Bay of Plenty v Wellington:
@Stargazer Yeah they should of, most other refs would have given a card alot earlier.
I agree
I'm a farking broken record, but it's so random from week to week with the refs.
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@Stargazer said in Bay of Plenty v Wellington:
@Canes4life To be fair, I think Wellington should have lost a player to the bin with all those scrum penalties. If that had happened, they probably wouldn't have won.
Nevertheless, good defence, holding BOP out. Result suits me fine for the Championship table.
Bring on the Battle of the Bays
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Might be time to stop experimenting with the back line and pick our 2nd five. I know we only lost by one point but I do wonder weather its time to shelve having two 1st fives at 10 & 12, like to see Skipwith Garland or Lalomilo given the chance to build a combination with Webber in mid field. Webber is great on attack but still has a lot to learn on defence hopefully he will improve each game. Hollinshead to start for me Trask to come on in the 2nd half and Hollinshead to fullback or bench.
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Frustrating game for BOP. Really should’ve won that. Loose forwards played well for BOP.
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@ACT-Crusader said in Bay of Plenty v Wellington:
Frustrating game for BOP. Really should’ve won that. Loose forwards played well for BOP.
Blake and Karpik have been great these past 2-3 seasons, with a rotating big bugger at 8 it is a strength of ours.
Not quite sure why we kept going for the scrum in their 22 when the ref didn't show any signs of going to the pocket - the spurned 3 points was critical at the end.
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The next 3 weeks see the 2 Bays and Taranaki play each other and HB have the hardest run-in of the 3 teams as their other 3 games are Waikato, Counties and Ta$man. The Steamers have the 3 cellar dwellers in the Championship and the Naki have Southland, Waikato and Auckland. Otago have 4 premier teams and then finish with Northland.
If we can win the Battle of the Bays and beat Manawatu, Northland and Southland, we can probably afford a loss to the Naki and still finish in the top 2.
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Yes, its strange to think that, but for a poor conversion and stupid pass to Ioane, we could possibly be unbeaten at this stage. In reality I really don't think that we deserve to be unbeaten however. We just can't seem to capitalize on the advantage and "put a team away".
And yes, that decision to continue scrumming rather than take a penalty kick was odd in retrospect. Some of the tactics in general were odd actually and ultimately unsuccessful. One thing that is noticeable this year is the chip (or grubber) kick beyond the defensive line out to a waiting player which seems to be working for some teams. I saw them practicing it in the warmup using Narawa but was never used during the game.
Despite my negativeness and cynicism there is plenty to be happy about this year. It would have to rate as the best year for a long time with many players excelling and a minimum of injuries (possibly).
Like Kiwipie said, the permutations for the finals are beginning to become apparent. I still think that on our day we can beat anyone but no win is guaranteed but this year we seem to be more consistent .
