Auckland vs Wellington - Semi Final
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@canes4life Wouldn't suprise me. For the first time in years any of the top 4 could win it which is great. Papali'i i is a huge loss as we all know and we'll need a massive shift from Choat. Don't know if it'll be enough but we shall see.
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@african-monkey yeah Papali'i is a huge loss. I still think this game will be a cracker and it is refreshing to see all the teams so even.
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@african-monkey said in Auckland vs Wellington - Semi Final:
Wouldn't suprise me. For the first time in years any of the top 4 could win it which is great. Papali'i i is a huge loss as we all know and we'll need a massive shift from Choat. Don't know if it'll be enough but we shall see.
Auckland played their best rugby against Ta$man and Canterbury. That was way back in round 4/5
Since then the performances have been poor until the Harbour match.. hopefully we are back to that mid season form.Against Ta$man we had powerful performances from our second row (Whetton and Tuipulotu) and Gibson tackled everything
Against Canterbury it was similar but it was Whetton and Lemalu at lock and Papalii was the late replacement who tackled everythingPlaying a top four side without Whetton, Gibson and Papalii is going to be tough
Its a massive game for Choat and we need a lot more out of Fatialofa
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@duluth Last time we played this mob our defence was excellent I thought with 2 one on one misses from Papali'i and Umaga costing us tries but other than that we were very good. Our attack struggled with our backs trying to throw big wide passes into a massive wind but thankfully for us Faiane and Trainor brilliance got us out of trouble.
I think our attack will go better this time round but yeah, Papali'i not playing is massive to our defence.
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@duluth Agreed.
I'm not expecting a win; if we get there, it's a huge bonus. THis season has been a season of massive overachievement already. I'm stoked for the team and what they have done.
I suspect losing both Blake and Dalton in the loosies will do us in. Akira can only carry so much on his own - the loosies, the fatties, the backs, the hopes and dreams of Auckland supporters ... no wonder he looks a bit ragged at times
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https://www.wellingtonlions.co.nz/news/lions-name-settled-squad-for-semi-final/
15 Wes Goosen (Old Boys University)
14 Ben Lam (Tawa)
13 Matt Proctor (Oriental-Rongotai) (c)
12 Billy Proctor (Marist St Pats)
11 Malo Tuitama (Oriental-Rongotai)
10 Jackson Garden-Bachop (Northern United)
9 Kemara Hauiti-Parapara (Tawa)
8 Teariki Ben-Nicholas (Old Boys University)
7 Mateaki Kafatolu (Petone)
6 James Blackwell (Petone)
5 Isaia Walker-Leawere (Poneke)
4 Sam Lousi (Marist St Pats)
3 Jeff To'omaga-Allen (Marist St Pats)
2 Asafo Aumua (Avalon)
1 Sitiveni Paongo (Tawa)16 Dane Coles (Poneke)
17 Tolu Fahamokioa (Tawa)
18 Joel Hintz (Old Boys University)
19 Galu Taufale (Poneke)
20 Du'Plessis Kirifi (Northern United)
21 Carlos Price (Petone)
22 Losi Filipo (Petone)
23 Trent Renata (Oriental-Rongotai) -
@nzzp said in Auckland vs Wellington - Semi Final:
@duluth Agreed.
I'm not expecting a win; if we get there, it's a huge bonus. THis season has been a season of massive overachievement already. I'm stoked for the team and what they have done.
I suspect losing both Blake and Dalton in the loosies will do us in. Akira can only carry so much on his own - the loosies, the fatties, the backs, the hopes and dreams of Auckland supporters ... no wonder he looks a bit ragged at times
I said back in week 2/3 that if we made the semis it was a successful season for this team. Hell of an achievement to rebuild so quickly after the horror of the past two years.
Now we have a chance to go further, but Dalton and Gibson are huge losses for this team. And Whetton was huge for us too.
Going to be very interesting to see what these coaches can do with this team next year, and get a bit more depth.
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@kirwan said in Auckland vs Wellington - Semi Final:
Going to be very interesting to see what these coaches can do with this team next year, and get a bit more depth.
I hope we retain all the coaches for a start.
Tiatia in particular. I'm sure other teams would like him as a head coach.
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@duluth said in Auckland vs Wellington - Semi Final:
@kirwan said in Auckland vs Wellington - Semi Final:
Going to be very interesting to see what these coaches can do with this team next year, and get a bit more depth.
I hope we retain all the coaches for a start.
Tiatia in particular. I'm sure other teams would like him as a head coach.
Iām greedy.
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This might be the best team Wellington has put out this year. So no excuses with missing player. (Except maybe at prop but hopefully JTA can last for almost the whole match and Paongo performs).
Thankfully Blackwell has moved to 6 with Lousi back. Although Lousi looks at bit out of condition but Blackwell is just too small for lock
Lam is a worry though as his defense is rubbish at times. Its a weakness to the extend I would prefer Filipo starting with Lam to bring on against tiring defenses. But maybe he has been given the hard word on this.
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@kirwan said in Auckland vs Wellington - Semi Final:
@duluth said in Auckland vs Wellington - Semi Final:
@kirwan said in Auckland vs Wellington - Semi Final:
Going to be very interesting to see what these coaches can do with this team next year, and get a bit more depth.
I hope we retain all the coaches for a start.
Tiatia in particular. I'm sure other teams would like him as a head coach.
Iām greedy.
I thought Tiatia was hard done by with the Sunwolves. Maybe he lacks something as a head coach but he transformed a team that was a shambles when he took them on
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Any Aus ferners know if this game is on the telly? Just checked Fox TV guide and we are being 'treated' to Waikato/Northland but not this game. Pricks, I was looking forward to watching this one
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@crazy-horse All I see - besides the live Waikato v Northland game - is replays:
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@stargazer yeah that is all I could see as well. The bastards do it to us every year. Good coverage during the regular season then shit coverage for the finals.
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Beautiful day in Auckland. Bodes well for some good rugby.
A big worry for me in this game is Wellington's line speed. It really caught us off guard last time around. Hopefully we have an answer for it.
Won't be surprised if half the bench players don't get on the field today if it's close, which isn't ideal because we just came off storm week and we've been given another short turnaround on top of that for this game.
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@dice I think the wind played a massive part in the last game as well as we didn't know how to deal with it.
Seu will obviously see some gametime and I think Sotutu will get some time. I like Sotutu as he has a high workrate and likes the contact similar to Olmstad. Renata can also go 80 and must surely get a gig in Super Rugby next year somewhere.
I really hope whoever wins tonight wins the whole thing. It would be devastating if Canterbury went on to win another title. Nothing against them, I just wish someone else won a title haha.
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@african-monkey Yeah, wind was definitely a factor in that last game. Don't think we'll throw that many passes to the ground again.
Good to have Seu back, hopefully he hits the ground running despite the long layoff.
Who does Sotutu come on for? That'll be an interesting call to me.
Renata almost went 80 against Wellington last time around. He definitely deserves a Super contract. He hasn't had a bad scrum game this season, and he's been close to the best prop around the park in the comp.
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Good read.
Breakdown dominance lays platform for Auckland
Auckland is winning the crucial breakdown tussle and that has gone a long way towards a 9-1 record in the Mitre 10 Cup.
