Highlanders v Moana Pasifika
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@Dan54 said in Highlanders v Moana Pasifika:
By geez fellas if anyone catches a replay, be interested in opinion/s of Fabian Holland's game. I personally thought he was immense, but you tend to notice players (especially tighties) in replays. I notice he was calling the lineouts etc too, quite unusual for someone that young.
He might be the next Ethan Blackadder/Charlie Ngatai, but let's not get ahead of ourselves.
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Glass half full, we scored some really nice tries and look like members of the backline will have plenty of punch. JRK is an awesome pick up! Withy, Holland, Harmon, Renton and Bell were pretty good upfront. We looked better than the low bar of last year. Negatives; the combinations generally looked pretty poor. We turned over too much ball. Defence was a bit average at times. Are we world beaters, heck no. Is there enough to go on to think this team will be fun to watch and will score some good tries, probably.
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Missed the first 30 minutes but a good game to watch. thought Parkinson, Favataka and He Who Should Not be Pronounced were really good as was Holland. Savea impressed for MP and their ruck speed was impressive.
Hope Fakatava carries on playing like he did today - will add depth to the AB 9 position.
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@Victor-Meldrew said in Highlanders v Moana Pasifika:
Hope Fakatava carries on playing like he did today - will add depth to the AB 9 position.
I thought he was poor. Not communicative in defence like Aaron, which is surprising because that would be an easy growth area under his tutelage. Watched rucks become a mess/ get turned over by not getting in quicker.
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Big shoes to fill and early days. One or two errors for sure but I thought he looked pretty sharp overall - esp. his running game.
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@Frank said in Highlanders v Moana Pasifika:
@Dan54 said in Highlanders v Moana Pasifika:
By geez fellas if anyone catches a replay, be interested in opinion/s of Fabian Holland's game. I personally thought he was immense, but you tend to notice players (especially tighties) in replays. I notice he was calling the lineouts etc too, quite unusual for someone that young.
He's might the next Ethan Blackadder/Charlie Ngatai, but let's not get ahead of ourselves.
I.m not, but admit to being on his bandwagon for a 3 years now, so am maybe prejudiced towrds him. I liked everything I saw him right from start, a young lock who came on scene with size, ability and most of all works like hell.
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@antipodean said in Highlanders v Moana Pasifika:
@Victor-Meldrew said in Highlanders v Moana Pasifika:
Hope Fakatava carries on playing like he did today - will add depth to the AB 9 position.
I thought he was poor. Not communicative in defence like Aaron, which is surprising because that would be an easy growth area under his tutelage. Watched rucks become a mess/ get turned over by not getting in quicker.
He still has the habit of taking steps prior to passing - It was noticeably quicker in the middle of the 2nd 40 when he stopped doing this. It also appears his natural propensity for hungus mode is still there.
My other concern is - the way he can start throwing 50/50s ( not bad at all last night) but hope he continues to be selective of when to do this -
For all the talk about that being a close game, Moana Pasifika scored two tries during a period the Highlanders were down to 14 - the only two they managed, and at no other stage did they really look like scoring.
Was the Highlanders discipline good? Obviously not, but I felt Pickerill blew us off the park. I suspect we will thrive with Ben O'Keeffe, or someone who will let the game flow. The 9-1 penalty count in the first half was straight bullshit.
We'll get better, our attack looked good for the most part, and our defence was largely strong. I think the loose forward trio is something that will evolve as the season goes on. IMO need Broughton or Haig instead of Renton or Withy for a bit more pace and dynamic running. Renton to me is a good honest toiling hard bastard, who is good backup, but he is just a little slow.
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I sort of see Renton as that glue player. Does a lot of the unfun, clean up work. On attack generally used as that one-out runner. Due to the likes of Holland, Harmon, Bell and Withy taking fhe running responsibilities two or three wide. He isn't required to try and do a lot of flashy work with ball in hand. I think Renton starts or he doesn't play. Like you, I'm keen to see what Broughton, Haig and Stodart have to offer through the season. We just have to be bring them in with care. They have what four or five games between them?
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Loads to work on but also lots of positives I think, fakatava was slow to play the ball off the deck…stood with his hands on the ball for ages before passing, needs to sort that, patchell has some work to do but also ran from depth and actually feed the backline like we haven’t seen in a while, the pass for that try was a plumb! Ppp is a penalty magnet but I also saw a few moments when he really dominated in the tackle, stay injury free and keen working on it and we might finally see the best of him
Harmon was immense, he came out and folded the MP 8 at least 3-4 times, leading from the front
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@frugby said in Highlanders v Moana Pasifika:
For all the talk about that being a close game, Moana Pasifika scored two tries during a period the Highlanders were down to 14 - the only two they managed, and at no other stage did they really look like scoring.
Was the Highlanders discipline good? Obviously not, but I felt Pickerill blew us off the park. I suspect we will thrive with Ben O'Keeffe, or someone who will let the game flow. The 9-1 penalty count in the first half was straight bullshit.
We'll get better, our attack looked good for the most part, and our defence was largely strong. I think the loose forward trio is something that will evolve as the season goes on. IMO need Broughton or Haig instead of Renton or Withy for a bit more pace and dynamic running. Renton to me is a good honest toiling hard bastard, who is good backup, but he is just a little slow.
A bit harsh on Moana, they came close a couple of times in the 2nd half but lacked a bit of accuracy and patience in the red zone, and I'm not gonna lie, PPP was lucky to stay on the park after his hit on Toala. It should have been yellow.
I think physically you guys were good though against an equally physical Moana side. The Moana 8, Inisi copped a hammering out there but to his credit, kept coming back for more. It was a real good battle between the loose trios which the Highlanders shaded.
JRK looks at home now that he knows that he's gonna be the starting fullback, similar to Fihaki at the Crusaders. I think we'll see them both really shine now that they'll be getting regular gametime this year, instead of 1 game in 3 games out types of seasons.
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@Frank said in Highlanders v Moana Pasifika:
@Dan54 said in Highlanders v Moana Pasifika:
By geez fellas if anyone catches a replay, be interested in opinion/s of Fabian Holland's game. I personally thought he was immense, but you tend to notice players (especially tighties) in replays. I notice he was calling the lineouts etc too, quite unusual for someone that young.
He might be the next Ethan Blackadder/Charlie Ngatai, but let's not get ahead of ourselves.
The title of Dutch Jesus is up for grabs.
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I love how he sells this dummy so well Broughton gets double teamed, compete stitch up!
