NPC - news, injuries etc
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Canterbury has won the Farah Palmer Cup Premiership as well. They beat a very ill-disciplined Counties Manukau 13 to 7 (2 tries to 1). Counties had two players with a spell in the bin, but that could easily have been more.
Some good skills in this game, and entertaining to watch. It's clear there's quite a gap between the better Premiership teams and the rest.
Canterbury has been in the final 7 times, and this is their first title. Unsure, but this was probably the first time Auckland wasn't in the final.
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@higgins I didn't really pay attention to that while watching and I can't remember hearing a number. Sky used a very limited number of cameras to televise this game (TMO had a difficult job because of that), so there was only a limited view of the stadium. There was quite a bit of noise; lots of kids, I think. Can't remember seeing people on the embankment though, I think they were all in the stands.
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Ta$man No 8 Jordan Taufua is headed for a well-earned rest following on operation on his broken left arm in the wake of Saturday's Mitre 10 Cup rugby final. Ta$man lost 35-13 to Canterbury in Saturday's premiership decider in Christchurch, with Taufua having to be replaced in the 41st minute after suffering what appeared to be a broken arm in the game's opening minutes. Ta$man Rugby Union chief executive Tony Lewis confirmed that Taufua had an operation on Sunday and that he could be out of action for up to 12 weeks.Lewis didn't believe the injury would have any real impact on Taufua's commitments with the Crusaders who didn't reassemble until January in their quest for back to back Super Rugby titles. "It's a chance now for Jordan to get his body right and the rest will do him good. He's one hell of a rugby player and one hell of a human being." -
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.Halfback Johnathan Ruru is a new 2018-19 Mitre 10 Cup signing for Auckland. Currently on the Maori All Blacks’ northern tour, the 24-year-old is fresh off two seasons for Otago and has also played for the All Blacks Sevens.
Auckland has 21 players signed for the 2018 season, and is in the process of contracting several others. Those re-signed earlier in the season were Ofa Tu’ungafasi, Scott Scrafton, TJ Faiane and New Zealand Under 20s prop Ezekiel Lindenmuth. – Campbell Burnes -
@daffy-jaffy said in Mitre 10 Cup - news, injuries etc:
Johnathan Ruru
Good news. He and Costa should be an improvement.
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@tim I wonder who the new coach is? Any chance Jon Preston who is looking for a head coach gig.
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@daffy-jaffy Yeah, he was one of the first I thought of - meets the championship requirement due to the Highlanders' 2015 title.
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Auckland super rugby contracts (18 including Ruru):
Blues:
Ofa Tu’ungafasi
Scott Scrafton
Patrick Tuipulotu
Blake Gibson
Akira Ioane
Jerome Kaino
Dalton Papali’i *
Jonathan Ruru *
TJ Faiane
George Moala
Caleb Clarke *
Rieko Ioane
Melani Nanai
Jordan TrainorChiefs:
Taleni Seu
Hurricanes:
Michael Fatialofa
Vince AsoCrusaders:
N/A
Highlanders:
Greg Pleasants-Tate
*Super Rugby rookies
Should be the basis of a good Mitre 10 Cup team, if they have a good coach.
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Who is the Waikato player at the Canes? Are they counting Toby Smith, who hasn't played for Waikato since moving to Aust? So the number should be 7 and all at the Chiefs.
That table shows why Canterbury is so strong because even without their ABs the majority of their team still has Super rugby experience. At the other end is Southland with Waikato next.
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