NPC - news, injuries etc
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@Stargazer Great try by Sam Briggs at 67 minutes.
Rips the ball from a Sabrecat and runs 70 metres stepping three defenders on the way.
Pretty sure Sam's dad is former Nelson Bays captain and prop - Gavin - who wasn't really noted for his mobility!
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...and the Mako win 29-19.
I only watched the last 20 minutes, but it was actually pretty entertaining footy - open with lots of ball movement and the Baby Sharks looked pretty sharp.
The coverage was excellent - pretty much Mitre10 Cup standard.
Houston probably good Heartland rugby standard - maybe a bit better?
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@Chris-B Yeah, about Heartland level, at least this team. Maybe the team they field in competition games will be a bit stronger.
Someone in the comments suggested a game between the MLR champions and the SR champions. I was just thinking about how to word it nicely that that would be a blood bath, when - fortunately - someone else replied that that would be a step too far and that playing the Shute Shield champions would be a better fit.
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@Stargazer One of the slight problems with these sorts of tours - the promoters want to play up that the Mako are New Zealand's national provincial champions, while playing down that there's only a handful of squaddies on tour.
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@Dice said in Mitre 10 Cup - news, injuries etc:
Ouch. So Dalton Papali'i has signed for Counties.
Now @crucial is going to act like Dalton is his favorite player.:smiling_face_with_open_mouth_smiling_eyes:
Would've preferred to keep him, but it does ease up the loose forward log jam at Auckland
In practical terms I don't think it will matter much. IMO Papali'i is the best blindside in NZ. He should only play NPC if he's coming back from an injury
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@Duluth I am really surprised he’s gone to Counties Manukau given that they struggled big time in this years Mitre 10 Cup..I know he’s the sort of player who will stand out regardless of whom he plays for, but I can’t help but think it would have been a backwards step..maybe with an up and coming team like Hawkes Bay or even dare I say it Canterbury would have been a much better option to critique his game..even staying with Auckland was doing him no harm..I just don’t get it, to me it can only be a culture issue to why he’s leaving ..
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@Steven-Harris A lot of players seem to go back to their home provinces these days. Don't mind it personally and it gives someone else a chance to come through I guess. I assume Choat will be back this season?
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@African-Monkey Yeah, isn't Papalii from Counties? He's mentioned his Dad playing club rugby there too.
Also, Tai Lavea has probably coached him a lot of his career.
As @Duluth pointed out, he's probably not going to play much NPC anyway.
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@Steven-Harris said in Mitre 10 Cup - news, injuries etc:
@Duluth I am really surprised he’s gone to Counties Manukau given that they struggled big time in this years Mitre 10 Cup..I know he’s the sort of player who will stand out regardless of whom he plays for, but I can’t help but think it would have been a backwards step..maybe with an up and coming team like Hawkes Bay or even dare I say it Canterbury would have been a much better option to critique his game..even staying with Auckland was doing him no harm..I just don’t get it, to me it can only be a culture issue to why he’s leaving ..
Pretty sure he just wants to play for his high school coach, Tai Lavea. I think Papali'i played 4 years under Lavea at St Kents, and was made captain by him as well. I know Papali'i has a high opinion of him.
When Lavea was made coach of Counties, I think some of us predicted that he would try to entice guys who he coached at St Kents to jump over to Counties with him.
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@African-Monkey said in Mitre 10 Cup - news, injuries etc:
I assume Choat will be back this season?
In the Bristol press release they said he would be returning to Auckland at the end of the season. He's only there as injury cover.
I don't think he's played for them yet. It seems he has an ankle injury.
