@Rapido Great impartial comments , 9 times out of 10 , I support the Magpies , but when the Taniwha played them for the shield .
Fakatava threw at least 3 forward passes off channel 1 runners
I was alongside 2 guys from the Hawkes Bay media and even they were shaking their heads , if you miss one forward pass, that’s one thing , but 3 of them in practically the position on the field , 🤦‍♂️..did not effect the result at the end of day , but certainly was not what the quality off officialdom you be getting at this level.

Jeez naki and southland losing handed northland a lifeline for a top 4...we could still crawl in with no additional points with Southland needing to win both games to get past us (we are unlikely to get any v Auckland) but ideally picking some up in Kaikohe would be a great boost before heading south to a semi.

Dont forget to vote for your motm

https://www.forum.thesilverfern.com/topic/4272/northland-motm-v-nh

@Tim said in North Harbour v Auckland:

I had lunch in August in New Market next to the Blues forwards,

Oh man here we go again...

@mikey07 said in Wellington v North Harbour:

@Nepia the defender intentionally shepparded in front of the player with the ball so fair try

The defender doesn't change his line and Fatty Savea pushes him (at 3:15 in the highlights) which he didn't need to do anyway as he would have collided with the Harbour player without the push.

@Winger said in Wellington v North Harbour:

@mikey07 said in Wellington v North Harbour:

@Nepia the defender intentionally shepparded in front of the player with the ball so fair try

Just watched the highlights. It looked OK to me.

Well colour me surprised.

@Number-10 Little surprise that we got just a hammering then.

@Dice said in North Harbour v Tasman:

@Chris-B said in North Harbour v Tasman:

Tasman's worst half of the season, so far.

They've turned Havili's counter-attack over several times, so far and the handful of promising opportunities have been stymied by clumsy play.

Need to improve markedly in the 2nd 40.

Harbour pack apparently 100kgs heavier than Tasman's!!!

I was surprised by the numbers, but I think it's wrong. No way are Harbour averaging 121kg per man.

Yeah - that would be a massive test pack. Maybe the Boks have put out a pack that big, but I doubt the ABs ever have.

And, on the other hand, I'm doubtful that Tasman are only 109kgs per man. Andrew Makalio is billed at 128kgs on his own. Isi Tuungafasi is 120 kgs.

ive always wondered this...and havent been able to find an answer, whats with the grandstand at rugby park? why so offset? i get it if they couldn't afford or just didn'r need one the full length...but why not around the half way line?

@taniwharugby said in Waikato v North Harbour:

@Yeetyaah said in Waikato v North Harbour:

Te Whare is quite fast

certainly seems to have a great burst of speed!!

Te Whare is definitely quicker than someone of his physique should be. I think he has played mostly on the wing in rep rugby.

@Machpants said in North Harbour v Canterbury:

@Yeetyaah said in North Harbour v Canterbury:

Are the harbour players wearing their club socks?

Looks like it. Good money saving idea!

It was club round. They do it for a round every year and but thought most the provincial teams did something similar?

fa2934b9-a029-4225-9a09-96d0ccfa81ff-image.png

Sotutu is another big prospect.

@KiwiMurph I don't think Tasman were intentionally cheating though - it was pretty clear that their scrum was getting dominated, but trying to hold up - and that Harbour was scrumming for the penalty.

Tasman wasn't just immediately folding - they were holding initially and plenty of opportunity for Harbour to have cleared the ball if they wanted - they didn't want to.

My post match interviews with Kieran Keane, Murphy Taramai and Fletcher Smith:

@Steven-Harris said in North Harbour v Bay of Plenty:

@JK interesting that Northland who had a club day at the Magpies game on Saturday attracted over 7;000 people,.probably the best crowd of the 2019 Mitre 10 Cup ..it was promoted vey well..;with free buses laid on for all the clubs that were able to attend.

Wasn’t a huge amount of promotion for the harbour one and certainly none from our club given the game clashed with junior prize giving which was a very well attended affair.

I imagine it would be the same for many other shore clubs given junior rugby finished on the Saturday for the season

Some pretty good tries in the game from both sides.

Good to get a win, even if over Southland

Lotu Inisi looks like he has a bright future. Thoughts?

@Nepia Not sure, just heard that they're resting for 2 weeks.

Dalton has come back earlier though as he's just been named on the bench for the game against Northland.

43-12 to BOP 😞

After coaching my son since he started playing when he was 5, this year he may not be able to play.

Last year he played U14, this year he moves to U16...he is unsure if he wants to play given the size of some kids he will be coming up against, plus, we may not even have team at our club for that grade.

5 of the smaller kids have indicated they will stay in U14 (they are U60 kg so can without dispensation)

So in the Whangarei comp last year, we started with 8 teams in U14, one team bailed halfway through as they were getting beaten by 80+ each week.

They won't have a team this year, we probably won't, so likely 6 teams in U16 this year in Whangarei comp.

So that's >30 kids who played rugby last year, not playing this year...without looking at the Far North comp that had 4 teams play one another for 16 weeks or so...

@dice

I'd prefer Wellington in a knock out match

This Harbour side seems to take the battle of bridge personally.. more like the 90's. They are more likely to pull out a freakish game because its Auckland

@steven-harris Perofeta did struggle at times last season but he has far more upside than Gatland and ideally would have been coming off the bench last season but ended up starting. I'm convinced that he'll have far more impact next season coming off the bench providing Black stays fit.

@KiwiMurph I was very impressed with Plummer at 12 the other night. The kid has a massive future at 10/12 as he can not only run a game but isn't scared going into contact both on attack and defence.

taniwharugby said:

@bovidae they are unbackable faves for their next game

Just do tackle training all week. Our defence is hopeless so you only need to score once and make your tackles and the game is in the bag.

North Harbour has been scratchy all year.

Somehow their results and margins have consistently been better than their form deserves. I guess they get credit for that

There was a great passage of play last night.

Canterbury mullered NH in a scrum pushing them back 5m at a rate of knots, but front rows didn't pop. Liava'a miraculously managed to extract the ball from the back and ran it from the base of his backwheeling scrum. Drummond tackled him with a text book tackle and slid down to his ankles. But Liava'a remained on his feet and bunny hopped for about 5m with Drummoned wrapped around his ankles.

@crazy-horse I think there was more to it at the start of the Hurricanes season. He wasn't in the best shape but he was carrying a niggly rib injury that always linger longer than they should. I don't know much about the kid but I hope he has learnt his lesson. The Canes can't afford another season where Riccitelli plays almost every minute.

Aumua should consider moving to hooker. He's certainly big enough and could be very dynamic in that position.

@bovidae Not sure, I am told maybe tomorrow. Fingers crossed!!

@shark He played for BOP from 2013-2014. I think it was 2012 when he was in the NZ U20 side. I recall him saying when he signed for the Leicester Tigers that he signed for them because they were his favourite team to play with on Rugby 08 on PS2 haha.

@tim Otago's Donald Brighouse, Hisa Sasagi and Melani Matavao as well as Hawke's Bay's Stacey Ili and JJ Taulagi have also been selected for Samoa.

http://www.manusamoa.com/news-sru/87-uncatergorised/156-manu-samoa-squad-for-the-northern-hemisphere-tour-2018

@rapido said in Canterbury vs. North Harbour:

Watched highlights only. My takeaway is gee Hoeata is undisciplined.

You seem surprised that a Hoeata is undisciplined ...

As mentioned in another thread, I very much doubt that Li will reach an AB jersey. Very surprised the Sevens team haven't snapped him up though, they certainly need that pace.
Maybe an offer was rejected? I guess that he can still build a reasonable highlights reel in XVs to command some good pounds or Euros in a couple of years.

Imgur

@chris-b said in Tasman vs North Harbour:

@crucial you're replying to Stargazer's point. I'm not comparing it to anything - including contesting high kicks - except other stupid refereeing decisions.

I'm trying to reply to two points really. Yours about the 'victim' putting themselves in a dangerous position and @Stargazer s one about being similar to BBBR.

Looks like Falcon got a bit of his mojo back which is good

@act-crusader No doubt he was showing some irresistible form early doors, his form dropping off a cliff was rather disappointing. If he gets that back and is consistent then he won't be able to be ignored. Reminds me of Tom Marshall, just a tad more electric.

@dogmeat it was funny watching the number of scrums that were just static with barely any movement from either side, no one able to establish any dominance, except that crucial 1 near the end 🙄

Will be interesting to see how NH go against Canterbury though, you guys have a pretty good roster of players, cos right now it looks like there is the Canterbury Division, The Premiership & the Championship.