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

@dogmeat said in NH Ditch Junior rep sides: @Stargazer I heard the interview. Apparently peak physical involvement for humans is ages 11-12 after which participation rates drop off a cliff. Main reason given by kids for calling it quits by kids: coping with the expectations of adults especially around winning and performance. I'm all in favour of competitive sport but its a sad indictment when kids are giving up sport in droves because parents and coaches drive the fun out of it when all the kids want to do is have fun and bond with their mates. I never had enough talent to be burdened with expectation but I have seen and heard plenty of parents who relive their "glory days" (that probably never were) vicariously through their kids I do like the comment when GOAT was a young lad and he was told he'd probably enjoy his sport more if he was fitter. Ball is in the kid's court then.

@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.