Wellington vs Auckland

[Dice]

Good to have a few guys back. Fatialofa comes back at just the right time.

Without Gibson, Papali'i seriously needs to stay healthy until the end, because there's a massive drop in quality between him and the next openside option.

[African Monkey]

@dice Or we just get Sione Havili back.

[Tim]

@african-monkey Looks like he'll be out injured for some time.

[African Monkey]

@tim I take that back then haha. Anyone know how Aleks Dabek went in theclub season? He was a star at schoolboy level for St Peter's.

[Daffy Jaffy]

@african-monkey Dabek captained the champion Ponsonby team and was outstanding. He played pre-season trials with Auckland but missed out on the squad to Adrian Choat (NZ u20 this year). He's still very young and probably needs a years bulking up for first class rugby.

[Winger]

@canes4life said in Wellington vs Auckland:

Awesome to see Lousi back, hopefully have him starting at lock and Blackwell to 6 for the playoffs.

Agree. Without both Lousi and Fifita our lineout wasn't great. Its a shame that Fidow is out for the full year. But at least Lousi returning should rectify one weakness. Blackwell at 1.90 is just too short

[Squirrel]

Good game from Wellington so far. Retained the ball against a sturdy Auckland defence and eventually crash over from close range. 7-0 8.29 gone

[KiwiMurph]

Only one team in it so far.

[Squirrel]

20 minutes gone. 10-0 wellington. Auckland not much chop so far

[Tim]

Auckland seem to be asleep. Bizarre.

[Dice]

Sweet ball by Faiane. Manu with a nice run to score. Their chemistry has been so good this season.

[Squirrel]

Tumua Manu scores under the post after a great run by Melani Nanai
10-7 26 minutes gone

That's what the game needed. Hopefully that sparks Auckland into life

[KiwiMurph]

Brilliant ruck turnover win by Plummer. That lad plays with some guts.

[Dice]

Some poor passes by us in this game.

[KiwiMurph]

@dice trying to do too much - should be kicking more.

[Squirrel]

How do you not score there!

[Dice]

That was some run by Rayasi.

[Dice]

Some decent defense by us in the last 15 minutes. Keeping us in it.

[KiwiMurph]

some very weird scrum rules (both ways) in this game.

[Dice]

Poor decision by Akira. He picked it up before we got the penalty.