North Harbour v Northland
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North Harbour
1 Tony Tafa, 2 Bryn Gordon, 3 Sione Mafile'o, 4 Tom Savage, 5 Jack Lee, 6 Tristyn Cook, 7 Jed Melvin, 8 Cam Christie, 9 Luke Campbell, 10 Cam Howell, 11 Harlyn Saunoa, 12 Ben Brownlee, 13 Tom Barham, 14 Tima Fainga'anuku, 15 Kade Banks
Reserves: 16 Penaia Cakobau, 17 James Lay, 18 Leka Tu'ungafasi, 19 Felix Kalapu, 20 Karl Ruzich, 21 Siaosi Nginingini, 22 Sofai Notoa-Tipo, 23 Hunter Rice
Northland
1 Jordan Lay, 2 Matt Moulds, 3 Chris Apoua, 4 Allan Craig, 5 Sam Caird, 6 Rob Rush, 7 Jake Heenan, 8 Terrell Peita, 9 Josh Renton, 10 Rivez Reihana, 11 Brady Rush, 12 Reesjan Pasitoa, 13 Corey Evans, 14 Solomon Alaimalo, 15 Jordan Trainor
Reserves: 16 Jordan Hutchings, 17 Esile Fono, 18 Coree Te Whata-Colley, 19 Liam Hallam-Eames, 20 Lachlan Hooper, 21 Sam Howling, 22 Nathan Salmon, 23 Paula Balekana
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Good to see Banks back from injury, but Tele'a is out of the 23 altogether.
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Very odd the coach is persisting with 2 wings on the bench, much prefer them bringing in one of the young mid-field or 10/15 covers from the Dev side (which is likely Jade or Reuben Stewart)
That looks a reasonable NH side, and while we are going a bit better, than them currently, we often struggle against them.
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@mohikamo id say Evans is more likely 10 cover, Salmon has played alot of midfield at club level as well as the odd game at FB, Brady also played some at FB, but yeah, coach def has a chubby for Balekana. Just seems daft having 2 wings on the bench, less disruption if you had say Reuben Stewart who can cover mid-field and FB. Very talented, seemed destined for higher honours right from when I saw alot of him play as a kid.
Can see why guys in the HP squads get disheartened with lack of promotion from there though.
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@taniwharugby we have always had that lack of progression from development to our NPC side. It’s something they really need to work on. If there is a gap in fitness or skills how is it closed.
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Will be interesting to see how the Renton/Reihana combo goes, I thought the time Rentonnhas had so far he bought a bit more energy and speed, might bring back super rugby Reihana!
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Missed the 1st 10, and we.are.down 14-0.
Nice fightback to lead at the break 14-19, and NH have 4 mins or so with Banks still in the bin
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Yet another awful touch finder from reihana
Dumb not going.for.3
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FFS, down by 2, gift 3 with a man in the bin...take the points muppets
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Man we are playing some dumb rugby throwing chance after chance to NH when we should be ahead
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Reihanas missed touch have cost us tries this season, scoring and the conceding soon after
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Stumbled to a pretty ropey win, but I'll take it!!
Geez.we played some dumb rugby though.
21-22
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Another late heartbreak for us, let's see if we can defy the odds and win the Shield next week!
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@UpTheHarbs i hope you guys do!!!
I can't recall the last time we win 5 in a season.
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Excruciating . . .
Super important W for the season tho.
Normally you'd say 5 wins would be enough for playoffs.
But lookin at the table, with 2 games to go, only one team is definitely out.
The finals are sort of guna start next weekend, two weeks early.
So, no room for compalency -
I'd say 9 times out of 10 we dont win that.
As I said in another thread, this team does have a little more to them than we suually see, although wish they'd play smarter and Rivez would fucking find touch.
His running, passing and defence is much improved but he has had some shockers from his boot this year.
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@taniwharugby said in North Harbour v Northland:
I'd say 9 times out of 10 we dont win that.
As I said in another thread, this team does have a little more to them than we suually see, although wish they'd play smarter and Rivez would fucking find touch.
His running, passing and defence is much improved but he has had some shockers from his boot this year.
It’s funny isn’t it. As a running first five he is now awesome. Just needs to get his head clear about what he is doing with his kicking.
I have never liked that drop punt style of kicking he favours. About 3 times this year he has made a mess of that while on the run. With his line kicking from penalties it lacks accuracy. Still it’s all fixable and the rest of his game is great.
Missed Moulds lineout throwing. We are short a hooker now for next week?