A little premature with the previous comment as Counties did somehow manage to score but they only snuck in a couple of minutes before the end. Final score was Canterbury 38 - 05 Counties

https://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/rugby/115991204/mitre-10-cup-relief-overriding-emotion-as-southland-end-27game-losing-run

@Dice Yup I know what you mean I've seen the same stuff too. I feel like he's a rough diamond who'll get better in time. His lineout definitely needs working on but he has the physical attributes to go far and is worth perservering with in the long run.

Oh and I'm also in the camp that doesn't move Goodhue to accommodate Ennor, but should attrition or lack of other options dictate that move - and there's no clear 12 for the Saders at the moment - then so be it.

@Higgins and look at to Owen Franks now? the game is evolving so along with core roles, props need mobility,speed,covering/sweeping like a loose fwd and the way the game is heading the "high intensity/fast pace", you need to keep up and do more then just "scrum". And remember the Lions front row are young Fidow 21, Aumua 21, Numia 20. still boys and still developing. and re them being boys getting paid a mans wages?? mate the game turned professional a long time ago. keep up with the times higgy! they are the most exciting front row in the game right now. Lions/Canes are lucky to have them and i am excited to see them grow and develop. cut them some slack

My post match interviews from the game:

Lotu Inisi looks like he has a bright future. Thoughts?

Is it just my bias or do most of SBWs 'round the corner' passes actually go forward? Comms, ref and touch judge don't seem to think so.

Awesome work Counties. Auckland have a home semi.

@dice I'd prefer Wellington in a knock out match This Harbour side seems to take the battle of bridge personally.. more like the 90's. They are more likely to pull out a freakish game because its Auckland

@duluth Matich is a huge loss for us, hopefully it isnt too long.

@stargazer It's all guesswork, but my reaction to seeing Crotty up close was that he's quite big and seeing David up close is that he isn't.

The first CM try shouldn't have been, both inside chasers were in front of the kicker and advanced and had a direct impact on the play. The second try I can live with, not clear and obvious live that the chaser is in front.

@shark Probably, I had to go and check if there was a thread for this game haha.

Not a bad effort by Pulu. When are the Aussies calling him up? He's better than Maddocks.

Great start to the comp from BOP, confidence gained form those 2 wins will be invaluable as they get to the tougher part of the comp and play Championship teams

@tim I think he'll get a run at some point. His scrumming is good for his age, but I do remember a game where he went up against Renata and got destroyed.

Sam Henwood dominated the awards night. Below is a list of the 2017 CMRFU award winners - Counties Manukau PIC Steelers player of the year – Sam Henwood Counties Manukau PIC Steelers defence player of the year – Sam Henwood Counties Manukau PIC Steelers player’s player of the year (chosen by the PIC Steelers players) – Sam Henwood Counties Manukau PIC Steelers Rookie of the year – Orbyn Leger Counties Manukau PIC Steelers most improved player of the year – Jonathan Kawau Men’s 7’s player of the year – Liam Daniela Bayleys B’s most improved player – Feta Luamanu Bayleys B’s player of the year – Penitoa Finau Don Ha B’s most improved player -Jimmy Conaglen Don Ha B’s player of the year – Faafouina Loau U19 most improved – Toti Nginingini U19 player of the year – Joshua Baverstock George Bell Memorial Trophy (services to rugby) – Dawn Newton Volunteer of the year – Karyn Adams Supporters Club – player of the year – Sam Henwood Referee of the year – John Wright AS Wilcox Premier Club player of the year – Joe Reynolds

Manawatu 24 - 29 Counties

@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, Tasman and Canterbury to go. Waikato has Canterbury, Harbour and BoP. Counties a bit easier - Northland, Manawatu, Tasman Tasman is not quite clear either - Taranaki, Harbour, Auckland, Counties. Reverse order to what I would have chosen.

@Gunner said in Canterbury v Counties Manukau (Ranfurly Shield): Those poor Canterbury fans, their team has sapped the excitement out of watching them, they don't even look remotely interested that their team scored their 64th try of the game. It was a great atmosphere at the game for a Wednesday night. We'll never get tired of winning like this

Good win for Harbour. Loving how they are playing this season. Counties discipline was shocking. A number of off the ball penalties as well as some holding back that wasn't picked up. TNW a class above and Laulala at fullback continues to improve. But Harbour forwards were dominant and they link well with a solid 9/10 combo. Volavola was due.....

@taniwharugby Haven't seen hat much of Goodhue, but agree it would makes sense to take him on EOYT as apprentice.

He could be useful for the Canes.

@cgrant said in Counties Manukau v Auckland: @kev It was clearly a ref's error. Henwood jumped into the ruck from the side without any Fekitoa's interference. I wasn't able to watch the whole game and was in and out of it, but I wondered how the ref was judging "hands on" at the ruck. It's one of those weird ones that gets called differently as you go up the ranks. At Super and test level the player needs to lift the ball even when it is clear but at this level putting your hands on can be enough to make you fair game. Anyway, Auckland didn't deserve to win because this game was at Pukekohe and there was a mudslide on the bank for the kids.

That really was a perfect microcosm of a party at the rugby club rooms. Uncomfortable "dancing"/shuffling by most of the guys; one little shit trying to give it the hip-hop treatment; bad singing-along to the Exponents, and a bit of aggro.

Counties have more scum resets than any other Team in the Mitre10 Cup. Their tactic is to spoil the tempo of the opposing team at contact. I don't think that the Counties scrum was as "dominant" as what people make it to be. The difference this week was at the breakdown, where Counties struggled to break through the Canterbury defence. Too put it bluntly the Canterbury Pack "manned up" and Counties folded.

@Chris-B. said in Counties Manukau v Canterbury: @Crucial said in Counties Manukau v Canterbury: Sorry Chris B but I'd rather the semis involved a "battle of the inbreds" Happily, Southland can't deny us third, so you'll have to wait a week to play your Taranaki sister-wives - if you get the chance. I was referring to your lot wanting to play against your uncle-grandads

We won. That is all.

That was some ugly rugby. Counties couldn't have looked more different to the team that beat Waikato.

@Crucial I was happy Waikato got a BP out of this match because they were outmuscled in the 1st half and made too many mistakes on attack. The Waikato lineout really struggled with 2 undersized locks who probably only met eachother before the game. Sevu Reece impresses with every match so I hope Rennie is looking closely. More injuries will mean Canterbury will win in a canter on Wed night.

@hydro11 said in Auckland vs Counties: @Crucial said in Auckland vs Counties: I've only seen the highlights but you lot make it sound like Auckland were absolute tripe when according to the scoreboard they must have either done something right or CM were almost absolute tripe too. Anyway two moments of brilliance (and I'm sure more moments of fail) from Augie to get that deserved win. First time at EP since 1977! Got to love watching a guy willing to try things with the skills to back it up. That try to Fifita was a great chance taken yet the commentary made it sound all like a mistake. Well done Steelers. Impressed with Suasua's coaching this year. Auckland have a fair chunk of the best young players in the country. I think they had 3 current All Blacks, Reiko has also been in the environment and many people think Akira won't be far behind. Counties have Pulu who will probably never be at that level. Unless I'm underrating Counties horribly, Auckland should have wiped the floor with them on paper. I'm not so sure about that. I was very underwhelmed by the AK team sheet and picked CM to win based on form (losses at the death to Naki and Welly that could easily have been wins). I think you underestimate the Super Rugby experience in the CM team. They are lucky to have a good number of quality players at Super/NPC level that don't get hauled away to AB camps. Taufua and Tupou are no slouches, the Fijian lock is quality, both Pulus are stand outs at this level in the same way that some Super rugby standouts don't translate to Tests. Francis came of age at the Blues and is a quality player at this level as well. Test type players are not always show outs at this level just as the other way around. Games are scappier and there are more errors that take away momentum.

@Higgins If he doesn't clear the player when jumping and goes cart wheeling over the top he's going to get seriously injured. the crowd then start baying for a red card and the commentators start to say its a dangerous tackle. Either way if its legal or illegal I just think its dump play.

To be honest, I thought it was going to get very ugly at 39-15 - in fact even when we were ahead at half-time we were barely holding on, Counties seem to have so many powerful (and not slow) ball runners. Not sure if Counties turned off the gas in the final 20 but suddenly we had ball going forwards and looked like we would score every time. Worst drop of the weekend has to be the guy who dropped the final Counties kick-off cold when we had 2 minutes to conjure up a miraculous win.   Steelers - bags of potential there but they won't beat the top teams being so careless and disorganised. Steamers - plenty of spirit which is good to see but we've lost a few to injury and there are lots of kids out there. Will have to beat Northland, Harbour, Southland.

I thought Harbour looked a little bit better than Counties in this one. The stats seem to back that up too.   If August Pulu played this game, I think Counties get the W. Judd was just really bad and held the team back(Vaka didn't help either). I would've brought on Taumateine a lot earlier.   Li is just all comedy these days.   TJ  was doing his best Nisbo impersonation with how many times he got player names wrong.

@African-Monkey said in Counties Rugby 2016: Ken Laban is equally, if not more knowledgable about players schools as well so I'm sure he'll look after that department (not that I'm against it). I'm not against it either.. I'm actually interested lol.. Usually teams show which clubs they come from, but I'm keen to know about the schools