The Silver Fern

@J77 said in Northland Origin:

@Nepia said in Northland Origin:

@J77 said in Northland Origin:

@Nepia said in Northland Origin:

@J77 said in Northland Origin:

@Nepia said in Northland Origin:

@Bovidae said in Northland Origin:

@Nepia said in Northland Origin:

Stayed two nights in Mangonui - fish and chips are a bit overrated, they're Oz style, not NZ style, but the pineapple rings they do there are awesome.

Yes, the Mangonui fish 'n' chips were nothing special and over-priced. But you have to try them once though. 🙂

The Thai restaurant there was very good.

We were deciding between the Thai place and the Indian place and went with the Indian place - it was really good too.

@J77 We had Jimmy Jacks in Paihia, and yep they were very good, not comparable with Hurricanes in Sydney but still nice and decent value for money.

I’ve been to Hurricanes in Sydney. They had the massive steak challenge there at the time. My fucking eyes were dragging on the ground when I came out.

Shit, need to change the title of this thread to “where to avoid and eat in Northland”. Had to scroll up to remember what the original topic was about!

Did you go to Hurricanes and not have ribs. Please don't tell me you did that - I've enjoyed our discussion on this thread, but if you went to Hurricanes and didn't have ribs you're dead to me. 😉

Haha I guess I’m dead then! The steak challenge was so bloody taxing I did not want to even think about ribs.

I'm speaking over your grave now. Next time you're in Sydney, have the f-ing ribs. It's Hurricanes ribs, not Hurricanes steak house.

I actually went to a staff lunch one time and out of the 10 of us, only two of us had ribs. The worst thing about it was that it was agreed to by everyone and work paid. I had a whole rack and kumara chips so had leftover ribs for lunch the next day too.

You sound like my bloody sister, she was telling me I was an idiot for not doing ribs! That’s her local go to as well, I’ll be taking both your advice and going ribs when I’m over there in November.. happy? 😛

She's a wise lady your sister!

If you go ribs crazy and want some cheap good value ribs the Moore Park Hotel does $15 ribs on Thursdays which are as I say good value.

@mohikamo some very good coms, I can remember attending club games in the Bay of Islands in the 70s and the quality in the Bay at the time was very good and well supported..and then attending the Harding Shield rally days and those games were another level.Even Hokianga who were the weakest of the 6 sub union teams would never roll over..

One area I know Northland really struggles with is trying to retain really promising youngsters, and to be honest you can’t blame parents for letting their kids take up a scholarship at an Auckland secondary school..there are many examples of kids that gone to Auckland and have ended up in either the Auckland system or have been picked by other franchises..we get the odd or 2 back, but in the whole a lot of the cream gets picked off..I must reiterate again I have no issue with that, if I were a parent I would be encouraging my child to the same thing..
I was told on Saturday that the current Auckland under 19 team has 6 Northlanders in their top side , The Auckland development has 3 Northlanders , both Matt Storm and Johnny Cooper and there’s one other that escapes my mind and the Auckland top side Waimana Reidlinger Kapa who I know would dearly love to come home and play for Northland..

The dynamics of the early years have changed, it’s very difficult to put a senior club team together in a rural area when many of your young males have moved away from an area because of lack of work..you do need a strong local community bond and a couple of strong driven coaches and they need to be supported 100%

I stopped into Okaihau yesterday on my way back from visiting Whanau at a fantastic Cafe,Kiwi Kai, I recommend it big time, the best pulled pork Panini I have tasted, ordered a 2nd one it was that good..
I looked out on to the street remembering passing a rugby ball across the street with my team mates as on a Saturday morning waiting for car pooling parents to pick us up.

There were some young boys from Okaihau college during the lunch break walking down the street passing a rugby ball, a couple of these kids were sizeable lads as well..
I spoke to the owner of Kiwi Kai , Murray Smith ,he told me that his nephew was Tom Smith who made his debut for the Taniwha on Saturday ..what a small world I thought ..

Murray also mentioned there was a ton of young talent around but it need good structures and more importantly a good competitive competition which really brings the cream to the top .

Thats something I remembered about the Bay of Islands competition in the 1970s..waiting for the club results to come through on radio Northland ,most of the games would be extremely close ..and of course the bottom lip would drop if Okaihau seniors had gone down haha..

The old times I guess will never be the same, but if you have raw talent, put a structure in place that at least gives at a pathway hopefully to go on and wear a Taniwha jersey..

We have got to take note as a union ,its actually heart breaking to see what Southland is going through at the minute, a neglected club competition and player development has bitten them big time.

@Duluth you deserve a ban for posting that!

thought it was a bit shit sending Matthews on with time all but up on the clock!

Maybe he had been on the sideline for 5 minutes waiting for a break in play to get on, but from here it seemed stupid coming on for the lineout which they simply needed to catch and kick out to finish the game

Pleased to see that Mid Western stalwart and Chilean international, prop Sergio Felipe has made the Thames Valley Heartland team after moving down there to manage a dairy farm and playing for the local club team.
Great reward for a good man. When he takes the field he’ll make his NZ first class debut at the ripe old age of 32.

haha he's such a crack up

@taniwharugby said in v Counties-Manukau:

@crucial been a constant theme this season and most noticeable in our last 4 games, and not just him though.

With the improvements the coaches have made, this appears to be one area they are getting so wrong

Not only in the short term (as in games) but if you are developing leadership surely you want them to learn how to close out games. How do you learn how to lead through the tough stuff from the sidelines?

Good to get that result. Was doing the haka in the lounge at 8am at that ridiculous 14 point try for Otago after the call on K Pryor, but I guess we got away with a shocking call in the lead up to the match winning penalty when Matich dropped it near the ref so can't complain too much. Still a shame to let them get a bonus point.

Have to say although we're looking dangerous in the backs this year the forwards are really setting a platform. Rinakama, Moulds and Wright are consistently playing well. Think Moulds is finally standing out now - guess the increased game time for the Blues has benefitted him. Josh Goodhue played the best game I've ever seen him play for Northland - his ball carries were a step up on what he's done previously.

I think Douglas going into lock was a bit of a blessing for us - we had a mobile loose trio that really put Otago under a lot of pressure. Think that's our strongest loose trio although you could swap in K Pryor for either of D Pryor and Ram too. Think having Matich back tightens up the defence a lot.

Agree with @Gunner that Sam Nock is going well. Thought bar the one kick out on the full he was excellent again - he's winning the head to head battles most games. Jack Goodhue again stood out - he's looking like an AB playing Mitre 10 Cup. Clawed an intercept back but think he's still in the red. He is a very smart player and has some nice touches but has also been a big physical presence in midfield - makes him and Ranger such a handful. Thought Hyland was good again apart from getting exploited by a few kicks - that's definitely going to need looking at. His ball carrying and defence have been excellent. Alaimalo and Macilai again very good - you can see why they're statistically two of the more dangerous in the comp. Hopefully Alaimalo can get the 15 jersey for the Chiefs and see if he can kick on at that level. It will be interesting to see where Tamati Tua fits in for the rest of the season - can't see a place in the starting line up just yet.

Interesting to see how different players are standing out this year. When we weren't playing so well guys like Dan and Kara Pryor really stood out, however this year with the whole team really performing some of the other guys have started to step up like Ross Wright, Josh Goodhue, Nock and Hyland yet the Pryor brothers haven't been as prominent. Not saying they're playing poorly just not standing out quite as much as previously.

With Sam Nocks form you wonder if he will be a shot at the NZ Maori squad. Same with Ross Wright - he's been going well so far this season and the NZ Maori are short of propping depth.

well as I have mentioned before, I am a huge fan of Matich, love that he just gives 100% for every minute he is out there whether it is with the ball, knocking people over at rucks or in tackles, as good as Matiu has been, we work better with Matich out there.

@ACT-Crusader I"m not sure,Canterbury look on another planet,the Saders & Canterbury franchise is light years ahead of anything around in terms of recruitment,coaching & development..North Harbour looking the only real challenger from the Premiership..

This was the Auckland Under 19 team that played Northland 19s.
A good percentage of this team played in the Auckland senior club competition,not to mention many of them are out are only a year out of many of the top Auckland secondary schools,just a sheer bigger number cream to pick from.
The captain,Waimana Riedlinger Kapa is Northland boy from the Waipapa area,just North of Kerikeri,attended Mags which I guess is the right thing to do in terms of his rugby development,,Matt Storm is also from KeriKeri,there were also 2 other boys from the Northland area in the Auckland squad,Auckland were leading 43-0 after half an hour,so it was'nt a bad effort from Northland team that only had 4 x players with senior club experience.
Apparently the Auckland team also beat Counties by a similar score.
Does'nt always give an accurate snaphot of the direction Auckland senior rugby goes,as many of the players will end up at other provinces,or returning to their home provinces.

Under 19 A

Team to play Northland (19/08):

Leka Tu’ungafasi
Penisoni Fineanganofo
Michael Palmer
Waimana Riedlinger-Kapa (C)
John Akauola-Laula
Ben Sa’u
Sione Talitui
Hoskins Sotutu
Godinet Tinei
Wiseguy Faiane
Siave Togoiu
Harry Plummer
Tanielu Tele’a
Anzelo Tuitavuki
Matt Storm
Te Ariki Te Puni
Rob Cobb
Fe’ao Teutau
Otunuku Pauta
Aleks Dabek
Rilloy Suesue
Joseph Tangulu
Sebastian Visinia