Tasman v Northland

[taniwharugby]

Northland team named for the, er match v Ta$man.

Wright (Cap) Atkins, Straker
Mayanavanua, Caird
McNamara, Stokes, Byrne
Grant, Debreczeni
Hohaia (VC) Cherrington
Rae, Gregory, Hyland

Bench: Olsen, Tu'ungafasi, Te Whata-Colley, Funaki, Matich, Taylor (Debut) Smith, Roberts-Te Nana

Injury Bench: Ranger, Robinson, Goodhue, Hawkins, Levien, Sweetman, Matiu, Nock, Jacobson, Tua

[J77]

Once upon a time I’d have given us a chance over Ta$man...oh how times have changed.

If we can conjure another effort like last week I’ll take that. Just keep it reasonably respectable and try and scab a four try bonus.

[taniwharugby]

@J77 we have a powerful injury bench....

Yea if we can tidy up some of those pathetically soft tries we let in last week and show some of that attacking spark we saw for the first time last week, I'l be happy...

Am thinking Ta$man will score 50+, we will (hopefully) score 20+

[Chiefy07]

Already a minor victory for Northland...Matt Johnson isn't playing.

[kev]

@Chiefy07 would love to see Gregory and Hyland in midfield. That we haven't tried that given how poor we have been says everything about current setup.

[Stargazer]

Ta$man are resting several players, either by not naming them at all or naming them on the bench. Damn, they are supposed to do that next week!

[cgrant]

I really rate Makalio. Maybe he does not suit the ABs fast game but he is the third best hooker in NZ behind Coles and Taylor IMO.

[shark]

@Stargazer I'm not sure they're quite good enough to do what they're doing, but against North Auckland they probably have enough fire-power and insurance on the bench to be ok.

[Gunner]

Dangerous throw by Ta$man 4 on Aorangi Stokes is ignored.

Northland fighting hard but Ta$man getting on top with overwhelming possession and territory in the 2nd quarter.

[Steven Harris]

In all the time I have been supporting the Taniwha , I can’t believe the number of injuries we have had ..have showed some heart in the first 30 minutes,but this could get ugly..

[Steven Harris]

Great defence from Wil Grant

[Steven Harris]

How the hell did the official miss the forward pass from Hunt..?..gee when your not having a ton of luck with injuries..you don’t need the official getting things wrong

[Stargazer]

Despite Ta$man's 19 - 6 lead, I think Northland have really put up a good fight.

[Steven Harris]

@Gunner I think this 2nd half is going to be damage limitation, the guys are playing with a bit of heart, but I suspect Ta$man will overwhelm us in the 2nd half,.like the look of Wil Grant...,and then we lose Gregory and Caird hopefully not to serious ..hopefully the injury to Debrezini’s ankle is not to bad..god it’s sucks to be a Taniwha supporter in 2019..!

[Steven Harris]

Poor read from Renata Roberts..this could get ugly

[taniwharugby]

@Steven-Harris I switched it on to see that...switched off again.

[Steven Harris]

52-6 in the end to Ta$man, just really disappointed that we let the score blow out in the last several minutes.. Ta$man have such a strong squad, and when you able to bring on a Wyatt Crocket there’s going to be no let up at scrum time..and that’s pretty much what happened , got dusted at scrum time ..and the sheer weight of possession told on a team that had tackled all day..
Congratulations to Wil Grant on debut..thought the forwards battled away gamely and did well to slow a lot of Tasmans ball down , they actually kept Liam Squire in check in the main,but unfortunately it was a total gulf in class...
As for Blake Hohaia, he’s been the biggest disappointment of the season..he just makes so many poor decisions in the midfield , he had a hand in at least 4 of Ta$man tries today with 2 poor kicks which ended up in tries, a horrible offload that saw Wil Jordon go ninety metres , and fell for a dummy which saw O’Malley run 40metres for a try..I will cut Roberts TeNana a bit of slack, but he sprinted off his wing at least 3 x times , 2 which resulted in tries.

[taniwharugby]

@Steven-Harris said in Ta$man v Northland:

As for Blake Hohaia our midfield, he’s been the biggest disappointment of the season.

THe other part of the problem wasnt even there today.

[kev]

@taniwharugby some things need to to be changed.

[Chris B.]

Very pleasant afternoon at Traf. Park. As Steven Harris mentioned, a bit of a pity for the Taniwha that the floodgates opened a bit in the final 10 minutes.

Freddie has a bit of advice for our former compadres on Steve Tew's hit list:

Keep yourself alive, yeah
Keep yourself alive
It'll take you all your time and money
Honey you'll survive