Northland v Southland
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Usually the battle for the wooden spoon, and while Southland are winless so far, they and Northland both look vastly better sides so far this season, so will be an intriguing battle.
Northland, ordinarily a side chock full of flair, struggles up front and invariably, lose with style, have thus far won battles of attrition built on solid defence and a solid forward platform.
Southland, typically a 10 man rugby side, this year playing some attractive running footy, scoring some good tries.
Northland lose Jack Goodhue from the backline, which will be a huge blow given he just seemed to provide some stability to things, I hope they bring Kalani Going into the 23, was easily the stand out mid-fielder in the Northland comp, arguably the best player in the comp, and by all accounts, has carried this form into the time he has been on the park for the Dev side too.
As Ross Wright failed his HIA, he wont be available either, so I would expect the Adams / Moulds / Ofa front row to start again.
Unsure on the status of Caird and Robinson.
Weather is looking great, so hopefully see some good rugby!
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@taniwharugby agree re Kalani Going, surprised we haven’t seen him feature at all yet. Hopefully he gets the 12 jersey now that Jack is crooked. Him and Tua would make a good combo with Rene off the pine.
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@taniwharugby said in Northland v Southland:
Southland, typically a 10 man rugby side, this year playing some attractive running footy, scoring some good tries.
Yeah, three losses but they've played well in all of them.
Narrow losses to Ta$man, Auckland and Otago. The Ta$man game was probably most impressive as it was away from home with travel disruption
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@J77 yeah McLeod is doing a great job with that team, I expect Gregory has been looking forward to this match, hopefully he tries too hard and fails
But yeah, they are playing some good rugby, and a few different bounces could have had 1 or 2 wins this season.
So many parallels between Northland and Southland rugby, struggles, depth etc, so this match always takes on a little bit more.
I think if we have dry conditions, and we can catch a few more passes than we have so far, we should score some tries, and if we can maintain a decent level of defence as we have so far, we should win.
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@Duluth Form what I had heard, one of Robinson or Goodhue will be on the bench, both not 100%...Nock coming off the bench, I wont go into #12!
I assume the bench will be:
BKP, CTC, Puafisi, Goodhue/Robinson, Matich, Nock, Hawkins, Ranger -
Holy heck, Kalani Going must be covered in anthrax or something. Blake Hohaias selection is a huge call! I won’t go any further than saying that is dicing with trouble..
The rest of the team is par for course for what’s available. Should hopefully still get it done.
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@taniwharugby yep got to trust the systems Veale has in place. Hopefully Hohaia behaves and spends his time aligned and not in behind the opposition backline where he and Ranger tend to live when rushing up too often.
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just seen the bench.
Kauika-Peterson, Te Whata-Colley, O'Donnell (debut) Goodhue, Matich, Nock, Hawkins, Ranger
O'Donnell's parents flew out from Ireland
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Robbie Robinson, Viliami Fine, Matt Whaanga, Scott Gregory, Rory van Vugt, Marty Banks, Jakob Morrison, Charles Alaimalo, Matt James, Grayson Knapp, Josh Bekhuis, Joe Robins, Morgan Mitchell, Jacob Payne, Joe Walsh
Reserves: Sam Stewart, Paula Latu, Quinn Harrison-Jones, Blair Ryall, Jacob Coghlan, Jahvis Wallace, Jack MacLeod, Isaac Te Tamaki
Southland coach Dale MacLeod has distanced himself from any decision-making around his son Jack’s call up as injury cover for the Stags. The Stags have drafted in two players from Canterbury ahead of its showdown against Northland on Sunday, including Jack MacLeod. Jack is a first five-eighth who can cover halfback, second five-eighth and fullback if needed. He has helped provide the Stags with injury cover in preseason games against Ta$man during the past two years. He also played for Southland in an under-18 tournament in Christchurch in the past. With first five-eighth Greg Dyer suffering a nasty ankle sprain, along with Michael Manson being out with concussion, Jay Renton and Solomon Alaimalo carrying injuries, the Stags were in need of some backline cover. Assistant coach James Wilson suggested Jack MacLeod would be a good option to bolster its first five-eighth stocks, although Dale was initially uncomfortable about it. “I said that it was a bit awkward for me. I said to James I’ll leave it with you, but the first thing you need to do is go to the senior boys and ask them. If any of them have an issue with it, then it’s a no.” Wilson believed Jack was up to it, and he did get the backing of the players to call him in. The second player that has been drafted in is looseforward Blair Ryall, who MacLeod has big wraps on. Ryall was part of the Canterbury under-20 squad in 2020 and has played for the Crusaders development team. -
Looks like a change on the bench with Ranger out and Going in
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I really struggle to see what value Hohaia brings. I hope he does well but he's never really offered much in the past. Hawkins might be a bit limited at times but is always solid and consistent and brings good goal kicking. We don't really get the same from Hohaia.
I wonder why they're not starting Goodhue, he played well the first game and with Craig still trying to make the step up to this level he's the better bet right now.
I've thought Milo-Harris has been a bit slow and ponderous - I would've kept starting Nock.
Also would prefer Matich starting over Rush.
If we defend like we did last weekend we should be too strong for Southland.
Wasn't expecting to see in the Advocate that NRU will be advertising for a Head Coach for next year. Is Konia leaving or are they just opening it up for applicants.
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