The Silver Fern

Yes, its strange to think that, but for a poor conversion and stupid pass to Ioane, we could possibly be unbeaten at this stage. In reality I really don't think that we deserve to be unbeaten however. We just can't seem to capitalize on the advantage and "put a team away".

And yes, that decision to continue scrumming rather than take a penalty kick was odd in retrospect. Some of the tactics in general were odd actually and ultimately unsuccessful. One thing that is noticeable this year is the chip (or grubber) kick beyond the defensive line out to a waiting player which seems to be working for some teams. I saw them practicing it in the warmup using Narawa but was never used during the game.

Despite my negativeness and cynicism there is plenty to be happy about this year. It would have to rate as the best year for a long time with many players excelling and a minimum of injuries (possibly).

Like Kiwipie said, the permutations for the finals are beginning to become apparent. I still think that on our day we can beat anyone but no win is guaranteed but this year we seem to be more consistent .

@Steven-Harris said in North Harbour v Bay of Plenty:

@JK interesting that Northland who had a club day at the Magpies game on Saturday attracted over 7;000 people,.probably the best crowd of the 2019 Mitre 10 Cup ..it was promoted vey well..;with free buses laid on for all the clubs that were able to attend.

Wasn’t a huge amount of promotion for the harbour one and certainly none from our club given the game clashed with junior prize giving which was a very well attended affair.

I imagine it would be the same for many other shore clubs given junior rugby finished on the Saturday for the season

@Dice We had some shockers like Emersen Tamura-Paki, Jono Owen and Isi Tu'ungafasi who were barely club standard. He's done ok since leaving has Isi but he was awful for us.

@Stargazer A lot of attacking talent in the back line for the bay Ravouvou had a good game and was replaced at half time By Narawa who was just as dangerous when he came on. Forward pack was really dominant and I never felt like Waikato would get back into it. The Waikato Centre had a great game defiantly got the better of Webber.

I thought Koroi was a fullback/wing? Why would they bother with him there. Rats that Ioane was unable to play. Maybe they could use someone like Fletcher Smith in their team.

Wait.

Squad named Tuesday hence they played under Wasps banner today. Team looked good today, B Team against Wellington was competitive, thought Collier played particularly well. Half against Counties & likely top team next week was Ross Harris Thwaites Wardlaw Carroll Blake Karpik Papalii Judd Hollinshead Fuatai Garland Webber Narawa Tiatia. 34-0 win, defence brilliant. Three tries through defensive pressure forcing silly passes on their own goal line for intercepts. Tiatia was exceptional, talk huge could always hear him barking & menacing on attack. Papalii definitely what we needed with his big abrasive style. Everybody played well in second half except Webber, dropped a few balls & looked rusty.

@Higgins Yep, that's it! Managed to finally find the "Global Rapid Rugby" thread.

If I can find more info on the Steamers' rapid rugby plans, I'll post it in that thread.

Oh what could have been. If we played with the acuracy we showed today, we'd be in the semis. Though another game where we leaked points in the last 20. Fitness needs to be looked at next year. Narawa looked great on the wing. Plenty of positives from the pack. We needed a better centre (shame Foketi was injured all season) this year. A new backs coach too. We were too predictable. Shame we didn't have Monty Ioane this year. He was electric. I'm still dumbfounded how he missed out on a super contract.

@higgins said in Southland vs BOP:

All very quiet in here as Bay of Plenty are trying to achieve the seemingly impossible, losing to Southland.

We really gave it a good go. Despite setpiece dominance and a maul that was walking them back and winning a penalty every time, we contrived to keep handing Southland opportunities and they have some dangerous runners. If we had lost, it would have been peak choke. With the hooter gone, be a man up, have your own 5m attacking scrum, win the scrum, have the ball in the half-back's hands about to kick it 10m into touch - and still finish the game frantically defending your own line is quite an achievement.

Definitely has the potential to be a great Super Rugby player, he’ll be in and around the squad but another year with NZ 20’s & M10 before Super Rugby wont hurt. Love how he keeps things straight & attacks the line constantly, better first five defender than most. Looks to be trying too hard to win like most Steamers at the moment, hopefully they can just let loose against Southland and will see his best. Goal kicking definitely a major work on struggled at Jock Hobbs as well as M10.

Particularly the goalkicker that hit the upright from directly in front.

The only save in grace was that the Bay v Waikato game wasn't a shield challenge and we still have a chance at holding the shield at the end of the season.

KiwiPie said:

I'm having a bad feeling about this game - didn't need some of the top performers out and putting players in for first starts in key positions.

But I'm naturally pessimistic.

I hate being spot on ..... semis not impossible with the direct competition still to play but starting to look like we'll need to win them all.

North Harbour has been scratchy all year.

Somehow their results and margins have consistently been better than their form deserves. I guess they get credit for that

What a joke!! I took my daughter to the game and she had no interest in any of the other so called mascots but was happy to receive a lolly from Hori and wants to get his autograph at the next home game. Great game by chase Taitai and good to see the srum go well with all the changes. SHAME we don't have a stadium that's up to standard tho.

It sounds like Canterbury is stunting his development as a player and he should be immediately returned to the Magpies to play out the rest of the season.

@bopred Yes, as they stated..."it wasn't pretty" and there is a lot to work on.

"Counties–Manukau ran more metres, completed more passes and carried the ball more times than Bay of Plenty on Thursday night.

The opposition made more tackles and missed fewer. They won more lineouts and didn't lose as many as the Bay on their own throw-in.

The Steamers conceded more penalties, didn't win as many rucks and mauls and made fewer clean breaks."

But the fact that we won after such a performance speaks volumes of how they "hung in there". You can't deny its a good start to the season however.

Great start to the comp from BOP, confidence gained form those 2 wins will be invaluable as they get to the tougher part of the comp and play Championship teams 🙂

@bopred I was at the game and there crowd was fairly sparse as it usually is in Rotovegas. Its usually hard to get people to go out on a cold winters night in Rotorua and having the test on the same night cannot have helped.

@KiwiPie said in Anyone in for Fern Mitre 10 Tipping:

We're on the lookout for tippers again this season.

Last season's team was myself plus @trooa @Donsteppa @sportboy @bayimports - we can have up to 6 players. I have seen that trooa is back, anyone else interested in signing up?

If you are go to

https://www.thesilverfern.com/tipping/

And just in the nick of time, the famous five are back in the saddle for another crack at glory. We were 7th of 8 on the ladder last season and lost the Plate final to Harbour-Auckland for a final placing of 6th so we're sure to go under the radar.