The Silver Fern

@taniwharugby I remember we bought him back after that awful loss to your mob in 2001 for the 2002 season, we lost the opener to Taranaki and he wasn't seen again for us haha it was as if we bought him back as payback for that game.

@tim I think he'll get a run at some point. His scrumming is good for his age, but I do remember a game where he went up against Renata and got destroyed.

Likely to be quite a few from the 2018 Auckland squad who miss the NPC with World Cup duties. Some guesses off the top of my head:

Mike Sosene
Evan Olmsted
Fa'atiga Lemalu
Leon Fukofuka
Tumua Manu (no idea, but turns 26 this year)

Some other foreign qualified players who might get a call up:

Taniela Koroi
Marco Fepulea'i
Jarred Adams
Melani Nanai

@booboo Plummer is 19, and yes, that's 2 Eden players in 2 years that have represented Auckland.

A bit late, but I thought Seu and Faiane gave it a good go in this game. Renata and Akira were decent too. I wish the Blues got Seu, because he's been looking Luatua-like this season.

Papalii did look good coming on. He has really packed on the muscle the last 12 months. I'd be tempted to push Seu to lock and drop Slade to the bench this week, and bring Papalii into the starting line-up. I'd also want Sione Havili on the bench instead of Dominikovich-Murray.

@african-monkey said in Auckland vs. BOP:

@kiwimurph He's a terrible 10, possibly the worst in the whole Mitre 10 Cup.

Taleni Seu having fun today.

Yep. I was impressed by Plummer's physicality - bigger than I thought. They should just play him the rest of season (they wont).

It's been a monumental fall from grace by us these last two years. We looked like we had something special brewing after that 2015 season. We had a young and exciting team that was only a hair away from winning a title. With all the young talent we had, it appeared we were poised to be perennial contenders for many years. I seriously didn't think any coach could stuff it up, but here we are.

@KiwiMurph I declare - those bastards who administer the M10 Cup had that result wrong, when I last looked! 🙂

Just caught up with this one. Entertaining game but boy that Orcs side are frustrating to watch.

Defence and concentration seem to be a real issue for the Orcs. They've shipped some points this season.

That last minute pass by Trainor to Aso was sweet as.

@Stockcar86 said in Harbour vs Auckland:

Happy to do a straight swap with Craig Philpott

I retract that offer

@dogmeat said in Auckland vs Waikato:

So I've just been to QBE Stadium (Albany) and there is more seating behind the goalposts that there was for the RWC.

Are you all saying that this isn't in anticipation of Auckland's visit this weekend?

TBF even though the All Whites were out practicing in the sun I doubt the seating is for the Solomon Islands match either

I doubt it will have anything to do with the All Blacks up coming test either.

yeah I was pretty happy with the way we contained that back division.

Like our mid-field of Tua-Goodhue, certainly neutralised (and were neutralised) thier AB capped opposites.

@cgrant said in Counties Manukau v Auckland:

@kev
It was clearly a ref's error. Henwood jumped into the ruck from the side without any Fekitoa's interference.

I wasn't able to watch the whole game and was in and out of it, but I wondered how the ref was judging "hands on" at the ruck. It's one of those weird ones that gets called differently as you go up the ranks. At Super and test level the player needs to lift the ball even when it is clear but at this level putting your hands on can be enough to make you fair game.
Anyway, Auckland didn't deserve to win because this game was at Pukekohe and there was a mudslide on the bank for the kids.

@Duluth yeah maybe Evans edited his page when he was negotiating his deal with Harlequins 🎣

@antipodean said in Taranaki v Auckland:

How does a union with the resources at its disposal look so average on the field? Why do Auckland players give away so many dumb penalties?

as a fan, if you find out pleaes let me know.

Very frustrating season.

Still, my return on investment was a bunch of games, and a sack'o'spuds. Can't complain too much.

Pretty effective rush defence employed by the Mako$ tonight.

Some good attack from both sides, but a poor set piece let Auckland down badly.

A solid all round game from the Mako$.

I saw that stat on Sunday and was surprised how far ahead they were to everyone else.

Rieko is also leading the comp in tries, clean breaks and metres gained. He's practically replaced Moala's production from last year. Too bad we couldn't get those two playing together in the midfield this season.

Akira topped the comp in defenders beaten last year with 71 in 11 games(he looks on track to get those numbers again if we make the semis). He also had 13 clean breaks last year, but already has 12 this year in 3 less games. He's also topping the comp in carries once again this year.

@Dice said in Auckland vs BOP:

Eklund's playing drunk.

I'm not sure why he is rated in the Auckland system? There's at least 3 former Auckland hookers playing for other NPC sides that I would select over Eklund.

Nick White said:

we’ve gone from only enough backs, and now they’re starting to come back. But the flip side is now we’re losing a few forwards

The set piece will continue to struggle until GPT and Prattley come back. At least the backs managed to blow some cobwebs out.

The defence has been a mess all year. At least as bad it was at the start of last season. Last year it improved after we brought in Pollock..
From a distance it seems that Polwart should be starting his coaching career at a lower level than NPC

@hydro11 said in Auckland vs Counties:

@Crucial said in Auckland vs Counties:

I've only seen the highlights but you lot make it sound like Auckland were absolute tripe when according to the scoreboard they must have either done something right or CM were almost absolute tripe too.

Anyway two moments of brilliance (and I'm sure more moments of fail) from Augie to get that deserved win. First time at EP since 1977! Got to love watching a guy willing to try things with the skills to back it up. That try to Fifita was a great chance taken yet the commentary made it sound all like a mistake.

Well done Steelers. Impressed with Suasua's coaching this year.

Auckland have a fair chunk of the best young players in the country. I think they had 3 current All Blacks, Reiko has also been in the environment and many people think Akira won't be far behind. Counties have Pulu who will probably never be at that level. Unless I'm underrating Counties horribly, Auckland should have wiped the floor with them on paper.

I'm not so sure about that. I was very underwhelmed by the AK team sheet and picked CM to win based on form (losses at the death to Naki and Welly that could easily have been wins).
I think you underestimate the Super Rugby experience in the CM team. They are lucky to have a good number of quality players at Super/NPC level that don't get hauled away to AB camps. Taufua and Tupou are no slouches, the Fijian lock is quality, both Pulus are stand outs at this level in the same way that some Super rugby standouts don't translate to Tests. Francis came of age at the Blues and is a quality player at this level as well.
Test type players are not always show outs at this level just as the other way around. Games are scappier and there are more errors that take away momentum.

Can't say enough about Akira, the guy is a phenom. At the moment, he's leading the comp in carries, linebreaks, defenders beaten and metres gained. He's also one tackle off from being in the top 10 tacklers in the comp. I feel like he needs a break with how much work he's gotten through so far this season, but at the same time, we're toast without him.

The person who said Tyrone Elkington-McDonald was like Simon Hickey wasn't lying. He is pretty average....which probably means he'll be our 10 next year, as well as our captain.😒