Farah Palmer Cup 2021
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Auckland, Counties Manukau and North Harbour, who have collectively accepted they are unable to continue in the competition due to their inability to train or play under COVID-19 Alert Levels, have been withdrawn from the competition.
In the Bunnings Warehouse FPC Premiership, Waikato and current leaders and defending champions Canterbury have already qualified for the finals series with Wellington Pride also in the hunt for a semi-finals spot. If Wellington beat the Bay of Plenty Volcanix in their final match of the regular season at Blake Park in Mount Maunganui this Saturday (25 September) they will join Canterbury and Waikato in a three team finals series that will see the top qualifier go through to the final and the second and third placed sides play a preliminary final. However, if Wellington lose to Bay of Plenty they will exit the competition. With Canterbury and Waikato going straight to the final where they will play each other the following weekend.
The Bunnings Warehouse FPC Championship will go straight to the three-team finals format where current leaders the Manawatū Cyclones will be joined by Northland and the Hawke’s Bay.
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@trooa said in Farah Palmer Cup 2021:
Anyone know who won that Wellington Waikato game or the Waikato BOP game week before? Waikato have Willison & Huia Harding back from 7s/pregnancy.
Waikato didn't even publish a team for the game in Taihape, which probably means both teams used more 8 subs to give all players a run.
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@stargazer Yeah they had a mid-season, pre-season vs Waikato on the 10th at Blake Park. Both teams have had a few extras join after lockdown from 7s so was wondering how much BOP have improved on that initial performance heading in to Wellington this weekend.
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This weekend's games:
Sat 25 September 2021 - 12.05pm - Forsyth Barr Stadium, Dunedin
Otago v CanterburySat 25 September 2021 - 12.05pm - Blake Park, Mount Maunganui
Bay of Plenty v WellingtonSat 25 September 2021 - 1.05pm - TET Stadium, Inglewood
Taranaki v Hawke's BaySun 26 September 2021 - 11.35am - Trafalgar Park, Nelson
Ta$man v ManawatūBye: Northland, Waikato
Withdrawn from the competition: Auckland, Counties Manukau, North Harbour
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@stargazer said in Farah Palmer Cup 2021:
Good call for Maia Joseph to move to 10. I watched at the ground last week and she looks wasted at 9. Has the skills and could grow into a very good 10 prospect for higher honours.
Cunningham did no wrong covering at 10 but will be more comfortable back at 15.
One thing I noticed was that they run a rather odd defence pattern when not expecting a kick. They add the 15 to the backline one in from the wing and have no sweeper. BoP exploited this twice with a linebreak.
Could be a hard day against Canterbury. -
As a general point and something I'd value feedback on, it was really obvious to me watching one of these games live (as opposed to the camera following the ball) is that IMO women's XVs rugby hasn't really adapted ways to play to the strengths/skills of the players. By that I mean it can be like watching lower level school rugby at times with under-strength players trying to spread the ball across the field with weak passes.
This isn't a slight on the women just a fact that they are being coached to do things the same way you would much stronger men. Their speed is fine in a relative way which means that ball beating the man is much more difficult to achieve and they constantly play the game in heavy traffic.
I would have thought that we had the coaching smarts around to get past this. Compress your backline and use skilful handling and running lines to manipulate the defence rather than trying to outflank them with slow passes. I guess I am thinking the old school wet leather ball backline moves could be valuable.
These woman are fit, fast, have good coordination. Probably listen and learn better than their male equivalents but are not being set up well to use their skills.
Even as 'recent' as the first RWC the men's game would have a big gap between the midfield and the wing. It was all about holding the defence in the middle of the field while you worked the ball to the outside who then had oodles of room to run and beat a man.
IMO that revisionist style could suit the womens game far more than trying to spread the ball through straight passing. -
@crucial I can't say much about it, because I watch most women's games on tv or via livestream (and not as many as I'd like to watch). It's possible that there is a difference between the top teams (Canterbury & Waikato, for example) and teams like Otago and the championship teams (possibly Manawatu excluded), I don't know. You'd also have to watch the Black Ferns live, I guess, to see how they play at that highest level.
A lot comes down to coaching, and FPC coaches don't belong NZ's top coaches. It would be interesting to see what a good NPC coach (one who can adapt) could achieve with a decent FPC team.
I also wonder what the influence of the composition of FPC teams is; the spread of the age of players is much wider. You have way more school girls in FPC teams than you have school boys in NPC. Also at the older end, you have way more players in their late 30s, or even in their 40s, in FPC squads than you see in NPC.
Interesting question, but I think I'd need to see way more women's games live to form an opinion. All I can say is that IMO the women's game has improved a lot over the last few years, but that there's definitely room for more improvement.
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Just saw a post from Kendra Cocksedge on instagram saying that she won't be playing for Canterbury anymore, this season, due to Black Ferns commitments.
I had noticed a few other players missing as well (incl Les Elder from the Volcanix squad), but some still seem to be playing.
It may mean that all Black Ferns will be missing from the Finals.
