@Stargazer I misread that as Farah Palmer playing for Northland, and I was thinking that's a good effort as she's in her mid to late 40s.

@Gunner is it arrogance or plain dumbness as to why these former Northland players are getting turned away?

I was shocked when Windleborn got the nod over Tony Monaghan. Ironically the Northland 7’s crashed to their worst finish in some time last season. Go figure.

NRU need to pull their heads out of their backsides and plan properly and wisely.

@J77 said in Northland Origin:

@Nepia said in Northland Origin:

@J77 said in Northland Origin:

@Nepia said in Northland Origin:

@J77 said in Northland Origin:

@Nepia said in Northland Origin:

@Bovidae said in Northland Origin:

@Nepia said in Northland Origin:

Stayed two nights in Mangonui - fish and chips are a bit overrated, they're Oz style, not NZ style, but the pineapple rings they do there are awesome.

Yes, the Mangonui fish 'n' chips were nothing special and over-priced. But you have to try them once though. 🙂

The Thai restaurant there was very good.

We were deciding between the Thai place and the Indian place and went with the Indian place - it was really good too.

@J77 We had Jimmy Jacks in Paihia, and yep they were very good, not comparable with Hurricanes in Sydney but still nice and decent value for money.

I’ve been to Hurricanes in Sydney. They had the massive steak challenge there at the time. My fucking eyes were dragging on the ground when I came out.

Shit, need to change the title of this thread to “where to avoid and eat in Northland”. Had to scroll up to remember what the original topic was about!

Did you go to Hurricanes and not have ribs. Please don't tell me you did that - I've enjoyed our discussion on this thread, but if you went to Hurricanes and didn't have ribs you're dead to me. 😉

Haha I guess I’m dead then! The steak challenge was so bloody taxing I did not want to even think about ribs.

I'm speaking over your grave now. Next time you're in Sydney, have the f-ing ribs. It's Hurricanes ribs, not Hurricanes steak house.

I actually went to a staff lunch one time and out of the 10 of us, only two of us had ribs. The worst thing about it was that it was agreed to by everyone and work paid. I had a whole rack and kumara chips so had leftover ribs for lunch the next day too.

You sound like my bloody sister, she was telling me I was an idiot for not doing ribs! That’s her local go to as well, I’ll be taking both your advice and going ribs when I’m over there in November.. happy? 😛

She's a wise lady your sister!

If you go ribs crazy and want some cheap good value ribs the Moore Park Hotel does $15 ribs on Thursdays which are as I say good value.

@mohikamo some very good coms, I can remember attending club games in the Bay of Islands in the 70s and the quality in the Bay at the time was very good and well supported..and then attending the Harding Shield rally days and those games were another level.Even Hokianga who were the weakest of the 6 sub union teams would never roll over..

One area I know Northland really struggles with is trying to retain really promising youngsters, and to be honest you can’t blame parents for letting their kids take up a scholarship at an Auckland secondary school..there are many examples of kids that gone to Auckland and have ended up in either the Auckland system or have been picked by other franchises..we get the odd or 2 back, but in the whole a lot of the cream gets picked off..I must reiterate again I have no issue with that, if I were a parent I would be encouraging my child to the same thing..
I was told on Saturday that the current Auckland under 19 team has 6 Northlanders in their top side , The Auckland development has 3 Northlanders , both Matt Storm and Johnny Cooper and there’s one other that escapes my mind and the Auckland top side Waimana Reidlinger Kapa who I know would dearly love to come home and play for Northland..

The dynamics of the early years have changed, it’s very difficult to put a senior club team together in a rural area when many of your young males have moved away from an area because of lack of work..you do need a strong local community bond and a couple of strong driven coaches and they need to be supported 100%

I stopped into Okaihau yesterday on my way back from visiting Whanau at a fantastic Cafe,Kiwi Kai, I recommend it big time, the best pulled pork Panini I have tasted, ordered a 2nd one it was that good..
I looked out on to the street remembering passing a rugby ball across the street with my team mates as on a Saturday morning waiting for car pooling parents to pick us up.

There were some young boys from Okaihau college during the lunch break walking down the street passing a rugby ball, a couple of these kids were sizeable lads as well..
I spoke to the owner of Kiwi Kai , Murray Smith ,he told me that his nephew was Tom Smith who made his debut for the Taniwha on Saturday ..what a small world I thought ..

Murray also mentioned there was a ton of young talent around but it need good structures and more importantly a good competitive competition which really brings the cream to the top .

Thats something I remembered about the Bay of Islands competition in the 1970s..waiting for the club results to come through on radio Northland ,most of the games would be extremely close ..and of course the bottom lip would drop if Okaihau seniors had gone down haha..

The old times I guess will never be the same, but if you have raw talent, put a structure in place that at least gives at a pathway hopefully to go on and wear a Taniwha jersey..

We have got to take note as a union ,its actually heart breaking to see what Southland is going through at the minute, a neglected club competition and player development has bitten them big time.

according to the M10 website, we have played Auckland 12 times since 2004

Average scoreline in those matches: Auckland 37, Northland 14...

Before last nights game average was 36-14.

So we were 4 points worse than normal, Auckland 7 points better.

@taniwharugby said in Looking forward to 2019...:

@Higgins probably usual suspects....

That's good to hear but chase them all up to make sure you are at full strength come kick off time on Thursday night. Not sure how the Bay will go as there are a few of us a bit reticent to take part but might have to shoulder tap them to oversome this tipping shyness to field the regulation six allowed.

@taniwharugby and so the Waipu dynasty begins.

@kev said in Norm Maxwell:

Loved this article...

https://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/rugby/all-blacks/113988161/norm-maxwells-journey-from-test-rugby-to-coaching-kiwi-kids-to-explore-their-sense-of-self

I remember seeing Norm when I lived in Wellington - some place down town - and being really impressed. He seemed very modest and without the swagger of the successful sporting star he was. Great to see his story.

Pretty cool stuff. Love the pic of him and JC in particular.

@kev is interesting seeing some of the other teams, we look to have by far the smallest team, so will be tough going...found out today, the boy we got dispensation for, had never played rugby before either (always played soccer) no way would I have picked that, just a natural!

I was always a midget, which is why I played 9 until I grew....

@taniwharugby gave up seeing the first game,all I can say they must have improved as the day went on.

@steven-harris I think that is exactly the approach. No problems with players who commit but loan players at last minute just annoy the crap out of everyone. Agree with comments about players below. Competition for spots improves performance. If we can retain players, then I think we are one lock and one prop short so along with a winger with wheels, they would be top of my list.

@duluth said in Steamers in Tauranga:

Thoroughgood over Faiane is about local pathways? What is Debra ahead of Thoroughgood? How much club rugby did he play?

If the player is committed medium term to the province I don't think it matters. He'll be fully in the club comp next year.. it's not a one season thing

I'd say they signed Debreczeni for his experience more than anything else and because he was playing SR couldn't play club rugby. Northland apparently tried to sign Fletcher Smith before JD so it was clear that they wanted at least one experienced 10 and supplement with guys from club rugby. Thoroughgood spent the whole club season up here and would've been regularly watched. He was the form 10 in club rugby so deserved his shot, certainly no better or worse than Faiane in the club games I watched. Maybe it hasn't turned out to be the right choice but the thinking behind it at the time was right.

Faiane is a talented young player earning his way - from what I heard and saw he certainly wasn't bashing the door down in club rugby. Might be good for him slowly making his way.

@taniwharugby I think you're right it would be best if Gregory has another year developing, I just won't be surprised if he gets a gig given how the contracting is going now.

@kev it will be interesting to watch how Tua develops, he's definitely got some talent and size is a natural advantage but hasn't looked like a SR player yet. He showed potential last year but hasn't really built on it this year. As you say, the defence is the big work on and if he can sort that out will be very handy for us.

@crucial Remember the game well,he used the TMO on at least 4 occasions in that game..was against Southland,looked like a guy making his debut and unsure of himself to make a decision..!.
Just don’t like his style,quite like the official who is relaxed and enjoying what he is there for but still letting the game flow.!
Pickerall looks to 2nd guess himself..!

I think with (my Cambridge blue eyes) Moulds, Olsen, and Ross Wright we almost have 3 best hookers in Blues territory. Nowadays Wright might struggle with throws given he doesn’t play there but still they all are very good. Yes I include Parsons in my consideration.

But couldnt even begin to suggest that about any other position.

@steven-harris haha are a few guys who still stood up, but TBF there were just huge lapses by almost everyone, we would spend good periods attacking, drop the ball, they score, pass it to them, they score, and if they didnt score, they'd almost score, then we might turn it over, then we'd turn it back over and they'd score.

One of the most disappointing and bizaare games I can recall (that includes the nightmare 2nd spell v HB the other week)

Expect we will be rolling out a 2nd string team next week (not willingly) for a match that means little bar getting a bit of confidence back before we face Waikato again.

But 71, wow... 🤯

@taniwharugby not too sure on the injuries,but being a week only in both cases,must be only minor..

@taniwharugby said in V CM:

pretty sure that all but seals the deal for us making top 4.

THat 2nd half capitulation v HB on Wednesday is gonna sting in the wash up me thinks.

Waikato 28 - Northland (A) Otago (H)
HB 23 - Man (H) Tasman (A)
Northland 21 - Waikato (H) BOP (A)
Otago 20 - BOP (H) Waikato (A)

BOP 10 - Otago (A) Southland (A) Northland (H)

I see the final table being: Waikato 33, HB 29, Otago 27, Northland 25

Good win for the Taniwha today against a Premiership team.

Otago also have a home game v Tasman still to play between the BOP and Waikato matches.

But you're right, the top four seem to have sorted themselves out.

@steven-harris agree with all that bar the call to take the penalty kick at goal...at that point in the game, I felt that was the smartest decision, and with the way the rest of that half played out, you could say it was the only smart decision made in the 2nd half.

Lack of smarts and having no feel whatsoever for the ref is a big problem.

Just because you are at the breakdown with all rights, if the ref calls hands off, you do actually need to listen.

This game was there for the taking, and the winner took a huge step towards a home semi final, alas it wasnt us.

The way the table is looking, we may still be sitting in the same place come the end of the weekend, so still have a realistic chance of making the top 4, but the way that 2nd spell and large parts of the first went, we will bow out in the 1st semi, again.