Auckland v Northland

[Bovidae]

Northland nearly held on.

Ironic that it was Renata that scored as he should have had an earlier try when Nock punched the ball out, but the ref called it a knock on.

[Steven Harris]

Thanks for the memories Rene Ranger , possibly the last time you will see the Northland legend in a Taniwha jersey .
Probably a season or 2 longer than he should played but you can’t deny his contribution in a Cambridge Blue jersey , brilliant one minute completely frustrating the next.
Thank you for your service

[Duluth]

Very cynical from Northland and it nearly paid off. Waenga is the ref you ride like that. Not sure any other ref would've allowed that offside line or the free for all at ruck. Nice lack of balls to send the other lock of so it wasn't a red card too

Great touch from Matich for the first try

Auckland game management was poor... again. Particularly when Plummer went off. Defence out wide was shit and ball security shit

I would consider playing either Plummer or McKenzie at ten in the QF. What we are doing at the moment is not working

[taniwharugby]

@Duluth that was clearly Caird that pulled that down.

[Duluth]

Missed tackles:

Auckland 9
Northland 47

Auckland wasted so many chances

These will probably get revised later but it gives a rough idea:

6 Matt Matich
5 Rob Rush
5 Tamati Tua
4 Saimoni Uluinakauvadra
3 Sam Nock
3 Heremaia Murray
3 Brady Rush
2 Jarred Adams
2 Matt Moulds
2 Remsy Lemisio
2 Liam Hallam-Eames
2 Rene Ranger
2 Jordan Olsen
2 Daniel Hawkins
1 Sam Caird
1 Rivez Reihana
1 Jordan Trainor

[Duluth]

Carry metres
Auckland 655m
Northland 376m

Post contact metres
Auckland 494m
Northland 175m

Kick metres
Auckland 622m
Northland 349m

Rucks
Auckland 134
Northland 59

Quick rucks
Auckland 80
Northland 34

Again these will probably change slightly but it really shows how badly Auckland was fucking up

[Kirwan]

Was Plummer injured? We can’t afford to have him off the field while Sullivan has his 10 training wheels on.

[Stargazer]

[Duluth]

@taniwharugby said in Auckland v Northland:

@Duluth that was clearly Caird that pulled that down.

Yes Caird pulled the maul down first. Hallam-Eames had disengaged, was standing offside and dived on top of the bodies to prevent Thomas getting the ball away

He went for the first penalty not the second. If the players were swapped I think he would’ve carded the second offence

[KiwiMurph]

@Kirwan it won't happen but would be better off with Evans at fullback. He looked really good there round 1 vs BOP

[kev]

Happy with that performance from Northland - lost the game, too many penalties but stayed in the game, and unlucky not to win in the very end with players being taken out past the ruck by a player not bound and going off his feet. But glad we took it to the end with some great tries. Auckland are all about the bash, big ball runners and made heaps of yardage but we scrambled on D, and they showed their weakness - can’t finish, poor passing options. Be nice to see some of our players get SR recognition - Moulds, Adams, Murray (surely), Mau’u, Milo Harris.

[taniwharugby]

@kev yeah plenty to like, but similarly, plenty to dislike, discipline being one.

I'm not sure Mau'u has even been signed by us for 2024...sadly as always, most super squads are all but full already, barely any room.

[kev]

@taniwharugby key for me is staying close in games. But less penalties would be better. A few injuries and ABs cover might provide opportunities? I wonder how many Aucklanders are signed for the Blues?

[Machpants]

Don't need abs cover next year, as their last game October 28 latest, no t end of Nov like normal. They'll do full pre season, unless they have a deal