The Silver Fern

Was a game for the ages and the performance by the forward pack was immense. I heard Tucker & Wingham made 20 tackles each

@Canes4life said in QF: BOP v Ta$man:

There’s definitely a world where I can see Fehi in the ABs. He’s been on fire all season for BOP.

He was strong for Hurricanes too (as well as AB 7s). Should be on the radar.

Explanation of the TMO call yesterday.

https://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/360844392/or-out-call-dividing-rugby-after-wellington-awarded-contentious-try-npc

Very impressed by Ah Kuoi as a lineout forward. His timing is excellent.

Waikato were shit, Bay fed off errors. The Waikato halfback had an absolute mare.

Physical game though, some huge hits

Judd took a heavy knock in a recent match. Thought Sinton lacked confidence prior to this match, but showed his potential v Manawatu. Lasaqa was hobbling a bit. Amazing acceleration for sure

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.

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.

@Nepia said in BOP v Southland:

Damn, I wish I knew this game was on - I would have been messaging my BoP mate all match. Ah well, no time like the present. 😉

Most hated team defeated by your second most hated team, must have felt like a bitter sweet moment 😉

A running halfback makes a huge difference

@KiwiPie All good points but (being forever the pessimist) I'm not getting too excited just yet. I think its far to early to judge the merits of that win till we see how we play without Leroy and Emoni and see how Ta$man perform as the season progresses. There's still plenty to be pleased about though ! I see the TAB rates us now third after Ta$man and Canterbury . We were Fifth before the season started . You have to be pleased how the team has progressed over the last few years though. It wasn't that long ago when we were getting beaten by most teams and now are genuine title contenders. I will bask on that thought after that win.

@DurryMexted said in NPC Final: Wellington vs Bay of Plenty:

You know your 7 is awesome when every other teams supporters hate him. Kirifi a lions legend

There aren't many players that put their body on the line like Kirifi. Two championships as a Lions captain, he'll always be a Wellington legend.

You know we've finally got our shit sorted when we've been able to finish the business. A winning % of 85% over the last three seasons is pretty good going. Hopefully we can keep the core of this group together for another couple seasons yet.

Pleasently surprised, the BOP has always had the danger out wide but lacked startch/execution up front to really match it with the big boys consistently.

The final presents the neutral fan with a golrious oppertunity to watch two teams famous for losuing things up as soon as they get tagged as favourites desperatly trying to out-do each other on the big stage,

I'll be watching this one from behind the couch...

Whole lot of changes at that end to upgrade. Just seems logical to put a grandstand between the club rooms and the entrance... Where the temporary ones went up for the national sevens.

I've just watched this game. Good to see Fineanganofo brought out his pink headgear from his school rugby days.

McGrath and Bates didn't want to use their bench.

Just watching this game now. I felt like last week BOP didn't use their backline enough against Wellington, lots of predictable pick and go's without a lot of deception. Totally different against Northland, playing with a lot more width and variety.

Cashmore is really good at organizing a backline. He plays with zero hesitation, either directly attacking the line or otherwise quickly transferring the ball to his outsides to give them plenty of space to work with. Smart and silky player.

@voodoo if anything it’s a compliment. a shit Richie McCaw > good Peter O’Mahony QED.

Cane showed the mouthy Irish git exactly that in the QF. He was immense that night, inviting reasonable comparison with the Incomparable. Takes some going to make the ludicrous a serious consideration, even for just a game.

Go well, Sam Cane. They asked the impossible of you: leave the jersey better than you found it. You failed gloriously, honourably. Coming up to the scratch over and over, seemingly undaunted by the heavy yolk of your responsibility. Unbowed by a broken neck, still less the critics’ ludicrous, invidious comparisons.

Each of the 99 times you toed the mark reducing the awful weight of that famous jersey for the next few men to shoulder.