Northland v Canterbury
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I said to a couple of people that we’d be doing well to keep them under 50, so I guess I have to say we’ve done well.
Being a Taniwha fan is depressing this season. We don’t even have our usual attacking flair that we can at least enjoy watching even if we lose.
There were positives out there, Matiu again was outstanding, Caird good. Tua looked like he might be finding a bit of form and Roberts Te Nana had some nice touches.
We just give away too many penalties and make too many mistakes, it’s as simple as that.
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@Gunner Rugby has become harder with defensive lines improving. We lack an effective strategy / execution to deal with that:
-speed of clearance
-play close to line
-kicking behind
-moving ball to spaceWe are running into contact most of the time with slow ball or losing ball in turnover.
We have been out coached this year.
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Official website doesn’t have Northland scoring...
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@ACT-Crusader said in Northland v Canterbury:
Official website doesn’t have Northland scoring...
You mean Canterbury?
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So disappointing...half the team look so far off their games, a couple trying too hard and making errors.
Our defence was largely good, but unable to maintain for 80.
How do you go from scrum parity for 30 mins, then getting smashed with same 8? Fitness, concentration, although both linked.
Same for line out, what's worse is the lapses are usually after good pressure or work getting ourselves into a good position to launch, then we give the ball back.
Thought ref was good in 1st half but as game wore on and Canterbury squeezed us he gave them more latitude.
Not sure what the fuck the ARs do cos loads of times the Cantabs were a foot offside, giving our already cramped for space backs even less time.
His pen advantage was wildly inconsistent too, they had one that went for an age but he still went back, we had one that went for an age too, but we went backwards the entire time eventually dropped it and then gave them a scrum, and then one where we went backwards he ruled over quickly as we turned the ball over at a breakdown.
Nock frustrates me, so much talent and ability, was very good on defence last night cleaning up, but the pace and energy on the attack when Levien came on was noticeable, id love to see him start. Nock is just too hesitant when deciding what he is going to do, which negates his excellent pass.
Our boys all look down on confidence, cos often they are taking contact rather than going for the gap, most noticeably when Roberts-Te Nana got his break, he shoulda tried for the outside break with an in and out, but he cut in, which to me speaks about the mindset of these boys currently.
Aside from one very costly missed tackle, Matiu was again one of our best, Caird continues to impress, McNamara is industrious too but fell off 2 easy tackles.
A few lads do look like they are carrying injuries: Rae had a limp from the start on his heavily strapped leg, Nock on his heavily strapped ankle, Leilua doesn't have any if the pace I saw at club footy, Matich took a heavy hit to his leg, looked like a knee, hopefully that ain't serious.
Injuries never help (of which we have much more this year, possibility symptomatic of less than desirable fitness?) but seems a lot more going on at present, some poor decisions, sloppy handling, no confidence and seems some poor game plans, all evidenced by the 1 win this season.
Ah well, T.I.N (That is Northland)
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Canterbury were so far off their game I believe they were ripe for the picking. Any other side bar Southland or Manawatu would have beaten them last night. They had players dropping like flies and a tonne of inexperienced youngsters to hold the fort, yet our circus acts couldn’t even make a dent.
We might as well not even have a backline. I mean to say we can’t even catch and pass. These are things that are taught to five year olds.
I felt sorry for the forwards as they toiled hard only for the backs to stuff it up.
It seems like our only go to is the pod runners. This was getting really predictable and Canterbury cottoned on to it and squeezed us out of the game.
Don’t really want to slag individuals as it’s like banging my head against a brick wall, but as usual it’s the same guys not standing up.
I hope like hell we have a bit of a clean out for our centenary season next year, because with a lot of the current crop we’ll be rubbing shoulders with Southland before we know it.
Yeah it doesn’t help with our injured guys out, but the ones in there have had plenty of time to gel, and haven’t.
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@taniwharugby good comment about the effort from the team. I think it has really picked up. But the execution remains poor with so many mistakes.
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Post match interview with Joe Maddock:
Bunnings Warehouse NPC
