Manawatu vs Northland
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@taniwharugby said in v Manawatu:
@Higgins but the forwards keep giving the ball to the backs....
Our forwards look good, but our backs ....
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@Stargazer said in v Manawatu:
@J77 Yeah, I expected that last call to go Northland's way. Don't know what the ref thought he saw ... ?
Scrum penalties are basically rewarding dominance, unless you do something outrageously silly. Nothing silly there, it was a carbon copy of the scrum before.
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@taniwharugby disappointing on so many levels
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Never happy with a loss , the forwards will be definitely pissed off.
Temo Mayanavanua when he came on I thought he was outstanding, he’s such good such ball skills and power on the leg drive I believe he’s already on a couple of super rugby franchise radars ..
6’6 120 kgs...played for the Blues Dev squad this year only 21.Sam McNamara is getting better, only 21 , I’m predicting he will go on and play 100 games for Northland,,future captain..
Sam Nock when he backs himself looks a much better player
Scott Gregory has some ability but is being wasted at fullback in my opinion .. -
@Steven-Harris yeah I think Gregory needs to play 12 or 13, he hits hard on d, mixes it up with the forwards, so not afraid to have a crack at the ball on the ground (as I alluded to before, similar to Ranger in many ways) and has x factor with ball in hand, sure he will make some errors but we need him to have the ball in hand more, he and Hyland are players who we need involved more, but our current mid-field is stifling everything and as such, putting unneeded pressure on a rookie on the wing and he is making basic errors and limiting not only THE ball getting to our best attacking threats, but the quality of that ball they receive.
Right now, this Northland side are so far from the razzle dazzle of days gone by where we could score from anywhere, we would look good while losing, now....
Well yeah we have often spoken about Nock needing to step up a bit.
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@taniwharugby I would like to see Gregory playing 12 - DB is constantly creating space when he run's and having someone running into holes with speed is what we need.
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@kev Tua has the pace, but he is so far off at moment (both sides of the ball) I guess I can see why he wasnt even starting for Kamo in thier semi-final.
Is a shame though, given what, 2 years ago he looked a massively promising player with a great future, picked up a Blues contract, had that idiotic injury last year, now, gone backwards at a rate of knots, he and Hohaia lucky to be in the squad at present.
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I agree with the comments above. The midfield needs a change. Gregory should come into 12 or 13. I’d even be inclined to bring Cherrington in as well. Might as well, as season is pretty much dead and buried.
Not sure why we’re flogging a dead horse with what we have there now. Most of what was wrong with last night stemmed from the midfield area.
Looking ahead to next year I think some midfielders need to be top of the shopping list.
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@J77 most of what has gone wrong so far this season has centered around our mid-field IMO...
Struggling to get over the gain line using Hohaia running from deep, and cos he is so far back, our forwards have had to change lines to get back
Mix-ups between 10/12 or 10/13 resulting in dropped ball...dont think the problem is the number 10
Ball rarely able to get past 12/13 clean enough giving their outsides time to catch the ball before getting an opposition defender
Poor handling
Poor comms, both attack and defence...one minute the 12 and 13 are so far apart you could drive a car in between, next they are so close they could hold hands leaving gaps either side, then there is the execution of the tackles...yes they have made some good hits, but bigger picture they have struggled to work together.I had hoped Tua would at least provide a spark going forward last night...
Yeah they need to give some of the young guys a run now, making the top 4 is done, especially with Canterbury (H) BOP (A) Wellington (A) Ta$man (A) and Otago (H) left to go.
At very best, I see 10 points there, could more easily be 0 too!
Sadly, even with 5 games to come, we need to have 1 eye on 2020 already.
I'd like to see more of Mayavanua but we also need to give Byrne, Levien, Smith, Graham (as a project player, not sure he is allowed to come in barring injury?) Cherrington a decent run too. I'd like to see Rae have a run too but I think he might be injured?
Am assuming will still not be allowed to play Robinson?
