The Silver Fern

After Round 1:

Kara Pryor 3
Sam Nock 2
Wiseguy Faiane 1

@taniwharugby Fair comment - some times in games that is very much the case. That said, Leilua has impressed me this year with his physicality.

A couple of the backs need uppercuts but some good performances by a lot of players once we got going.

@kev yeah I feel that FB gives him too much time to think about what he is about to do, he seems to work better with less time when playing more on instinct, that said, I'd say his confidence probably isnt where it needs to be right now either, which is why a stint on the wing, and then moving in later in the game might be best for him

@dogmeat he'd be ok in this team, it was more he wasnt overly keen to pass to his brothers before!

@kev

As a skinny, young winger (casually guarding the blindside) nothing grabs your attention more than Wuzz Phillips coming off the back of an Eastern (Kaiwaka) scrum.
It didn't end well ...

93316072-2F2D-45F7-8C55-219B36464691.png

Some interesting first up results ..
Looks like it might be more of a learning year for newly promoted team Ngāti Hine Moerewa/Uk..apparently they have lost Justin Davies,Warren Dunn and Paora Allen to HoraHora which is a bit of a shame but great news for HH who have also gained Kara Pryor who will pack down in the back row with Jacob Matiu and the very promising rangy loose forward Tiaki Smith ...HH could be a bit of a dark horse if they can keep everyone in the paddock ..hard to know how good Western Sharks were given whom they were up against ..
Just chatting to a contact that was at the KeriKeri v Mid Northern game , a good tight contest that saw a very big crowd from up..
Some good news for Taniwha supporters with Wiseguy Faiane deciding to put his head down ,and a genuine crack at the Northland Taniwha team , has returned to Waipu ..
Wellsford had a very good team on paper against Waipu , but according to reports , tried to go wide without getting right up front first ..
An interesting newcomer to OBM will be big number , Isileli Manu, younger brother of Pauliasi Manu ..very sizeable human being.

Northland Development beat NP East Coast 43 - 19 on Saturday.

Link to video of the match

Yes a low point. If you add our 7s disaster this year then we have some wide ranging issues around performance.

Wow what a game I just saw the highlights well done Northland.

@Chiefy07 said in Ta$man v Northland:

Jack Debreczeni

The irony there is he seemed to be made of glass in Super rugby haha!

Yeah I mentioned the players we are missing above being a factor, and maybe the expectation has been the newbies will be able to execute plans they had when they were anticipating our 'best' players would have been available.

I think the coaches need to take some of the heat, they provide the gameplans, conditioning (coaching group) culture etc...seems there is a bit wrong at present.

The standard of officiating at this level is so poor. Vince Aso's try for Wellington was CLEARLY a knock on and so was Jonty Raes try for Northland. The level of officiating is almost as bad as Matt Johnson's performances at 13 for Northland.

Sweetman, Atkins and McNamara for me. Also thought Roberts looked good.

I'm not too worried about this season. We've had absolutely rotten luck with injuries since pre season. A smaller province like us is always going to struggle with such a big injury list. The long term upside to so many injuries is that more guys get a crack so potentially better depth for the future. Guys like Stokes, Caird, Mayavanua, Atkins, McNamara, Byrnes etc have all played way bigger roles than probably expected of them and Matiu has had a breakout season.

I still think despite all the injuries this season if we had a functioning midfield we would have performed so much better. Hohaia tries hard but is probably better suited to the B team. Johnson will hopefully never play another game for Northland again. You could handle all his basic errors, missed tackles, handling errors etc if he was putting in 100%. Hard to believe he even got close to a S15 gig let alone had a season at the Blues. When he gets beaten in defence (as often happens) he makes absolutely no effort to get back and help in support or try and make up for it. The Manawatu game was telling - gaping holes in midfield defence and instead of chasing back he would just stroll back yet guys like Atkins and McNamara are chasing back basically on his behalf.

I think if we had stopped persisting with Gregory at 15 and put him at 12 we would have had a much better season. He would have offered a much bigger threat in midfield with ball in hand, would've created more time and space for J Deb and would've strengthened the defence. If he gets left to settle at 12 he will become one of the best in NZ. He's best suited to that position - can probably cover the outside backs if needed but doesn't have the pace to dominate as an outside back.

The backs (midfield) have really let the forward pack down this season. The forwards have battled bloody hard all season.

@taniwharugby bugger injuries are like a cancer when loosing,

Post match interview with Joe Maddock: