@sparky Ben Lam needs to take an angry pill before a game. He has all the skills but just needs more aggression. and his defense needs work

@crucial Tall Matt Todd! Lineout was rubbish. Missed Parkinson in the first half, but when he came on we lost Makalio and Niuia threw like he'd been taking lessons from Nathan Harris. Hope Makalio is nothing serious. One of quite a few we don't have great cover for. Once Lomax came on our scrum was dominant, but we didn't really get the full benefit of that. Still, points in the bank - onward and upward. When Hemepo came on he looked like an All Black - a cut above the average.

@shark there’s plenty of locks around. Will Tucker was NZ20s this year. Antonio Shalfoon is a great prospect at Lincoln. Was injured all year , but killing it now for Canterbury maoris. Don’t know if their FABs though.

@nepia Don't worry, he's good for at least 50 more years in black.

Turbos should get a bonus point just for that mascot.

@bovidae said in Manawatu v Waikato: Anyone know if the Manawatu player has been cited for the cheap shot on Tucker? NZR is extremely shit when it comes to publishing citings and decisions on citings. I remember finding them last year, but don't quite remember where. I'll keep an eye on it.

Full time: never in doubt, Taranaki keep the shield. 46 - 25.

Manawatu 24 - 29 Counties

After converted tries to Jamie Booth and Harrison Brewer, as well as 2 penalty goals, Manawatu finishes on top at full time: 23-10. Very uninspiring match, esp from Waikato.

interesting call there, agree with it, but we see often they go the other way on that due to the indiscretion.

@KiwiMurph said in Manawatu vs Tasman: Tasman really miss Banks and Havilli - a lot of youth in that backline and it shows - way too many errors. Hunt not the greatest couple of weeks. Yeah - I think our season goal might be trying to avoid relegation. The starting XV that we expected to have: i.e. including Havili and Hames, but not Squire; is very strong - but, things are very thin and green below. At the end, when Paulo and (I think) Ainley went off and Taufua was in the bin, we might only have had about a hundred NPC caps on the field and most of them belonging to Guyton and Fredericks. On the plus side, Jordan is going to be an excellent acquisition. He looked significantly bigger out there than I thought he was - already got a fair bit of Ben Smith about him. Some refinement to do, but he's going to have the goods.

Equal argument would be to select players with the right build, right desire to learn and best natural skills. Scrummaging at young levels can easily be dominated by early maturing bodies or sheer size. Those dominant props do not necessarily go on the be the best test players. I'm glad that the ABs seem to dig a bit deeper when selecting test potential than Super coaches do.

@ACT-Crusader can't tell if that's sarcastic or not....was ok going left initially but then had 5m and kept going left and then bundled into touch, so dumb imo. Aside from a dumb chip kick, agree Cruden did look in a different class.

Turbos: Chris Eves (Volvo) Hunter Prescott (Hino) Jake Ilnicki (Mack) Kane Thompson (Truckstops) Liam Hallam-Eames (Hynds) Antonio (Humphries) Callum Gibbins (C) (Wadham Partners) Valentino Mapapalangi (Gary Douglas) Jamie Booth (McIntosh Cranes)(Blazer Game) Otere Black (Capture Signs) Nathan Tudreu (Cash Converters) Hamish Northcott (Telcospec) Jason Emery (Stuarts Ltd.) Curtis Reid (Silvester Clarke) Ambrose Curtis (McDonalds PN) Reserves 16. Tim Cadwallader (Kubota) 17. Fraser Armstrong (Clarke Underground) 18. Mike Alaalatoa (Bell Booth) 19. Jackson Hemopo (Stevensons) 20. Harrison Brewer (Fleetwise) 21. Toby Morland (Computercare) 22. Sam Malcolm (JB Wheel Alignment) 23. Ngani Laumape (Cafe Cuba) http://www.turbosrugby.co.nz/news/225-turbos-named-to-face-old-foe-wellington

after trailing at half time, 'naki take out the win 30-19 if not a bit of controversy with Manawatu's Gibbons appearing to score on the post pad in extra time but the ref didnt bother going upstairs, obviously a crucial BP missed, hopefully it wont come back to bite them.

There's a bit of a conveyor belt from Manawatu to Canterbury. Is it a Fielding Ag to Lincoln thing? 4 Whitelocks, C Taylor, Funnell, Thompson.

@African-Monkey said in North Harbour v Manawatu: Great win for Harbour. They're looking good for a semi final spot. 19 points has been the 4th spot in most years

The Ryan Wheeler memorial trophy will be up for grabs too!

More chat over in the Taniwha forum. Rucks were a free for all, the poo got away with coming through or around the ruck all night and booting the ball. Not sure about that. "Side entry" has been redefined. So long as you come from your side of the halfway point of the breakdown you are ok.