NPC - news, injuries etc

[mikedogz]

King Country or the Swamp foxes I reckon

[Stargazer]

@bovidae Two Heartland teams in the Chiefs catchment (if that's what they use to choose the team he'll play for), King Country and Thames Valley. Thames Valley play West Coast (away), so probably the King Country game a better choice.

[Duluth]

I presume that time has run out for the 3 Auckland teams now?

Last week NZR was talking about an Oct 15th return if levels changed today. So I guess we’ll get an announcement soon

[Duluth]

Clutching at straws here..

If levels changed in two weeks perhaps those three teams can just play home & away against each other?
At least that would give them all 4 'friendly' matches

[Bovidae]

@duluth said in NPC - news, injuries etc:

I presume that time has run out for the 3 Auckland teams now?

Last week NZR was talking about an Oct 15th return if levels changed today. So I guess we’ll get an announcement soon

I'm sure NZR was waiting for today's announcement as the current NPC draw is only until this coming round.

[Stargazer]

@duluth Yeah, I've been thinking about that possibility, too. Gives the players some game time and "exposure".

[taniwharugby]

[Bovidae]

KC haven't won a game so far and I don't see this changing, even with Cane.

[Pepe]

@bovidae

Pffffft!.... it's only Whanganui.
A fair exchange given that fine Taumarunui product, Josh Lord, is now joining the AB's.

[Bovidae]

@pepe So Owhango is within the KC provincial boundary?

[alftelf]

@duluth Might be time to look to wrap the season up, cant see the situation improving in time to complete a season even with mid week games, more and more likely that more regions will be pulled into some sort of lock down, and whatever plans are developed are more likely than not to get interrupted.

Time to get some winners and losers for the season.

Sooooo, If we award an average points per game to try and develop a fair assessment of the season to date after 5 played games the table looks like,
Current
Ta$man 18 points
HB 17.5
Waikato 17
Cant 16.25
Auck 15
BOP 13
Wgtn 11

After this weeks games
Ta$man v Hb 18 - 23 points
HB v Ta$man 17.5 - 22.5 points
Waikato 20.4 points
Canterbury v Wgtn 16.23 - 21.25 points
Auck 18 points
BOP 15.6 points
Wgtn 11 - 16 points

Then next week Ta$man, Waikato, & likely HB & Canterbury into semi finals, final week after. Unless Wgtn beat Cant they are relegated.

Championship table is pretty clear cut, Taranaki and Manawatu straight into a final next week.

[Canes4life]

@alftelf do you think promotion / relegation can actually take place considering the circumstances this year? I can see Wellington, despite such a piss poor season arguing a case that it wasn't a true and fair competition. Will be interesting to see what happens because they definitely deserve to drop down.

[Kiwiwomble]

anyone else not a huge fan of this? im not starting a petition to stop it or anything but its just another sign of the division between the AB's and provincial rugby, id be a bit pissed if id earned my spot in the KC team just to be told to sit down, someone was coming from a different province to take my spot

[Hooroo]

@kiwiwomble said in NPC - news, injuries etc:

anyone else not a huge fan of this? im not starting a petition to stop it or anything but its just another sign of the division between the AB's and provincial rugby, id be a bit pissed if id earned my spot in the KC team just to be told to sit down, someone was coming from a different province to take my spot

I imagine that despite losing out for one week, the thrill of having an AB in the squad for a training and a game would more than make up for it

[Stargazer]

@kiwiwomble It's only one game! If he's training with them, that would also be a huge occasion for the entire squad, including that player.

[Hooroo]

and forever he will be saying that they subbed him on for Sam Cane if Cane only plays the first half

[Kiwiwomble]

is cane that bigger deal? train with them sure, i dont know, i just miss the real provincial competition, back in the day i think guys were rather tell a story about playing AGAINST and tackling an AB than one taking their jersey and allowing them to watch

[Hooroo]

@kiwiwomble said in NPC - news, injuries etc:

is cane that bigger deal? train with them sure, i dont know, i just miss the real provincial competition, back in the day i think guys were rather tell a story about playing AGAINST and tackling an AB than one taking their jersey and allowing them to watch

I would imagine the enjoyment will be equally shared by both sides.

If it was my position he was taking, I would be sweet with it.

[alftelf]

@canes4life Yeah, if they lose this week I think that's fair, it would be more unfair not to promote Naki they absolutely deserve a shot at promotion

[Machpants]

Unless there is a full session, there won't be promotion, no way.

And cane playing is awesome, every time it happens, nothing but positive stuff from everyone involved.