The Silver Fern

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.

Yep, there's been a clean out of our locking stocks which is a worry as our lineout work and general play from them last year was second to none.

However there are a few replacements still on the scene. I'm pretty sure Lars Morris from Te Puke Sports is contracted but missed last season with injury. Ardron (The Canadian) is playing creditably for the Cheifs apparently. The hard working Wardlaw from Rotoiti has been called in for injury replacement for the Cheifs also. I see also that Tim Bond (who played for us a few seasons back and played for Northland last year) is turning out for Te Puke Sports.

Good to see Hepetema being given an opportunity. Not sure of the count - but it does appear if post/pre season injuries for Super squads is very high. I wonder if it is the culmination of a long season (Super, NPC, additional representative games) - where players haven't had a chance to allow for injuries to heal properly. Or alternatively, just the bashing undertaken in pre season is too much - although I would assume that it is fitness only (i.e. climbing bloody hills) as it is too early for contact.

I am sure that there is a PhD there for someone who looks at it hard enough!

What a great contest - the Bay didn't lie down and we showed we had some game breakers as well. Pack was solid in the darkest times but now we have a really good back 5 behind a general in 10. Webber has been great all season, Tiatia really came on late in the season and his offloading has been spectacular.

We just couldn't defend aggressively enough to stop their offloads and once they start rolling, they are hard to stop.

Ardron - baffled too other than he looks like he should be a beast at 8. He's tall and broad etc. But he just doesn't seem to bend the line like Parete. Chiefs haven't made many bad signings in recent years though.

I fear that backline will be broken up before next season. Really hard to crack super rugby unless you get contracted young so we could lose a few of them overseas - especially after showing what they can do on a bigger stage.

Woohoo!

Yep - good win. Particularly without Retallick and Franklin. I thought Callander was good. Blake and Karpik outstanding - be interesting to see what the loose trio will be for Wellington. Backline superb. Bring on the final.

Campbell now ahead of Judd - watching the replay, a lot of the dropped ball was the result of Judd's poor delivery. Not sure why he has regressed as the season progressed.

@taniwharugby Great idea!

Wellington 9 32
Northland 9 20
BOP 9 18
Manawatu 8 16
Otago 9 12
HB 9 4
Southland 9 1

We're both in the semis already!

God, its hard to guess what is wrong with this team. The fact that we will probably not even make the play offs, let alone get promoted, means its a worse season than last year.

At the start of the year the coach publicly stated that "there was no excuses...the team had been settled for a year or two and they had the personal to get promoted." So what happened ?

Most people agreed that there were several issues from last year :- 1) Problems in the backline. 2) Inconsistent performances. 3) Failure to close out close games. 4) Better kicking.

Its probably fair to say that all those issues have been improved on but not eradicated. Statisticly we have improved in most areas but I'm wondering what can be read into statistics.....Manawatu for instance are dead last across both divisions for the number of carries, metres run and defenders beaten and are second to last in tackle success rate but are above us on the table.

What irks me most this year is how we have been unable to capitalize on advantage. Take the Auckland game where we had a 68% advantage in possession and a 72% advantage in territory yet got soundly beaten. The second thing is mistakes. Much of the Auckland trys came from simple mistakes by the Bay. And lastly is the failure of certain players to perform. Much has been talked about with regard Tiatia who was dangerous a couple of years ago but has been almost invisible this year. A handful of players have shone but many haven't...

Sadly a season that started with high expectations will stutter to an end soon. I wonder what excuses will be made by the admin and what changes will come next year.

@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).

@mikedogz said in Counties VS BOP:

A draw is a fair result. Our points put Auckland in the relegation spot.

BoP might get to play the Winston role.

Auckland has BoP, Ta$man and Canterbury to go.

Waikato has Canterbury, Harbour and BoP.

Counties a bit easier - Northland, Manawatu, Ta$man

Ta$man is not quite clear either - Taranaki, Harbour, Auckland, Counties. Reverse order to what I would have chosen.

@taniwharugby said in Steamers v Counties Manukau:

So 300mm is 11 inches short of the line.

Not sure what you mean by this but have amended my post to be clearer.

This is what the Laws say

When padding is attached to the goal posts the distance from the goal line to the external edge of the padding must not exceed 300mm.

So with the post on the line the depth of the pad can be 300mm max. That would mean that the square type of pad would be 300+300+gap for post wide along the try line. Probably close to say 800mm of target for grounding at the base

@snollygoster ha I did expect Southland to get to maybe 15, as I think I had you guys with a 35 point margin

I agree on the rotation - what really gets me is that in some positions, there never seems to be a first choice developed. What I want to see is the first choice 23 that plays most of the games and then rotation in and out of that when there are injuries or to nurse a player through the busy period.

I do get that if we want to finish top 4, then playing the best team on Wednesday is critical as we never win at Taranaki and we have to beat Southland. But still, there are 4 locks in the squad and in my view there's one of them who should never start unless injuries demand it. And Delany must always start if fit.

@Donsteppa said in Steamers v Manawatu:

@Gunner said in Steamers v Manawatu:

This really has been a dull game.

Southland might give these teams a run for their money on current evidence.

Southland? Have they found backs who can tackle in the last hour? 🙂

Sadly backs in Southland rugby don't get much tackle practice. Too much 10 man rugby gets played down there. If you get the ball kicked to you, you are expected to either kick it back or run straight back to your forwards so normal mud cuddles can resume.
No wonder DMac got out of there before getting ruined.

Far too good Wellington - geez, that was some pack - they are red hot this year! We were up against it from the get go. As I thought - The Lay brothers, despite good intent - were severely outgunned. Hell of a game to get an initiation!

Good again from Delany and Tiatia. Not much else I can add... Need to muscle up against the Turbos, critical game to be able to stay in touch.

Another very good performance by Wellington

The Lousi, Walker-Leawere locking combination was great. I can see this as a starting combination for the Canes (hopefully the Canes have already signed IWL). It was a big, powerful combination that the Canes have lacked for years. Fifita looked right at home at 6 too. He's bulkedup and needs to focus now on this position

Another player that I've been impressed with is Goosen. I still think his best position will be 2nd 5 (and hope he gets some game time there) but he's very good at center.

Yep, I'm rapt !

There was so much to be pleased about. After last weeks game I was almost going to give up watching them (I do that at least once a year) but now have hope.

The stand out factor was the defence for me. Apart from a couple of glowing mistakes they all tackled themselves to a standstill.

Delany is still class despite his age (and despite my initial skepticism)

Tom Franklin must be one of our best signings for a while.

Ioane and Webber are excitement machines.

We had the second to worst kicking success rate last year. Delany has missed one kick in two games !

There are no serious injuries thus far that I am aware of.

Theres still loads of room for improvement though.

Our scrum looked shaky initially.

Our once dangerous rolling maul doesn't look so dangerous anymore.

I wonder if Ardron will get the starting No.8 position next week ?

So I can't wait for Wellington. Their star studded line up will be a real test.

A disappointing game, still trying to compose any coherent thoughts on it other than a barrage of swear words and despondency. Mainly because it had that feeling of 'same old, same old' to it, and that nothing looked much different to last year or the year before...

Did anyone sight our forward pack in the second half?

Or maybe, just maybe, both sides were very very good - and will meet again in the final 🙂