Manawatu v Otago

[cgrant]

Ooops! I have took him for Steve Mafi. Thanks for the correction.

[cgrant]

Sorry for the grammatical error. It's "I took him" of course.

[shark]

Funny, I was reading that Manawatu line up and lamenting how many flankers are being played as undersized locks in the NPC these days, wondering where all the new big men are, and then I read on and saw the bit about Hughes. Don't know what he weighs in at but he certainly has some height about him. Even better, we can recall him if we need another tall later in the comp, after he's cut his teeth with the Poo!

[Duluth]

Michael Collins (captain), Vilimoni Koroi, Sio Tomkinson, Matt Whaanga, Jona Nareki, Josh Ioane, Kurt Hammer, Dylan Nel, Naulia Dawai, Sione Misiloi, Josh Dickson, Tom Rowe, Hisa Sasagi, Sekonaia Pole, Aki Seiuli

Reserves: Liam Coltman, Tom Hill, Donald Brighouse, Joketani Koroi, Slade McDowall, Melani Matavao, Matt Faddes, Mitchell Scott

Aug 30, 2018

Collins back to lead Otago against Manawatu

Otago coach Ben Herring said he had no hesitation in giving the captaincy to the returning Michael Collins for tomorrow's game against Manawatu....

[Dice]

Looking forward to seeing how Matavao goes off the bench. He's a real livewire halfback.

[African Monkey]

@dice Yeah saw him play for Samoa and he was very impressive. I remember this article about him last year

Nik Simon  /  Nov 11, 2017  /  Rugby

Samoa's next big star Melani Matavao scraping by on 45p a day

Meet Melani Matavao, one of rugby’s brightest talents who is trying to find the money to finish the building works on his parents’ home in Samoa. His earnings are 550 tala a year, which equates to 45p a day.

[Dice]

@african-monkey He makes a lot of plays and plays bigger than his size. It's good he's got a contract now.

[Stargazer]

That was a great try from Otago, although the defence from the Turbos was awful.

[KiwiMurph]

Of the 6 outside backs in this game 5 look dangerous. The other is Michael Collins.

[gt12]

@kiwimurph

He’s a really good communicator though.

[gt12]

Thompson looking dangerous every time he touches it. If you were told that one All Black was playing in for Manawatu and didn’t know, you’d automatically assume it’s him - just a class above.

[Stargazer]

@kiwimurph Junior Laloifi has incredible speed.

[gt12]

@kiwimurph

He scores now too...

[Stargazer]

He doesn't get much love from some Ferners (quite the opposite) but that was a great try from Michael Collins.

[gt12]

@stargazer

I think it’s mainly just that he should be a Super rugby squaddie, rather than the player you select your back line around.

Edit: and he did well to score it. Intelligently done.

[KiwiMurph]

Great try is overdoing it - was a nice finish but nothing special.

[Stargazer]

Bloody Poo playing poo. I picked them to win dammit.

[Stargazer]

Laloifi is a quick runner, but he can't kick.
Otago score again and lead 33 - 17. This is getting ridiculous.

[gt12]

@stargazer

Yep, they deserved to pay for that, because he’s had a few bad ones.

[ACT Crusader]

This is a pretty good game. Lots of running rugby.