The Silver Fern

@chchfanatic said in All Blacks 2024 - looking forward:

Sotutu showing his true colours with his instagram post. Suck up your non selection and be better. You obviously didn’t listen to the work ons Razor gave you. He challenged you and now you’ve cried over your non selection. You’ve shown him he was right for not selecting you. Mentally weak

Ryan was on the radio this morning saying that the deciding factor was the semi-final where Sititi "put on a clinic" against the Hurricanes.

It's interesting that he uses a match Sotutu wasn't playing in to be the deciding factor but ignores the matches where Sotutu and his pack buried Sititi and his mates in the Eden Park turf. Twice. Including the final.

In fact, Ryan must be relieved he was able to find his wonder boy to tell him the good news because he didn't turn up to Eden Park on Saturday.

@Tim said in Quay Park stadium for Auckland?:

RE: Onewa Domain, there used to be an auckland super fan who had a blue and white car, wore blue and white face paint, Auckland NPC uniform, and would just drive past the ground booing when there was a North Harbour home game. He was the same guy who ran onto the field at the end of the 96 inaugural Super Rugby final, evaded security and joined the team circle-hug.

I remember that guy. Absolute character. Those old characters were hilarious - like that guy with a chainsaw up the crane at waikato stadium back in the day who would crank it throughout the game and especially when Auckland kickers were lining up for goal.

I'm very disappointed in Sotutu missing out and I've been bleating about it for two days over in the other place so I'll spare TSF my thoughts on it.

Their lock selections are another conundrum. Darry should've been straight in. Paddy deserves his spot but he's got an injury cloud so maybe Darry will get his chance after all. Tupou Vaai is more a loose forward in my opinion.

Bell over Riccittelli is ridiculous.

@Machpants

It’s great but it should be at Quay Park over the the railway land. I don’t know why these guys (EPTB) don’t sell their bloody land, get a consortium together, and use the proceeds to build exactly what they have presented here at Quay Park right next to Spark Arena (or whatever it is called now). They could still call it Eden park.

That location has ALL the transport links. Every railway line in the city converges there. The ferries are one stop away at Britomart. The Tamaki Drive arterial to the eastern suburbs is right there. The busways are down the road (again one stop away at Britomart or the future Aotea station). The motorway spaghetti junction is not that far away up Stanley street. There won’t be any complaining residents (they live next to railway lines they can hardly complain about a stadium). They could host everything there 24/7 all year long and make all the money they want.

I’m actually encouraged by that performance. If anyone saw the hammering England handed out to them last year at Mt Smart, they could barely get any possession such was English dominance at the set pieces.

This time round I thought they matched the English physicality and put big hits on in defence. More encouragingly was that, barring a few crap lineouts and one really crap scrum, our scrums and lineouts didn’t turn to shit like last year. They need that platform for the backs. I reckon the BFs can still run them off the park if they get a real roll-on and we saw glimpses of that on Saturday. Shit it was good seeing those fat English loose forwards being run around by our loosies.

However, for all of that, the BFs couldn’t convert their chances and the English are still far superior in converting theirs.

Demant at 12 is much better than Demant at 10 imo. The halves pairing (King-Joseph) were playing their 3rd & 4th tests respectively. Even though Joseph’s slow clearing gives me the shits at times we should probably give them more time to get experience. They’ll get better. They have potential. Joseph’s cross field kick to Leti-Iiga was a masterclass but her turnover for slow clearance was clearly not.

@hydro11 said in Quay Park stadium for Auckland?:

@No-Quarter said in Quay Park stadium for Auckland?:

Th obvious problem with oval stadiums for rugby (and soccer) is the very best seats on halfway are too far from the action, so that means there are no great seats, just OKish seats all the way around.

Wellington was really silly to build an oval when they already had the Basin for cricket, they could have easily replaced the embankment (which is a shit place to watch sport as you spend half the time trying not to slide down the bank) with another stand at some point to increase capacity there (if needed). A purpose built rectangle stadium for rugby, soccer and hosting concerts would have been perfect.

I grew up in Wellington and have also lived in Auckland for a decade so have been to Athletic Park, the Cake Tin and Eden Park a lot. By far the best experiences I've had for rugby are at Athletic Park and Eden Park purely because the view was so much better so I could follow the action much more easily. The view at the Cake Tin is pretty average no matter where you are.

The challenge for Auckland is they don't have a decent cricket ground, but at the same time it'd be a real mistake to replace Eden Park with an oval. I think they are best to upgrade Eden Park and then think about where they can put a more modest cricket ground.

This is mostly hindsight. Of course, with what we know now we would not build the Cake Tin as an oval. However, in its early years it was getting massive crowds for cricket.

You are severely limited by how large you can make the basin. You could probably build a bigger stand on the Museum/RA Vance side, but it would be much more difficult on the grass side. Not to mention extra stands could ruin the character.

The reality is that there is no appetite for spending tens of millions of dollars on a cricket stadium. If the Cake Tin was a rectangle, Wellington would simply not host major ODIs and T20Is. If Eden Park also could not hold big games, New Zealand would not have been able to host as many games as it did in the 2015 World Cup.

nah Hagley Park still gets big international matches (including world cup matches in 2015) despite its small size. They just added temporary stands to the grass banks - easy! Basin Reserve is a true cricket ground and should've been upgraded (to the extent it could be upgraded) for cricket. The Caketin should've been a modern version of Athletic Park. I had never been to Athletic Park but everyone bar none raved about how it was the best rugby ground in NZ - especially the millard stand placing you practically on top of the play (if you survived the winds!)

@Donsteppa said in AUPIKI 2024 FINAL: Blues v Chiefs Manawa:

A couple of the Chiefs ladies will have unhappy memories of that last 20 minutes for a long time...

Chelsea Semple’s BF career is pretty much over (or should be) after that howler. In the pouring rain, it should’ve been kicked to Ngaruawahia. They were still ahead at that point.

Reese Anderson the newbie has had a terrible two weeks. Vahaakolo should never have been allowed to run around her for that try.

Second year in a row that the Chiefs snatched defeat from the jaws of victory. The pressure of finals footy.

@nzzp said in Quay Park stadium for Auckland?:

Yet again, who's funding it, and where is the land coming from? so many 'concepts' thrown around - I don't even bother reading these any more. Which is going ahead - the Eden Park full roof + extra shit, or this one, or the Wynyard stadium, or the Ports located stadium?

Stadia are cool, but the business cases almost never stack up.

Unlike Eden Park (100% ratepayer funded), there's a consortium of private investors with Quay Park. The railway land is owned by Ngati Whatua (who are part of the consortium). There will likely be some ratepayer contribution to Quay Park but nowhere near as much as the 100% ratepayer funded Eden Park.

Quay Park and Eden Park 2.0 were advanced to feasibility study stage last week. The other two waterfront proposals were canned.

@African-Monkey said in Blues v Moana Pasifika:

Surpised Moana are going with Garden-Bachop and Matavao as their 9-10 this week. I would have backed them to win this, but with those 2 there, it's cause for concern imo. Matavao is a good 20 minute player, but doesn't have a great kick or a great pass. I refer to him as the Samoan Fin Christie for a reason as he's virtually a clone of his (doesn't defend as well as Christie though). Garden Bachop, although he made a positive impact last week coming on, makes me nervous coming on and isn't in the same class as Pellegrini.

Totally agree. Ridiculous that Pellegrini was dropped to the bench. Matavao was there by default due to the injury to Taumateine but yeah he's bang average in 15s.

Quay Park is best. Literally every rail line in the city converges on that spot. The ferries are one stop away at Britomart. Spaghetti junction up the road through Grafton gully. Two dining & entertainment districts nearby (Parnell & the CBD). The students hostels are literally walking distance away and Auckland University is also walking distance. Tamaki Drive is a key arterial that could deliver drop-off and pick-up literally under the stadium along with the rail stations. The indoor stadium is right next door as well so the stadium rail station can service both stadiums. Northern busway is also one stop away in the CBD. There are apartments in the area but they’ll actually go up in value with the stadium situated there. Can even hire out your apartment for the weekend on AirBnB for concerts at the stadium. The view of Rangitoto through the northern stand also reminds us of the Blues crest

@cgrant said in NZ U20 v Japan U20 (World Rugby U20 Championship):

I just watched the highlights but I'd say the maul defense by the NZ forwards was really poor. And it was only Japan ! One of the coaches has to be blamed for this.

Wesley Clarke was in charge of the forwards apparently. He was defence coach for the black ferns last year.

This team was so poorly lacking in basic skills. I’ve not seen a NZ representative team drop so many balls and make so many basic errors in quite some time. Are these guys really the best they could get? An inquiry needs to be held in how poor this (and the 2019) u20s campaign has gone.

Not sure why Willison was kicking but Tubic on one leg (I take it there was something wrong with her foot) should’ve kicked the last kick.

Still, a great gutsy win from Matatu. Sheer belief and determination. They lifted tremendously as the game wore on & the Chiefs started making uncharacteristic mistakes.

@KiwiMurph said in AUPIKI 2024 FINAL: Blues v Chiefs Manawa:

That Blues reserve 9 was very good.

She’s awesome. Apparently been earmarked since school. Definitely deserves a BF contract. I actually think both Puckett and Awa deserve the call up. I don’t think AMT (the incumbent) has been at all impressive in the backend of the season. Hohaia should be the incumbent.

@dogmeat

No that’s incorrect. Ngati Whatua were in full support of the Quay Park site being used for a stadium. They’d actually get ground rent from such a deal. They already had plans to develop that dead land and a stadium was a catalyst for it. The last time the quay park proposal was floated, Ngati Whatua were in full support.

@Machpants said in Moana Pasifika v Highlanders:

I'm surprised by the number of Highlanders supporters

Fakatava (and Frizzell’s) old high school and their extended family. The Reds also had a supporter group in Apia for last year’s MP match given Jordan Petaia’s family and village rocked up in numbers. There were also ex-Otago Uni students who retain some loyalties to the highlanders from their student days.

Actually, every away team which has a PI player in their midst will find a surprising number of supporters in Tonga and Samoa when they play there.

The handling errors were very disappointing after last year watching them play at the speed of light with accuracy that was beautiful to watch.

Nemani Nadolo and Taleni Seu for the “Waratahs 2023 debutants” clue

Bunting answers questions:

Summary: (My comments in italics)

• Only 13 new contracts on offer. Does this mean the rest are on multi year contracts? Must be until the next World Cup.

• 22% of the squad are props. It reflects the key strategic focus for this World Cup cycle. Good. The BFs have been dominated in the forwards by both France & England for many years now; going back to at least 2018.

• He has been talking to many of the BF7s who have signalled their intention to return to Aupiki next year to be in the running for the World Cup.

• However, he acknowledges that many of those who miss out on BF contracts next year will very likely be snapped up by the new NRLW Warriors women’s team. The two seasons don’t actually overlap so there remains opportunities for players to play both every year (for now). Aupiki is at the start of the year & NRLW is in the second half of the year

• Aupiki needs to be expanded to provide more first class rugby experience for the next generation of front rowers as it’s a key strategic development area for the NZR 15s programme. At the moment, Aupiki coaches are favouring the old incumbents with years of experience as there’s not enough game time to develop the youngsters in the short season. Aupiki definitely needs to expand. The English pro season goes on for 20 weeks! It’s a big reason why they are way ahead of every other team and it pisses me off that the poms are so far ahead as I don’t like their style of play

• Arihana Marino-Tauhinu’s dropping gives an opportunity for new leaders to be developed (question asked if dropping her exposes a big leadership gap in the BFs)

• Joanah Ngan-Woo (who has barely played since the World Cup final) is finally confirmed by Bunting that she is returning from injury. Finally someone asked him the bloody question after all this time! I’ve been wanting to know this for the past year!

The key is not just making the development about a stadium that’s used sporadically. The key is in the proposal for retail and hospitality development (used every day) with a stadium tagged on. The retail and hospitality part of the development pays for the stadium part of the development. It’s probably why NZR are supporting that Quay Park proposal.

Although Ngati Whatua have reportedly supported Eden Park (according to one of the media sources), Ngati Whatua have long wanted to develop that land east of the CBD and have actually supported past stadium proposals for that site.

As said before, the only stadium proposals able to get a big number of tenants are the waterfront proposals. The Warriors will never move to Eden Park. Auckland FC owner is prepared to put in money for a waterfront stadium.

• All Blacks
• Blues
• Auckland NPC
• Blues Women
• Warriors
• Warriors NRLW
• Auckland FC

The proposals also have options for lower capacity configurations.

Anyway, the crowds would only come if the offering at the stadium was superior to that of the TV at home.

Easier to get to
Dining precincts nearby
Roof
Nice bars and lounges around the stadium
Children’s playground and parenting facilities (hell I’d try and get one of those kids playground companies to be one of the tenants at the stadium like Bounce or Chipmunks).

Given its location, the sunken stadium option would really be a big retail and dining mall during the week as the stadiums restaurants and fast food joints would be open 7 days a week. It’ll resemble the eateries under the Opera House in Sydney but with the big steps down to the water acting as covered outdoor dining areas with views to the harbour.