Auckland Rugby 2021

[Dice]

@tim The team is better than I thought it'd be.

Not the most balanced backrow. We tried that backrow last year and it didn't look that good.

Our best backrow last year was WRK, Choat and Tuipulotu, although we only got a small sample of it.

[Tim]

@dice Yeah, fortunately Ekuasi and Tuipulotu provide some ball carrying options.

[Tim]

Based on what we've seen so far, these are the non AB players available for the squad:

Prop

Hodgman
Jordan Lay
Woonton
Fusitua
Renata
H Tuipulotu
Ahio

Hooker

Vikena
Apisai
Anae
Te Puni

Lock

Scrafton
Kalapu
Lane
Beehre

Loose Forward

Choat
Gibson
Reidlinger-Kapa
S Tuipulotu
Vai
Jones
Ekuasi
Church
Peita
Sititi

Halfback

Ruru
Funaki
Wye

First Five

Plummer
McKenzie
An import*

Midfield

Evans
Talataina
Heem
Murray
Kata*

Wing

Rayasi
Lam
Tangitau
Mocevakaca
Tuivasa-Sheck

Fullback

Sullivan
Maka

Aside from the rumoured first five returning from overseas, there might be Marco Fepulea’i at tight head prop, Hamish Dalzell at lock, Manu Paea at halfback, Sage Shaw-Tait as wing and midfield, Joel Cobb (if not injured) at wing, Caleb Clarke (if available), and Jordan Trainor at fullback.

First choice XXIII is probably very similar to today's preseason game squad.

[Tim]

Potential XXIII for the end of the season:

1 Hodgman
2 Vikena
3 Renata
4 Kalapu
5 Scrafton
6 Choat
7 Gibson
8 S Tuipulotu

9 Ruru
10 Plummer
11 Clarke
12 Evans
13 Heem
14 RTS
15 Sullivan

16 Apisai
17 Lay
18 Fepulea’i
19 Dalzell/Beehre
20 Reidlinger-Kapa
21 Funaki
22 Rayasi
23 Kata/Ekuasi

[Duluth]

@tim

Looks about right.

You think Gibson won't get injured? He's due some luck I guess

Rayasi would be hard to push out even for the big names

It'll be interesting to see if Sullivan is used to cover ten. At this stage I'd prefer him to concentrate on fullback

[Tim]

@duluth Yeah, Gibson might well be out with injury. Cam Church seems to be the next openside on the list.

Agree about Rayasi.

[Duluth]

Is there going to be a stream for the pre-season match?

[Tim]

@duluth Nothing on Northland homepage or facebook.

[taniwharugby]

@duluth I dont think they are streaming the 1st game, think the B vs Ngati Porou is being streamed then the Womens game is on Sky...so not sure what thats about.

Northland Rugby Union

Just says any streams will be there

[Daffy Jaffy]

This post is deleted!

[Tim]

@daffy-jaffy

There's a warning up on Northland's facebook page:

Reminder: Any official available live streams of games will be shared or posted by Northland Rugby to our offical pages. Please never click the links that get posted in our comments sections.
We do our best to remove these as they pop up but on game days we get incredibly busy!
Please keep your devices safe by not following the “streaming” links in comments!

[Tim]

From Auckland Instagram:

Unfortunately no livestream for this game but will keep you updated on the story

[Tim]

Auckland up 5 - 0 after Zarn Sullivan try.

[taniwharugby]

Vaiolini Ekuasi was bloody good in his 30 or so mins

[Daffy Jaffy]

@taniwharugby Speaking of Ekuasi -

[taniwharugby]

@daffy-jaffy if thats Ekuasi, the player I thought was him, wasnt him...

the guy with the ginger hair was excellent...briefly see him at the very end of the try scoring clip

[Tim]

@taniwharugby Maybe the hooker Vikena? He looks very similar to Ekuasi.

[taniwharugby]

@tim nah wasn't him, was wearing #20 as was Niko Jones.

Iceman was sitting next to us in the stands.

[Daffy Jaffy]

@taniwharugby Ekuasi's team pic from last year minus the dreds

Maybe it was Sione Tuipolotu that you noticed? He was very good for Tonga v the AB's etc. -

[taniwharugby]

@daffy-jaffy nah he was a ginger too, see top of his head in that pic

That said, Ekuasi (now I know which one he was) did look good too