Auckland vs Otago
-
-
Sam Prattley (Pakuranga)
-
Kurt Eklund (University)
-
Marcel Renata (University)
-
Scott Scrafton (Grammar TEC)
-
Liaki Moli (Manukau Rovers)
-
Taleni Seu (Grammar TEC)
-
Akira Ioane (Ponsonby)
-
Steven Luatua (University)
-
Jono Hickey (Grammar TEC)
-
Simon Hickey (Grammar TEC)
-
Pryor Collier (Ponsonby)
-
Vince Aso (Ponsonby)
-
Rieko Ioane (Ponsonby)
-
Lolagi Visinia (Suburbs)
-
Melani Nanai (Manukau Rovers)
-
Blake Hill (Eden)
-
Tom McHugh (Grammar TEC)
-
Isi Tu’ungafasi (Grammar TEC)
-
Ben Nee Nee (Pakuranga
-
Josh Kaifa (Manukau Rovers)
-
Leon Fukofuka (Marist)
-
Liam Steel (University)
-
Latiume Fosita (Papatoetoe)
Luatua and Prattley are fit again
GPT and Fatialofa injured
I would have kept Kaifa in the starting XV, moved Seu to lock and dropped Moli.
His tackling hasn't been good enough and Otago have the sort of attack that will expose him. -
-
Moli is a horrendous tackler. Hopefully Luatua can make a difference defensively, something that has been missing all season.
-
-
Otago has named their team
Michael Collins, Mitchell Scott, Matt Faddes, Teihorangi Walden, Fa'asiu Fuatai, Fletcher Smith, Jonathan Ruru, Paul Grant (c), James Lentjes, Lee Allan, Tom Franklin, Josh Dickson, Donald Brighouse, Seko Pole, Craig Millar
Reserves: Nick Grogan, Jonah Aoina, Michael Mata'afa, Blair Tweed, Naulia Dawai, Josh Walden, Scott Eade, Sio Tomkinson
-
@Duluth said in Auckland vs Otago:
Otago has named their team
Michael Collins, Mitchell Scott, Matt Faddes, Teihorangi Walden, Fa'asiu Fuatai, Fletcher Smith, Jonathan Ruru, Paul Grant (c), James Lentjes, Lee Allan, Tom Franklin, Josh Dickson, Donald Brighouse, Seko Pole, Craig Millar
Reserves: Nick Grogan, Jonah Aoina, Michael Mata'afa, Blair Tweed, Naulia Dawai, Josh Walden, Scott Eade, Sio Tomkinson
Has that Grogan been dropped on the bench or has the Grogan been sitting on the bench for a while? Good way to keep the bench warm, but also off putting to insert your Grogan into the pack at any stage and particarly after sitting there for a while steaming. If Grogan is on at the same time as Tweed, things could get messy for Otago and getting Grogan out again might be a problem.
-
-
-
Annoying to concede before halftime. Simon Hickey had the worst 1st 20 even by his standards ever followed by a great 2nd 20. Lineout going shit with Kurt Eklund there as expected.
-
Auckland have the brilliance to run away with this game but lack cohesiveness hence they are hot or cold. The Manawatu pack plays more as a unit. Where is the coaching. Akira is trying too much but in an AB environment and some decent coaching I think he would be a machine. Hard to pick margins with this team.
-
Interesting refereeing. Couple of times he's called a maul from a held up tackle and seems to think doing that means defending players can just run straight in the side to try trap the ball.
Then that mahoosive forward pass...
That penalty against the Original player for not being bound, as he's driven out of the breakdown by the first arriving Auckland player was odd.
-
@Crash Injured his shoulder against Counties.
Fantastic performance from us. It just shows what we can do when we don't fall 15-20 points behind early on in games. We needed to make a statement tonight and we did. Must back it up against Ta$man on Thursday.
-
Yep brilliant from Auckland. Defence was much better - they werent constantly missing tackles and leaking points. One of those games where everything sticks for Auckland and the opposite for Otago.
Hard to single out players. Good showing from Luatua in his first game back. Of course Rieko is a freak.
-
I saw that stat on Sunday and was surprised how far ahead they were to everyone else.
Rieko is also leading the comp in tries, clean breaks and metres gained. He's practically replaced Moala's production from last year. Too bad we couldn't get those two playing together in the midfield this season.
Akira topped the comp in defenders beaten last year with 71 in 11 games(he looks on track to get those numbers again if we make the semis). He also had 13 clean breaks last year, but already has 12 this year in 3 less games. He's also topping the comp in carries once again this year.
