Best advice that!!!!

Never been able to come to terms with some the shit that harness racing seems to bring up with often what seems certain horses being allowed to just pass with ease or run uncontested.

Hope that have solid evidence and those involved are held accountable

I went along to see Qld Country beat the Brumbies Tuggeranong Canberra Vikings.

Cold, windy, not much of a crowd. Qld deserved to win.

@northlandallday yeah I think it was a couple of seasons ago the word out of the Blues was he provided a really good leadership role in the squad and for the newbies...yet still didnt get much game time...go figure!

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.

My apologies for the biased slant of this report ,but I wrote it for the Northland Rugby Union website

Northland Under 19 (24)Auckland Under 19 Development (20)

It's not the size of the dog in the fight, it's the size of the fight in the dog could easily have been one of the catch cries that was written on the changing sheds at the Northland Events Centre when Northland under 19s created there own piece of history by beating an Auckland Under 19 Development team for the very first time in a seeding round prior to the National Under 19 tournament

When playing Auckland age group teams staying in the fight is always a key point no matter the pedigree or the size of the opposition,and on that level Northland took the fight to their more illustrious and sizeable opponents who were expected to be too strong after going down to the top Auckland Under 19 side by one point the previous week.

Auckland started the game strongly scoring 3 unconverted tries in the opening 20 minutes and looked like they were capable of scoring more tries whenever they had ball.
However Northland worked out if they held on to possession for long periods they would create some scoring opportunities, the indiscipline of the Auckland team who kept giving away penalties within kicking distance to which promising player and goal kicker Nikau Graham from Kerikeri gladly accepted stepping up and nailing 5 penalties to keep Northland in the hunt at halftime going in at 15 all.

Auckland once again started the 2nd half strongly scoring their 4th try,but once again the try was unconverted.
Northland who were lead by skipper Sadius Cook Savage at no 8 and with halfback Wil Grant and first five Royce Sanderson playing to a solid game plan into wind they eventually got themselves in to field position forcing Auckland to infringe within kicking range
Graham stepped up again nailing another 3 penalties in the second half to set up a frantic and pulsating last five minutes

Northland held on to take the victory over Auckland 24-20 and the joy at end when the referee blew the final whistle from players and coaching staff was palpable

The Northland forward pack deserved a ton credit for standing up to a very big Auckland pack at breakdown and at scrumtime where they held their own ,something that head coach Mark Kapa and his assistants Tui Raeli and former Northland prop Bronson Murray will be extremely proud of.

It’s always hard to single out one particular player , but Nikau Graham returning from injury in his first start in a seeding game for 2018 landing 8 penalties out of 9 attempts in breezy conditions would be a real contender for player of the day.

A very good win for the Northland Under 19s which will give them plenty of confidence going into the Jock Hobbs Memorial National Under 19 Tournament in Taupo next Sunday 9th September 2018.

Loved the mongrel we showed. Yeah, we were making lots of mistakes, but we keeped defending with vigour and the two tries they scored we’re off errors and against the run of play.

As I said before, if we were much tidier we’d have put 30 past them.

That second forty we mucked in and kept them scoreless and they had the wind.

I agree with Chiefy, the bench added value. Our reserve props stood up well this time.

On to Otago in Dunedin now. This will be tough. Otago are very similar to us, but have two strike wingers who are on form. I think we’ll more than match them up front, just need to squeeze them out wide. We’ll go down there with confidence though. I think we’re a good shot if we minimise our errors.

@rapido said in World rugby 15:

Smith
Folau
Davies
Beale
Ioane
Barrett
Smith
Read
O'Brien
Matera POM
Whitelock
Retallick
Franks
Marx
Moody

Not many really world class sixes at this point in time. As you say Jldp might be a stand out for SAF for years to come.

He also has a couple of guys to really push him. I've been so impressed by how much he has improved, and he's a geniune GC to boot. Would be an amazing effort to see him break some of those dubious prior records.

@virgil said in How an NBA GM inspired the All Blacks lethal counter attack:

@taniwharugby said in How an NBA GM inspired the All Blacks lethal counter attack:

Stuff posted another article about this yesterday

https://www.forum.thesilverfern.com/topic/2591/all-blacks-v-argentina-nelson/64

Thing is NZ have always played a counter attacking style of game, and as the game evolves things are improved, and since professionalism AB coaches have not been afraid to look at other sports for an edge or way to innovate and stay ahead of the chasing pack.

While trying to give credit to Mitchell for reinventing our attacking game, we must remember he also gave us un-contested lineouts and less rucking.

Aaaannd thought Ben Blair was a better fullback than Christian Cullen...

Thinking anyone is/was is fucken blasphemy.

Shield Snorters player cleared of foul play

Shield Snorters Shield Snorters winger Mason Emerson has escaped sanction after he was cleared of foul play, meaning he can play in his team’s first home game of the Mitre 10 Cup against Counties Manukau on Sunday. Emerson was cited after the match for an alleged dangerous tackle under law 9.13 during Shield Snorters’s Round Two match against Otago in Dunedin. The Citing Commissioner noted Emerson’s upper arm struck the opposing player’s face with force, leaving the player stunned for a brief period before he carried on with play. He was not sent for a Head Injury Assessment. The referee had noted the tackle as "riding up" and issued a penalty kick only for the offence. After considering evidence from Emerson, and video evidence of the incident, Judicial Officer Chris Morris found the player’s evidence to be credible. He noted that the first contact between the players involved a head to head collision, with Emerson being hit in the chin by the top of the other player’s head. "It is clear to see that Mr Emerson pulled his head upward at the last moment and avoided what would have been a face to face collision." Mr Morris said on considering the evidence, he could not be satisfied that Emerson had committed the foul play for which he had been cited. The citing was not upheld and Emerson was free to be selected for his team’s Round three match at McLean Park this Sunday, 2 September 2018.

@j77 I think we all agree that Tua needs a shakeup. He should get some support re tackling, and a clear indication that he will get dragged and not play if the effort is not there. Gregory is really young so coaches would best know if he is ready. I like Ranger on the wing. So for me Hyland would be next cab off the rank in midfield.

No arguments from me,
Could had have almost done a cut and paste from game 1

@bovidae I was referring to this passage:

The trophy has introduced by the Chiefs to foster friendly rivalry between the Super Rugby franchise’s four constituent unions – Bay of Plenty, Counties Manukau, Taranaki and Waikato.

Seems they're ignoring the other two completely

@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.

Can people bet on the outcome?
Can't think of a better format for match fixing, even easier than boxing rorts

@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.

@steven-harris Steve, Good articles on the B’s and the U19s game. Well done. And great to see Northland is building depth.

No issue with the haka being performed. What I do have an issue with is the ABs deciding who is, and who isn't, worthy of respective haka. Kapa O Pango appears to be the one which holds more "prestige" these days, judging by the limited number of teams it's been rolled out against.

They should either do Ka Mate at home and Kapa O Pango away or vice versa), or just one haka permanently.

0_1534730002987_0ea53aa4-3ca0-4c5e-bbcf-55073410d8fa-image.png

@stargazer said in v Southland:

This is the article @Number-10 you're referring to?

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/hawkes-bay-today/sport/news/article.cfm?c_id=1503460&objectid=12108974

That's the one. The references to last year are very revealing ...