@Duluth said in Auckland v Manawatu:

@Kirwan said in Auckland v Manawatu:

Manawatu have a great backline (not you Laumape, thanks for the try). Their halfback in particular has great mongrel.

I expect the centre, Kyle Brown, to get a SR contract. He makes some good decisions

Conditions were tough in this game. Auckland played into the strong wind and had the dipping sun in their face. Manawatu had to put up with that in the second half

Some very good goalkicking from Taele given the conditions

Hopefully he does he was good last year as well.

He's an interesting dude. Would love to sit down with him over a beer to talk scrums, or have him at our club to run a session

How good was this!

Really good defence. Pledger as the primary playmaker from halfback.

Will Stodart looking like an absolute beast!

Horrible conditions. Corporate boxes evacuated, due to the winds I guess.
Was a little disappointed with Bop tactics, especially after they lost Judd. Wish Lasaqa had seen more ball and wish bop had taken points when on offer.
Sullivan, Parsons and Fakatava v good for Hawkes Bay.

@taniwharugby yeah, how many years have we not kicked on after winning a few games. What we are seeing is so much more grit - starts with defence.

@voodoo I understand the biomechanics a bit. As for the dark arts, that's outside my knowledge. But I don't doubt there are many tricks and treats.

That was a pleasant surprise, we have a terrible record of going to New Plymouth although we have now won 3 of the last 4 so maybe I need to recalibrate. We were fairly ruthless with taking opportunities after losing to Southland through bombing a couple of tries.

@Duluth said in Ta$man v Auckland:

@Frank said in Ta$man v Auckland:

Why not now?

Good enough on attack. Needs to play more to tidy up some of his defence/decision making

EOYT makes sense

I have to admit, he looks a bit casual in his positioning on defense.

@Duluth said in Hawkes Bay v Wellington:

Sullivan's form has fallen away a lot in the past 2 years

Yeah, injuries, mixed with not knowing where his best position is, it looks like he'll just slowly move to Japan eventually.

A talent that has just gotten stuck in the mud.

Have a real soft spot for Harry Wilson. Hasnt the finesse of Read or Aldritt.

But he is game as fuck. Id follow him into the trenches all day long.

"thats what we want, lets fucking go then".

Fair play to him.

All duck or no dinner.

@Goffman
Its an old one (30 years old) but they are a class above, because they are pretty much just a SR side rebadged.
More so than the other 4 SR/NPC combos. A bit of a surprise to me that they dont win even more than they do!
I am half Cantab (and half Tas) so I know.

I am not impressed with Waikato's coaching this year, particularly the backline attack. I assume Sweeney is in charge of this. Some SR players are looking very ordinary at the moment. I realise that this was essentially a Waikato B forward pack (outside of the Jacobsons) but they are still providing enough momentum to create more.

And why take off the best Waikato back early in the 2nd half? Cruden was poor but he plays the full 80 mins. Let's see Cook-Savage have a go there FFS.

Those two botched attacking lineouts by Northland prevented any chance of a comeback. Very few chances otherwise.

Otago's defence was very good.

Bailyn Sullivan is a better player than ALB these days.

He's playing on the blindside because Christie is the incumbent 7, but I think his future is on the openside.