NPC 2022
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@taniwharugby for me at this stage the value bet is Hawkes Bay, both them and Waikato played a high quality game last week. On their day both teams quite capable of matching it with the shorter favourites..injuries permitting just at better odds
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@bayimports Waikato heavy faves to beat us on Saturday ($1.17 vs $5) interestingly, 3rd year in a row they play us in Northland, and have lost 4 of thier last 5 visits here (lost in 2020 and 2021)...so due a win I expect!
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@taniwharugby I looked it up yesterday and Northland have only played Waikato away twice in the last 10 years, and one of those was a SF so they didn't have a choice. The vagaries of NPC draws.
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@Bovidae yeah I think last year wasnt it because Waikato had dropped from the premiership (in part due to the loss in Kaikohe?) so was the luck (or not) of the draw, and obviously doing a draw for a 'new' comp, they have been unlucky again?
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@taniwharugby Waikato won the Championship in 2018 and have been in the Premiership since then. The 2020 and 2021 games would have been cross-over matches.
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@Bovidae ah yes, although now that I think, Waikato were pushing for a top 2 finish at the end of 2020 werent they, and we needed the win to garantee a top 4 spot in the championship, and then last year, our sole win was against the team that went on to win!
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@Stargazer said in NPC 2022:
@Crucial I have the feeling that something is not working on their site, at the moment. I found all week 1 stats by clicking on logos etc.
I finally found some stuff but man it doesn't have a clear path. If you go to NPC 2022 it has last years table (zero on 2023). You seem to have to go to the old table, click on a team (which will tell you that they have nothing) then cchange the left hand bar from Upcoming to results, where you can then click on a game and find the game/player stats. It's a fucking mess.
Edit: I see you link is similar but via the scores by date (probably a little quicker)
As a game Rugby has never got on board with providing stats to fans and when they do try, they fuck it up badly.
Even at the AB level it took that NZ Rugby Museum initiative (via an ex-(peak oil) ferner) to do the donkey work, then NZR did a very ugly hidden attachment to the AB site, then finally just give it a heading link (but still to the same outdated engine. -
Changing the subject a bit but is anyone else seeing a very different 'interpretation' and style of reffing coming through at this level?
Is this part of a graduated levels of tolerance or something because lots of what we see at test level would be pinged off the park in NPC at present.
Is this good for our player preparation? Personally I like the way players are made to stay on their feet and not go to ground (wasn't so evident last night but O'Keefe is a test ref so didn't adjust much). The Auckland v Poo game looked like a different sport in patches. Same is happening at FPC with lots of whistle early to encourage players to stay up. -
A great article about the current state of the NPC, and some of the problems we've been discussing.
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A great article about the current state of the NPC, and some of the problems we've been discussing.
Excellent article. Even just next door to a main centre, provinces like CM are still full on generation local club players and families. Provinces like BOP have 1500 women players etc etc
Journos in the main centres really are out of touch. -
Wholeheartedly agree with the article. You only had to be at McLean Park last night to see what NPC still means to people. Admittedly it was a Ranfurly Shield defence but for what was a bone chilling night the crowd would have been between six and seven thousand (another couple or three thousand, and probably even more for a higher profile team than Counties, could be added for a sunny Saturday afternoon - like it is today) and real good numbers of families were amongst them. A lot of the young kids belted out "Black White all right come on the Bay" chant when it was played so you can't tell me there is no passion there. Heaps of people of all ages also proudly wore their HB jerseys (mostly over the top of warm jackets!) and the same with beanies and scarves. The NZRFU would have to be absolutely bonkers to take that away from the populous, lose the grass roots supporters you risk losing their devoted interest in all rugby (All Blacks probably excepted).
NZRFU - you have been warned -
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Another good thing about NPC is that it can be really good watching games where you are a neutral as you are watching the up and coming players along with ones you have Super interest in.
Yep, I'll watch a Southland v Canterbury game and enjoy it and they're like the NPC version of Tahs v Qld or Eng v Oz which I'll watch very begrudgingly.
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@Kiwiwomble congrats on your club winning! And yeah love watching Otago, although they do cause me much stress!
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@ACT-Crusader mentioned this in another thread but I was also thinking we may see some ABs playing this round. CM could get Sotutu and Papalii back for their game against Waikato on Friday night. We might get Tupaea.
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